 Bloodless Vessel
This pale youth’s wispy beard does little to make him look older. He stares with misty white eyes, and there is something unnatural about the way he stands, blank-faced and emotionless. He moves like a puppet, a thing guided by unseen hands. He holds a scythe that should be too heavy for his spindly arms, but the weight doesn’t seem to bother him.Bloodless Vessel CR 12Source Blood of Dragonscar pg. 30
NE Medium undead
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +12, Spot +18DefenseAC 24, touch 18, flat-footed 20 (+4 deflection, +4 Dex, +6 natural)
hp 123 (18d12+6)
Fort +6, Ref +10, Will +14
Immune undead immunitiesOffenseSpeed 30 ft.
Melee scythe +19 (2d4+13/19-20/x4) or slam +18 (1d6+9)
Ranged necrotic blast +14 ranged touch (5d6 negative energy damage)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th)
VariesStatisticsStr 28, Dex 19, Con —, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 19
Base Atk +9; Grapple +18
Feats Combat Reflexes, Improved Critical (scythe), Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Toughness, Weapon Focus (scythe)
Skills Climb +16, Concentration +14, Intimidate +18, Jump +19, Knowledge (arcana) +12, Knowledge (history) +15, Knowledge (religion) +10, Sense Motive +15, Spellcraft +10, Tumble +15
Languages Common and 1d4 other languages
SQ Host to ManySpecial AbilitiesHost to Many (Ex) A bloodless vessel is an undead creature, but it is host to many spirits. As such, it responds to turn attempts in an unusual manner. A successful turn attempt against the vessel drives away some of the inhabiting spirits for 1 minute (these flee visibly in the form of flying shadows, returning when the turn effect expires). This negates the vessel’s deflection bonus to armor class for the duration of the turning.
Spell-like Abilities (Sp) Between its undead nature and the diverse backgrounds of the spirits that comprise a vessel’s collective soul, a vessel has an unpredictable set of spell-like abilities. Some spread fear and disease, others focus on weakness and despair. Some have more in common with vampires, while others are more like ghouls. Choose one spell-like ability at each spell level from the following list; the vessel can cast up to 14 spell levels’ worth of these abilities per day.
1st level (save DC 15) cause fear, charm person, mage armor, ray of enfeeblement
2nd level (save DC 16) blindness/deafness, command undead, ghoul touch, invisibility
3rd level (save DC 17) dispel magic, gaseous form, ray of exhaustion, vampiric touch
4th level (save DC 18) confusion, contagion, crushing despair, enervation, fear
5th level (save DC 19) dominate person, feeblemind, nightmare, waves of fatigue
Here are a few common combinations of powers.
Commander: charm person, confusion, dispel magic, dominate person, invisibility
Brawler: enervation, ghoul touch, mage armor, vampiric touch, waves of fatigue
Terror: blindness/deafness, cause fear, fear, feeblemind, gaseous form
Quickness (Su) A vessel is supernaturally quick. It can take an extra standard action or move action during its turn each round. in combat, it normally uses this ability to make a second attack.
Necrotic Blast (Su) A vessel can fire a blast of negative energy once per round as a ranged touch attack (100-ft. range, 5d6 negative energy damage).DescriptionA bloodless vessel is an undead creature formed when agents of the dark powers infuse the prepared body of a virgin humanoid with the essence of multiple restless spirits. The vessel is physically and mentally empowered by the host of spirits possessing it, giving it surprising speed, deadly strength, and strange magic. While quite intelligent, bloodless vessels rarely speak or show signs of emotion. The spirits that are sharing the body have lost touch with their humanity due to the horrors they have suffered, and have difficulty summoning any strong emotion; their individual memories are remote, though the memories of things they have in common (such as historical events) remain quite strong.
As the vessel suffers damage, flesh is cut away and bones may be broken, revealing pulsing threads of spectral energy running through its veins instead of blood. This is the concentrated essence of the spirits empowering the vessel, which can keep the vessel moving even after ghastly injuries. The necrotic blast attack used by a vessel draws on this same energy, literally hurling angry spirits at its victims.
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