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The Fiend of Possession Template

Creating a Fiend of Possession
“Fiend of possession” is an acquired template that can be added to any outsider with the Evil subtype and at least 7 Hit Dice. The fiend of possesion retains all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted below.
Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature +3.
Special Abilities: The fiend of possession retains all of the special abilities of the base creature, and also gains the following.

Hide Presence (Su): The fiend can attempt to hide its presence from any effect that would reveal possession: it can pass through a magic circle against evil, enter a temple warded by forbiddance, or escape detection via a paladin’s detection ability. The fiend must make a caster level check, with a DC equal to the effect’s save DC. The fiend gains a +4 circumstance bonus on this check if it is not controlling the possessed creature or object at the time of the check.
If a possessed creature is subject to smite evil or holy smite, the fiend can attempt to hide its presence. If successful, the possessed creature takes damage appropriate to its actual alignment, but if the fiend fails the check, the possessed creature is affected as if it were the fiend.
Making this check is not an action; the fiend can do it in response to another creature’s action (such as casting a spell).

Possess Object (Su): A fiend of possession can possess an object on the Material Plane with a melee touch attack. The object must be at least Tiny and no larger than Huge. Magic items and attended items receive Will saving throws. Unattended nonmagical items are automatically possessed.
A fiend of possession becomes part of the object it possesses. The fiend is aware of what is going on around the object: it can see and hear up to 60 feet away as if using its normal senses. In any round in which it takes no other action (such as using a spell-like ability), it extends its senses to twice its normal range (120 feet). If the object has moving parts, the fiend can control that movement as a move-equivalent action.
The fiend is vulnerable to spells that specifically affect outsiders or creatures of the fiend’s alignment (such as holy word and holy smite, as well as chaos hammer or order’s wrath) and mind-affecting spells or effects, but it is unaffected by physical attacks or standard magical effects (such as fireball). Harming the object does not harm the fiend, although if the object is destroyed, the fiend is forced back into its physical form.
While possessing an object, a fiend of possession can use any ability it has that requires no physical action, such as using a spell-like ability or telepathy. It cannot cast spells (since it can neither speak nor move), attack physically, or perform any other physical action, until it reaches a high enough level to make the possessed object perform these tasks for it. At will, the fiend can afflict anyone touching the item with bestow dangerous curse if they fail a Will save. The affected creature does not know that the curse came from the item, and in fact might not know right away that she is affected by the curse. Nothing about the object’s appearance suggests that it is possessed. The curse lasts until it is removed, even if the fiend vacates the object it possessed.
The fiend also gains the ability to make a possessed weapon or armour function as a magic item. The fiend can bestow powers on the item with a value as an enhancement bonus of up to half its Charisma modifier (minimum +1, maximum +5). If the possessed item is already magical, the fiend can increase the powers on the item by the same amount. When a fiend uses this power on a nonmagical item, the possessed item does not actually become magical. Detect magic does not reveal an aura on the item.
If a fiend possessing an item attempts to possess a creature that uses the item or keeps it on its person, the targets save DC increases by 1 for each day the possessed item has been on its person or in its use, to a maximum of +10. A character who makes a DC 25 Perception check while examining the possessed item can tell that there is “something strange” about it.
Once per week, the fiend can force an object to animate (as the animate objects spell; caster level equal to the fiend’s Hit Dice).

Possess Creature (Su): A fiend of possession can also possess creatures with a melee touch attack. A protection from evil spell or similar magic wards a creature against being possessed in this manner. An unprotected target must make a Will saving throw. Evil creatures take a –2 penalty on this saving throw, as do creatures that are engaged in an evil act at the time the possession attempt occurs (at the DM’s discretion). If the saving throw is successful, that creature is immune to that fiend’s possession attempts for 24 hours. If the saving throw is failed, the creature is possessed, though it is not necessarily aware of this fact.
A fiend possessing a creature becomes part of the victim. It cannot be targeted by spells or attacks separately from the victim, including attacks from ethereal creatures. Damage taken by the possessed creature has no effect on the fiend. If the victim dies, the fiend is forced back into its physical form.
The fiend can sense anything the victim can, even including the benefits of blindsight or other exceptional senses the victim may have. At any time, the fiend of possession can communicate with the victim telepathically, projecting words in any language the victim understands directly into the victim’s thoughts. The fiend is constantly aware of the victim’s current thoughts. It can also choose to probe the creature’s memories as well, but the victim is allowed a Will save. If this saving throw is successful, the fiend cannot probe that creature’s thoughts for 24 hours.
The fiend can reward or punish a creature it is possessing. If the possessed creature is aware of the fiend’s presence and willing to host the fiend, the fiend can bestow a +4 profane bonus on any of the creature’s ability scores. This bonus lasts as long as the fiend wants it to: The fiend can retract it as a free action at any time, particularly if the possessed creature starts acting contrary to the fiend’s wishes. Similarly, a fiend of possession can bestow a –4 profane penalty on any of the possessed creature’s ability scores, usually when attempts to control the creature have failed or the creature contradicts the fiend’s wishes. As with the bonus, the fiend can remove this penalty at any time, as a free action. Bestowing either a bonus or a penalty is a free action for the possessing fiend.
A fiend of possession also gains the ability to exert direct control over a creature it is possessing. Attempting to establish control is a standard action for the fiend. The victim must make a Will save each round until the fiend abandons the attempt, or the victim fails a saving throw and the fiend gains control, or the victim makes three consecutive successful saves, indicating that the fiend cannot control the victim for 24 hours (though it remains in possession of the victim). Each round of struggle, the victim can take only a single move or standard action. Once the fiend gains control, it automatically maintains it for a number of rounds equal to its Wisdom modifier + its Charisma modifier, +1 for each previous occasion on which it has controlled this host.
While in control of a victim, the fiend of possession has access to all the creature’s abilities, skills, feats, and spell knowledge. The fiend now acts as if it is the creature in all respects, until it loses or relinquishes control. The fiend uses its own Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores, but adopts all of the possessed creature’s physical ability scores. It can make use of its own spell-like abilities as well. The fiend retains the creature’s type, and is affected by spells and other effects as if it were the possessed creature except in regard to its alignment. For instance, a cornugon possessing the body of a wolf is subject to spells that affect animals, even though it is far more intelligent than a common wolf. A balor possessing the body of a paladin is not subject to unholy blight, however, but it is fully affected by holy smite.
The fiend can choose whether the possessed creature retains awareness of its body’s senses and actions, in which case it can mentally communicate with the fiend, or simply blacks out for the duration of the control.
Spells such as dismissal and banishment are among the only effects that can target a fiend of possession separately from the object or creature it inhabits. When these spells are directed against a fiend of possession, the spell effect is resolved as if the fiend were in its normal, corporeal form, using its own Hit Dice, saving throws, ability scores, and so on.

Reality Wrinkles

The terrain of the Land of the Mists, although it seems solid, is in actuality nothing more than the mists of the Ethereal Plane made thick by the will of the Dark Powers. As such, it still responds to the emotions and soul stuff of those within it. When beings of pure good or pure evil walk the Land, their natures are so powerful and their wills so strong that they warp the fabric of the Land.

An outsider with the Good or Evil descriptor effectively creates its own mobile pocket domain. In general, the size of this reality wrinkle is proportionate to the outsider’s strength (around 300’ in radius per base Hit Dice, divided by its number of corruption points), but this can vary greatly. The wrinkle reflects the nature of the fiend – for demons that feed on fear and mistrust, shadows seem more animated, statues seem to move and familiar faces are suddenly alien and unforgiving. For demons that enjoy simple destruction, the air thrums with energy, the ground moves like a trapped animal and people are unusually quick to anger. Although the effects are subtle, particularly if the fiend is weak, it is possible to notice them (Spot DC 30 – the fiend’s CR). Paladins and good clerics gain a +2 competence bonus to this check.

There are two types of people who can automatically detect reality wrinkles, although they are ironically at opposite ends of the moral spectrum. Paladins can detect the true nature and presence of evil outsiders with their detect evil ability. Likewise, darklords are able to sense the usurpation of their power over an area of their domain and can track a demon that way. Within the wrinkle, darklords lose the rulership of their domain. Although they can’t leave their prison, they lose the Mastery, Closing the Borders, Sinkholes of Evil and Sense Disruption special abilities, as well as any other individual powers that comes from being a darklord. If the fiend decided to stand at the border, that section would be perfectly safe for mortals to cross, regardless of whether the darklord is within the wrinkle or not. For this reason, almost all darklords (particularly those with small domains) hate and fear demons and will do anything to get rid of them.

The reality wrinkle is different for Good outsiders. For a start, it is smaller; a celestial's reality wrinkle is only 50' per base Hit Dice in radius. Their inner purity boils away the matter around them. Those exposed to CG outsiders find their outer forms warping slowly to reflect their inner selves (known as the Twisting in its most well known exemplar), whereas LG outsiders simply burn out the impurities, preventing natural healing within their reality wrinkles and each day dealing 1 point of damage + 1 per “step” away from LG. Innocents and natural animals only suffer 1 point of damage per day. NG outsiders cause great internal conflict between the celestial's pure good and the base desires of those around it, requiring a Madness save (DC = 1 per day of exposure to the reality wrinkle) each day.

A character that becomes an outsider in Ravenloft can choose to gain the Mists descriptor instead of a Good or Evil descriptor, in which case they can pass through closed borders without harm but do not gain reality wrinkles and can never leave Ravenloft.



Note a couple of changes:

Reality wrinkles are back to about the size they were in 2e. The 3e ones are just ludicrously large, particularly if you're using the canon sizes for domains. Drigor's reality wrinkle, for example, would be 100,000 feet in diameter, or 20 miles across: more or less the original size of Barovia or Dementlieu.

Reality wrinkles are based on base Hit Dice not CR, so gaining or losing templates, land based powers, mythic tiers or whatever doesn't make the wrinkle increase or decrease in size. However, detecting the wrinkle is based on CR, so becoming more powerful makes your wrinkle more obvious.

Celestial wrinkles are smaller again, largely because they're so destructive and to match what we know about Isolde's reality wrinkle. They all take time to really show their effects though (in most cases).

I settled on the size based on in-game information: we know from Carnival that Isolde sets the wagons in a ring about 300 ft in radius. This is what makes Professor Pacali think Isolde may be Elsepeth (the succubus). I therefore did some juggling to get the numbers to more or less match. As it is, Isolde's reality wrinkle is still twice as large as it should be, but I justify this by saying she sets the ring well inside her borders to make sure all of her charges are safe.

The fiends themselves:

Name Type Hit Dice Corruption points Reality wrinkle radius (ft)
Baltoi Marilith 16 20 250
Black Duke Cornugon of blasphemy 15 3 1500
Chateaufaux Amnizu Amnizu [doesn’t exist in Pathfinder] 13? 6 650
Chateuafaux Barbazu Barbazu 6 0 1800
Drigor Shator (perhaps of possession) 25 0 7500
Elsepeth Succubus (perhaps of corruption) 8 8 300
Gentleman Caller Incubus [male succubus, not the Pathfinder incubus] (perhaps of corruption, perhaps mythic, perhaps advanced) 8? 3? 800
Inajira Arcanoloth [meladaemon wizard 12 of corruption] 26 0 7800
Malistroi Nalfeshnee 14 15 250
Whistling Fiend Babau 7 14 150
Isolde Ghaele 13 0 650

Great stuff! Like how you resurrected the BoVD too.

Nearing the end now.



Ancient Dead

The ancient dead, also known as the deathless, the undying, or the eternal, were once living creatures who have simply refused to relinquish their grasp on their life force. Their grasp on life’s spark is so strong that unlike other undead, they are animated by equal parts of positive and negative energy.
Because positive energy still flows through the deathless, their bodies are not ravaged by rot and decay, as is frequently the case with corporeal undead. Instead, the physical body of a deathless is often remarkably well preserved compared to the truly dead. Rather than decomposing, the deathless often simply shrivel and dry, their flesh desiccating and their skin turning leathery or papery. Their features may remain easily recognizable even millennia after their demise. Mummification is vital to the process; if the corpse is not properly preserved, the deathless spirit cannot return to its mortal shell. This mummification may occur naturally, but in the case of more powerful ancient dead, it is often the result of elaborate and deliberate funereal procedures.
The ancient dead are not intrinsically drawn to evil. Indeed, in other worlds, the deathless are often considered a mirror image to the undead, a good equivalent to their evil. Unlike many forms of undead, the ancient dead have neither the need nor the desire to feed on the living to preserve their existence. Most remarkably, deathless spirits are not trapped by their mortal ties. Their spirits are free to travel to the afterlife destined for them, returning to their mortal shells only when the need arises. Unlike the eternally restless undead, the deathless may spend years, decades, or centuries at a time lying in peace, their bodies inert while their departed souls are buoyed by the rewards of heaven.
In Ravenloft, however, the spirits of the ancient dead are as tightly bound by the Mists as all mortal creatures within the Dark Powers’ grasp; they are denied the gates of heaven. When their spirits shed their mortal shells, they find only oblivion waiting for them. When they are not called to rise, they lie in restless slumber, a limbo of yawning nothingness punctuated only by their dreams and memories of the life behind them. It is not negative energy that turns the ancient dead to evil; it is their obsession with an increasingly distant mortal existence that sours their souls and turns them to madness; an unwillingness to relinquish a life that they have long since spent. Beware those who are offered eternity in the afterlife they have earned — and possess the force of will to refuse it.
An ancient’s rank and (usually) salient abilities are fixed at the moment of its creation and cannot be changed, except in extremely unusual circumstances.


The Ancient Dead Template
Creating an Ancient Dead
“Ancient Dead” is an acquired template that can be added to any living corporeal creature. Most ancients are humanoids or animals. An ancient retains all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted below.

Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature, + ancient’s rank.

Type: The creature’s type changes to undead (augmented). Do not recalculate class Hit Dice, base attack bonuses or saves.

Senses: An ancient gains darkvision 60 ft.

Armour Class: The ancient’s natural armour bonus improves by +5 over that of the base creature.

Hit Dice: Change all racial Hit Dice to d8s. Class Hit Dice are unaffected. As undead, ancients use their Charisma modifier to determine bonus hit points (instead of Constitution).

Defensive Abilities: An ancient retains all of the defensive abilities of the base creature. It gains darkvision 60 ft., damage reduction 5/-, energy resistances as shown in the table below, and all of the immunities granted by the undead type. Ancients also gain the rejuvenation ability.

Rank Str Dex Int Wis Cha Resistances
1 +4 +0 -4 +2 +2 -
2 +6 +2 -2 +4 +2 Resist 1 energy type 10
3 +8 +4 +0 +6 +4 Resist 1 energy type 10, resist blows
4 +10 +6 +2 +8 +4 Immune 1 energy type, resist blows
5 +12 +8 +4 +10 +6 Resist 10, immune 1 type, resist blows

Energy Resistances/Immunities: Ancients are remarkably resistant to damage. Most powerful ancients have energy resistance 10 to a particular energy type (typically determined by their method of preservation, so those preserved in bogs or ice resist fire, for example). The most powerful ancients are completely immune to one energy type and have energy resistance 10 to another energy type.

Rejuvenation: As if their physical invulnerability were not enough, the ancient dead are capable of drawing energy to repair their bodies and heal damage. This is a relatively slow process and requires the ancient to retreat into deathless slumber. As the ancient’s spirit dreams of life, its physical body falls inert for a period of time. An inert ancient is essentially a corpse; it is incapable of action, cannot perceive its surroundings, and is a helpless defender. An ancient that has started the rejuvenation process cannot end it until it is completed.
The rate of rejuvenation depends on the ancient’s rank. Also shown is the time an ancient must lie inert before beginning its rejuvenation, and the time it must lie inert after.

Rank Rate Rest
1 5 hp/day 1 week/1 day
2 6 hp/hour 1 day/1 day
3 12 hp/hour 1 day/1 hour
4 1 hp/min 1 hour/1 hour
5 2 hp/min 1 hour/none

Resist Blows: Ancients with this ability take only half damage from melee and ranged weapons, natural weapons and falls. This reduction is applied before damage reduction.

Speed: Ancients retain their previous speeds.

Melee: An ancient gains a slam attack if the base creature didn’t have one. Damage for the slam is equal to a creature of one size larger than the base creature. Its slam also causes energy drain (see below). Its natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Special Attacks: An ancient retains all the special attacks of the base creature. It gains a number of salient abilities equal to half its Hit Dice plus twice its rank. The save DC against an ancient’s special attack is equal to 10 + 1/2 ancient’s HD + ancient’s Wisdom modifier unless otherwise noted. Additional abilities beyond these can be designed at the GM’s discretion
The ancient also gains the despair and disease special attacks.

Despair: All creatures within a 30-foot radius that see an ancient must make a Will save or be frightened for 1d4 rounds. Whether or not the save is successful, that creature cannot be affected again by the same ancient’s despair ability for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting fear affect. The save DC is Wisdom-based.

Disease: Disease—slam (or claw); save Fort; onset 1 minute; frequency 1 day; effect 1d3 damage to 2 abilities, or 1d6 to one; cure —. Creatures afflicted with an ancient’s disease do not heal naturally and gain only one-half benefit from magical healing until the disease is cured. The save DC is Wisdom-based, plus the ancient’s rank.

Abilities: As shown in the table above. As an undead creature, an ancient has no Constitution score.

Skills: Ancients have a +8 racial bonus on Perception and Stealth skill checks. An ancient always treats Appraise, Fly, Intimidate, Knowledge (history), Knowledge (religion), Perception, Sense Motive and Stealth as class skills. Otherwise, skills are the same as the base creature.

Salient Abilities

Animate Objects: Once per day, as a standard action, an ancient dead can animate an object as if using the animate objects spell cast by a cleric of a level equal to the ancient’s Hit Dice.

Banish: Once per day per rank, the ancient can teleport all creatures within 50 feet of it to randomly determined locations. The ancient can only banish creatures of which it is aware and to which it has line of sight. A successful Will save negates this effect.
An affected creature is teleported in a random direction (roll 1d8, with 1 indicating north and the other numbers indicating compass going clockwise) and a random distance (1d10 × 100 feet per rank) away from the ancient; determine each creature’s direction randomly. A teleported creature arrives in the closest open space to the determined destination, but must appear on a solid surface capable of supporting its weight. If there is no appropriate destination in that direction, the creature does not teleport at all.
The save DC is Wisdom-based. Ancients with this salient ability must select 1 less salient ability than normal.

Breath of Death: Once every 1d4 rounds, an ancient can breathe a 30-foot cone of tomb gas, sand, and dust. Each living creature in the area must succeed on a Fortitude save or gain 1d4 negative levels. A creature killed by an ancient's breath of death ability rises as a rank 1 ancient dead or a juju zombie in 1d4 rounds. A servitor created in this manner is under the command of its creator and remains so until either it or the creator is destroyed. The ancient must be at least rank 3 to select this salient ability.

Change Shape: The ancient possesses the change shape special quality and can alter its appearance at will. This takes effect as a beast shape spell of level equal to the ancient’s rank. Thus, a rank 1 undead would cast beast shape I, whereas a rank 4 or 5 ancient would cast beast shape IV.

Channel Resistance: The ancient has channel resistance equal to 1 + its rank.

Command Animal: The ancient can exert control over one specific type of animal. Common animals include cats, eagles, jackals, hawks, monkeys, rats, vultures, and wolves. The ancient can cast summon nature’s ally 3/ day as a druid of a level equal to the ancient’s Hit Dice. The highest level of summon nature’s ally available to a druid of that level can be used. This power is most common among ancient who worship a deity associated with the given animal. This is a supernatural ability.

Create Spawn: Any creature killed by an ancient’s disease ability turns to dust and blows away on the wind. If the ancient that infected the creature with the disease is not destroyed within 1 week, the dust reforms next to it as a new ancient dead. An ancient created in this manner is under the command of its creator and remains so until either it or the creator is destroyed.
In some cases, other methods for preventing the victim’s rebirth as an ancient may be possible, such as capturing the remains before they vanish and casting remove curse, remove disease and resurrection.

Curse of Vengeance: The ancient can curse its opponents with greater ease than normal. When laying a curse of vengeance, the ancient gains a divine bonus to its curse check equal to +4 + ancient’s rank.

Deathbringer: The ancient’s disease ability is increased in power. The effect of the disease is increased to dealing 1d6 damage to 2 abilities. If this salient ability is selected a second time, the damage increased to 1d8.

Delay Plague: As a free action, the ancient can lengthen the incubation period of its ancient plague power if it wishes, making it potentially difficult for afflicted victims to tell exactly when or how they contracted the disease. The ancient can lengthen the incubation period to as long as its rank in days. The ancient can choose whether or not to use this ability each time it afflicts a new victim.

Demand Submission: As a free action, an ancient can automatically command all undead within 30 feet that have fewer Hit Dice and lower Charisma scores than those of the ancient. These undead never attack an ancient unless compelled.

Desiccating Touch: Each time an ancient with this ability touches a living creature, the creature must make a Fortitude save or take 4d6 points of damage as moisture is evaporated from its body. This impact is especially devastating to plants and creatures with the water subtype (such as water elementals), which take 4d8 points of damage. Even on a successful save, a creature still loses moisture, taking half damage. The save DC is Wisdom-based. All water deals damage to ancients with this ability as if it were holy water.

Divine Wrath: The ancient deals extra holy or unholy damage equal to its Wisdom bonus when using its natural weapons.

Dominate: An ancient can crush a humanoid opponent’s will as a standard action. Anyone the ancient targets must succeed on a Will save or fall instantly under the ancient’s influence, as though by a dominate person spell (caster level 12th or the ancient’s Hit Dice). The ability has a range of 30 feet. At the GM’s discretion, some ancients might be able to affect different creature types with this power.

Elemental Affinity: The ancient gains its choice of one of the four elemental cleric domains (Air, Earth, Fire, or Water) as a bonus domain. It receives the granted power for that cleric domain and, if it has cleric levels, can cast spells from that domain’s spell list as domain spells. The ancient’s other cleric domains, if any, are unaffected.

Elemental Command: To qualify for this salient power, the ancient must also have the elemental affinity power. Once per day, the ancient can create an elemental from its own willpower. There is no risk of the elemental being corrupted or disobeying its master, and it does not have the extraplanar quality. The elemental serves for up to 1 hour per rank before dissipating, or until the ancient dismisses it (a free action).
The elemental’s power is determined by the ancient’s rank:

Ancient’s Rank Elemental Created
One Small
Two Medium
Three Large
Four Greater
Five Elder


Energy Resistance: The ancient has the energy resistance of equivalent to an ancient of one rank higher.

Faithless: The ancient’s aura of despair is imbued with profane energy. The ancient and all undead creatures within 30 ft receive a +2 profane bonus on Will saves made to resist channelled energy and any effects based off that ability. For ancient of rank 3 or higher, the bonus increases to +4. This bonus stacks with channel resistance. This ability can be selected multiple times. Each time doubles the profane bonus or increases the radius of the effect by 30 ft.

Fast Healing: The ancient gains fast healing equal to its rank. This ability can be selected multiple times.

Gaze of Despair: Any creature within 100 feet of an ancient that meets its gaze must succeed on a Fortitude save or be subject to its despair aura.

Grab: The ancient gains the grab ability. The ancient must hit with a natural attack (such as its slam attack) to use this special attack.

Improved Abilities: One of the ancient’s ability scores increases by 5. This salient ability can be selected more than once.

Improved Natural Armour: The ancient’s natural armour bonus increases by 5.

Increased Speed: The ancient’s speed is increased by 10 ft.

Onslaught: One of the ancient’s types of natural attacks deals damage as though the ancient were one size larger. This ability can be selected more than once.

Overwhelming Despair: The ancient’s aura of despair increases in size by 30 ft.

Passage: The ancient can create passages through stone, earth, wood, or similar materials as if it were casting the spell phase door as cast by a sorcerer of a level equal to the ancient’s Hit Dice. An ancient can create a number of passages each hour equal to its rank.

Pristine Appearance: The ancient’s flesh has been perfectly preserved in death, retaining its mortal appearance. To all outward visual inspection, the ancient appears to be alive. This grants the ancient a +10 circumstance bonus on Disguise checks to pose as a living creature.

Spell Resistance: The ancient dead gains spell resistance 10 + 1/2 ancient’s Hit Dice + ancient’s rank. If this ability is selected a second time, the ancient can also apply its Wisdom bonus to its spell resistance.

Spell-like Abilities: The ancient can cast a single spell 3/day (or 3 spells 1/day each) as a spell-like ability. The spell can be of any spell level able to be cast by a cleric of level equal to the ancient’s Hit Dice (although it need not be selected from the cleric’s spell list). The ancient’s caster level is equal to its Hit Dice. Saves are Wisdom-based.
This salient ability can be selected more than once. Addition selections add more spells, or increase the number of uses per day from 3 to at will. Alternately, a previously selected spell-like ability becomes empowered. If selected twice, the spell becomes quickened instead.

Summon Swarm: At will, the ancient can call forth one or more swarms of rats or vermin such as scorpions, grave scarabs, or locusts. The ancient can control a number of swarms at once equal to its rank. This ability otherwise functions as the spell summon swarm (caster level = ancient’s Hit Dice). This is a spell-like ability.

Symbiosis: The ancient’s body is home to living parasites, such scorpions, scarabs, green slime, yellow mould, or brown mould. Any opponent that grapples with the ancient or is struck by its natural weapons is exposed to the parasites. The ancient is unaffected by its own parasites.

Terrain Stride: The ancient can move normally in difficult terrain of one particular type, such as desert sands or bogs.

Terrifying: Instead of causing creatures to be frightened, the ancient’s despair aura causes those who fail their saves to be panicked for 1d4 rounds. If this salient ability is selected a second time, they are paralysed with fear for 1d4 rounds instead. This is a paralysation effect.

Vengeance: The ancient’s disease ability is extremely pernicious; those who offend the ancient are cursed as well as diseased. The disease can only be cured if the curse is first removed, at which point the disease can be magically removed. A creature afflicted with the ancient’s disease cannot recover naturally over time. Anyone casting a conjuration (healing) spell on the afflicted creature must succeed on a DC 20 caster level check, or the spell is wasted and the healing has no effect. Anyone who dies from this affliction turns to dust and cannot be raised without a resurrection or greater magic.

Vicious: Instead of gaining a single slam attack, the ancient gains 2 claw attacks. These inflict normal damage for a creature of the ancient’s size. If selected again, the ancient gains a bite attack as a secondary attack.

Weightlessness: To qualify for this salient power, the ancient must be at least third rank. A third-rank ancient can pass over water and similar liquids as if they were solid. A fourth-rank ancient gains the ability to levitate at will (caster level equal to Hit Dice; self only). A fifth-rank ancient gains a fly speed of 20 feet with clumsy maneuverability. These abilities are cumulative; a fifth-rank ancient can fly and gains all four abilities of lesser ranks.

Salient Weaknesses

Barrier: A solid line made out of some unusual substance (such as powdered silver poured across a doorframe or a circle of flower petals) presents a barrier to the ancient. The ancient must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 its own HD + that creature’s Cha modifier) to cross the barrier. If the ancient fails the saving throw, it cannot even approach the barrier.

Bound: The ancient can only exist so long as a particular person (including perhaps another ancient dead), object or place is left intact. If the bound object is destroyed, the ancient is instantly destroyed too.

Dependence: The ancient must perform a particular ritual or ingest a certain rare substance at given intervals or it is weakened. If the ritual is prevented, it may lose certain powers or invulnerabilities, or even be destroyed.

Fated Object: The ancient may be particularly vulnerable to a specific object or material. This object is inescapably destined to aid in the ancient’s downfall, and as such is always intrinsically tied to the ancient’s mortal past. Careful investigation can often uncover such ties. For example, an ancient that was an infamous burglar in life may not be able to escape if wrapped in chains made of gold molded from its own stolen riches, regardless of its strength.
If the fated object is a weapon, then the fated weapon automatically bypasses the ancient’s rank-based damage reduction (but not the 5/– it receives for its tough, dry flesh). In addition, the ancient suffers half again (+50%) as much damage from attacks made with that specific weapon. If the fated weapon deals enough damage to destroy the ancient, the deathless creature cannot rejuvenate and is permanently slain.

Hale: The ancient does not have the disease ability.

Reduced Damage: The ancient’s slam attack deals normal damage for a creature of its size, rather than one size larger.

Reduced Damage Reduction: The ancient is less resistant to physical damage than is typical. If this salient ability is selected once, the ancient has DR 10/silver (a single special material) or DR 5/silver and magic (two special conditions). If selected again, the ancient has DR 5/silver or magic (two special conditions) or DR 10/bludgeoning or magic (two common conditions).

Reduced Despair: The ancient’s aura is less supernaturally frightening than that of other ancients. Instead of causing creatures who fail their save to be frightened, they are only shaken for 1d4 rounds.
Alternately, it is the size of the aura that is reduced, not its effect. If this salient weakness is selected once, the ancient’s aura of despair is reduced to only 10 ft. If selected again, the ancient either has no despair aura at all or, at higher ranks, can only cause fear with a successful slam or claw attack. Only one creature can be affected per round by a touch of despair.

Ritual of Retirement: Fifth-rank ancients can rejuvenate their bodies even from total destruction. The only way to permanently destroy a fifth-rank ancient is to perform a ritual of retirement. Rituals of retirement are ceremonies steeped in the ancient’s culture, usually of a funereal bent. Most take at least an hour to perform and require some object that belonged to the ancient in life as its focus. The exact details of a ritual of retirement can vary greatly, but if a ritual of retirement is completed, the ancient it targets is instantly and permanently destroyed, no matter where it might be.
The details of rituals of retirement are often inscribed within the tomb of an ancient at the time of interment, but most ancients destroy these inscriptions upon animating. Discovering an ancient’s ritual of retirement may therefore require extensive research into the history and culture from which the ancient hails.

Slow: The ancient’s speed is decreased by 10 ft.

Vulnerability: The ancient is vulnerable to a particular type of energy or effect. It takes half again as much damage (+50%) from a specific energy type, regardless of whether a saving throw is allowed or if the save is a success or failure. Ancients with a vulnerability that is not an energy type instead take a –4 penalty on saves against spells and effects that cause or use the listed vulnerability (such as spells with the light descriptor).

Sample Ancients
Name Base Creature Rank Salient Abilities Salient Weaknesses CR
Bog mummy Human aristocrat 8 2 Create spawn, deathbringer, improved abilities (Str), improved natural armour (2), terrain stride, terrifying (2), vengeance Slow, vulnerable to cold 6
Crypt Cat Cat 1 Energy resistance 1/2
Crypt Thing Half-elf aristocrat 8 1 Banish, channel resistance, improved abilities (Str, Int), improved natural armour, onslaught, spell-like abilities (3), vicious Hale, reduced despair (size), reduced DR (2) 5
Crypt Warden Human warrior 9 3 Animate objects, divine wrath, improved natural armour, spell resistance (2), spell-like abilities (2)

8
Huecuva Human fallen cleric 3 1 Faithless (2), improved natural armour, spell-like abilities, vicious
Reduced DR (2) 3
Mummy Human aristocrat 8 1 Deathbringer, improved abilities (2, Str), improved natural armour (2), terrifying (2), vengeance Slow, vulnerable to fire 5
Salt mummy Human aristocrat 12 2 Desiccating touch, improved abilities (3, Str), improved natural armour (4), onslaught Hale 8
Spawn of Kyuss Human fallen cleric 4 3 Channel resistance, create spawn, deathbringer, fast healing (2), improved abilities (Cha, 2 Str) 5

Ankhtepot (Har’Akir)
(The Amber Wastes)

Timeline
c495 BC Born in the Black Land.
551 BC Murdered in his sleep by his priests; remains aware as he is mummified. Becomes darklord of Har’Akir. The first awakening. Likely awakens every 30 years or so.
738 BC Senmet’s coup fails; Ankhtepot awakens for the seventh time.
746 BC The Amber Wastes form.
760 BC Present day.

Powers Checks
Caress (Blasphemy and Violence: evil experiments on slaves: 8%; c540 BC): The Black Land is cursed. Loses ability to transform into an eagle.
Enticement (Blasphemy: razes the temples of Ra: 100%; c550 BC): Improved natural armour. Loses other cleric powers?
Invitation (Blasphemy: curses Ra to his face: 64%; c550 BC): Cursed by Ra. Disease touch.
Embrace (Black Magic and Blasphemy: learns necromancy: 16%; 550 BC): Despair.
Creature (Blasphemy: breaks from the church of Ra: 8%; 551 BC): Becomes an ancient dead and darklord of Har’Akir. Regains cleric powers. Become human.

Base stats
S 12 D 12 C 10 I 11 W 16 Ch 14 (high fantasy)
Racial: Wis +2 (human)
Levelling: Wis +3
Aging: Old
Favoured class: hp
CR 20 (14 [levels] + 5 [template] + 1 [darklord abilities])

760 BC (Current day stats)
CR 20 XP 307,200
Male Old Human Cleric of Ra 15 Rank Five Ancient Dead
CE Medium Undead (augmented humanoid, human)
Init: +7 (Dex, feat) Senses: Darkvision 60 ft; Perception +27
Aura: despair (60 ft, DC 33), faithless (30 ft, +4 channel resistance), chaos, evil
Defense
AC 39 Touch 16 Flat-footed 36 (+3 Dex, +20 natural, +3 deflection)
hp 176 (8 +14d8 +15 +90), fast healing 5
Fort +11, Ref +10, Will +22
Resist electricity 20, fire 20, acid 10
Immune cold
DR 5/-
Resist blows
Rejuvenation
SR 22
Channel resistance +21
Offense
Spd 30 ft.
Melee +20 slam (2d6+20 plus disease)
Ranged +14
Space/Reach: 5’/5’
S 21 D 17 C - I 17 W 33 Ch 22
BAB +11 CMB +16 CMD 32 (29)

Feats
Combat Casting, Combat Reflexes, Command Undead (DC 23), Destructive Dispel, Divine Interference, Improved Initiative, Piercing Spell, Quicken Spell, Scribe Scroll

Skills
Bluff +9 (0), Diplomacy +13 (1), Fly +8 (2), Intimidate +24 (12), Knowledge (arcana) +16 (10), Knowledge (history) +16 (10), Knowledge (nature) +10 (7), Knowledge (nobility) +10 (4), Knowledge (planes) +15 (9), Knowledge (religion) +15 (9), Linguistics +12 (6), Perception +27 (5), Sense Motive +16 (2), Spellcraft +18 (12), Stealth +15 (1)
Languages
Akiri*, Abyssal, Auran, Celestial, Draconic, Ignan, Infernal, Terran

Treasure
(159,000 gp)
Amulet of mighty fists +4/natural armour +3, circlet of persuasion/major crown of blasting/medallion of thoughts, ring of protection +3, cloak of resistance +2

Special
Channel negative energy (9/day, 8d6, DC 23)
Fire bolt/lightning arc (14/day each, 1d6+7 damage, 30 ft ranged touch attack)
Spontaneous casting
Resist blows
Rejuvenation
Despair (60 ft, paralysed 1d4 rds)
Disease (DC 33; 1d6 Cha drain, 1d3 Str drain, 1d3 Con drain, plus nauseated if stressed; DC 20 caster level check to heal afflicted, no natural healing, requires remove curse plus 1 remove disease per day of infection, all cast in one day to remove)
Spell resistance 22
Create spawn (mummify alive those afflicted with disease)
Curse of vengeance (+9 to curses)
Fast healing 5
Faithless (+4)
Divine wrath
Vengeance
Terrifying (2)
Onslaught (2)
Deathbringer (3)
Improved natural armour (4)
Overwhelming despair
Become human
Mastery +6
Sinkhole of evil

Spell-like Abilities
DC 21 + spell level; CL 15
1/day – daylight, flame strike, sunbeam

Typical Spells
Domains: Air, Fire
DC 21 + spell level
0 – resistance, read magic, light, detect magic
1 – shield of faith, divine favour, bane, cause fear, command, doom, sanctuary, obscuring mist
2 – resist energy, wind wall, desecrate, aid, darkness, shard of chaos, spiritual weapon (2)
3 – searing light, gaseous form, magic circle against good, animate dead, contagion, dispel magic, blindness/deafness, deadly juggernaut
4 – poison, divine power, wall of fire, air walk, debilitating portent, summon monster IV (2)
5 – righteous might, flame strike, greater command, mass inflict light wounds, insect plague, control winds, reprobation
6 – greater dispel magic, harm, blade barrier, chain lightning, dust form, epidemic
7 – elemental body IV, control weather, blasphemy, summon monster VII (2)
8 – earthquake, fire storm, whirlwind

Ankhtepot (human form)
CR 1/2
Male Human Aristocrat 1
CE Medium Humanoid (human)
Init +5; Senses: Perception +8
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 13 (+1 Dex, +3 deflection)
hp 8 (1d8)
Fort +0, Ref +1, Will +6
Spd 30 ft.
Melee Unarmed Strike +1 (1d3+1/20/x2)
Str 12, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 11, Wis 18, Cha 14
Base Atk +0; CMB +1; CMD 15
Improved Initiative, Combat Reflexes; Diplomacy +6 (1), Intimidate +6 (1), Knowledge (arcana) +4 (1), Knowledge (history) +13 (1 plus bonus), Knowledge (nature) +10 (1 plus bonus), Knowledge (nobility) +7 (1 plus bonus), Knowledge (planes) +4 (1), Knowledge (religion) +12 (1 plus bonus), Linguistics +9 (1 plus bonus), Perception +8 (1), Sense Motive +8 (1), Stealth +2 (1); Akiri*, Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Ignan, Infernal, Terran
Ring of Protection +3
Bonus skill points from age and curse

So I will be running a game here soon possibly stealing or borrowing from this topic. Curiously, what would you do for someone that wants to play an Aasimar Paladin?

Should I force them to be an Outsider from the other realms or could one be born in Ravenloft? To me the player is going to have an interesting time in Ravenloft, but he wants to be a native which I looked through the topic and couldn't find anything on the advanced races save for use DM discretion I think. Was wondering your take, you did mention Tieflings though. xD

DM discretion.

I don't like aasimar personally, and particularly not aasimar paladins. But that's just my opinion. I'd start with talking to your player about why they want to play an aasimar paladin, as opposed to a human paladin or anything else, and then taking it from there. If the answer is "because paladins need Wisdom and Charisma, and I get a bonus to both those stats with no ability penalty, plus a perception bonus" then I personally wouldn't bend over backwards to accommodate them.

There are some important considerations: compared to other races, they are overpowered by abilities (i.e. their abilities are worth 15 RP, rather than the 10 the core races are worth). As outsiders, they're immune to a fair number of spells, like charm person, hold person, anti-life shell, etc. They're also obviously inhuman, which means they'd provoke xenophobia, and because they're so rare, they wouldn't have a positive reputation to circumvent that.

Tieflings fit better into Ravenloft than aasimar, because fiends are more common and obvious than angels (Isolde is the only canon angel, after all). I've talked extensively before about how Good and Evil are both active forces in a gothic world, but the Good is more subtle and less direct, so in that sense, aasimar aren't as genre appropriate as tieflings might be.

One could be born in Ravenloft due to the influence of Isolde or a non-canon angel (not necessarily interbreeding - just being born in their reality wrinkles, or while they were possessing someone loah-style might be enough), or through actual planar or divine influence. The planar influence may not be the work of the forces of Good either - I can imagine some of the research- or purity-minded darklords deliberately engineering one as a tool or an experiment. Being claimed by Darkon would also make him think he was a native when he wasn't.

angel + human = cannot be effected by spells? o.O' where's that in the rules? Just want to double check, I did not know they would be immune to charm person or things like that!

Indeed I'll be asking those questions here soon however. I'm more thinking he wants to try and see how well a 'pure thing' does in a corrupted land. How long it takes to start bending ways or how long they survive.

Your last paragraph gives me ideas of possible origins indeed. Thanks for the response. I don't like to stay no a lot as a DM i try to do the "Yes and..." and see if they accept the consequences i lay before them. I was wondering what your take on one would be. I'll make sure it isn't just for the stat or meta game reasons.

Zilfer wrote:angel + human = cannot be effected by spells? o.O' where's that in the rules? Just want to double check, I did not know they would be immune to charm person or things like that!

Aasimars and tieflings are native outsiders rather than humanoids.

^ You learn something new every day though they do have a "scion of humanity" which considers you a human as well which I was wondering what my player was talking about at first but now I realize that's what he was talking about. xD

Believe it's a trait.

Thanks for your input sorry to detract from the thread!

It's not detracting from the thread at all. It's what (among other things) the thread is for!


This week, another (very dense) template - and one I would particularly like feedback on. All the others existed as templates in some form or other before I got my grubby little fingers on them. This one, however, is completely new.

Who know what evil lurks in the hearts of men? But...