Phaegia

CR: 12 XP: 19,200

CE Medium undead (human)

Init: +4 Senses: darkvision 60 ft. Perception: +29

Aura: fear (60-ft. radius, DC 19)

AC: 24, touch 11, flat-footed 24 (+8 armor, +1 deflection, +5 natural)

HP: 119 (11d8+66)

Fort: +11 Ref: +3 Will: +14

Defensive Abilities: channel resistance +4, rejuvenation

DR: 15/bludgeoning and magic

Immune: cold, electricity, undead traits

Speed: 20 ft.

Melee: +1 spell storing heavy mace +8/+3 (1d8), touch +2 (1d8+5 plus paralyzing touch)

Special Attacks: channel negative energy 9/day (DC 19, 6d6), paralyzing touch (DC 19), scythe of evil (5 rounds, 1/day)

Spell-Like Abilities: (CL 11th; concentration +18) 10/day—bleeding touch (5 rounds), touch of evil (5 rounds)

Spells Prepared: (CL 11th; concentration +18) 6th—create undeadD, harm (DC 23), word of recall 5th—flame strike (DC 22), greater command (DC 22), slay livingD (DC 22), spell resistance 4th—air walk, divine power, freedom of movement, extended magic vestment, unholy blightD (DC 21) 3rd—bestow curse (DC 20), blindness/deafness (DC 20), contagion (DC 20), dispel magic, invisibility purge, magic circle against goodD, wind wall 2nd—bull’s strength, death knellD (DC 19), hold person Lich (DC 19), resist energy, silence (DC 19), sound burst (DC 19), spiritual weapon 1st—command (2, DC 18), divine favor, doom (DC 18), obscuring mist, protection from goodD, sanctuary (DC 18) 0 (at will)—bleed (DC 17), detect magic, light, read magic D Domain spell, Domains Death, Evil

Str: 9 Dex: 10 Con: — Int: 14 Wis: 25 Cha: 18

Base Atk: +8 CMB: +7 CMD: 18

Feats: Combat Casting, Command Undead, Craft Wondrous Item, Extend Spell, Extra Channel, Improved Initiative, Toughness

Skills: Knowledge (arcana) +16, Knowledge (religion) +16, Perception +29, Sense Motive +15, Spellcraft +16, Stealth +19 Racial Modifiers +8 Perception, +8 Sense Motive, +8 Stealth

SQ: death’s embrace

Languages: Abyssal, Common, Necril

Gear: +2 spiked breastplate, +1 spell storing heavy mace (contains contagion), headband of inspired wisdom +2, ring of protection +1, spell component pouch, unholy symbol of Orcus Not all liches arise from arcane casters—many of them were divine spellcasters in life, particularly among cults that involve undeath, such as the faiths of Urgathoa, Kabriri, Orcus, or Zyphus. The lich presented here is one such example of a priestly lich—her stats may be used for any undead cleric, although changes to her choice of domains as befits differing religions might require you to make a few minor adjustments to the stats before play. Once an influential priest of Aroden, Phaegia turned to the worship of the demon lord Orcus as she felt her life slipping away with her advancing years, and made the grueling transformation into a lich so she could continue to “live” forever. Phaegia now believes that she is coming closer to understanding the many mysteries of death, consulting with necromancers both arcane and divine, seeking consultation with the gods, and speaking with devils she conjures in her crumbled fastness. She welcomes evil clerics to her home, for she loves to debate theology and uncover secrets in ever-evolving death rituals. Should any of these guests fail to excite her intellect, she gives them to her ravening undead. Despite her endless curiosity, Phaegia retains the knowledge that her undeath is a gift from Orcus, and is careful to regularly advance the demon lord’s goals, lest he decide to revoke her immortality. Her current fortress is a ruined temple of Aroden hidden deep in a forested valley, with all signs of the former deity scratched away and replaced with symbols of Orcus. Phaegia’s lieutenant is an old vampire named Arishkov Wolfstongue, whom the lich sometimes controls via command undead to keep him honest, but who otherwise has free rein to carry out Phaegia’s research— primarily seeking ghost- and wraith-haunted places which Phaegia can visit to speak with the dead spirits. Phaegia’s phylactery, a startling blue sapphire hidden within a rotting tree trunk, is buried 50 feet beneath a small bog near her temple. Though she might have chosen somewhere a bit more secure or glorious, this hiding spot was designated in a vision from Orcus himself, and Phaegia understands that this is a subtle reminder of her own weakness: every time she dies, she must heave herself through the muck to return home. With every breathless rebirth and filthy slog through the mire, she is made to remember that she is ultimately a creature of the grave, and though her final rest may have been postponed, it is only by the demon lord’s grace. Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Undead Revisited Mohrg “Being held in place, unable to move, while you watch your companions die, unable to scream because some thing has frozen their throats shut... you think you can begin to understand? Imagine a writhing, purple tongue that used to be some murderer’s guts snaking up the back of your throat until it tastes your brain. I can still feel it. But you know what the worst part was? Watching those empty eye sockets stare and then turn away, letting me know it could come back at any time—that when it wanted me, it would take me, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. “Sometimes, being allowed to live isn’t a gift at all.” —Unnamed survivor of a mohrg attack Mohrg U nrepentant killers in life, mohrgs retain an intense hatred for all living creatures, in particular sentient beings that can experience a fear of impending death. Some mohrgs were bloodthirsty warriors who slew as many as they could on the battlefield, others cold and calculating murders who selected their victims with delicate care, but nearly all mohrgs lived and died as mortal humanoids who delighted in the deaths of their fellow beings. A few mohrgs, however, are created from the remains of innocents by spellcasters (using the create undead spell), who are driven mad by being deprived of a peaceful death and then watching the transformation and slow decay of their own bodies. Those traumas, coupled with the loss of memories that tied them to the living world—to family, friends, and lovers— festers within these newly created mohrg, eventually resulting in the same hatred for the living that resides in the unbeating hearts of “naturally occurring” mohrgs. Regardless of a particular mohrg’s means of animation and how much the creature remembers of its former life, the need to snuff out life like an unwanted candle is the primary desire of each mohrg. A mohrg exists merely to kill, and when it is not killing, it broods angrily, plotting the best means to spread death further. Mohrg attacks often catch smaller communities unawares. The few survivors of such attacks are often dismissed as unfortunate souls turned mad by some other trauma, and unless a town under attack is blessed with the presence of powerful adventurers or a benevolent spellcaster, it may be wiped out by the mohrg’s wave of lesser undead long before the townspeople realize the true nature of the threat. Despite their almost compulsive need to kill—which for many mohrgs began while they were still alive, and fueled their undead transformation—mohrgs are not mindless. As intelligent undead, they are fully aware of their actions, and experience a perverse joy when killing, particularly when they slay other intelligent beings. This psychological joy is accompanied by a physical sensation of pleasure when negative energy rushes into a mohrg’s body to mark the raising of its latest victim as a zombie, an addictive feeling the mohrg seeks to replicate whenever possible. Even more than their formidable combat abilities, mohrgs’ intelligence, and the fact that they may remember a significant portion of their previous lives, make them fatally dangerous predators. They have knowledge of human society and behavior, can navigate streets and cities (or avoid them, if necessary), and—if they can find a means to disguise their nature—are fully capable of recruiting living agents into their perverse quests. A mohrg can show inhuman patience when pursuing a plan, killing off a populace in slow handfuls until it has an army of waiting zombies prepared to rise up and destroy a settlement, and its desire for death far exceeds that of any sociopath. In rising as mohrgs, those with murderous urges in life are stripped of all mitigating factors, leaving only the unholy core of their bloodlust. Mohrgs tend to show a preference for the killing styles they employed in life, creating eerie echoes of their former crimes. A murderer who slit open the throats of his victims might claw the flesh from the necks of its prey, or even employ a knife on helpless victims, while a thug who killed innocents and took their coins might still seek to lure new victims down dark alleys rather than simply striking to kill. The most dangerous of mohrgs are those who remember their mortal lives entirely, and still feel no remorse for their actions, taking a dark satisfaction in each and every kill, these mohrgs seek to best the murderous exploits they committed while still mortal. Whether it was in cruelty or in sheer numbers, a mohrg attempting to outdo the mortal killer it once was is a frightening and sickening creature, anathema to life itself.