by Phaedros » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:26 pm
Risen Salient Abilities
Alternate Form (Su)
The risen may take animal form.
Benefits: The risen can assume the shape of one of any two animals (or dire versions thereof) as a standard action. These animals may not have more HD than the risen itself. This ability is similar to a polymorph spell cast by a caster of a level equal to the risen's HD, except that the risen does not regain hit points for changing form and must choose from among those two forms. While in its alternate form, the risen loses its natural attacks, but it gains the natural weapons and extraordinary special attacks of its new form. It can remain in that form until it assumes another.
Bestial (Ex)
Death has twisted the risen into a bestial, animalistic form.
Prerequisites: Wis 9+.
Benefits: The risen gains two claw attacks and one bite attack, which inflict damage according to the table below:
Size Claw Damage Bite Damage
Fine 1 1
Diminutive 1d2 1
Tiny 1d3 1d2
Small 1d4 1d3
Medium 1d6 1d4
Large 1d8 1d6
Huge 2d6 1d8
Gargantuan 3d6 2d6
Colossal 4d6 3d6
Note: A risen which has taken the Pristine salient ability may not take the Bestial salient ability.
Curse of the Pharaoh (Su)
The risen can call down a terrible curse upon those who dare violate its tomb.
Prerequisites: Venerable or mightier, Cha 15+.
Benefits: Whenever any living creature enters the tomb of the risen (for the purposes of this ability, a "tomb" is the area that the Risen regards as its personal dwelling - some very powerful risen have this power cover entire cities), the risen is not only instantly aware of the intruder, its name, alignment and patron deity (if any) but it may also, at its choice, use bestow greater curse upon it. Furthermore, unless the trespasser is of higher level than the risen, it receives no save.
Dark Blessing (Ex)
The risen is utterly evil, and its ties to the negative energy plane protect it.
Prerequisites: Venerable or mightier, cleric level 10+, Cha 21+.
Benefits: The risen may add it's Charisma modifier to all saving throws. This does not stack with the blackguard ability of the same name.
Elemental Mastery (Su)
The risen's command of the elements is legendary.
Prerequisites: Ancient or greater, 20th level cleric with the Air, Earth, Fire or Water domain, immune to corresponding energy type, Elemental Power.
Benefits:
Air: Gains a competence bonus on attack rolls, damage, and Armor Class equal to its rank if both it and its foe are airborne.
Earth: Gains a competence bonus on attack rolls, damage, and Armor Class equal to its rank if both it and its foe are touching the ground.
Fire: Gains a competence bonus on attack rolls, damage, and Armor Class equal to its rank if both it and its foe are touching fire or using weapons with the flaming or flaming burst special abilities.
Water: Gains a competence bonus on attack, damage, and Armor Class equal to its rank if both it and its foe are touching the same body of water.
Elemental Power (Ex)
The risen has great command over the elements.
Prerequisites: Restless or greater, 10th level cleric with the Air, Earth, Fire or Water domain, immune to corresponding energy type.
Benefits:
Air: Fly at twice land speed
Earth: Burrow at twice land speed
Fire: 1d6 extra fire damage on every strike
Water: Swim at twice land speed
Energy Drain (Su)
The risen can permanently drain a creature's lifeforce.
Prerequisites: Cha 19+, Touch of Death.
Benefits: The risen's natural weapons and unarmed strikes (including its touch attack) deal one negative level per rank. This may be used once per round.
Feeder of Flesh (Ex)
The risen has a ghoul-like craving for the flesh of the dead.
Prerequisites: Restless or mightier.
Benefits: The risen can devour the corpses of the dead, allowing it to consume the negative energy that lingers around corpses. As a full round action, the risen can devour the corpse of a creature of the same size class or smaller, gaining 1 corpse point per HD the target had. The risen can never have more corpse points than its own HD. For every size category the creature is larger than the risen, it takes an additional full round action to devour the corpse.
The risen can spend two corpse points to heal itself for 3 hit points, as a free action.
Grand Seer (Su)
A few risen have achieved such mastery over the necromantic energies that fill them that they can channel the same powers of other risen, allowing them to create massive perturbations of the Temporalis Procealis, through which they witness possible futures.
Prerequisites: Deified or mightier, Seer, Watcher and Feeder of Flesh salient abilities, Cha 20+.
Benefits: When the risen enters a trance using the Seer ability, it can see 1 hour into the future per corpse point spent, instead of one minute. If there are other risen with the Feeder of Flesh salient ability within 100 ft. of the risen, it may use their corpse points to fuel this ability in addition to its own. For every risen with the Grand Seer salient ability within 50 ft. of the risen, it can see an additional one hour into the future with the expenditure of each corpse point (so if five risen with the Grand Seer salient ability were within 50 ft. of each other, each would see 6 hours into the future with the expenditure of each corpse point.)
Greater Rejuvenation (Su)
The risen simply can not be destroyed.
Prerequisites: Ancient or mightier, rejuvenation.
Benefits: Even if completely destroyed, the risen reappears, fully healed, one week (minus one day per rank) after it is reduced to 0 hit points.
Impervious (Ex)
The risen has no discernible weaknesses.
Benefit: The risen has no energy vulnerability.
Indestructible (Ex)
The risen is immune to nearly all attempts to harm it.
Prerequisites: Deified or mightier, Impervious, Invulnerable.
Benefits: The risen is immune to 3 types of energy and has resistance 20 to the other two.
Invulnerable (Ex)
The risen seems near unstoppable.
Prerequisites: Venerable or mightier, Impervious.
Benefits: The risen is immune to 2 types of energy and has resistance 15 to another two.
Mummy Rot (Su)
The risen is infected with foul diseases.
Benefits: The natural weapons and unarmed strikes (including touch attack) of the risen carry a supernatural disease. The Fortitude save, incubation period and damage are according to table below.
Walking: Incubation period 1 hour, damage 1d4 Con and 1d4 Cha.
Restless: Incubation period 10 minutes, damage 1d6 Con and 1d6 Cha.
Venerable: Incubation period 1 minute, damage 1d8 Con and 1d8 Cha.
Ancient: Incubation period 1 round, damage 2d6 Con and 2d6 Cha.
Deified: Incubation period 1 round, damage 3d6 Con and 3d6 Cha.
Transcendent: Incubation period 1 round, damage 4d6 Con and 4d6 Cha.
Unlike normal diseases, mummy rot continues until the victim reaches Constitution 0 (and dies) or is cured as described below.
Mummy rot is a powerful curse, not a natural disease. A character attempting to cast any conjuration (healing) spell on a creature afflicted with mummy rot must succeed on a caster level check (DC equal to 10 + the Risen's HD), or the spell has no effect on the afflicted character.
To eliminate mummy rot, the curse must first be broken with break enchantment or remove curse (requiring a caster level check for either spell), after which a caster level check is no longer necessary to cast healing spells on the victim, and the mummy rot can be magically cured as any normal disease.
An afflicted creature who dies of mummy rot shrivels away into sand and dust that blow away into nothing at the first wind.
Pristine (Ex)
The risen looks as though it were still alive.
Prerequisites: Int 9+
Benefits: The risen moves at the same speed as in life and its Dexterity increases by 2.
Note: A Risen which has taken the Bestial salient ability may not take the Pristine salient ability.
Rejuvenation (Su)
The risen has the ability to heal severe wounds in mere seconds.
Benefits: The risen may rejuvenate itself as a full round action that provokes an attack of opportunity. In doing so, it heals 25 points of damage per rank. The creature may do nothing else that round, even as a free action.
Revenant (Ex)
The risen is driven by a terrible thirst for vengeance.
Prerequisites: Victim of murder, Restless or greater.
Benefits: Against it's murderer, the risen gains a profane bonus to Armor Class, saves and Spell Resistance (if applicable) equal to its Charisma modifier. The murderer, upon seeing the risen, is paralyzed unless he makes a successful Will save. Finally, if the revenant successfully grapples its murderer, it may inflict 1 point of Constitution damage per round as it slowly throttles its foe.
Seer (Su)
Very rarely, an risen gains such a level of control over the necromantic energies that fill them that they can cause tiny perturbations in the fabric of time, allowing them to glimpse brief flashes of what is to come.
Prerequisites: Ancient or mightier, Watcher and Feeder of Flesh salient abilities, Cha 18+.
Benefits: The risen can enter a special trance, which lasts for 10 minutes, during which time the risen cannot perceive its surroundings, and cannot be awoken in any manner short of a wish. For every corpse point the risen spends while in this trance, it can look forward one minute and catch a glimpse of the possible future. This future does not account for the risen using this ability, so it may be changed by the risen's actions.
Spell Resistance (Su)
The risen is supernaturally resistant to spells.
Prerequisites: Venerable or mightier.
Benefit: The risen gains Spell Resistance equal to 13+its HD.
Symbiosis (Ex)
The risen's rotting form is home to some other creature.
Benefits: The creature's body is infested with any one of the following; monstrous scorpions, monstrous centipedes, monstrous spiders, rats, grey ooze, green slime, yellow mold, brown mold, ochre jelly or rats.
Special: A risen may have this ability multiple times, choosing a different infection each time.
Touch of Death (Su)
The very touch of the risen saps the life of the living.
Prerequisites: Cha 17+.
Benefits: The risen has a touch attack that uses negative energy to deal 1d8 points of damage per rank plus its Charisma modifer to living creatures; a Will save halves the damage. A risen with natural weapons can use its touch attack or its natural weaponry, as it prefers. If it chooses the latter, it deals 1d8 points of extra damage per rank plus its Charisma modifier on one natural weapon attack.
Turn Immunity (Ex)
The risen is immune to the divine control of clerics.
Prerequisites: Venerable or mightier
Benefit: The risen can not be rebuked, turned, controlled or destroyed by clerical turning.
Watcher (Su)
The risen can use the necromantic energies that animate it to tear small holes in reality, allowing it to watch far locations through these perturbations of reality.
Prerequisites: Venerable or mightier, Feeder of Flesh salient ability, Cha 15+.
Benefit: The risen can spend 10 corpse points to cast the scrying spell at will.