ressurective immortality

[LostDeviljho]

so I am making a villain for an upcoming campaign who, while he can be killed, always comes back in a new body. (he's also an evil scarecrow, but that's a matter for another thread.)
I know that some characters just keep coming back because the party members drag them back to the nearest temple an resurrect them, or they get reincarnated, but that is time consuming and expensive.
is there a way to make this automatic? the idea is he's actually an evil spirit animating a scarecrow body, and whenever said body is destroyed the spirit possesses another scarecrow.

I know this is probably really poorly phrased and confusing but any help is appreciated. thanks in advance.

[Kraken]

Is the clone spell sufficient for this purpose? If they're a scarecrow, they won't have the rot issue associated with leaving clones unused for too long.

[atemu1234]

so I am making a villain for an upcoming campaign who, while he can be killed, always comes back in a new body. (he's also an evil scarecrow, but that's a matter for another thread.)
I know that some characters just keep coming back because the party members drag them back to the nearest temple an resurrect them, or they get reincarnated, but that is time consuming and expensive.
is there a way to make this automatic? the idea is he's actually an evil spirit animating a scarecrow body, and whenever said body is destroyed the spirit possesses another scarecrow.

I know this is probably really poorly phrased and confusing but any help is appreciated. thanks in advance.

Make it a possessive ghost. Those come back on their own.

[LostDeviljho]

Is the clone spell sufficient for this purpose? If they're a scarecrow, they won't have the rot issue associated with leaving clones unused for too long.

I don't actually know which clone spell you are referring too. there are a lot of spells in a lot of books, and I don't exactly have them memorized. where is it from?

[Kraken]

Player's Handbook. It has been reproduced (along with all other PHB spells) here.

[LostDeviljho]

Make it a possessive ghost. Those come back on their own.

again, where do I find this?
my google-fu is weak.

[Glimbur]

Sounds a lot like a lich, honestly. Looking like a scarecrow instead of a skeleton is probably not a big deal; and it gives the party a way to deal with him once they figure out he keeps coming back. So you could mechanically make him like a lich, and he just looks like a scarecrow. The only tricky part is giving your PC's enough information that they should know in-world without just spoiling the whole thing.

[Jack_Simth]

again, where do I find this?
my google-fu is weak.

The Ghost template is in both the SRD and the Monster Manual I. The Book of Vile Darkness also has something he'd find useful - Imprison Possessor (page 98) makes the Malevolence permanent... potentially.

You might also have fun with the Fiend of Posession PrC (Fiend Folio).

[Nettlekid]

I vote for the Body Leech PrC. It's a Psionic character which traps creatures in Ectoplasmic Cocoons and can inflict Ability Burn to them to recharge their own PP, but at 5th level it gets the ability to, when it dies, swap minds with a previously determined cocoon captive, going into their body like True Mind Switch without the XP cost.

Though honestly the Ghost suggestion above is the easiest method.

[Red Fel]

Sounds a lot like a lich, honestly. Looking like a scarecrow instead of a skeleton is probably not a big deal; and it gives the party a way to deal with him once they figure out he keeps coming back. So you could mechanically make him like a lich, and he just looks like a scarecrow. The only tricky part is giving your PC's enough information that they should know in-world without just spoiling the whole thing.

Very much this. You could refluff a Lich, modify a few things (make the body a straw construct instead of an undead, etc.) but the essential function remains the same.