the SUNSTAR - another new creation from me!
- Thread starter BOZ
- Start date
BOZ
Creature Cataloguer
sorry it took so long, but here it is. how's this for pure MUNCH? 
let me know how this looks. i don't have the DMG available at the moment, but i'll come up with a "sample" as soon as i can, unless one of you would like to do it for me. 
SUNSTAR
Sunstars are powerful undead spellcasters, achieving undeath in a manner similar to the lich. What separates the sunstar from the lich, and most other types of undead, is that the sunstar is powered by positive energy rather than negative energy. Don’t be fooled into thinking that makes this a good undead creature; while it does not drain life energy to feed itself, this creature is overflowing with potent life energy which causes other creatures to burst!
Sunstars come from all manner of spellcasting creatures, thus wizards, clerics, bards, driders, araneas, beholder mages, and even dragons can become sunstars. On becoming a sunstar, the creature’s form begins to glow with an intense yellow-white energy from within, and soon all physical features become indistinct. The skin becomes semi-transparent, allowing the bones to show through as indistinct blackened shapes. These creatures are always naked, as any clothing or items carried by the sunstar are consumed by and converted into positive energy over time. Over the centuries, even the bones are no longer clearly visible and a sunstar’s form becomes less defined until it is merely a glowing sphere.
CREATING A SUNSTAR
"Sunstar" is a template that can be added to any evil creature with the ability to cast and learn arcane or divine spells (referred to hereafter as the "character"). The base creature must be of at least 12th level (or have 12 Hit Dice) and able to cast 5th-level spells. The base creature must be of the Aberration, Dragon, Fey, Giant, Humanoid, Magical Beast, Monstrous Humanoid, or Shapechanger type. The creature's type changes to "undead". It uses all the creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Hit Dice: Increase to d12
Speed: Same as the character
AC: The sunstar has a +5 natural armor or the character’s natural armor, whichever is better.
Damage: Creatures without natural weapons gain a touch attack that uses positive energy to deal 1d8+5 points of damage to undead creatures, and adds 1d8+5 hit points to living creatures; a Will save with a DC of 10 +1/2 sunstar’s HD + sunstar’s Charisma modifier reduces the damage by half. Creatures with natural attacks can use their natural weaponry or use the touch attack, as they prefer.
Special Attacks: A sunstar retains all the character’s special attacks and also gains those listed below. Saves have a DC of 10 +1/2 sunstar’s HD + sunstar’s Charisma modifier unless noted otherwise.
Positive Energy (Su): The positive energy that a sunstar adds to living creatures by touch can be used to heal, but a sunstar would usually rather use it to overload the creature’s system. For every 10 hit points added to a creature’s total hit points over its maximum hit points, the victim must make a successful Fortitude save or explode in a brilliant flash or energy. Once the victim reaches double its normal maximum hit points, it explodes instantly with no saving throw. All hit points over the creature’s maximum fade away at a rate of 5 hit points per hour.
Unholy Glare (Su): Sunstars glow brightly with the energy of the Positive Energy Plane. Living creatures in a 60-foot radius that look at the sunstar must succeed at a Will save or be blinded for 2d4 rounds. If blinded characters are still within the range of the unholy glare when it wears off, they must make another check to keep from being blinded again. Any creatures with heightened senses (those with racial or magical bonuses to Spot checks) subtract their bonus from the saving throw roll, and creatures using low-light vision or darkvision suffer an additional –2 penalty. Constructs, undead, plants, and anything that sees with blindsight is unaffected by this power. The sunstar can dim this radiance at will.
Heat Gaze (Su): Sunstars can discharge energy through a powerful gaze attack at will, once per round. This power can be used on one person or object per round. The target suffers 3d6 points of damage, or hald damage on a successful Reflex save.
Chain Lightning (Su): As walking power conduits, sunstars can discharge this energy in the form of electricity 3 times per day. This power is as the chain lightning spell cast by a wizard of the sunstar’s current Hit Dice.
Create Zombies (Su): A sunstar can raise a small army of undead under its control by imbuing them with positive energy, making them like itself. Any skeleton or zombie killed by a sunstar’s touch attack becomes a special zombie under its control. Likewise, a sunstar’s touch is able to animate a corpse in the same way. Other types of undead simply explode when destroyed by the sunstar’s touch. The sunstar’s zombies are identical to normal zombies, but gain a +2 to Dexterity and natural armor, and lose the “partial actions only” quality. These zombies look like the living beings they once were, though a grotesque form of positive energy shines forth from their eyes.
Spells: The sunstar can cast any spells it could cast while alive.
Special Qualities: A sunstar retains all the character’s special qualities and those listed below, and also gains the undead type.
Turn Resistance (Ex): A sunstar has +4 turn resistance.
Damage Reduction (Su): A sunstar’s semi-energy body absorbs damage from material sources, giving the creature damage reduction 20/+2.
Immunities (Ex): Sunstars are immune to cold, electricity, fire, polymorph, and mind-affecting attacks.
Abilities: A sunstar gains +2 to Strength, Wisdom, and Charisma, and +4 to Intelligence, but being undead, has no Constitution score.
Skills: Sunstars receive a +8 racial bonus to Listen, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks, but their intense glow imposes a –4 penalty to all Hide checks. Otherwise same as the character.
Feats: Same as the character
Climate/Terrain: Same as the character
Organization: Solitary or troupe (1 sunstar, plus 5-20 zombies)
Challenge Rating: Same as the character
Treasure: Same as the character +4
Alignment: Any evil
Advancement: By character class
SUNSTAR CHARACTERS
The process of becoming a sunstar is extremely difficult and must be undertaken only by a character's free will. This process requires the summoning of a xag-ya, during a long evil ritual in which the xag-ya is eaten alive. If the character survives the experience, it becomes a sunstar, and retains all class abilities it had in life. The sunstar does not have a phylactery; if it does not have an alternate plan for continuing its existence, and if it is killed it is permanently destroyed.
let me know how this looks. i don't have the DMG available at the moment, but i'll come up with a "sample" as soon as i can, unless one of you would like to do it for me. SUNSTAR
Sunstars are powerful undead spellcasters, achieving undeath in a manner similar to the lich. What separates the sunstar from the lich, and most other types of undead, is that the sunstar is powered by positive energy rather than negative energy. Don’t be fooled into thinking that makes this a good undead creature; while it does not drain life energy to feed itself, this creature is overflowing with potent life energy which causes other creatures to burst!
Sunstars come from all manner of spellcasting creatures, thus wizards, clerics, bards, driders, araneas, beholder mages, and even dragons can become sunstars. On becoming a sunstar, the creature’s form begins to glow with an intense yellow-white energy from within, and soon all physical features become indistinct. The skin becomes semi-transparent, allowing the bones to show through as indistinct blackened shapes. These creatures are always naked, as any clothing or items carried by the sunstar are consumed by and converted into positive energy over time. Over the centuries, even the bones are no longer clearly visible and a sunstar’s form becomes less defined until it is merely a glowing sphere.
CREATING A SUNSTAR
"Sunstar" is a template that can be added to any evil creature with the ability to cast and learn arcane or divine spells (referred to hereafter as the "character"). The base creature must be of at least 12th level (or have 12 Hit Dice) and able to cast 5th-level spells. The base creature must be of the Aberration, Dragon, Fey, Giant, Humanoid, Magical Beast, Monstrous Humanoid, or Shapechanger type. The creature's type changes to "undead". It uses all the creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Hit Dice: Increase to d12
Speed: Same as the character
AC: The sunstar has a +5 natural armor or the character’s natural armor, whichever is better.
Damage: Creatures without natural weapons gain a touch attack that uses positive energy to deal 1d8+5 points of damage to undead creatures, and adds 1d8+5 hit points to living creatures; a Will save with a DC of 10 +1/2 sunstar’s HD + sunstar’s Charisma modifier reduces the damage by half. Creatures with natural attacks can use their natural weaponry or use the touch attack, as they prefer.
Special Attacks: A sunstar retains all the character’s special attacks and also gains those listed below. Saves have a DC of 10 +1/2 sunstar’s HD + sunstar’s Charisma modifier unless noted otherwise.
Positive Energy (Su): The positive energy that a sunstar adds to living creatures by touch can be used to heal, but a sunstar would usually rather use it to overload the creature’s system. For every 10 hit points added to a creature’s total hit points over its maximum hit points, the victim must make a successful Fortitude save or explode in a brilliant flash or energy. Once the victim reaches double its normal maximum hit points, it explodes instantly with no saving throw. All hit points over the creature’s maximum fade away at a rate of 5 hit points per hour.
Unholy Glare (Su): Sunstars glow brightly with the energy of the Positive Energy Plane. Living creatures in a 60-foot radius that look at the sunstar must succeed at a Will save or be blinded for 2d4 rounds. If blinded characters are still within the range of the unholy glare when it wears off, they must make another check to keep from being blinded again. Any creatures with heightened senses (those with racial or magical bonuses to Spot checks) subtract their bonus from the saving throw roll, and creatures using low-light vision or darkvision suffer an additional –2 penalty. Constructs, undead, plants, and anything that sees with blindsight is unaffected by this power. The sunstar can dim this radiance at will.
Heat Gaze (Su): Sunstars can discharge energy through a powerful gaze attack at will, once per round. This power can be used on one person or object per round. The target suffers 3d6 points of damage, or hald damage on a successful Reflex save.
Chain Lightning (Su): As walking power conduits, sunstars can discharge this energy in the form of electricity 3 times per day. This power is as the chain lightning spell cast by a wizard of the sunstar’s current Hit Dice.
Create Zombies (Su): A sunstar can raise a small army of undead under its control by imbuing them with positive energy, making them like itself. Any skeleton or zombie killed by a sunstar’s touch attack becomes a special zombie under its control. Likewise, a sunstar’s touch is able to animate a corpse in the same way. Other types of undead simply explode when destroyed by the sunstar’s touch. The sunstar’s zombies are identical to normal zombies, but gain a +2 to Dexterity and natural armor, and lose the “partial actions only” quality. These zombies look like the living beings they once were, though a grotesque form of positive energy shines forth from their eyes.
Spells: The sunstar can cast any spells it could cast while alive.
Special Qualities: A sunstar retains all the character’s special qualities and those listed below, and also gains the undead type.
Turn Resistance (Ex): A sunstar has +4 turn resistance.
Damage Reduction (Su): A sunstar’s semi-energy body absorbs damage from material sources, giving the creature damage reduction 20/+2.
Immunities (Ex): Sunstars are immune to cold, electricity, fire, polymorph, and mind-affecting attacks.
Abilities: A sunstar gains +2 to Strength, Wisdom, and Charisma, and +4 to Intelligence, but being undead, has no Constitution score.
Skills: Sunstars receive a +8 racial bonus to Listen, Search, Sense Motive, and Spot checks, but their intense glow imposes a –4 penalty to all Hide checks. Otherwise same as the character.
Feats: Same as the character
Climate/Terrain: Same as the character
Organization: Solitary or troupe (1 sunstar, plus 5-20 zombies)
Challenge Rating: Same as the character
Treasure: Same as the character +4
Alignment: Any evil
Advancement: By character class
SUNSTAR CHARACTERS
The process of becoming a sunstar is extremely difficult and must be undertaken only by a character's free will. This process requires the summoning of a xag-ya, during a long evil ritual in which the xag-ya is eaten alive. If the character survives the experience, it becomes a sunstar, and retains all class abilities it had in life. The sunstar does not have a phylactery; if it does not have an alternate plan for continuing its existence, and if it is killed it is permanently destroyed.
BOZ
Creature Cataloguer
Devon said:
i'm pretty sure it's got info on positive energy damage, but i don't have access to it now and didn't want to wait till i was home to finish this.
i will compare when i get a chance, and correct if i feel the need to.BOZ said:
hmm. i'm pretty sure i intended to put that +4 under CR not treasure.
i think your reading comprehension disorder is cured!!!
BOZ
Creature Cataloguer
so what do ya think of it? for years, i've thought the ratio of negative energy weilding creatures to positive energy weilding creatures was overly high. and who says undead have to be of negative energy anway? i came up with this idea sometime last year, but like the udnots i hadn't gotten around to writing it up till now.
for years, i've thought the ratio of negative energy weilding creatures to positive energy weilding creatures was overly high. and who says undead have to be of negative energy anway? i came up with this idea sometime last year, but like the udnots i hadn't gotten around to writing it up till now.
Frog Slime
First Post
Yeah. I, for one, don't think it should be turnable, as turning involves positive energy. Perhaps it should be rebuked-commanded by positive energy and turned/destroyed by negative energy?
Last edited:
Similar Threads
