A hungry dead creature

[alhoon]

Here is a new hungry Dead creature I have thought off. I planned on sending it for the Sournage project but it doesn't seem good for that domain to me. Sournage is small and cannot sustain more man-eating horrors IMO.

Khulic (Medium Undead, Hungry dead)
HD 6d12 +6 (45 hp)
spd: 40'
init: +6
AC 16 (+4 nat, +2 dex)
Attacks: Bite +9 (critical 19-20), 2 claws +5
Damage: 1d8+4, 1d4+2
Abilities: Str 18 dex 15 con - int 7 wis 12 cha 8
Saves: F+2 R +4 W+6
Skills: Spot +4, listen +4, move silently+6, hide +7, climb +6
Feats: Improved Toughness (Bonus feat), Improved Initiative, power attack, multi-attack.
Alingment: Chaotic Evil
CR: 4

A khulic resembles roughly the humanoid it was made from. It's jaws are unaturaly large, resembling a goblyn. It gets two rows of inch-long, sharp and supernaturaly strong and hard teeth that can bite even through metal.

- Create Spawn (Su): A humanoid killed by Khulics and not eaten immediately, raises the next night as a Khulic. No trace of the original personality remains. Unless the new creature succeeds on a will save with DC 15, it is under the control of its creator. A Khulic can control a number of undead that their HD equals to 4xHD (that is usually 4 more Khulics).
Note: This isn't a disease like ghoul fever!
- Burrow (Ex): As described in VRGttWD. In essence, it can easily dig a whole in the ground.
- Maiming bite (Ex): The Khulic gets a +2 competence bonus to attack rolls with its bite attack. Also in a critical hit with its bite it may bite off a member of the victim. Choose randomly a member (hand, leg, head) and have the creature roll a fortitude save with a DC 17 (10 + HD/2 +strength modifier). If the victim fails the save, he/she loses the member. That results in blood loss and maiming. Treat this as a wounding injury that deals 2hp/round.
- Teeth of steel (Ex): Khulic's teeth are supernaturaly strong and hard. It gets armor penetration 2 (it ignores the first 2 points of Armor bonus to AC, but not shield bonus) and it can bypass the first 5 hardness of an object.
Also the Khulic's bite never provoces an attack of opportunity when attacking objects (although claw attacks do).
In effect the Khulic can bite through wood as if it was butter. Using its power attack feat, it can seriously damage iron objects too. It can damage objects of up to +1 enchantment.
- Turn resistance (Ex): +1
- Skill affinity: Khulics take a +2 racial bonus to all 5 skills presented above (already calculated).
- Remove Curse vulnerability: If a Khulic is exposed to a remove curse spell, it suffers 6d8 damage and a -2 penalty to all rolls for 1 minute/ caster level (fortitude save for 1/2 damage and negate the penalty).
- Craving: Eat raw meat (will DC 13 +1/minute of exposure)*. Preferably from a sentient being. Dead or alive doesn't matter, but Khulics enjoy killing...

Combat: Khulics are powerful foes, but they are not smart. However they have some tricks that they use.
- They attack the shields and wooden hafts of the weapons their opponents carry. They shift erratically between biting equipment and biting the opponent however.
- If they cannot bite the opponent's weapon (enemy has great attack roll or the Khulic is unlucky) after 2-3 bites, they focus on the enemy instead.
- They like to hurry their opponents to barricate themselves in a structure. Then they bang on the locked and barred doors and windows for a time to lead their victims to a false sense of security. Then they wait for a few minutes and then start biting through the barriers their opponents have set gaining an easy entrance to what their victims have believed it was a safe haven.
The Khulics like this kind of psychological torture so much that they sometimes hunt near abandoned houses or such structures to sadistically enjoy this prank.

PS. Their bite and especially their "penetration of the safe haven" is what seperates Khulic from other hungry dead.
Given some time (a few minutes), they can bite even through metal. Also running away and not fortifying isn't a solution for most humanoids as the Khulics are faster.
Where Khulic groups hunt, people may be seen to live in houses made of thick stone walls and they usually keep 1-2 sheep or goats in their houses. In case the Khulics start eating through walls, the people slaughter the animal and escape through a door or window. The Khulics' craving sometimes forces them to eat the sheep and let the humans escape.

* Or whatever the save for the Craving is, I don't remember

[Undead Cabbage]

Neat,

Although I don't think I'd use it as an undead. Instead, I might apply some of the ideas in this monster into making a much more powerful form of Goblyn (A greater Goblyn, maybe?).

If you wanted to be really nasty about it, you could give it spider climb, then it wouldn't just eat through walls but ceilings and floors to.

I'm curious though, why Remove Curse as a weakness?

[alhoon]

1.Originally it had spider climb as an ability...

2. Why? Because its condition is a supernatural curse more so than with other undead. Why more so?
Ghouls are now created through supernatural diseases, I wanted to make something that is NOT created through a disease (supernatural or not) but through a direct curse like the vampire or the wight.
Why I added this particular vulnerability instead of saying "Pure water" or cold iron? Because quintessence is already working and Cold iron is usually associated with fey.
Think of it like the "cure disease" for Toben and "dispel magic" for Azalin's bone and zombie golems.

PS. I'll put this here:

The simple idea that spawned the Khulic is: We feel safe at home. Khulics take that security away.

I walked by a friend's house two nights ago. He had the door open (smoking with a couple of friends) so I came in uninvited and without knocking. . . They were scared ####less.
I'm working late in the lab these days so I lock the door as I'm alone in the whole University building. Creepy. Sometimes when the door shakes (and it is 1-2 am) I am scared.

So I put 2+2 together... and here is a monster that can bypass locked doors. OK gaseous vampires are more classy but they can't get uninvited. Specters and Wraits are also more classy bypassing the barrier altogether but they work only at night (not to mention that they can't be fought without magic).

[Gemathustra]

Where's the "penetrate safe haven" ability?

[alhoon]

Where's the "penetrate safe haven" ability?

It can eat through walls and doors Gemathustra...
By "Safe Haven" I don't mean an impenetratable fortress made from force wall.
I mean a place we feel secure mostly because we have been there for long and we had good times in there, like our homes.
The people of Verbek and Barovia lock their doors at night. The Khulics eat through their walls and doors... Walls made from wood don't hinder the Khulics at all. A door has 20 hp? 25? With power attack (+3 damage) a Khulic can eat through it in 2-3 rounds.

Also there are not many monsters that destroy weapons in Ravenloft. Black puddings are rare and rust monsters even more so. So people trust in their weapons.

Khulics make things like walls, shields and weapons seem far less reliable than originally thought.