| Koja of Khazari |
Here is my take on the Spawn of Kyuss.
Zombie variant- Wormspawn
Challenge rating: As a normal zombie +2
Fast healing: A wormspawn zombie has fast healing equal to 1 per hit die it possesses.
Defensive abilities: Instead of DR 5/slashing, a wormspawn zombie gains DR 5/silver. In addition, a wormspawn zombie gains channel resistance +2. Anyone who strikes a wormspawn zombie with a natural weapon or unarmed attack is subject to the bestow worm ability (see below) unless he succeeds on a DC 15 Reflex save. Anyone who begins his turn in a grapple with a wormspawn zombie is automatically subject to 1d3 worms via the bestow worm ability.
Special attacks: A wormspawn zombie gains the following special attacks.
Bestow Worm (Su): A wormspawn zombie can transfer a worm from its own body to that of an opponent. It does so automatically whenever it hits with a natural weapon, or it can do so deliberately by making a melee touch attack, or by throwing or spitting a worm up to 10 ft. as a ranged touch attack. Unlike most touch attacks, the bestow worm ability has a special caveat: if the target is wearing silver or mithral armor, or using a silver or mithral shield, he may add its armor and/or shield bonus (not including any enhancement bonuses) to his touch AC against the bestow worm ability. If the attack is successful, a worm is transferred to the victim, where it latches on and begins burrowing in, and the victim has contracted the Kyuss worm infestation.
Disease (Su): Any natural attack of the wormspawn zombie carries the Kyuss' gift supernatural disease, which manifests as rotting flesh and dementia. Kyuss' Gift: injury; save Fort DC 10 + 1/2 the zombie's HD + the zombie's Cha modifier; onset 1 day; frequency 1/day; effect 1d6 Con and 1d4 Wis damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. Anyone afflicted with this disease receives only half of the normal benefit from any healing effect, whether natural or magical. This effect begins immediately upon failing the initial save to resist the disease, and only ends when the disease is finally cured.
Abilities: As a standard zombie, but the worms infesting its body grant it a +4 enhancement bonus to Charisma. In addition, wormspawn zombies are not mindless, and possess an Intelligence score equal to the base creature or 6, whichever is lower.
Skills: A wormspawn zombie gains skill ranks according to its hit dice. These are usually distributed more-or-less evenly between Climb, Perception, and Stealth.
Feats: A wormspawn zombie keeps Toughness as a bonus feat, and gains additional feats according to its HD. These are generally simple feats, such as Skill Focus or Weapon Focus, or feats the base creature possessed as bonus feats.
Special qualities: A wormspawn zombie does not gain the staggered special quality. Instead, it gains the following special quality.
Curative vulnerability (Su): If a wormspawn zombie is targeted by remove curse or remove disease (or a more powerful version of either spell), many of its abilities are suppressed. The zombie gets a Will save to resist this effect. If the save is failed, the zombie loses its bestow worm ability, channel resistance, damage reduction, enhancement bonus to Charisma, and fast healing, and also loses its Intelligence score, becoming mindless. These abilities are suppressed for 2d4 rounds unless the wormspawn zombie rolls a natural 1 on its Will save, in which case the worms in its body are completely destroyed, and the suppressed abilities are lost permanently.
| Koja of Khazari |
And here is the infestation itself, admittedly written a bit clumsily:
Kyuss Worms
Kyuss worms are supernatural parasites that infest the undead that bear their name. When they come in contact with living flesh, they burrow into the skin, make their way to the unfortunate victim's brain, and consume it. The victim usually dies screaming, only to rise moments later as a new wormspawn zombie. The infestation can be stopped any time after the worm has entered the target's body by casting remove curse or remove disease. These spells instantly and automatically destroy all Kyuss worms currently infesting the target's body.
The infestation can be broken into four phases: contact, invasion, consumption, and transformation.
Contact: The worm is burrowing in through the skin of its host. This process inflicts 1 hp per round, and lasts one round, plus one additional round per point of natural armor bonus possessed by the target (any amount of damage reduction is enough to provide immunity to the worms). During this phase, the worm is considered helpless. It can be killed by normal damage (with the host taking half as much damage as the worm), by applying fire (which deals 1d6 damage to the host), by the touch of silver (a touch attack with a silver object, such as a coin), or simply pulled off with a DC 12 Strength check (a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity). The worm is a Fine vermin with AC 13 and 1 hp. No roll to hit is necessary if a full-round action is taken (see rules for helpless defenders). If the worm successfully burrows into the skin, proceed to the invasion phase.
Invasion: The worm is inside the target's body, making its way to the brain. This is extremely painful, and inflicts 1 point of Constitution damage per round. The worm uses the inflicted pain to navigate its way to the brain. During this phase, the worms can be cut out using a slashing weapon. This requires a DC 20 Heal check, and inflicts 1d6 points of damage per round that the host has been infected, even if the check is failed. Surgeon's tools (Ultimate Equipment p.79) can also be used, and provide their listed bonus to the check. If the implement being used to cut the worm out is silver, it grants a +4 bonus to the check. If the Heal check is successful, one worm is removed. This phase lasts 1d4+1 rounds, after which time the worm has reached the brain. Any effect that suppresses pain (such as delay pain) adds its listed duration to to this phase of the infestation, buying valuable time to try and remove the worm. (Since the worm uses the pain it causes to find its way to the brain, completely suppressing pain effectively causes the worm to become lost in the victim's body.)
Consumption: The worm is now eating its way through the victim's brain, inflicting 1d2 points of Intelligence damage per round. During this phase of the infestation, the victim is actually in less pain, but becomes increasingly incoherent as his intelligence is eaten away. The victim can sense the worm inside his brain, eating through his knowledge and memories, and knows he is doomed. At this point, the only way to save the victim is through magic. Once the victim reaches 0 Intelligence, he dies, and proceeds immediately to the transformation phase.
Transformation: Once the victim has died, the worm starts reproducing with unnatural swiftness. Anyone who dies while infested with Kyuss worms (whether or not the death was actually caused by the infestation) rises as a wormspawn zombie 1d6+4 rounds later, worms bursting from every orifice of the host's head. At this point in the infestation, sanctify corpse will work normally, but remove curse and remove disease only have a 5% chance of successfully killing all the worms and preventing reanimation, though such magic does serve to delay the transformation by 2d4 rounds. Furthermore, if anyone touches the corpse during this time (for example, to cast one of the aforementioned spells) there is a 50% chance that 1d3 worms burst forth to attempt to claim them as a new host (a DC 15 Reflex save avoids the worms). If the corpse is somehow prevented from reanimating, any worms infesting it will die in 1d4 minutes unless they can find a new host. The worms burrow their way out of the body and instinctively locate the nearest suitable living creature, inching their way slowly toward it. If noticed, these worms are easily dispatched by merely crushing them under one's boot.