After a long time away from the forums, I've decided to pop back in. For the past two years I've been working on a necromancy book for the Pathfinder system, to be published through a small publishing company I have with an old friend. We've previously done small PDF products for Pathfinder and D&D 3.5, products that rarely exceeded 20 pages. My necromancy book was intended to be significantly larger than that though, mainly since it is a project I originally started back in the days of 3.0. Real life caught up with me though, and as our little company is a hobby more than anything else, it seems like the book won't get finished. But I still thought I wanted to share all of the thing I did in fact complete, so I'm going to post a monster from the book and if people are interested I'll keep doing a weekly post with necromantic goodness. There is plenty to take from, managed to finish a little over 150 pages of material. Without further ado, I present the Temporal Zombie.
Temporal Zombie
When the Arokaicivilization was in its greatest time of peril, when invading armieshad besieged every Arokai city, a small cadre of Arokai magiciansdecided to experiment with a type of magic they had never triedbefore. The small cadre tried to cast a spell that would let themtravel back in time so that they could warn their countrymen of theimpending invasion in due time. Unfortunately, the entire Arokaikingdom was seeped in necromantic magic, which interfered with theenergies of the time travel spell.
As black energyoverwhelmed the Arokai casters during the casting, their bodies werewracked with necromantic energy and the casters were slain. Theenergy of the time travelling spell did not dissipate along with thecasters, instead the energy infected the caster as they were slain,creating what would later be known as Temporal Zombies.
Temporal Zombies are inmany ways like regular zombies, they are almost mindless undead whostumble around the world, decayed and rotten. Temporal Zombies dothough have some unique abilities due to the energies of time thatpermeate them. This energy gives them several abilities, thestrongest of which is the ability to glimpse into the near future. ATemporal Zombie can see the future, roughly one minute of it. Theycan only see the part of the future that directly involvesthemselves, and this vision gets more inaccurate the closer it get tothe one minute mark.
This ability to see intothe near future makes the Temporal Zombie an extremely potentopponent. They are almost impossible to catch, and they are nevertrapped or surprised. It also means that Temporal Zombies areextremely capable of sneaking around, being able to see into thefuture means that Temporal Zombies can avoid detection instinctively.Even when walking around in plain sight, a Temporal Zombie can bealmost impossible to detect, they will never be where you are lookingsince they know the near future. Even an alert guard can be tricked,when he looks to the left the zombie sneak past him to the right.Temporal Zombies have even been known to sneak right past a guard,moving only when the guard blinks or is distracted.
Temporal Zombies do noteat or drink. They do though require sustenance to continue theirexistence. The sustenance that powers a Temporal Zombie is time. Whena Temporal Zombie has slain an opponent, the zombie can devour thepast of his opponent, removing the opponent permanently from history.Once a creature has had its past devoured, it will be as if it neverexisted. No one will remembers its name, all its deeds will be undoneand the time it had in the world will have been devoured by thezombie to sustain its unholy existence.
Temporal Zombies onlyrequire very little sustenance. They require a normal meal of timeenergy only once every third month or even less if they manage to eatthe time of a very old opponent. Usually a young meal will give lesssustenance than an old one.
Temporal Zombie CR 7
XP:3,200
NE Medium undead
Init:+5; Senses:Darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +1
DEFENSE
AC:39, touch 31, flat-footed 18 (+1 Dexterity, +8 natural, +20 dodge)
Hp:76 (8d8+40)
Saves:Fort +8, Ref +25, Will +7
DefensiveAbilities: Channel Resistance +4,Foresight Defence, Temporal Leap
DR:5/slashing
Immune:Undead Traits
OFFENSE
Speed:30 ft.
Melee:2 Slams: +11 (1d8+5)
Special Attacks:Consume Past
STATISTICS
Str 21, Dex 12, Con —,Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 18
Base Attack:+6; CMB +10; CMD 25
Feats:Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Toughness
Skills:Stealth +9
SpecialQualities: Divine Reward, ForesightStealth
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Consume Past (Su): TheTemporal Zombie isn’t like most undead; it doesn’t eat flesh orblood. Instead, the Temporal Zombie survives by eating time, eatingthe past of the creatures it slays. The Temporal Zombie can use thisability on any creature it has slain. Using consume past takes oneround per HD of the creature being eaten. When the zombie eats thepast of a victim, it entirely erases the creature from history,eating up the time of its victim to fuel its own existence. Thecreature disappears from time. It will be as if the victim had neverbeen born, everyone who has ever come into contact with the victimwill forget it and everything the victim has achieved will be undone.Usually, history has a tendency to correct itself, so if someoneunimportant is eaten, history will mend itself. If, for example, ablacksmith is the victim of the consume past ability, all thehorseshoes and tools made by the blacksmith won’t simply disappear.Instead, history will fill in the gaps, history will change toaccommodate the loss of the victim. The villagers in the villagewhere the blacksmith lived might have travelled to another village toget their tools made, perhaps a blacksmith from another city heard ofthe village that didn’t have a blacksmith and moved there to work.When consume past is used on a regular person, it is often virtuallyimpossible to notice that this person has vanished, everyone who knewthe person will forget about, all the deeds of the person will alsovanish, all the things the person accomplished will either have beenaccomplished by someone else or will not have been accomplished atall.
The only exceptionis when the Temporal Zombie uses this ability on someone thataccomplished something truly unique, something that would not havebeen accomplished by anyone else if the victim hadn’t done it. Forexample, if an eccentric and rich nobleman decides to build a greatcastle on a hilltop, a castle that would never have been built if notfor the nobleman, then that is too influential an action for it tosimply be removed from history by the Temporal Zombie, even ifconsumes the past of the nobleman. While the Temporal Zombie can slaythe nobleman and eat his past, it can’t undo all that the noblemanhas achieved. All of the people of the land will forget the name andface of the nobleman, but the castle will remain. People will evenremember building the castle; they will just have forgotten why theybuilt it, which inspired them. This is also one of the very few waysthat the population may notice that a Temporal Zombie is stalkingtheir lands. It has happened before that people of a county suddenlywake up and have forgotten why they built that great castleoverlooking their town; they search the castle for clues and see onlyempty paintings and empty drawers and closets where the nobleman usedto live. Naturally such a mystery will attract adventurers to thecounty, to investigate the mysterious castle.
Typically a TemporalZombie only needs to eat once every third month to stay alive. If itfinds a remote village or city where it can feed undetected, it willprefer to stay in the area as long as possible.
Divine Nemesis (Ex): Thegods absolutely hate Temporal Zombies, no matter their alignment. Nomatter if you are a good or evil deity, history is something you haveno power over, events are set in stone once they have transpired.Naturally, no deity enjoys seeing a crude undead possessing powergreater than theirs, and no deity enjoys having to constantly fix andremedy history whenever the Temporal Zombie has broken it. Clericsthat have the Command Undead feat are unable to use this ability onTemporal Zombies; even evil gods have no desire to let the TemporalZombie live, even if it is under the command of one of theirservants. If any cleric or other divine class finds a way to controla Temporal Zombie, they could very easily loose their spells andother divine powers granted to them by their deity for as long as theTemporal Zombie is under their command.
Divine Reward (Su): Sinceall deities absolutely loathe the Temporal Zombie, a special rewardis given to any who manage to destroy a Temporal Zombie. Anyoneinvolved in the destruction of a Temporal Zombie, up to a maximum offive creatures, will be given a special reward when the TemporalZombie is destroyed. The reward is a small dose of divine luck,granted to the slayers not by one deity, but by the entire pantheon.When the zombie is slain, those involved receive this divine rewardand may pick one type of Saving Throw. The slayer receives apermanent +1 bonus to this Saving Throw. Any character may onlyreceive this divine reward once in a lifetime. Even if the characterdestroys another Temporal Zombie, he will not gain an additionalbonus. Once a type of Saving Throw has been selected, it cannot bechanged. If more than five people are involved in the destruction ofa Temporal Zombie, it is up to the discretion of the DM to pick thefive people that were most instrumental in the destruction of thezombie to receive the reward.
Foresight Defence(Su): The ability of the Temporal Zombie to gaze into the futuregives it an unique and potent ability to avoid attacks. The TemporalZombie is never surprised, since it can see almost a whole minuteinto the future. Sometimes it will even know of an attack even beforethe attacker does. Foresight Defence also grants the zombie a +20dodge bonus to AC and a +20 bonus to its Reflex Saving Throws, bothof which are already calculated into the statistics above. Thisability also gives the Temporal Zombie a +5 bonus to its CMD, alsocalculated into the statistics above.
Foresight Stealth (Su):The Temporal Zombie is extremely good at sneaking past opponents,especially when you consider that it is a little bit clumsy andcumbersome. The ability of the Temporal Zombie to see the immediatefuture means that it knows every little move nearby creatures willperform. It knows when you look left or right, it knows when you willblink, it knows when you scratch your nose and close your eyes. Thisability gives the Temporal Zombie a +50 circumstantial bonus to itsStealth against creatures within 50 ft. Creatures further away areless affected by this ability. Every 50 ft. distance reduces thebonus by 10, so against creatures within 50 and 100 ft. it only gainsa +40 bonus, within 100 and 150 ft. the bonus decreases to +30, andso forth.
Temporal Leap (Su): TheTemporal Zombie is able to travel in time, but only short leaps intothe future. As a standard action, the Temporal Zombie can leap anynumber of rounds into the future, up to a full minute. The TemporalZombie will disappear and return to the exact location it vanishedfrom. While time will lapse for anyone besides the zombie, no timewill have gone by for the zombie. Spells and other effects affectingthe zombie will not lapse during the temporal leap, so any spells oreffects with duration remaining when the zombie uses temporal leapwill still be in effect when it re-appears. Temporal leap can only beused again once every minute, calculated from when the zombieappeared from its last temporal leap.
Combat Tactics
Temporal Zombies arecowards by nature, while they are far from intelligent; they seem topossess an animalistic cunning. They seem to know that they will livelonger if they cause as little disturbance as possible, so TemporalZombies will always prefer to kill its prey with as littledestruction and violence as possible. If they are chased, especiallyif more than one creature is chasing them, the Temporal Zombie willavoid confrontation. Only if cornered will it fight back, and onlyuntil an opportunity to escape appears. While the Temporal Zombie isutterly merciless, it isn’t cruel, sadistic or easily angered, andit is almost impossible to make a Temporal Zombie fight you directly.Even a Temporal Zombie that has been chased for days will appearquite apathetic about its opponent. While Temporal Zombies are notreally able to tell the difference between weak and strong foes, theyare able to identify weapons and armor. When feeding, they prefer tofind prey that is unarmored and unarmed.
Temporal Zombie
When the Arokaicivilization was in its greatest time of peril, when invading armieshad besieged every Arokai city, a small cadre of Arokai magiciansdecided to experiment with a type of magic they had never triedbefore. The small cadre tried to cast a spell that would let themtravel back in time so that they could warn their countrymen of theimpending invasion in due time. Unfortunately, the entire Arokaikingdom was seeped in necromantic magic, which interfered with theenergies of the time travel spell.
As black energyoverwhelmed the Arokai casters during the casting, their bodies werewracked with necromantic energy and the casters were slain. Theenergy of the time travelling spell did not dissipate along with thecasters, instead the energy infected the caster as they were slain,creating what would later be known as Temporal Zombies.
Temporal Zombies are inmany ways like regular zombies, they are almost mindless undead whostumble around the world, decayed and rotten. Temporal Zombies dothough have some unique abilities due to the energies of time thatpermeate them. This energy gives them several abilities, thestrongest of which is the ability to glimpse into the near future. ATemporal Zombie can see the future, roughly one minute of it. Theycan only see the part of the future that directly involvesthemselves, and this vision gets more inaccurate the closer it get tothe one minute mark.
This ability to see intothe near future makes the Temporal Zombie an extremely potentopponent. They are almost impossible to catch, and they are nevertrapped or surprised. It also means that Temporal Zombies areextremely capable of sneaking around, being able to see into thefuture means that Temporal Zombies can avoid detection instinctively.Even when walking around in plain sight, a Temporal Zombie can bealmost impossible to detect, they will never be where you are lookingsince they know the near future. Even an alert guard can be tricked,when he looks to the left the zombie sneak past him to the right.Temporal Zombies have even been known to sneak right past a guard,moving only when the guard blinks or is distracted.
Temporal Zombies do noteat or drink. They do though require sustenance to continue theirexistence. The sustenance that powers a Temporal Zombie is time. Whena Temporal Zombie has slain an opponent, the zombie can devour thepast of his opponent, removing the opponent permanently from history.Once a creature has had its past devoured, it will be as if it neverexisted. No one will remembers its name, all its deeds will be undoneand the time it had in the world will have been devoured by thezombie to sustain its unholy existence.
Temporal Zombies onlyrequire very little sustenance. They require a normal meal of timeenergy only once every third month or even less if they manage to eatthe time of a very old opponent. Usually a young meal will give lesssustenance than an old one.
Temporal Zombie CR 7
XP:3,200
NE Medium undead
Init:+5; Senses:Darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +1
DEFENSE
AC:39, touch 31, flat-footed 18 (+1 Dexterity, +8 natural, +20 dodge)
Hp:76 (8d8+40)
Saves:Fort +8, Ref +25, Will +7
DefensiveAbilities: Channel Resistance +4,Foresight Defence, Temporal Leap
DR:5/slashing
Immune:Undead Traits
OFFENSE
Speed:30 ft.
Melee:2 Slams: +11 (1d8+5)
Special Attacks:Consume Past
STATISTICS
Str 21, Dex 12, Con —,Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 18
Base Attack:+6; CMB +10; CMD 25
Feats:Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Toughness
Skills:Stealth +9
SpecialQualities: Divine Reward, ForesightStealth
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Consume Past (Su): TheTemporal Zombie isn’t like most undead; it doesn’t eat flesh orblood. Instead, the Temporal Zombie survives by eating time, eatingthe past of the creatures it slays. The Temporal Zombie can use thisability on any creature it has slain. Using consume past takes oneround per HD of the creature being eaten. When the zombie eats thepast of a victim, it entirely erases the creature from history,eating up the time of its victim to fuel its own existence. Thecreature disappears from time. It will be as if the victim had neverbeen born, everyone who has ever come into contact with the victimwill forget it and everything the victim has achieved will be undone.Usually, history has a tendency to correct itself, so if someoneunimportant is eaten, history will mend itself. If, for example, ablacksmith is the victim of the consume past ability, all thehorseshoes and tools made by the blacksmith won’t simply disappear.Instead, history will fill in the gaps, history will change toaccommodate the loss of the victim. The villagers in the villagewhere the blacksmith lived might have travelled to another village toget their tools made, perhaps a blacksmith from another city heard ofthe village that didn’t have a blacksmith and moved there to work.When consume past is used on a regular person, it is often virtuallyimpossible to notice that this person has vanished, everyone who knewthe person will forget about, all the deeds of the person will alsovanish, all the things the person accomplished will either have beenaccomplished by someone else or will not have been accomplished atall.
The only exceptionis when the Temporal Zombie uses this ability on someone thataccomplished something truly unique, something that would not havebeen accomplished by anyone else if the victim hadn’t done it. Forexample, if an eccentric and rich nobleman decides to build a greatcastle on a hilltop, a castle that would never have been built if notfor the nobleman, then that is too influential an action for it tosimply be removed from history by the Temporal Zombie, even ifconsumes the past of the nobleman. While the Temporal Zombie can slaythe nobleman and eat his past, it can’t undo all that the noblemanhas achieved. All of the people of the land will forget the name andface of the nobleman, but the castle will remain. People will evenremember building the castle; they will just have forgotten why theybuilt it, which inspired them. This is also one of the very few waysthat the population may notice that a Temporal Zombie is stalkingtheir lands. It has happened before that people of a county suddenlywake up and have forgotten why they built that great castleoverlooking their town; they search the castle for clues and see onlyempty paintings and empty drawers and closets where the nobleman usedto live. Naturally such a mystery will attract adventurers to thecounty, to investigate the mysterious castle.
Typically a TemporalZombie only needs to eat once every third month to stay alive. If itfinds a remote village or city where it can feed undetected, it willprefer to stay in the area as long as possible.
Divine Nemesis (Ex): Thegods absolutely hate Temporal Zombies, no matter their alignment. Nomatter if you are a good or evil deity, history is something you haveno power over, events are set in stone once they have transpired.Naturally, no deity enjoys seeing a crude undead possessing powergreater than theirs, and no deity enjoys having to constantly fix andremedy history whenever the Temporal Zombie has broken it. Clericsthat have the Command Undead feat are unable to use this ability onTemporal Zombies; even evil gods have no desire to let the TemporalZombie live, even if it is under the command of one of theirservants. If any cleric or other divine class finds a way to controla Temporal Zombie, they could very easily loose their spells andother divine powers granted to them by their deity for as long as theTemporal Zombie is under their command.
Divine Reward (Su): Sinceall deities absolutely loathe the Temporal Zombie, a special rewardis given to any who manage to destroy a Temporal Zombie. Anyoneinvolved in the destruction of a Temporal Zombie, up to a maximum offive creatures, will be given a special reward when the TemporalZombie is destroyed. The reward is a small dose of divine luck,granted to the slayers not by one deity, but by the entire pantheon.When the zombie is slain, those involved receive this divine rewardand may pick one type of Saving Throw. The slayer receives apermanent +1 bonus to this Saving Throw. Any character may onlyreceive this divine reward once in a lifetime. Even if the characterdestroys another Temporal Zombie, he will not gain an additionalbonus. Once a type of Saving Throw has been selected, it cannot bechanged. If more than five people are involved in the destruction ofa Temporal Zombie, it is up to the discretion of the DM to pick thefive people that were most instrumental in the destruction of thezombie to receive the reward.
Foresight Defence(Su): The ability of the Temporal Zombie to gaze into the futuregives it an unique and potent ability to avoid attacks. The TemporalZombie is never surprised, since it can see almost a whole minuteinto the future. Sometimes it will even know of an attack even beforethe attacker does. Foresight Defence also grants the zombie a +20dodge bonus to AC and a +20 bonus to its Reflex Saving Throws, bothof which are already calculated into the statistics above. Thisability also gives the Temporal Zombie a +5 bonus to its CMD, alsocalculated into the statistics above.
Foresight Stealth (Su):The Temporal Zombie is extremely good at sneaking past opponents,especially when you consider that it is a little bit clumsy andcumbersome. The ability of the Temporal Zombie to see the immediatefuture means that it knows every little move nearby creatures willperform. It knows when you look left or right, it knows when you willblink, it knows when you scratch your nose and close your eyes. Thisability gives the Temporal Zombie a +50 circumstantial bonus to itsStealth against creatures within 50 ft. Creatures further away areless affected by this ability. Every 50 ft. distance reduces thebonus by 10, so against creatures within 50 and 100 ft. it only gainsa +40 bonus, within 100 and 150 ft. the bonus decreases to +30, andso forth.
Temporal Leap (Su): TheTemporal Zombie is able to travel in time, but only short leaps intothe future. As a standard action, the Temporal Zombie can leap anynumber of rounds into the future, up to a full minute. The TemporalZombie will disappear and return to the exact location it vanishedfrom. While time will lapse for anyone besides the zombie, no timewill have gone by for the zombie. Spells and other effects affectingthe zombie will not lapse during the temporal leap, so any spells oreffects with duration remaining when the zombie uses temporal leapwill still be in effect when it re-appears. Temporal leap can only beused again once every minute, calculated from when the zombieappeared from its last temporal leap.
Combat Tactics
Temporal Zombies arecowards by nature, while they are far from intelligent; they seem topossess an animalistic cunning. They seem to know that they will livelonger if they cause as little disturbance as possible, so TemporalZombies will always prefer to kill its prey with as littledestruction and violence as possible. If they are chased, especiallyif more than one creature is chasing them, the Temporal Zombie willavoid confrontation. Only if cornered will it fight back, and onlyuntil an opportunity to escape appears. While the Temporal Zombie isutterly merciless, it isn’t cruel, sadistic or easily angered, andit is almost impossible to make a Temporal Zombie fight you directly.Even a Temporal Zombie that has been chased for days will appearquite apathetic about its opponent. While Temporal Zombies are notreally able to tell the difference between weak and strong foes, theyare able to identify weapons and armor. When feeding, they prefer tofind prey that is unarmored and unarmed.
