Pathfinder 1E Positive undead, living constructs, and the anatomy of the soul

[VelvetViolet]

New Subtypes
The following three subtypes are, in part, designed to allow players to play characters that are constructs or undead without unbalancing gameplay with the types' blanket immunities, but less watered-down than the half-construct and half-undead racial traits in the ARG. The Abdead subtype in particular opens the possibility to undead that are not inherently evil, and may work well in conjunction with the Risen subtype (originally from Liber Vampyr, I've edited it for clarity) and with 3rd-party "good/neutral necromancer" classes like the Death Mage. (Yes, in 2e AD&D mummies were positive undead and still evil, but for simplicity I've modeled the undead/abdead distinction after the cleric's channel energy class feature). Credit where credit is due: the Abdead and Living subtypes are inspired by the Deathless and Living Construct types from Eberron, though I like to think I've expanded the concepts a bit. For example, a zombie with both the abdead and risen subtypes makes a good voodoo-style "living" zombie, or a golem constructed of a swarm of writhing snakes would have the living subtype.

Abdead Subtype
Abdead are undead animated by positive energy rather than negative energy. This subtype is applied only to good- or neutral-aligned undead, and all good- and half of all neutral-aligned undead automatically possess this subtype as per the cleric's channel energy class feature. An abdead creature has all the characteristics of undead, except as noted here.

• Abdead creatures are subject to energy drain.
• Abdead creatures are harmed by negative energy (such as an inflict spell or unholy water) and healed by positive energy (such as a cure or disrupt undead spell).
• Abdead creatures do not count as undead for the purposes of most spells and effects that affect or create undead creatures, such as disrupting weapons, holy water, chill touch, command undead, control undead, create greater undead, create undead, halt undead, magic stone, searing light, sunbeam, sunburst, and wall of fire. Instant death and warding spells or effects that affect undead, such as hide from undead and undeath to death, still work against abdead creatures.
• Divination spells and effects, such as deathwatch, detect chaos/good/evil/law and detect undead, will differentiate abdead creatures from undead.
• The Command Undead feat will turn an abdead creature as the Turn Undead feat and the Turn Undead feat will command an abdead creature as the Command Undead feat.

Living Subtype
This subtype is applied only to constructs. A living construct is a construct that is partly alive, whether because it is composed of a swarm of living creatures, created with its own “life force,” or some other means. A living construct has all the characteristics of constructs, except as noted here.

• Living constructs have a Constitution score. They do not gain bonus hit points based on size.
• Living constructs do not gain a general immunity to any effect requiring a Fortitude save, though they retain many other immunities of being constructs (see below).
• Living constructs are not immune to ability damage, ability drain, death effects, death from massive damage, mind-affecting effects, necromancy effects, nonlethal damage, or stunning, but receive a +2 racial bonus against such effects. Living constructs with no Intelligence score retain immunity to all mind-affecting effects.

• Living constructs are immune to petrification, nausea, and effects that cause the sickened condition.
• Living constructs can be affected by spells and effects that target living creatures as well as by those that target constructs (such as a cure, inflict, or mending spell). Spells and effects that heal hit point or ability damage provide only half their normal benefit to a living construct.
• Living constructs are not immediately destroyed when reduced to 0 hit points. Instead, a living construct that is reduced to 0 hit points loses consciousness and is unable to act, effectively “inert.” While in this state, the living construct does not continue to lose hit points each round, and is not dying. If the living construct receives enough healing to increase its current hit points above 0, it “activates” and can act normally. If the living construct is reduced to a number of negative hit points in excess of its Constitution score, it is destroyed.
• Living constructs can be raised, reincarnated, or resurrected just as other living creatures can be.
• Although living constructs do not breathe, eat, or sleep, they can benefit from any spell, effect, or item that requires these activities, such as potions, heroes' feast, and rest in order to regain spells.

Risen Subtype
This subtype is applied only to undead. Risen remain far closer to their mortality than most other types of undead, and so they do not gain all of the features normally granted by the undead type. A risen creature has all the characteristics of undead, except as noted here.

• Risen still have a Constitution score. They do not use their Charisma score in place of Constitution.
• Risen do not gain a general immunity to any effect requiring a Fortitude save, though they retain many other immunities of being undead (see below).
• Risen are not immune to ability drain, ability damage to their physical ability scores, energy drain, mind-affecting effects, nonlethal damage, sleep effects, or stunning, but receive a +4 racial bonus against such effects. Risen with no Intelligence score retain immunity to all mind-affecting effects.
• Risen are not immediately destroyed when reduced to 0 hit points. Instead, a risen that is reduced to 0 hit points loses consciousness and is unable to act, effectively “hibernating.” While in this state, the risen does not continue to lose hit points each round, and is not dying. If the risen receives enough healing to increase its current hit points above 0, it “awakens” and can act normally, but the risen does not heal naturally while at 0 hit points or fewer. If the risen is reduced to a number of negative hit points in excess of it Constitution score, it is destroyed. Certain risen can be revived from this state through special means.

The Anatomy of the Soul
The mechanics of the soul are poorly-defined in the SRD and are sometimes contradictory with other rules, previous editions, or official fluff. In the interest of cohesive and consistent rules, I present an explanation of how the soul works in mechanical terms.

• The three essential parts of a living creature are the body, the soul, and the animus. In oriental philosophy, the soul is named the “hun” and the animus is named the “po.” Spells like magic jar and trap the soul can manipulate the bodies and souls of living creatures. The body is self-explanatory: bones, muscles, organs, etc. The soul is a creature’s consciousness, a record of their memories and personality. The animus is the creature’s basic “life-force,” which animates the body and provides the primal urges.
• When a creature dies, its soul departs to the afterlife and typically becomes a petitioner with only a vague, latent memory of their former life, while the animus remains behind, slowly rotting away with the body. Spells like clone, raise dead, reincarnation, resurrection and true resurrection can be used to call the soul back to a body and revive it once more, while spells like soul bind can be used to entrap it. The animus retains an impression of the creature’s memories and personality, which can be interrogated with speak with dead spells, but this impression is unconnected to the original soul.
• Sufficient negative energy can energize the animus and give it the strength to reanimate the body as an undead creature. Minimal amounts of negative energy produce mindless undead creatures like skeletons and zombies that usually only have enough agency to follow orders or, if they’re lucky, follow their most basic of drives: the need to feed. Greater amounts of negative energy produce mild to moderately intelligent undead like allips, ghouls, mohrgs, mummies, shadows, specters, vampire spawn, wights, and wraiths, which may retain former memories but retain none of the abilities they possessed in life. Those incorporeal undead are composed entirely of animus and leave the body behind. Spells that steal souls, like magic jar and trap the soul, may target the warped animus of these intelligent undead in lieu of a real soul. The most powerful undead are those which through dark curses, malign rituals or sheer force of will retain their original souls and by extension the abilities they possessed in life, such as ghosts, graveknights, liches, skeletal champions, vampires and zombie lords.

This means the following changes have to be made to the raise dead, reincarnate, resurrection and true resurrection spells.

• A raise dead or similar spell cast on any undead spawn or any mindless undead creature destroys it (Will negates). Using the spell in this way does not require a material component.
• A resurrection or true resurrection spell cast on any augmented undead creature turns it back into the living creature it was before becoming undead (no save allowed).
• Raise dead and reincarnate can revive a creature that has been turned into any undead creature and then destroyed or turned into any incorporeal undead spawn and not been destroyed.
• Resurrection and true resurrection can resurrect a creature that has been turned into an undead spawn or mindless undead creature and not been destroyed. Using the spell in this way instantly creates a clone (as the spell) and the creature’s soul enters it immediately. The creature’s undead counterpart remains animate but cannot thereafter be restored to life.
• In the above cases, “undead spawn” is defined as any undead creature that retains none of the abilities it possessed in life (e.g. allip, ghoul, mohrg, mummy, shadow, specter, vampire spawn, wight, wraith) and “augmented undead creature” is defined as any undead creature that retains the abilities it possessed in life (e.g. ghost, graveknight, lich, skeletal champion, vampire, zombie lord).
• A raise dead spell will not revive the corpse of a person slain by a creature that creates undead out of its slain foes (such as a shadow, vampire, or wraith) unless the corpse has first been subjected to the sanctify corpse spell to delay it from rising (see Ultimate Magic for details).
• Rationale: The primary distinction between the undead is the presence of their original soul and by extension the abilities they possessed in life. Weaker undead do not possess souls, so attempts to raise, reincarnate or resurrect them to life only destroy them (by the same token, an animus in the process of becoming undead cannot simply be raised); thereafter, their corpses can be raised, reincarnated or resurrected as the creature they were before becoming undead. Stronger undead possess their original souls, so resurrecting them is a simple matter of returning their body to life. As long as the body is truly dead and intact and the soul is in the afterlife, the creature can be raised, reincarnated or resurrected to life; whether the animus has become an incorporeal undead is irrelevant, as the spell will replace it with a new one. As long as the soul is in the afterlife, it can be resurrected in a new body regardless of whether the largest portion of their original body is still walking around. This opens the possibility that the character's undead counterpart, if intelligent and given to theological thought, might suffer an existential crisis as a result and try to hunt the character down and re-kill them to validate its own existence.

Thoughts?