Post/Author/DateTime	Post
pileobone 03-28-06, 10:40 PM	A figure shambles through the shadows. What at first glance seemed to be human, now reveals itself as anything but. The creature’s skin is taut and gray, and looks rock hard. It lurches around as if searching for something, then noticing you it’s jaw opens, far too wide, revealing a cavern of vicious shark-like teeth. It stalks towards you with blood caked lips dripping. Cannibal Spirits are eternal hunters. Ever searching to end their hunger. Are they creatures cursed by the gods? A necromancy experiment gone terribly wrong, or terribly right? Whatever the cause, the Cannibal Spirits are spreading. With armor-like skin, the ability to shrug off most damage and an unparalleled ability to create more of its kind, the Cannibal Spirit’s could easily become a worldwide threat. An infestation of Cannibal Spirits in a city could be a catastrophe of epic proportions. Cannibal Spirit “Cannibal Sprit” is an acquired template that can be added to any corporeal creature (other than undead, vermin, and plant) that has a mouth (referred to hereafter as the base creature). Size and Type: The creature’s type changes to undead. Do not recalculate the creature’s base attack bonus, saves, or skill points. It does not gain the augmented subtype. Hit Dice: All current and future Hit Dice become d12’s. Speed: Speed is unchanged. Armor Class: The base creature’s natural armor bonus improves by +6. Attack: A Cannibal Spirit retains all the attacks of the base creature and also gains a bite attack if it didn’t already have one. A Cannibal Spirit loses the ability to use manufactured weapons. A creature with natural weapons retains those natural weapons. Damage: Cannibal Spirits have a bite attack. If the base creature does not have this attack form, use the appropriate damage values from the table (MM pg. 296) according to the Cannibal Spirit’s size. A Cannibal Spirit deals Strength and a half on bite attacks. Special Attacks: A Cannibal Spirit retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains those described below. Saves have a DC of 10 + 1/2 Cannibal Spirit’s HD + Cannibal Spirit’s Cha modifier unless noted otherwise. Improved Grab(Ex): To use this ability a Cannibal Spirit must hit an opponent of it’s size or smaller with it’s bite attack. It’s jaw stretches and deforms to allow for creatures it would not normally be able to swallow. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can try to swallow the foe in the following round. Swallow Whole(Su): A Cannibal Spirit can try to swallow a grabbed opponent of up to it’s size or smaller by making a successful grapple check. It’s jaw and throat distort and stretch to allow for creatures normally too large to be swallowed. The swallowed creatures are deposited into the Cannibal Spirit’s stomach, the inside of which is an extra dimensional space. Once inside a swallowed creature takes bludgeoning damage equal to the Cannibal Spirit’s bite damage and 1d8+4 acid damage. Living creatures swallowed by a Cannibal Spirit must make a Fortitude save every round it remains in the Cannibal Spirits stomach or gain one negative level. For each negative level gained in this manner the Cannibal Spirit gains 5 temporary hit points. If the swallowed creature is of the same race as the base creature it instead gains 10 temporary hit points and may rise as a spawn. These hit points disappear in one hour. A swallowed creature may cut it’s way out by using a light slashing or piercing weapon to deal 25 points of damage to the stomach (AC = 10 + 1/2 Cannibal Spirit’s new natural armor bonus). Once the creature exits, he is deposited in a random square adjacent to the Cannibal Spirit. Muscular action closes the hole; another creature must cut it’s own way out. A Cannibal Spirit’s stomach can hold 2 creatures of it’s own size, 4 creatures one size smaller, 8 creatures two sizes smaller, 32 creatures three sizes smaller, 128 creatures 4 sizes smaller, and 512 creatures 5 sizes smaller. Create Spawn(Su): Any creature slain while in a Cannibal Spirit’s stomach is regurgitated 1d4 minutes later as a moldering pile of bile coated bones. If the slain creature was the same race as the base creature it rises as a Cannibal Spirit in 1d4 days, at which time the body regrows from the bones, with a new rock hard skin. Otherwise, if the creature was not of the same race then the bones reform into a skeleton of the slain creature as per the Skeleton template. Creatures raised as spawn are not under the control of the Cannibal Spirit that created them. Only creatures of the same race as the base creature can be raised as new Cannibal Spirits. Special Qualities: A Cannibal Spirit retains all the special qualities of the base creature and gains those described below. Damage Reduction(Ex): A Cannibal Spirit has damage reduction 10/cold iron and magic. A Cannibal Spirit’s natural weapons are considered magic for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. Diet Dependent: All Cannibal Spirits are diet dependent upon flesh, which they receive by swallowing other creatures. If a Cannibal Spirit does not consume at least one victim every 3 days it must make a DC 15 Will save or take 2d6 points of damage. This damage can only be healed by consuming at least one creature of the same size category as the Cannibal Spirit, or two creatures one size category smaller. Abilties: A Cannibal Spirit’s Strength increases by +4, it has no Constitution score, it’s Charisma becomes 15, and it’s Intelligence changes to 2. Skills: Same as base creature. Feats: A Cannibal Spirit loses all feats of the base creature and gains Improved Natural Weapon(Bite) and Weapon Focus(Bite) as bonus feats. Environment: Same as base creature. Organization: Any Challenge Rating: Same as base creature +2 Hill Giant Cannibal Spirit Hill Giant Cannibal Spirit Large Undead Hit Dice: 12d12 (78) Initiative: -1 Speed: 30ft. in hide armor (6 squares); base speed 40 ft. Armor Class: 26 (-1 size, -1 Dex, +15 natural, +3 hide armor), touch 8, flat-footed 26 Base Attack/Grapple: +9/+22 Attack: Bite +18 melee (2d6+13) or slam +17 (1d4+9) Full Attack: Bite +18 melee (2d6+13) and 2 slams +15 melee (1d4+9) Space/Reach: 10 ft./10 ft. Special Attacks: Improved grab, rock throwing, swallow whole Special Qualities: Damage reduction 10/cold iron and magic, diet dependent, low-light vision, rock catching, undead traits Saves: Fort +8, Ref +3, Will +4 Abilities: Str 29, Dex 8, Con -, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 15 Skills: Climb +7, Jump +7, Listen +7, Spot +6 Feats: Improved Natural Weapon(Bite), Weapon Focus(Bite) Environment: Temperate Hills Organization: Any Challenge Rating: 9 Treasure: Standard Alignment: Neutral Advancement: - Level Adjustment: -- This creature resembles a hill giant, but something is wrong. It’s skin is a dead gray, and looks as tough as iron. It’s mouth is grossly oversized and filled with razor sharp teeth. Combat: A Hill Giant Cannibal Spirit’s tactics are simple, eat. Slam if you can’t eat, or already have. Diet Dependent: All Hill Giant Cannibal Spirits are diet dependent upon flesh, which they receive by swallowing other creatures. If a Hill Giant Cannibal Spirit does not consume at least one Large sized victim every 3 days it must make a DC 15 Will save or take 2d6 points of damage. This damage can only be healed by consuming at least one Large sized creature, or two Medium size creatures. Improved Grab(Ex): To use this ability a Hill Giant Cannibal Spirit must hit an opponent of Large size or smaller with it’s bite attack. It’s jaw stretches and deforms to allow for creatures it would not normally be able to swallow. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can try to swallow the foe in the following round. Swallow Whole(Su): A Hill Giant Cannibal Spirit can try to swallow a grabbed opponent of up to Large size or smaller by making a successful grapple check. It’s jaw and throat distort and stretch to allow for creatures normally too large to be swallowed. The swallowed creatures are deposited into the Hill Giant Cannibal Spirit’s stomach, the inside of which is an extra dimensional space. Once inside a swallowed creature takes (2d6+13) points of bludgeoning damage and 1d8+4 acid points of damage each round. Living creatures swallowed by a Hill Giant Cannibal Spirit must make a DC 18 Fortitude save every round it remains in the Hill Giant Cannibal Spirit's stomach or gain one negative level. For each negative level gained in this manner the Hill Giant Cannibal Spirit gains 5 temporary hit points. If the swallowed creature is a Hill Giant the Hill Giant Cannibal Spirit instead gains 10 temporary hit points and the swallowed creature may rise as a spawn. These hit points disappear in one hour. A swallowed creature may cut it’s way out by using a light slashing or piercing weapon to deal 25 points of damage to the stomach (AC 17). Once the creature exits, it is deposited in a random square adjacent to the Hill Giant Cannibal Spirit. Muscular action closes the hole; another creature must cut it’s own way out. A Hill Giant Cannibal Spirit’s stomach can hold 2 Large sized creatures, 4 Small sized creatures, 8 tiny sized creatures, and 32 Diminutive or smaller sized creatures. Create Spawn(Su): Any creature slain while in a Hill Giant Cannibal Spirit’s stomach is regurgitated 1d4 minutes later as a moldering pile of bones. If the slain creature was a Hill Giant it rises as a Hill Giant Cannibal Spirit in 1d4 days, at which time the body re-grows from the bile-coated bones, with a new rock hard skin. Otherwise, if the creature is not a Hill Giant the bones reform into a skeleton of the slain creature as per the Skeleton template. Creatures raised as spawn are not under the control of the Hill Giant Cannibal Spirit that created them. Only Hill Giants can be raised as new Hill Giant Cannibal Spirits by the Hill Giant Cannibal Spirit. Suggestions and critiques always welcomed. This is my first stab at a template, so I know I probably need to work on it quite a bit. Thanks in advance for any help. :D
R.M.G.C.L.F. 03-28-06, 10:54 PM	Is this inspired by the Windego, or just your own creation? I'd scrap the "Digest Soul" (the title is misleading) and just put the negative levels in under swallow whole digestion damages (nightcrawler does the same thing). The improved grab ability doesn't really need to be supernatural, and I have to ask why you need to use a dimensional stomach instead of it just being grotesquely bloated in the abdomen. CR I would put at +2. I have some personal flavor issues with the concept of eating somebody whole to make them into a cannibal spirit. The way I see it, somebody swallowed in this manner would have life and flesh consumed like fuel for a fire, and regurgitated as skeletons if at all. The creature wouldn't really seem to be doing much for eternal hunger if it swallowed them and then spat them up again. Maybe you could have somebody slain by a cannibal spirit's bite attack (rather than digestion) rise as one, perhaps give the bite a poison or disease to go with it, or a curse effect (Suffer starvation no matter how much they eat until curse is removed, and those that die of it become cannibal spirits?) If you must go with the create spawn route, I'd say have a time delay, otherwise you have propagation at a ridiculous rate. Have it take 1d4 nights for the mess of bile-soaked bones to magically regrow thing grey flesh and rise, or at least make it so that the spawned spirits can't use their own spawning ability for a few days. Finally, this is a perfect creature to give the Diet Dependent trait (Diet dependent(living bodies)) from Libris Mortis, one of the few things to come out of that horribly edited maligned splatbook.
Lord_Canius 03-28-06, 11:45 PM	Add this to the Tarrasque. Spooky, to say the least. No, wait. That'd just be hillarius. Think about it. Tarrasque with a bigger jaw. Thats just laughable. Seriusly though, it's a great template, I sure as hell-am-gonna-use it. I'd follow RMGCLF's advice though, I think he know's what he's talking about. Unless I'm no longer able to read english and instead have sub-conciusly translated his post into a barbarian who sounds like he's speaking spainish, pig-latin style.
pileobone 03-29-06, 01:04 AM	Is this inspired by the Windego, or just your own creation? Well, I thought up the idea on my own. Although the Windego did cross my mind a couple times as I was making it. It's also partly inspired by one of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. I'd scrap the "Digest Soul" (the title is misleading) and just put the negative levels in under swallow whole digestion damages (nightcrawler does the same thing). Good idea, I'll just squish those together. The improved grab ability doesn't really need to be supernatural, and I have to ask why you need to use a dimensional stomach instead of it just being grotesquely bloated in the abdomen. Just personal flavor here. I just prefer the idea of a man swallowing another man whole and there being nothing to show for it on the outside. If anyone uses this template they are free to change this as they want for personal flavor. As for the Improved grab, I just figured that it would need to be supernatural to the "unatural" ability to stretch the jaw as such. But upon second thought, you may be right about that...probably doesn't need to be SU. CR I would put at +2. Will do, much thanks I have some personal flavor issues with the concept of eating somebody whole to make them into a cannibal spirit. The way I see it, somebody swallowed in this manner would have life and flesh consumed like fuel for a fire, and regurgitated as skeletons if at all. The creature wouldn't really seem to be doing much for eternal hunger if it swallowed them and then spat them up again. Maybe you could have somebody slain by a cannibal spirit's bite attack (rather than digestion) rise as one, perhaps give the bite a poison or disease to go with it, or a curse effect (Suffer starvation no matter how much they eat until curse is removed, and those that die of it become cannibal spirits?) I like the idea of spitting them out as skeletons...I'll specify that. The whole idea I had for this template was the swallowing whole though, so I'd rather not change it to just a bite. Although adding poison isn't a bad idea either, I'll think on that one. If you must go with the create spawn route, I'd say have a time delay, otherwise you have propagation at a ridiculous rate. Have it take 1d4 nights for the mess of bile-soaked bones to magically regrow thing grey flesh and rise, or at least make it so that the spawned spirits can't use their own spawning ability for a few days. I like that, I'll add acid damage to the swallow whole and add the 1d4 days. Finally, this is a perfect creature to give the Diet Dependent trait (Diet dependent(living bodies)) from Libris Mortis, one of the few things to come out of that horribly edited maligned splatbook. omg, I can't believe I didn't think of that...I even have the Libris Mortis sitting right here. Adding... Thanks alot for your comments and help.
pileobone 03-29-06, 01:19 PM	Update: Made a few minor changes, fixed some typos and mistakes on the example Hill Giant.
R.M.G.C.L.F. 03-29-06, 05:56 PM	Nice. I'm glad to see the changes you made. ^_^ Here's an idea for create spawn: Why not have creatures of different races, where applicable, rise as skeletons (as per the skeleton template)?
pileobone 03-29-06, 09:34 PM	Oooh, I like that idea! Added!