Post/Author/DateTime	Post
R.M.G.C.L.F. 04-11-06, 12:08 AM	Gloomshade Medium Undead HD:6d12(33hp) Init:+8 Speed: fly 30ft(perfect) (can't run) AC:16(+2deflection,+4dex) BAB/Grapple:+3/+3 Attacks: Incorporeal touch+7 or Tail+7 melee (claws and tail against incorporeal opponents only) Damage: incorporeal touch 1d12 negative energy plus unnerve, tail 2d4 Face/Reach: 5ft by 5ft/10ft Special Attacks: unnerve Special Qualities: Turn Resistance+2, Incorporeal, Undead, Darkvision 60ft, light vulnerability, amorphous, magical essence Saves: Fort+2, Ref+6, Will+7 Abilities: Str-,Dex17,Con-,Int2,Wis14,Cha2 Skills: Spot+5, Listen+5, Hide+12 (+5 racial bonus to hide checks) Feats: weapon focus(incorporeal touch), improved initiative, ability focus(incorporeal touch) ___________________________ Climate/Terrain: Forests, Swamps, and Underground Organization: Solitary, pair, or haunt (3-6) CR:4(?) Alignment: Always Neutral Treasure: None Advancement: 1HD-40HD (the standards provided assume a 6HD medium-sized base-creature) Gloomshades appear as translucent tadpole-shapes of grey trailing mist. A raised curve at the type passes for a head, with two shining motes of indigo that serve as eyes. Gloomshades are magical entities conjured from the bodies of the dead. They vary only by their size and hit dice. Gloomshades usually serve the master who created them. Uncontrolled dread shadows tend to seek out dark places and congregate about sites of strong negative energy. Combat: Gloomshades attack with their incorporeal touch, using their tail to lash at other incorporeal opponents. The tend to shy from opponents holding a light source. Unnerve(su): a creature struck by a gloomshade's incorporeal touch must make a will save dc:17 (dex-based) or be shaken for two rounds. Light vulnerability(ex): direct exposure to light is harmful to a gloomshade. It takes 1d8 damage per minute in bright light (such as that of a daylight spell) or 1d8 damage per hour in normal full light (such as that of a light spell). It takes double damage form all light-based attacks (such as a Searing Light spell or a lantern archon's light rays). Magical Essence: A gloomshade is created and maintained by magic. As such if the spell of its creation is dispelled or otherwise broken, it wil cease to exist. Create Gloomshade Necromancy(Undeath) Level: Nec6 Components: V,S,M Casting Time: 3 rounds Range: touch Duration: Permanent Target: One corpse Saving Throw: No SR: None Upon casting this spell, magic and negative energy channels through the target body, absorbing the soulstain and forming into a gloomshade. The dread shadow has hit dice equal to the former creature (counting class hit dice as well as racial hit dice) and is of equal size class, but otherwise bears no resemblance to the living creature. This process destroys the body, reducing it to carbon dust and cracked bones. Although this leaves enough for a ressurection spell, spells such as raise dead will fail and the remains are not intact enough for animate dead. The dread shadow counts towards your total HD limit of controlled undead. You cannot control more than 2HD worth of incorporeal undead. Material Component: a black silk shroud worth 50gp per HD of the corpse.
R.M.G.C.L.F. 04-13-06, 10:32 PM	Bump, seeking balance feedback
ziggy_killroy 04-14-06, 08:59 AM	Init:+8... AC:16(+2deflection,+4dex)... Saves: Fort+2, Ref+6, Will+7... ...Dex 17... 17 grants a +3 bonus. Special Qualities: Turn Resistance+2, Incorporeal, Undead, Darkvision 60ft, light vulnerability, amorphous, magical essence Whats Amorphous? Erm... Whats so bad arsed about this thing that it requires a 7th level spell to create it?
OamuTheMonk 04-14-06, 09:55 AM	I tend to agree that the spell level might be a little high, also. Level six is probably sufficient. Wait. 10' reach/incorporeal touch may make it CR 4...Nah. 1d12 Negative energy damage can be soaked up fairly easily by a third level fighter-type, and it's AC isn't crazy good...Magic Weapon will be critical, though, most 3rd-level parties won't have any +1 stuff lying around, and Ghost touch equipment is well beyond their means.
R.M.G.C.L.F. 04-14-06, 10:12 AM	The reason I set it at level seven was because going by existing spells, Create Greater Undead is the lowest level spell that makes incorporeal undead. Seeing as they were so unremarkable I took it down a notch to seventh, but I guess that wasn't enough. Sixth level it is.
OamuTheMonk 04-14-06, 10:20 AM	I think that Create Greater Undead is required to create other incorporeal creatures, not because of the (moderate) benefits of incorporeality, but because they tend to have hideously dangerous touch attacks that can have long-lasting (in terms of a game session) ramifications to a party. Strength Damage and Negative levels are much more difficult to deal with than straight HP loss.
Bongitybongbong 04-14-06, 02:07 PM	the average hp should be 39.
Talisman 04-14-06, 03:45 PM	Cool! I must steal this for my campaign! :evillaugh Attacks: Incorporeal touch+7 or Tail+7 melee (claws and tail against incorporeal opponents only) Damage: claw 1d6, tail 2d4 I'm confused. Can it attack with both claw and tail as a full attack action? If not, what's the benefit to the claw attack? Tail deals more damage, and since it's incorporeal, both attacks are incorporeal touch attacks. Skills: Spot+5, Listen+5, Hide+7 C'mon! Give the poor guy a Hide bonus! He's literally made of shadow! CR:4(?) I'd say CR 3-4, depending on the individual party. Alignment: Always Neutral But everyone knows that all undead are evil! :P (kidding!) Dread shadows appear as translucent tadpole-shapes of grey trailing mist. A raised curve at the type passes for a head, with two shining motes of indigo that serve as eyes. Cool description. Dread shadows are magical entities conjured from the bodies of the dead. They vary only by their size and hit dice. Hmm. They vary by size and HD, and yet they have no advancement. I understand that an individual dread shadow can't advance, but listing Advancement as (none) makes it appear as though they're 6 HD and that's it. Incorporeal Touch(su): a creature struck by a dread shadow's incorporeal touch takes 1d12 negative energy damage and must make a will save dc:17 or be shaken for two rounds. "Incorporeal touch" is simply a bit of streamlining to indicate that the creature's attack is a touch attack that observes force effects. You need a different name for this...perhaps "fearful touch" or "shadow's caress" Magical Essence: A dread shadow is created and maintained by magic. As such if the spell of its creation is dispelled or otherwise broken, it wil cease to exist. So, dispel magic destroys them, assuming you make your caster level check? Create Dread Shadow I agree; drop it to 6th. Also, a question. Does having one's essence transformed into a tadpole of darkness affect raise dead and resurrection attempts? It seems logical that it would. Finally, the name "dread shadow" keeps making me think of the MM's shadow and greater shadow, and the dread wraith. I suggest changing it to "gloomshadow" or something similar.
R.M.G.C.L.F. 04-14-06, 06:36 PM	Cool! I must steal this for my campaign! :evillaugh Attacks: Incorporeal touch+7 or Tail+7 melee (claws and tail against incorporeal opponents only) Damage: claw 1d6, tail 2d4 I'm confused. Can it attack with both claw and tail as a full attack action? If not, what's the benefit to the claw attack? Tail deals more damage, and since it's incorporeal, both attacks are incorporeal touch attacks. To begin with, the claw is a typo left over from an earlier version. The tail is not an incorporeal touch attack because it only works against incorporeal opponents. An incorporeal touch attack uses some magical contact to harm solid creatures. The tail is a physical strike that can be used against other incorporeal monsters, such as shadows, ghosts, etc. Skills: Spot+5, Listen+5, Hide+7 C'mon! Give the poor guy a Hide bonus! He's literally made of shadow! Done! CR:4(?) I'd say CR 3-4, depending on the individual party. Well, that doesn't really help me assign it one, since I can't give a hyphenated CR. =/ Dread shadows appear as translucent tadpole-shapes of grey trailing mist. A raised curve at the type passes for a head, with two shining motes of indigo that serve as eyes. Cool description. Thank you. ^_^ Dread shadows are magical entities conjured from the bodies of the dead. They vary only by their size and hit dice. Hmm. They vary by size and HD, and yet they have no advancement. I understand that an individual dread shadow can't advance, but listing Advancement as (none) makes it appear as though they're 6 HD and that's it. Done Incorporeal Touch(su): a creature struck by a dread shadow's incorporeal touch takes 1d12 negative energy damage and must make a will save dc:17 or be shaken for two rounds. "Incorporeal touch" is simply a bit of streamlining to indicate that the creature's attack is a touch attack that observes force effects. You need a different name for this...perhaps "fearful touch" or "shadow's caress" Done Magical Essence: A dread shadow is created and maintained by magic. As such if the spell of its creation is dispelled or otherwise broken, it wil cease to exist. So, dispel magic destroys them, assuming you make your caster level check? Yup. Create Dread Shadow I agree; drop it to 6th. Done Also, a question. Does having one's essence transformed into a tadpole of darkness affect raise dead and resurrection attempts? It seems logical that it would. Edited that in. Finally, the name "dread shadow" keeps making me think of the MM's shadow and greater shadow, and the dread wraith. I suggest changing it to "gloomshadow" or something similar. Done. Gloomshade works well.