Bonus Bestiary ~ not a template
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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It's not a Template, it's a Creature. It's in the Bonus Bestiary (which is available as a free .pdf), although I believe it will also be reprinted in the upcoming Bestiary 3. :)
Edit: See what happens when I try to be nice and link. I always get ninja'd. :)
Yeah, in 3.0 it was a template (which I liked). In PF, it's just a straight monster.
But according to the fluff, becoming a huecuva is determined by faithless acts in life, not the whim of a necromancer enemy. It'd be up to your GM, of course.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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Yeah, in 3.0 it was a template (which I liked). In PF, it's just a straight monster.
I must admit that I am of the opinion that almost all Undead should be Templated. They are practically always created from something, so it makes sense that a Template should be applied to whatever they are created from.
Isn't it funny how betraying your god leads to awesome powers that you can then use to plague others of the faith? Kind of an 'oops' moment for the god that laid down that curse!
I must admit that I am of the opinion that almost all Undead should be Templated. They are practically always created from something, so it makes sense that a Template should be applied to whatever they are created from.
Totally agree.
Yeah, in 3.0 it was a template (which I liked). In PF, it's just a straight monster.I must admit that I am of the opinion that almost all Undead should be Templated. They are practically always created from something, so it makes sense that a Template should be applied to whatever they are created from.
Just because an undead is created from another creature, doesn't mean it's going to retain enough of the original creature's attributes for a template to make sense.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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Just because an undead is created from another creature, doesn't mean it's going to retain enough of the original creature's attributes for a template to make sense.Yeah, in 3.0 it was a template (which I liked). In PF, it's just a straight monster.I must admit that I am of the opinion that almost all Undead should be Templated. They are practically always created from something, so it makes sense that a Template should be applied to whatever they are created from.
Hence my use of the words almost and practically always.
Hence my use of the words almost and practically always.Just because an undead is created from another creature, doesn't mean it's going to retain enough of the original creature's attributes for a template to make sense.Yeah, in 3.0 it was a template (which I liked). In PF, it's just a straight monster.I must admit that I am of the opinion that almost all Undead should be Templated. They are practically always created from something, so it makes sense that a Template should be applied to whatever they are created from.
However, the thing is, that the undead monsters that don't get templates don't get them precisely because they do not meet the criteria I spoke of.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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However, the thing is, that the undead monsters that don't get templates don't get them precisely because they do not meet the criteria I spoke of.Hence my use of the words almost and practically always.Just because an undead is created from another creature, doesn't mean it's going to retain enough of the original creature's attributes for a template to make sense.Yeah, in 3.0 it was a template (which I liked). In PF, it's just a straight monster.I must admit that I am of the opinion that almost all Undead should be Templated. They are practically always created from something, so it makes sense that a Template should be applied to whatever they are created from.
Not necessarily and the Huecuva is the perfect example.
And I quote: "Most huecuvas arise when a god rejects a heretic priest’s soul, forcing the slain to rise as horrible undead."A Huecuva Template should then be applied to the slain Cleric. He may no longer have access to his Divine abilities, but in all other aspects he should retain his other abilites (BAB, Saves, etc...) and the Template should give him alternate abilities to somewhat compensate for this. You can't tell me that every single Cleric who dies this way comes back as a CR2 Huecuva. One shouldn't be forced to apply other Templates (such as Advanced) to it to create thes higher level Huecuva.
I just had a look at the huecuva statblock to see what could be used to make a template.
Int 4? How is this 'cunning and deceptive'? The thing is as dumb as a rock.
I think the best bet at this stage is to do the following:
Huecuva: Apply the juju zombie template with the following changes: Change DR from magic and slashing to magic or silver. Remove fire resistance and immunities to cold, electricity and magic missile. Replace the slam attack with two claws (normal for its size). Add Disease (Ex) and Faithless (Su). Add Disguise Self (Sp) 3/day.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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I just had a look at the huecuva statblock to see what could be used to make a template.
Int 4? How is this 'cunning and deceptive'? The thing is as dumb as a rock.
Cunning is the realm of Wisdom (hence most animals have significantly higher Wisdom scores than their Intelligence), although I find it hard to believe that something that used to be a Cleric only has a Wisdom score of 12...
However, the thing is, that the undead monsters that don't get templates don't get them precisely because they do not meet the criteria I spoke of.Hence my use of the words almost and practically always.Just because an undead is created from another creature, doesn't mean it's going to retain enough of the original creature's attributes for a template to make sense.Yeah, in 3.0 it was a template (which I liked). In PF, it's just a straight monster.I must admit that I am of the opinion that almost all Undead should be Templated. They are practically always created from something, so it makes sense that a Template should be applied to whatever they are created from.Not necessarily and the Huecuva is the perfect example.
And I quote: "Most huecuvas arise when a god rejects a heretic priest’s soul, forcing the slain to rise as horrible undead."A Huecuva Template should then be applied to the slain Cleric. He may no longer have access to his Divine abilities, but in all other aspects he should retain his other abilites (BAB, Saves, etc...) and the Template should give him alternate abilities to somewhat compensate for this. You can't tell me that every single Cleric who dies this way comes back as a CR2 Huecuva. One shouldn't be forced to apply other Templates (such as Advanced) to it to create thes higher level Huecuva.
The undead in question retains none of the original creatures attributes, however. It doesn't matter whether the cleric in question was a first level acolyte or the mightiest high priest. I'm pretty sure losing all it's strength is an intentional effect of the curse that creates a Huecuva.
Lordzack's right - from the Bonus Bestiary:
"Most huecuvas remember little of their former lives except for the blasphemy that led them to their cursed fates."
Since the power gained through experience would be lost, all clerics, no matter the level, would simply come back as a pitiful shell of a creature.
However, in answer to the OP, you can use Create Undead to make huecuvas. It has a whole section on that.
Most huecuvas remember little of their former lives except for the blasphemy that led them to their cursed fates.
That would probably include class levels, you know? Of course if you want a more powerful Huecuva, you can simply advance it as with any other monster.
It is, however, possible to make a Huecuva from the body of a cleric using Create Undead.
Most huecuvas arise when a god rejects a heretic priest’s soul, forcing the slain to rise as horrible undead, but this is not the only way a huecuva can come into being. A huecuva can be created using create undead. The caster must be at least 11th level and the spell normally uses the body of an evil cleric. The spell can be used to create a huecuva using the body of a good cleric, but this requires a DC 20 caster level check. Creating a huecuva in this way is considered to be one of the most heinous things that can be done to a cleric that has passed away. The faithless aura of huecuvas created from the bodies of good clerics in this way grants a +4 profane bonus on Will saves to resist channeled energy and any effects based off that ability.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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The undead in question retains none of the original creatures attributes, however. It doesn't matter whether the cleric in question was a first level acolyte or the mightiest high priest. I'm pretty sure losing all it's strength is an intentional effect of the curse that creates a Huecuva.However, the thing is, that the undead monsters that don't get templates don't get them precisely because they do not meet the criteria I spoke of.Hence my use of the words almost and practically always.Just because an undead is created from another creature, doesn't mean it's going to retain enough of the original creature's attributes for a template to make sense.Yeah, in 3.0 it was a template (which I liked). In PF, it's just a straight monster.I must admit that I am of the opinion that almost all Undead should be Templated. They are practically always created from something, so it makes sense that a Template should be applied to whatever they are created from.Not necessarily and the Huecuva is the perfect example.
And I quote: "Most huecuvas arise when a god rejects a heretic priest’s soul, forcing the slain to rise as horrible undead."A Huecuva Template should then be applied to the slain Cleric. He may no longer have access to his Divine abilities, but in all other aspects he should retain his other abilites (BAB, Saves, etc...) and the Template should give him alternate abilities to somewhat compensate for this. You can't tell me that every single Cleric who dies this way comes back as a CR2 Huecuva. One shouldn't be forced to apply other Templates (such as Advanced) to it to create thes higher level Huecuva.
It would lose all of it's abilities related to it's Divine connection (Spells, Domains, Channel, etc...) but things like Number of Hit Dice, while Class related, are a part of the core of the Character and shouldn't be stripped because they're not 'remembered' abilities. If you look at a Zombie for example, they still have as many Hit Dice as they had previously, they just change to the d8's of Undead. Other than that, they still use the base statisitics of the pre-Templated Character. You can't tell me a newly awakened Zombie should be more powerful than a Huecuva when they were both the same level before their untimely wander to the side of the Undead. Neither remembers their previous lives (unless you're talking about something like a Zombie Lord).
While most huecuvas are lowly, pathetic things wallowing in the faint memory of their blasphemous lives, a rare few forge a connection with the sinister forces that tempted them in life and gain a twisted parody of their priestly powers.
Creating a Greater Hueceva
"Greater Huecuva" is an acquired template that can be added to any living corporeal creature with the ability to cast divine spells, referred to hereafter as the base creature.
CR: As the base creature +1.
Alignment: Any evil.
Type: The creature's type changes to undead. It retains any subtype except for alignment subtypes and subtypes that indicate kind.
Armor Class: A greater huecuva gains a +2 bonus to its natural armor over the base creature's natural armor bonus.
Hit Dice: Change all the creature's racial Hit Dice to d8s. All Hit Dice derived from class levels remain unchanged. As undead, greater huecuvas use their Charisma modifiers to determine bonus hit points (instead of Constitution).
Defensive Abilities: Greater huecuvas gain channel resistance +4 and DR 5/magic or silver (or DR 10/magic or silver if it has 11 HD or more). This stacks with the Faithless special ability (see below).
Speed: A winged greater huecuva's maneuverability drops to clumsy. If the base creature flew magically, its fly speed is unchanged. Retain all other movement types.
Attacks: A greater huecuva retains all the natural weapons, manufactured weapon attacks, and weapon proficiencies of the base creature. If it did not already have claw attacks, it also gains two claw attacks that deal damage based on the greater huecuva's size.
Abilities: A greater huecuva has no Con score; as an undead, it uses its Charisma in place of Constitution when calculating hit points, Fortitude saves, or any special ability that relies on Constitution.
Special Abilities: A greater huecuva gains the following.
Disease (Ex): Claw, save Fort DC 12, frequency 1d3 days/1 day, effect 1d3 Dex damage and 1d3 Con damage, cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Faithless (Su): The greater huecuva and all undead creatures within 30 feet receive a +2 profane bonus on Will saves made to resist channeled energy and any effects based off that ability. This bonus stacks with channel resistance.
Twisted Faith: If the base creature had any domains, it replaces each of them with one of the following domains: death, darkness, evil, madness
Undead Companion (Ex): If the greater huecuva has an animal companion or familiar, it gains the zombie template. It does not count against the maximum number of HD of undead the greater huecuva may control.
It would lose all of it's abilities related to it's Divine connection (Spells, Domains, Channel, etc...) but things like Number of Hit Dice,...The undead in question retains none of the original creatures attributes, however. It doesn't matter whether the cleric in question was a first level acolyte or the mightiest high priest. I'm pretty sure losing all it's strength is an intentional effect of the curse that creates a Huecuva.However, the thing is, that the undead monsters that don't get templates don't get them precisely because they do not meet the criteria I spoke of.Hence my use of the words almost and practically always.Just because an undead is created from another creature, doesn't mean it's going to retain enough of the original creature's attributes for a template to make sense.Yeah, in 3.0 it was a template (which I liked). In PF, it's just a straight monster.I must admit that I am of the opinion that almost all Undead should be Templated. They are practically always created from something, so it makes sense that a Template should be applied to whatever they are created from.Not necessarily and the Huecuva is the perfect example.
And I quote: "Most huecuvas arise when a god rejects a heretic priest’s soul, forcing the slain to rise as horrible undead."A Huecuva Template should then be applied to the slain Cleric. He may no longer have access to his Divine abilities, but in all other aspects he should retain his other abilites (BAB, Saves, etc...) and the Template should give him alternate abilities to somewhat compensate for this. You can't tell me that every single Cleric who dies this way comes back as a CR2 Huecuva. One shouldn't be forced to apply other Templates (such as Advanced) to it to create thes higher level Huecuva.
"Hit Dice: Drop HD gained from class levels (minimum of 1) and change racial HD to d8s." -- Zombie Template
Zombies DO lose hit dice, unless those hit dice are racial hit dice. Presumably, a hill giant cleric who became a huecuva would have more hit dice than standard, but like zombies, levels gained as a class do not.I can see the argument for it to be a template, but there are so few things out there with both racial hit dice and the capacity to become priests, and so few of those priests would become huecuvas, that it doesn't really need to be.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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"Hit Dice: Drop HD gained from class levels (minimum of 1) and change racial HD to d8s." -- Zombie Template
Zombies DO lose hit dice, unless those hit dice are racial hit dice. Presumably, a hill giant cleric who became a huecuva would have more hit dice than standard, but like zombies, levels gained as a class do not.
Ahhh... thanks for pointing that out. For some reason I misread that passage to be all Hit Dice change to d8's. :/