Soulphage Vulture (3.5e Monster)/Soulphage Vulture Reaper
Contents
Soulphage Vulture Reaper[edit]
| NE Large Undead (Living Dead) | |
| Init/Senses | +1/Darkvision 60 ft. (18 meters), Low-light Vision; Listen +6, Spot +8 |
| Aura | Evil |
| Languages | Necril |
| AC | 18, touch 14, flat-footed 17; partial incorporeality 20% miss chance (+1 Dex, +4 Natural Armor, +4 Deflection, -1 Size) |
| hp | 96 (9d12+4 HD) |
| Immune | death effects, disease, energy drain, exhaustion, fatigue, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, and stunning |
| Fort/Ref/Will | +7/+4/+10 |
| Speed | 10 ft. (3 meters), fly 40 ft-12 meters (average) |
| Melee | beak+9 (2d6+6, piercing) or |
| Melee | 2 talons+7 (1d6+3, slashing) or |
| Melee | 2 wings+7 (1d8+3, bludgeoning) |
| Ranged | soul regurgitation+4 (1d8 x soul HD, 30 ft-9 meters) |
| Space/Reach | 10 ft./10 ft. |
| Base Atk/Grp | +4/+14 |
| Special Actions | Aura of Decay, Aura of Fear, Devour Soul, Improved Grab, Soul Regurgitation |
| Spell-Like Abilities | 1—1/day animate dead
|
| Abilities | Str 22, Dex 13, Con 19, Int 6, Wis 18, Cha 13 |
| SQ | Animate Dead, Deathwatch, Partial Incorporeality, Shadow Extraction, Soulless |
| Feats | Aura of Decay, Flyby Attack, Multiattack, Shadow Extraction |
| Skills | Hide +4, Intimidate +7, Knowledge (religion) +2, Listen +6, Move Silently +5, Spellcraft +2, Spot +8 (+18 when using Deathwatch) |
| Advancement | 9-11 (Large), 12 (Huge) |
| Animate Dead (Sp) | Reapers may cast animate dead as a spell like ability once per day, requiring the onyx as material component, but they can substitute it with 1 HD worth of soul that they have stored in themselves. When using the Shadow Extraction ability they don't need to have access to the corpse if they consume a soul to create the least shadow. They use their Wisdom modifier to determine their caster level for the purpose of the amount of animated undead they can control. |
| Aura of Decay (Su) | Everything within 10 ft. (3 meters) of a soulphage vulture seems to wither and rot. This is merely a subtle appearance, and has no effect on creatures, but the surroundings appear unhealthy and unclean. Animals do not naturally approach a soulphage vulture unless pushed or desperate. As a free action it can cause non-magical plants and food to die and rot over the course of 1 round of exposure to its aura. A soulphage vulture can also afflict creatures, preventing them from stabilizing or curing bleeding while in the aura. Even when not rotting objects, the visible unnatural presence can never be fully suppressed. |
| Aura of Fear (Su) | Reapers which activate their Aura of Decay ability may also force opponents in the aura to make a Will save (DC is 10 + 1/2 HD + Wis modifier + 1/2 HD worth of souls they have currently stored) or suffer the effects of the fear spell. |
| Deathwatch (Ex) | Soulphage vultures are under a constant extraordinary deathwatch effect, with range limited only by their actual vision. In addition they can identify a creature's exact HD and hp totals as a swift action out to 60 ft. When using this ability they have a +10 racial bonus to Spot checks. |
| Devour Soul (Ex) | As a standard action touch attack, the soulphage vultures can consume the soul of a creature which has perished within 10 minutes, storing it within themselves. They automatically do this as a free action with no touch attack if they are the one who slew the creature. A devoured soul remains with the soulphage vulture's body and the creature cannot be revived by anything short of true resurrection, miracle, wish, or a limited wish to release the soul followed by any valid revival attempt. Soulphage vultures may store souls in their body up to their HD or the HD of the creature of the absorbed soul, whichever is lower. Soulphage vultures eventually digest their souls, rendering recovery nearly impossible short of miracle or wish to restore the soul itself. When they have devoured a soul, soulphage vultures may decide to consume a soul immediately (free action) to heal themselves by 1d6 per HD of the consumed soul. Excessive healing transforms into temporary hit points that last one minute per Wisdom modifier (these temporary hit points don't stack together). |
| Improved Grab (Ex) | Reapers have the Improved Grab ability which they can use if they connect with at least one claw attack. |
| Partial Incorporeality (Su) | Reapers are able to pass through solid objects much like a creature with the Incorporeal Subtype, however doing so cost two additional squares of movement. Unlike a creature with the Incorporeal Subtype, soulphage vulture reapers are still subject to gravity but falls at half speed and takes half fall damage. Unlike an Incorporeal creature, they must end their turn in a space they could occupy while corporeal, otherwise they are shunted to the nearest legal space available and take 1d6 damage. They possess a 20% miss chance against mundane attacks. This is bypassed by any effects which would bypass the miss chance of an incorporeal creature. This ability can be suppressed or resumed as a free action. |
| Shadow Extraction (Ex) | Reapers may create least shadows, along with skeletons and zombies, with animate dead. |
| Spirit Plumage (Ex) | Soulphages vultures imbue their feathers with the strength of souls, adding their Wisdom modifier to their AC as a deflection bonus. This effect extends to their natural weapons, which are treated as if having the ghost touch property, and count as magical. |
| Soul Regurgitation (Su) | As a standard action, a soulphage vulture may eject one stored soul from its body as a ranged touch attack with 30 ft. (9 meters) of range that deals 1d8 of damage to the target per each HD the soul has. They may eject more souls with the same action up to the HD limit. The ejected soul, or souls, is then freed. Soulphage vulture reapers usually have 1d6 (minimum 1) souls already stored within themselves. This attack doesn't suffer from the miss chance associated with incorporeal and ethereal creatures. |
| Soulless (Ex) | Soulphage vultures have no souls themselves, and thus are immune to any effect which would transfer their soul elsewhere or possess the soulphage vulture (even through magic jar). |
Strategies and Tactics[edit]
Reapers are soulphages vultures that have grown by eating a lot of souls, developing larger bodies and necromantic abilities. They work essentially the same, but their increased size allow them to become more aggressive, especially because they are often followed by minor undead that they themselves have animated. In fact, sometimes they use their dead followers to attract weak adventurers and then ambush them, or reap their souls if their undead succeded. Against particularly hardy opponents they try to grapple them with their claws, fly high and let them plummet to the ground from the air. They use their aura of fear to scatter their opponents and pick the weaker ones.
If they win over their prey, they transform all the corpses they can in undead (they prefer to use shadows, but each individual reaper may employ different undead, depending on their tactics), especially if some have fallen in combat. They flee if losing, often abandoning their undead to cover the retreat. Because they need to obtain onyx to reanimate the dead they often associate themselves with necromancers and similar characters to obtain the precious gems, or buy them with the goods of their victims (though this requires the seller to be willing to perform such trades) or they steal them.
Ecology[edit]
Environment:
Soulphage vultures live in any open environment where creatures die often, mainly deserted places (both hot and cold) and mountains, or mystical locations where death usually occurs. Reapers sometimes serve necromancers or guide students of the art as mentors, making their presence urban environment more common than that of their lesser counterpart.
Typical Physical Characteristics:
They resemble vultures, with feathers going from brown to grey to black, their heads naked and white, with skull-like markings, and black feet with metallic-looking talons. Their heads are covered by a misty hood-like aura. They also have a collar of ethereal, light blue plumes, which are present even on the edge of their wings and tail. These plumes release a faint mist when the creature is healthy and well fed. Reapers are larger and more imposing than normal soulphage vultures, often have a small bag tied somewhere to bring onyx along, and their misty plumage makes them partially ethereal in appereance and substance.
Alignment:
Always neutral evil.
Lore[edit]
Their origin is currently uncertain, but scholars believe them to be natural vultures corrupted by necromantic energy, gathered by eating undead meat. Some clerics and religious figures believe them to be avatar or messengers of gods of death, whether they believe this to be for the better or not. They feed on the soulforce of the dying or those that are just dead. Where the souls they absorb go is debated: some think they utterly consume them while others say that only a fraction of the spirit is devoured and the soul is allowed to go to their afterlife. Some cultures consider them to be psychopomp animals, needed for the spirits to travel to the land of the dead.
Due to their habit of using undead these creatures are even less accepted than their lesser form, and are often hunted by local enforcement corps and adventurers on commission. Where they are revered, due to worship or fear, they may manage to establish a parasitic relationship with the community, preying on their dead while keeping the living trapped by their undead.
Society[edit]
They live solitary lives for the most part, but their search for souls makes them often come together, usually resulting in temporary alliances. Some of these unions may last longer, if their participants are willing. They can speak but they aren't very talkative.
These advanced soulphage vultures usually prefer to stay alone, but particularly ambitious specimens may decide to gather smaller vultures as subordinates or even ally between themselves, but usually in group of no more than two or three.
They always bring some undead (whether least shadows, skeletons or zombies) along with them. The only time you see them without is when they have lost a battle.
Typical Treasure[edit]
They don't have anything more than a small bag with 1d8+2 of onyx, worth 50 gp each, which they use for their necromantic arts. Corporeal undead that follow them usually have their typical loot.
