Homebrew Monster: Wight Lord [Archive] - Wizards Community

Homebrew Monster: Wight Lord [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Kinger
02-26-07, 09:23 PM Hey all,
I've had a special place in my corrupted DM heart for Wights, those malevolent undead that haunt ancient places of the world. However, I've always been somewhat miffed that they're typically relegated to vampire-wannabe status. Sure, they've got Energy Drain and some sneaky skill bonuses, but nothing really distinctive.

Well, I've decided to change that. The ordinairy, run-of-the-mill Wight remains untouched... but what about their masters?

Wight Lord
Medium Undead
Hit-Dice: 8d12 (52 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 40ft (8 squares)
Armor Class: 18 (+2 Dex, +6 natural), touch 12, flat footed 16
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+6
Attack: Slam +6 melee (1d4+3 plus energy drain)
Full Attack: Slam +6 melee (1d4+3 plus energy drain)
Space/Reach: 5ft/5ft
Special Attacks: Aura of Fear, Create Spawn, Energy Drain, Spell-like Abilities
Special Qualities: DR 5/Magic and Silver, Darkvision 90ft, Hide in Plain Sight, Light Vulnerability, See in Darkness, Shadow Jump, Undead Traits
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +8
Abilities: Str 14, Dex 15, Con -, Int 13, Wis 15, Cha 19
Skills: Concentration +15, Hide +13, Listen +12, Move Silently +20, Spot +12
Feats: Alertness, Blind-Fight, Ability Focus: Aura of Fear
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary, Entourage (1 plus 1d4+1 spawn), Cult (1 plus 2d6 spawn, 1d4 shadows)
Challenge: 7
Treasure: Double items
Alignment: Always Lawful Evil
Advancement: 9-16 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: -

The shadows part before you, and a very pale, near-emaciated figure clad in petrified clothing steps into view. Its hair is wild and its skin is pulled tight across its bones. Its eyes burn with malevolent fire, and on its face is a tight lipped grin revealing sharp, yellow teeth. As its gaze meets yours, you feel an overwhelming urge to flee from this horrible creature.

Wights are undead creatures given a semblance of life through sheer violence and hatred. After a wight has taken enough lives and amassed enough unholy spawn, it ascends to greater power as a wight lord. Similarly, particularly violent and inhuman individuals, such as rapists or serial murderers, may rise from the dead as wight lords by the power of their sins alone.

While wights may be content to lurk in dark corners of civilization, wight lords develop for themselves small kingdoms. A city graveyard, an ancient mauseleum, or an abandoned ghost town make fine realms in a wight lord's evil eyes. From these bastions they send forth their spawn to do their will, amassing riches and kidnapping innocents for torment and sacrifice.

A wight lord is about the height and weight of a human.

Wight Lords speak Common and one other language, typically that spoken by the civilization upon which they prey, such as Elven or Goblinoid.

Combat
Wight Lords typically linger in their bastions of darkness during daylight, only venturing beyond when the sun goes down and shadows abound and their abilities are of greater use. They attempt to remain hidden from their foes as long as possible while they sow fear and confusion amidst them, only venturing from the shadows to strike when they are confidant they will prevail. Wight Lords are intelligent enough to determine the approximate roles played by different members of an adventuring party, and adjust their tactics accordingly. Oftentimes this involves seperating their foes through darkness and deceit, using their illusory and enchantment abilities.

Aura of Fear (Su): The very presence of a Wight Lord makes its prey uneasy. Even if they are not aware of the Wight Lord, they are still affected. All creatures within 30ft of a Wight Lord must make a Will Save DC 20 or be Shaken for 2d6 minutes. Creatures that succeed cannot be affected by the Wight Lord's Aura of Fear for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting fear effect. Creatures with more HD than the Wight Lord are immune to its Aura of Fear.

Creatre Spawn (Su): Any humanoid slain by a wight lord becomes a wight in 1d4 rounds. Spawn are under the command of the wight lord that created them and remain enslaved until its death. They do not possess any of the abilities they had in life.

Energy Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a Wight Lord's slam attack gain two negative levels. The DC is 18 for the Fortitude save to remove a negative level. The save DC is Charisma-based. For each such negative level bestowed, the wight lord gains 5 temporary hitpoints.

Hide in Plain Sight (Su): A Wight Lord can use the Hide skill even while being observed. As long as it is within 10 feet if some sort of shadow, a wight lord can hide itself from view in the open without anything to actually hide behind. It cannot, however, hide in its own shadow.

Light Vulnerability (Su): A Wight Lord takes a -2 penalty to attacks, saves, and checks while exposed to bright sunlight or within the radius of a Daylight spell.

See in Darkness (Su): A Wight Lord can see in complete darkness, even that generated by a Deeper Darkness spell, without difficulty. It can still perceive the presence of shadows.

Shadow Jump (Su): A Wight Lord may travel between shadows as if by means of a dimension door spell. The limitation is that the magical transport must begin and end in an area with at least some shadow. A Wight Lord can jump up to a total of 10 feet per day for every hit die it possesses. This amount can be split among many jumps, but each one, no matter how small, counts as a 10-foot increment.

Spell-like Abilities: At will- Darkness, Ghost Sound, Levitate, Mage Hand, Minor Image (DC 16), Pass Without Trace
1/day- Crushing Despair (DC 18), Deeper Darkness, Fear (DC 18), Shadow Walk (DC 20)
Caster level equal to hit dice. The save DCs are Charisma based.

Skills: Wight Lords have a +8 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks.

Hooks
Captain Gorman ir'Flatric, an officer in the Brelish Army, was tried and convicted of war crimes by his own country in the year 980YK. During the Last War he routinely executed prisoners of war in blatant violation of both his superiors' orders and the codes of honourable combat. He was hanged by the Crown and buried by his family in the City of the Dead outside Sharn in 996YK, shortly after which he rose from the dead as a Wight Lord. The former Captain has established a small realm in the great mausoleum and has begun forming an army from mourners and groundskeepers. He has kidnapped several people from Sharn's lower districts, keeping them locked away in his domain and tormenting them with his illusory abilities. A concerned family member may hire the PCs to investigate her daughter's disappearance after she vanished in the City of the Dead, or the overdrawn and hesitant Sharn Watch may deputize them into searching for the source of the recent kidnappings in Callestan.
DarkWarriorKarg
02-27-07, 09:15 AM Not bad... but about your hook:

How does the Wight Lord interact with the insanely high level lich cleric of the keeper inhabiting the same area?
Kinger
02-27-07, 07:01 PM Bah, he's just an illusion. ;)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kinger 02-26-07, 09:23 PM	Hey all, I've had a special place in my corrupted DM heart for Wights, those malevolent undead that haunt ancient places of the world. However, I've always been somewhat miffed that they're typically relegated to vampire-wannabe status. Sure, they've got Energy Drain and some sneaky skill bonuses, but nothing really distinctive. Well, I've decided to change that. The ordinairy, run-of-the-mill Wight remains untouched... but what about their masters? Wight Lord Medium Undead Hit-Dice: 8d12 (52 hp) Initiative: +2 Speed: 40ft (8 squares) Armor Class: 18 (+2 Dex, +6 natural), touch 12, flat footed 16 Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+6 Attack: Slam +6 melee (1d4+3 plus energy drain) Full Attack: Slam +6 melee (1d4+3 plus energy drain) Space/Reach: 5ft/5ft Special Attacks: Aura of Fear, Create Spawn, Energy Drain, Spell-like Abilities Special Qualities: DR 5/Magic and Silver, Darkvision 90ft, Hide in Plain Sight, Light Vulnerability, See in Darkness, Shadow Jump, Undead Traits Saves: Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +8 Abilities: Str 14, Dex 15, Con -, Int 13, Wis 15, Cha 19 Skills: Concentration +15, Hide +13, Listen +12, Move Silently +20, Spot +12 Feats: Alertness, Blind-Fight, Ability Focus: Aura of Fear Environment: Underground Organization: Solitary, Entourage (1 plus 1d4+1 spawn), Cult (1 plus 2d6 spawn, 1d4 shadows) Challenge: 7 Treasure: Double items Alignment: Always Lawful Evil Advancement: 9-16 HD (Medium) Level Adjustment: - The shadows part before you, and a very pale, near-emaciated figure clad in petrified clothing steps into view. Its hair is wild and its skin is pulled tight across its bones. Its eyes burn with malevolent fire, and on its face is a tight lipped grin revealing sharp, yellow teeth. As its gaze meets yours, you feel an overwhelming urge to flee from this horrible creature. Wights are undead creatures given a semblance of life through sheer violence and hatred. After a wight has taken enough lives and amassed enough unholy spawn, it ascends to greater power as a wight lord. Similarly, particularly violent and inhuman individuals, such as rapists or serial murderers, may rise from the dead as wight lords by the power of their sins alone. While wights may be content to lurk in dark corners of civilization, wight lords develop for themselves small kingdoms. A city graveyard, an ancient mauseleum, or an abandoned ghost town make fine realms in a wight lord's evil eyes. From these bastions they send forth their spawn to do their will, amassing riches and kidnapping innocents for torment and sacrifice. A wight lord is about the height and weight of a human. Wight Lords speak Common and one other language, typically that spoken by the civilization upon which they prey, such as Elven or Goblinoid. Combat Wight Lords typically linger in their bastions of darkness during daylight, only venturing beyond when the sun goes down and shadows abound and their abilities are of greater use. They attempt to remain hidden from their foes as long as possible while they sow fear and confusion amidst them, only venturing from the shadows to strike when they are confidant they will prevail. Wight Lords are intelligent enough to determine the approximate roles played by different members of an adventuring party, and adjust their tactics accordingly. Oftentimes this involves seperating their foes through darkness and deceit, using their illusory and enchantment abilities. Aura of Fear (Su): The very presence of a Wight Lord makes its prey uneasy. Even if they are not aware of the Wight Lord, they are still affected. All creatures within 30ft of a Wight Lord must make a Will Save DC 20 or be Shaken for 2d6 minutes. Creatures that succeed cannot be affected by the Wight Lord's Aura of Fear for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting fear effect. Creatures with more HD than the Wight Lord are immune to its Aura of Fear. Creatre Spawn (Su): Any humanoid slain by a wight lord becomes a wight in 1d4 rounds. Spawn are under the command of the wight lord that created them and remain enslaved until its death. They do not possess any of the abilities they had in life. Energy Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a Wight Lord's slam attack gain two negative levels. The DC is 18 for the Fortitude save to remove a negative level. The save DC is Charisma-based. For each such negative level bestowed, the wight lord gains 5 temporary hitpoints. Hide in Plain Sight (Su): A Wight Lord can use the Hide skill even while being observed. As long as it is within 10 feet if some sort of shadow, a wight lord can hide itself from view in the open without anything to actually hide behind. It cannot, however, hide in its own shadow. Light Vulnerability (Su): A Wight Lord takes a -2 penalty to attacks, saves, and checks while exposed to bright sunlight or within the radius of a Daylight spell. See in Darkness (Su): A Wight Lord can see in complete darkness, even that generated by a Deeper Darkness spell, without difficulty. It can still perceive the presence of shadows. Shadow Jump (Su): A Wight Lord may travel between shadows as if by means of a dimension door spell. The limitation is that the magical transport must begin and end in an area with at least some shadow. A Wight Lord can jump up to a total of 10 feet per day for every hit die it possesses. This amount can be split among many jumps, but each one, no matter how small, counts as a 10-foot increment. Spell-like Abilities: At will- Darkness, Ghost Sound, Levitate, Mage Hand, Minor Image (DC 16), Pass Without Trace 1/day- Crushing Despair (DC 18), Deeper Darkness, Fear (DC 18), Shadow Walk (DC 20) Caster level equal to hit dice. The save DCs are Charisma based. Skills: Wight Lords have a +8 racial bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks. Hooks Captain Gorman ir'Flatric, an officer in the Brelish Army, was tried and convicted of war crimes by his own country in the year 980YK. During the Last War he routinely executed prisoners of war in blatant violation of both his superiors' orders and the codes of honourable combat. He was hanged by the Crown and buried by his family in the City of the Dead outside Sharn in 996YK, shortly after which he rose from the dead as a Wight Lord. The former Captain has established a small realm in the great mausoleum and has begun forming an army from mourners and groundskeepers. He has kidnapped several people from Sharn's lower districts, keeping them locked away in his domain and tormenting them with his illusory abilities. A concerned family member may hire the PCs to investigate her daughter's disappearance after she vanished in the City of the Dead, or the overdrawn and hesitant Sharn Watch may deputize them into searching for the source of the recent kidnappings in Callestan.
DarkWarriorKarg 02-27-07, 09:15 AM	Not bad... but about your hook: How does the Wight Lord interact with the insanely high level lich cleric of the keeper inhabiting the same area?
Kinger 02-27-07, 07:01 PM	Bah, he's just an illusion. ;)