The Risen Lord

Defense

Offense

Statistics

Description

Male dread shadow ancient red dragon (Advanced Bestiary 88, Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 98)

Command Shadows (Su) The Risen Lord can automatically command all normal shadows within 30 feet as a free action. Shadows never attack the Risen Lord unless compelled.

Create Spawn (Su) Any creature that is drained to 0 Strength by the Risen Lord dies. One round later, the creature’s body spawns a shadow (if the creature had 8 or fewer Hit Dice) or a greater shadow (if the creature had 9 Hit Dice or more).

Shadow Slip (Su) At will as a move action, the Risen Lord may shadow slip—this functions identically to the spell dimension door, save that the starting point and destination must lie in darkness or dim light.

Accidentally transformed into a shadow when an attempt to change into a ravener failed, the undead dragon now known as the Risen Lord remembers nothing of his life but a sense of loss and a terrible rage.

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Undead Revisited Spectral Dead We entered the crypts below Duke Winwood’s estate in search of the missing duchess. Ignoring the warning cries of the duke’s hounds, we continued, and so were unprepared for the onslaught that followed. We had scarcely pierced the mausoleum’s cloying darkness when howling shapes of ghostly aether poured forth from the walls. Our lantern-bearer fell immediately, the life draining from his body as his jaws contorted in a silent scream. My prayers met only silence as my faith faltered in the presence of the cursed creatures. Yet nothing I might have done could have saved us—or so I tell my coward’s heart.

—From the planchette spirit-writings of Valana Totrevsky Spectral Dead D riven by all-encompassing hunger and murderous intent, spectral dead are corrupted souls that refuse to release their hold on the mortal world.

No one knows what plants the seeds of darkness and decay that utterly corrupt the souls of mortals. Some speculate that the prenatal soul, like fruit left too long to ripen on the vine, can sour to malignancy long before its binding to a mortal shell, dooming the creature from birth to a troubled life of anger and deceit and, eventually, to undeath. Others theorize that mortal action alone allows this malignancy to take root, and lives spent unwisely in the service of dark powers corrupt the intangible sparks of divinity that rest in mortal hearts. Still others note that despair and madness—afflictions capable of bringing even the most pious and good-natured people to their knees, through no fault of their own—can lead to the unnatural shackling of a spirit to the mortal world. Regardless of the root cause, however, this form of undeath transforms the victim into a disembodied spirit without a true physical form, only a spectral echo of its former self. Once this metaphorical disease has festered within a soul, it becomes contagious, and some undead are able to pass their despicable gift on to the living, regardless of their victim’s former valor. While the positive energy of mortal humanoids can fight off the curse of undeath while they are still living, those slain by these powerful spirits sometimes have their souls instantaneously consumed by darkness, their corrupted spirits sloughing off their mortal shells to rise as the ghostly spawn of their slayers.

There are many different types of incorporeal undead. Allips are the undead souls of those who took their own lives out of madness and insanity, cursed to wander the dark halls they knew in life, babbling incomprehensible gibberish that drives the living similarly insane.

Violently taking some misguided revenge on the living, allips flitter about in a cloudy, oily miasma of profane babbling and muttering, without consistent form but with glimpses of spectral bone, amorphous gnashings of sharp teeth and claws, silver flashes of bloody razors, or the frayed knots of nooses. Scholars debate whether allips are even sane enough to comprehend their own undead state, and some speculate that the creatures know only a personal hell filled with violent, mind-numbing hallucinations with which they interact. This theory is bolstered by the testimony of those who have used magic to commune with the insane essence of the creatures; the casters themselves are quickly reduced to a gibbering state of insanity from which few recover.

In the rare cases when an elf’s bright soul suffers the malignancy of undeath, the tragedy results in one of the most powerful forms of incorporeal dead. Whether created through vile misdeeds in her last moments, a terrible and torturous demise, or some wretched betrayal by her loved ones, a banshee is the vengeful undead spirit of an elven female that seeks only to destroy all those who still tread the mortal realm. Blinded by rage and driven to insanity by their grief, banshees are guided only by their need for revenge against all who trespass in their realms, giving vent to keening wails that can strike mortals dead in their tracks. For all the curses surrounding them, banshees are ironically blessed with powerful abilities and keen senses, detecting even the heartbeats of mortals, which betray their trespasses into the realms of the undead maidens.

Spectres are creatures of insatiable anger, their undeath the result of evil lives and a rage too great to allow them to let go of the mortal world. Arrogant egomaniacs enraged by the insult of their own deaths and murder victims seeking revenge on their captors are prime candidates for transformation into spectres, though such transformations is far more common if the mortals were actively evil. Appearing as vague and shadowy reflections of their former selves, even the eldest of spectres remember much of their former lives, and as such are sought after by necromancers and liches for knowledge and secrets they may possess from centuries of existence. Spectres less old Equipping the Spectral Dead Though it’s simple enough to make the spectral dead larger or more dangerous, it’s sometimes fun to advance spectral dead via class levels. However, this creates the problem of equipping a spirit’s incorporeal form, as unlike ghosts, these disembodied creatures have no means of manipulating and benefiting from solid objects such as treasure.

As a result, if you advance spectral dead by class levels, you should consider giving them ghostly versions of the equipment they owned in life—use the rules for ghostly equipment detailed in the ghost template on page 144 of the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary. Of course, you can also outfit a spectral dead with ghost touch armor and weapons, but this tends to break verisimilitude. Why would someone own so much ghost touch equipment before they died? You might use this strategy once to equip the party for a ghost-heavy game, but subsequent uses may feel forced.

Finally, you could just leave things as they are—stat up your classed spectral dead without giving it any gear. This will result in a less powerful character, of course, especially if the lack of equipment prevents the spectral dead from using many of its class abilities (remember, spell components can’t normally be manipulated by incorporeal creatures). In such cases, your best bet is to simply advance the spectral dead by increasing its Hit Dice, or use the ghost template instead.

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Undead Revisited are still keenly intelligent creatures, and few domiciles are immune to their incorporeal intrusion, making these dangerous spirits powerful scouts and subtle spies, though their rage and insane hatred of living things can sometimes get in the way of such pursuits.

Wraiths, much like spectres, arise from souls tainted by evil lives. These spirits aren’t quite as powerful as spectres, and lose most semblance of self and memory of their former lives in the transition from mortal to spirit, stalking living prey in order to satisfy the undying hunger that swells within their insubstantial bodies. Appearing as vaguely humanoid figures composed of the black-on-black static of negative energy, wraiths are alternately blessed and cursed with the ability to sense the blinding light of positive energy within creatures. This sight both angers and provokes them, consumed as they are with the absorption and negation of life energy. Whether the light of the living enrages them out of spite or envy, or by causing them some pain or discomfort, is unknown, but this keen sense makes them unparalleled hunters.

While spectres make fine spies and scouts, the inherent rage within wraiths makes them unreliable in such roles, and the more powerful undead they often serve quickly learn that wraiths work best as assassins and guards.

Source: Undead Revisited, p. 52