D&D 3E/3.5 Creature Catalog 3.5 Overhaul Project

[BOZ]

Yes it does. Would it suffice to give it the usual greater teleport (self plus 50 pounds of objects only) spell-like ability at will, and then state in its Combat text that it never uses this ability to flee from melee?

yes, I think so.

Meh?

Teleport (Sp): A death angel can teleport at will as the greater teleport spell (self plus 50 pounds of objects only).

Works for me.

hmm… but we’re missing the number of points drained – talk about an oversight! rewriting it like the wraith’s ability.

Constitution Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a death angel’s scythe take 1d4 points of Constitution drain.

Now, check out the verbiage on that one more time and tell me what you think… “Everytime a DEATH ANGEL hits with its scythe, their opponent must save vs. Death with a -3 on their saving throw. Should the individual save, they lose one point of constitution” does that sound like if you fail the save you die, and get Con drain if you make the save? That’s how it sounds to me, but I could be wrong.

Final Death (Su): Any humanoid slain by a death angel is usually dead and gone. Attempts to raise or restore a dead creature are met with failure unless the spell used is wish, miracle, or true resurrection, but there is a 50% chance that even such powerful magic fails.

That text sounds familiar, like I’ve seen that somewhere else, before. Here was the original text for that part: “A normal Raise Dead will not work, only a Raise Dead Fully will, and even then, it will only raise the victim like a regular Raise Dead. Also, when rolling for % chance for raising, roll as if the victim’s constitution were 3. A Wish will work automatically to raise them. If a being is killed three times by a DEATH ANGEL, nothing, not even a wish will bring him back.” (think of “Raise Dead Fully” as “True Resurrection”)

Create Death Angel (Su): A humanoid creature slain by a death angel can be "raised" as a death angel under control of the death angel that killed it. This is similar to the create spawn ability of some undead creatures. A creature raised as a death angel possesses none of the abilities it had in life and remains enslaved until its master is slain.
Reanimation (Ex): A death angel that is slain will return to life in 1d3 days and continue its pursuit of the original target unless a remove curse (cast by a 15th-level caster), wish, or miracle is cast on the spot where the death angel was slain.

Note that the original text contradicts itself: “When killed, DEATH ANGELS vanish entirely, leaving no remains whatsoever.” and “the only way to permanently dispel DEATH ANGELS is to throw a remove curse upon them if they are slain battling their intended victim.” how do you cast a spell on a body when it vanishes? that’s why I imagine that Scott or Erica wrote in the “spot where the death angel was slain” part.

I’d like to rewrite the Create Death Angel power, to remove the whole “raised” idea – this makes it feel like you’ve become an undead rather than transformed into a new (cursed) creature, and the original text did not make that inference.

Here’s how it seems to work to me. When one is killed (drained, presumably) by a death angel, the body lies cold and dead for three full days (during which time, his friends have a chance to raise him). After that (even if the body is fully destroyed), the body is reanimated and transformed in a new death angel to replace the old one. This sets the old death angel free from its curse to go on to its heavenly reward, since the master can have only one death angel serving it at any time.

Reanimation is mostly fine as-is (adding break enchantment seems like a good idea), but I think I would like to break that and the create death angel up and maybe recreate them as 3 different powers: reanimate, create DA, and curse of DA. Maybe I’ll even remix Final Death into all that too.

The original CC writeup for this guy isn’t bad, but I think I can repackage it a bit better (I’ve done it before!)

 

[Shade]

yes, I think so.

Meh?

Teleport (Sp): A death angel can teleport at will as the greater teleport spell (self plus 50 pounds of objects only).

That'll do.

hmm… but we’re missing the number of points drained – talk about an oversight! rewriting it like the wraith’s ability.

Constitution Drain (Su): Living creatures hit by a death angel’s scythe take 1d4 points of Constitution drain.

Now, check out the verbiage on that one more time and tell me what you think… “Everytime a DEATH ANGEL hits with its scythe, their opponent must save vs. Death with a -3 on their saving throw. Should the individual save, they lose one point of constitution” does that sound like if you fail the save you die, and get Con drain if you make the save? That’s how it sounds to me, but I could be wrong.

Gah! I can't believe we missed that. Yes, that is how it sounds to me as well (failed save = death, success = Con drain).

That text sounds familiar, like I’ve seen that somewhere else, before. Here was the original text for that part: “A normal Raise Dead will not work, only a Raise Dead Fully will, and even then, it will only raise the victim like a regular Raise Dead. Also, when rolling for % chance for raising, roll as if the victim’s constitution were 3. A Wish will work automatically to raise them. If a being is killed three times by a DEATH ANGEL, nothing, not even a wish will bring him back.” (think of “Raise Dead Fully” as “True Resurrection”)

It should sound familiar...it is similar to the barghest's feed and maurezhi's consume abilities, as well as others.

Note that the original text contradicts itself: “When killed, DEATH ANGELS vanish entirely, leaving no remains whatsoever.” and “the only way to permanently dispel DEATH ANGELS is to throw a remove curse upon them if they are slain battling their intended victim.” how do you cast a spell on a body when it vanishes? that’s why I imagine that Scott or Erica wrote in the “spot where the death angel was slain” part.

I'd say that if you hit it with remove curse while its battling its victim, and then defeat it, it'll stay dead too.

I’d like to rewrite the Create Death Angel power, to remove the whole “raised” idea – this makes it feel like you’ve become an undead rather than transformed into a new (cursed) creature, and the original text did not make that inference.

Here’s how it seems to work to me. When one is killed (drained, presumably) by a death angel, the body lies cold and dead for three full days (during which time, his friends have a chance to raise him). After that (even if the body is fully destroyed), the body is reanimated and transformed in a new death angel to replace the old one. This sets the old death angel free from its curse to go on to its heavenly reward, since the master can have only one death angel serving it at any time.

Yeah, I can see what you're getting at.

Reanimation is mostly fine as-is (adding break enchantment seems like a good idea), but I think I would like to break that and the create death angel up and maybe recreate them as 3 different powers: reanimate, create DA, and curse of DA. Maybe I’ll even remix Final Death into all that too.

That sounds like a plan.

The original CC writeup for this guy isn’t bad, but I think I can repackage it a bit better (I’ve done it before!)

Agreed.

 

[BOZ]

Gah! I can't believe we missed that. Yes, that is how it sounds to me as well (failed save = death, success = Con drain).

It should sound familiar...it is similar to the barghest's feed and maurezhi's consume abilities, as well as others.

Aha! This will now replace Constitution Drain and Final Death:

Death Strike (Su): Living creatures hit by a death angel's scythe must succeed on a DC X Fortitude save or die. Creatures that make their save instead take 1d4 points of Constitution drain. The save DC is Charisma?-based.

A successful death strike prevents any form of raising or resurrection. There is a 50% chance that a miracle or true resurrection can restore a slain victim to life. Check once for each slain creature. If the check fails, the creature cannot be brought back to life. Wish will always succeed. Any being subject to three successful death strikes cannot be raised by mortal magic.

I'd say that if you hit it with remove curse while its battling its victim, and then defeat it, it'll stay dead too.

sounds good. Here we go:

Create Death Angel (Su): Any humanoid slain by a death angel's death strike becomes a death angel after 3 full days, under the complete control of the being that controlled its predecessor. During this time, the creature's body remains inert and intact. Damage done subsequently to the body, even complete destruction, does not prevent the being's essence from transforming into a death angel, but successful resurrection does. Once the being is transformed into a death angel, it cannot be restored to its previous life by mortal magic. It does not possess any of the abilities it had in its previous incarnation.

Curse of Death (Su): A death angel is cursed to remain under the complete control of the being that created it or created one of its predecessors. It cannot be permanently slain by anything short of divine magic, and will always return to life in 1d3 days. A death angel can only free itself from this curse by killing a victim, and allowing the victim to replace it as a new death angel, and setting its spirit free to its eternal rest. A slain death angel can likewise be freed from this curse by a remove curse, break enchantment, miracle, or wish spell cast on the death angel before its death or cast on the spot where the death angel was slain. A particular master can control only one death angel at any time.

 

[Shade]

It all looks good. I think Death Strike should be Cha-based.

 

[BOZ]

OK, posting in homebrews. There?s only a little bit of stuff left to do with this guy.

 

[Shade]

Skills: Add Diplomacy +6, Disguise +2 (+4 acting), Intimidate +4, Survival +4 (+6 following tracks), Use Rope +1 (+3 with bindings) to account for synergy bonuses due to skill ranks.

Feats: I just realized that it doens't qualify for Improved Critical (doesn't meet the +8 BAB prereq). Bonus feat or ditch it? And we'll need a replacement.

Needs italicized description.

Here's a stab at incorporating the teleport text:

A death angel uses its teleport ability to bypass barriers and allies of its target in order to reach its quarry quickly. It never uses its teleport ability to flee from melee; in fact, a death angel never flees unless its quarry does so first.

 

[BOZ]

Skills: Add Diplomacy +6, Disguise +2 (+4 acting), Intimidate +4, Survival +4 (+6 following tracks), Use Rope +1 (+3 with bindings) to account for synergy bonuses due to skill ranks.

it has a lot more skill points than before, too, so I added a few skills on.

Feats: I just realized that it doens't qualify for Improved Critical (doesn't meet the +8 BAB prereq). Bonus feat or ditch it? And we'll need a replacement.

actually, given what the scythe can do, criticals just don't seem that significant. How about switching that for Weapon Focus?

Fixed the flavor text. Updating in homebrews.

 

[Shade]

Weapon Focus will work.

For the italicized description, I'd pick one color of robes, and mention the other colors in flavor text.

Weight: 180 lbs.?

Death angels do not speak, but can communicate telepathically with all intelligent creatures.

I'd replace "all intelligent creatures" with "any creature that has a language".

is not oblivious to its intended target's allies and does not act rash or stupidly in combat.

"Foolishly" would probably sound better than "stupidly".

Otherwise, looks great!

 

[BOZ]

cool. Updating one more time. She good?

 

[Shade]

Methinks she looks finished.