Although the STAP has no use for Rowyn Kellani (other than Chaeron's proxy) after her battle in SWW, I was wondering if the following would be a good idea.
The party has, by crook and by hook, managed to get two extra ships for the expedition, both captained by ex-pirates and one crewed mostly by pirates. On one of these ships is a powerful priest of Hextor (the party doesn't actually know HOW powerful, but between us, he's level 13).
Due to making him flee in BG and royally ticking off Harliss Javell, the party was attacked by Drevoraz while in port. They killed him and threw his corpse overboard, but the priest of Hextor gathered up his corpse. They have now just killed Rowyn and will probably dump her overboard too. If they do, then the priest of Hextor will probably gather up her corpse too.
What should I have the priest do with the bodies of these two powerful NPCs? By RAW he can make them into corpse creatures, bone creatures, skeletons, zombies, ghouls or ghasts. Which should I have him do? Should I even have him do any of them? If he does, will he keep it a secret from the party? Will he use his servitors for evil? Will he openly have them and just use them as extra help to him?
DROWNED ONE
from Tammeraut's Fate, by Greg A. Vaughan (Dungeon #106, p. 49-50)
reprinted without permission, but the prayer that he won't mind.
Drowned ones are the animated corpses of land-dwelling creatures who died at sea. They are animated by the will of Nerull the Reaper or other cruel and evil deities.
Drowned ones are free-willed {emphasis added}, but overwhelmed with a terrible hatred of the living. Their attacks often show surprising cunning. They prefer to drag their victims into the water before finishing them off, but if this isn't possible they aren't above shambling onto land to conduct slaughter.
A drowned one looks like a waterlogged, lumbering mockery of what it was in life. Flesh is ripe and bloated with moisture, and in many cases covered with tiny fish bites and wounds from crabs and other scavengers. Their clothing remains soaked and draped with seaweed at all times.
"Drowned one" is a template that can be added to any living creature that does not possess the aquatic subtype. The creature's type changes to undead, and it gains the water subtype. It uses all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Hit Dice: Increases to d12
Speed: The creature's land speed is reduced by half, and it gains a swim speed equal to the creature's original land speed. If the creature already has a swim speed, it increases by +10 feet.
AC: The base creature's natural armor improves by +4. Drowned ones continue to wear the armor they were wearing when they died. Magic armor is unaltered, but regular armor is badly rusted or otherwise rotted and water damaged, and the armor bonus provided is reduced by one point.
Attacks: A drowned one retains all the attacks of the base creature and also gains a slam attack if it didn't already have one. A drowned one that carried a weapon when it died continues to use that weapon as a drowned one unless its slam attack does more damage.
Damage: Drowned ones' weapons are often badly rusted or otherwise damaged by their long immersion. These weapons inflict damage as if they were one size category smaller than their actual size.
Drowned ones also have slam attacks. If the base creature does not have this attack form, use the damage values given in the table below. Creatures with natural slam attacks retain the old damage ratings or use the values below, whichever is better.
SIZE/DAMAGE
Fine/1
Diminutive/1
Tiny/1d2
Small/1d3
Medium/1d4
Large/1d6
Huge/1d8
Gargantuan/2d6
Colossal/2d8
Special Attacks: A drowned one retains all the special attacks of the base creature and also those given below. Saves have a DC of 10 + 1/2 the drowned one's HD + the drowned one's Charisma modifier, unless noted otherwise.
Disease (Su): Drowned ones constantly seep rivulets of foul sea water. This water soaks their weapons and natural attacks, so that anyone damaged by a drowned one must make a Fortitude save or contract bluerot. Victims of this supernatural disease grow lethargic and feeble as their muscles and skin turn blue, like the skin of a drowned corpse. Bluerot has an incubation period of 1 minute and deals 1d8 points of Strength damage; if a victim has a Strength score of 0, the disease instead inflicts 1d8 points of Constitution damage. Bluerot is spread only by drowned ones. An afflicted living non-aquatic creature that dies of bluerot rises as a drowned one at the next sunset.
Nauseating Appearance (Su): A drowned one's visage is supernaturally disgusting and horrifying. All living creatures within 20 feet of a drowned one that can see it must make a successful Fortitude saving throw or become nauseated for one round. A new saving throw is required each round the victim remains within 20 feet and can see the drowned one. A character can avoid this effect by averting his eyes or wearing a blindfold, but doing so grants the drowned one concealment or total concealment (see page 309 of the Monster Manual).
Special Qualities: A drowned one retains all the special qualities of the base creature and those given below.
Deep Water Adaptation (Ex): Drowned ones are immune to water pressure damage from deep water.
Electrical Vulnerability (Ex): Drowned ones take half again as much (+50%) damage as normal from electrical damage.
Hivemind (Ex): Drowned ones can communicate telepathically with other drowned ones, to a distance of 10 miles.
Resistance to Cold and Fire (Ex): Drowned ones gain cold resistance 10 and fire resistance 10.
Soulsense (Su): Drowned ones constantly sense the presence of intelligent life in a 60-foot cone-shaped emanation. This ability functions identically to the spell detect undead, save that it allows the drowned one to detect the auras of living creatures with Intelligence scores of at least 3.
Sunlight Powerlessness (Ex): Drowned ones are powerless in natural sunlight, unless the sunlight is filtered through at least 1 foot of water. They flee from direct sunlight; a drowned one caught in sunlight cannot attack and can take only a single move action in a round.
Turn Resistance (Ex): Drowned ones have a +4 turn resistance.
Abilities: Adjust from the base creature as follows: Str +6, Dex -4 (minimum score of 3), Wis +4. As undead creatures, drowned ones have no Constitution score.
Skills: Drowned ones receive a +8 racial bonus on swim checks.
Feats: Drowned ones gain Blind-Fight if the base creature doesn't already have this feat.
Environment: Any water or coastal.
Organization: Solitary or crew (6 - 24)
Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature +1
Treasure: As base creature but no potions or scrolls
Alignment: Always chaotic evil. A character who becomes a drowned one becomes chaotic evil. If a cleric becomes evil, he loses any ability to turn undead, but gains the ability to rebuke undead. If a cleric's new alignment precludes him from worshipping the same deity, he may select new domains from the following list: Death, Destruction, Evil, War.
Advancement: Same as base creature
Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +3
There is a monster in MM 3 called a Drowned, but it's not a template. CR 8, 20 HD (!), and it advances by character class. I'm not sure if that's of any help, but I thought that I'd mention it. :)
There is a monster in MM 3 called a Drowned, but it's not a template. CR 8, 20 HD (!), and it advances by character class. I'm not sure if that's of any help, but I thought that I'd mention it. :)
Used something similar to this in Tides of Dread for Vanthus's cursed harem, for Rowyn (Party Buried her at sea)used a ghoul added the aquatic template + Rowyns levels she was a hex-blade (I think in my campaign).
I also had the his pregnant girlfriend who had been hit by the black pearl (I cant remember her name) as a banshee.
I also had the his pregnant girlfriend who had been hit by the black pearl (I cant remember her name) as a banshee.
Brissa Santos? The thief/artist from TBWG?
I also had the his pregnant girlfriend who had been hit by the black pearl (I cant remember her name) as a banshee.Brissa Santos? The thief/artist from TBWG?
Thats the one - In TBWG I had the foetus's face (post BP) poking out of her stomach with shark teeth - My players were suitably freaked out.
My group ended last session with making plans to head to Kraken's Cove, they should get there today (if we game, our session status is kinda up in the air today). That's a bit freakier than I'd thought of but I may borrow it.
If you have tome of horrors, then check out the draug and the brine zombie. And then give them a ship. These undead can manipulate ships and even make them fly!