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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Obly99" data-source="post: 9773334" data-attributes="member: 7035194">An intermediary step between the <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/things-from-my-setting.689306/post-9251020" target="_blank">Antediluvian vampires</a> and the <a href="https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/dread-vampire-cr-3/" target="_blank">Dread Vampire</a>/<a href="https://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/mythic/mythic-monsters/mythic-vampire/" target="_blank">Mythic Vampire</a>. Based on the homonyms <a href="https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Methuselah" target="_blank">Methuselah</a> of the World of Darkness RPGMethuselah (CR +6)A Methuselah is a dread figure, an ancient undead creature that has transcended the typical vampire’s existence. Having lived for thousands of years, it has shed the mortal constraints that bind lesser vampires. The transformation from mythic or dread vampire to Methuselah is an arduous and dangerous process unless an antediluvian generate them, requiring vast amounts of blood and rare materials, marking the creature as both a force of nature and a un-living legend. Once a creature has survived centuries of undeath, its power becomes nearly untouchable, making it one of the most fearsome undead to walk the world.Methuselahs are terrifying, their eyes glowing with an unnatural light, and their form seems both ancient and immortal, with a regal yet monstrous air. Their features are almost ethereal in their perfection, with sharp features and elongated fangs. Their skin, pale and cold as marble, seems almost impervious to age, but those who look closely may notice an unsettling stillness about them, as if they are merely an illusion held together by their immense power.Methuselahs prefer to manipulate their surroundings and control the battlefield. They summon lesser creatures, dominate enemies, and use their dread powers to sow fear and confusion among their foes. In combat, they are ruthless and methodical, using their natural vampiric powers to drain the life from their enemies, while simultaneously healing themselves at an incredible rate. Their claws and bite are lethal, and they can inflict debilitating blood drain or energy drain with each attack.In dire situations, a Methuselah will use its ability to assume gaseous form, retreating to its coffin to recuperate and heal. It will not hesitate to use its strength to crush any resistance, and it may even manipulate its spawn or other undead creatures to serve as pawns in its long-term schemes.Despite their immense power, Methuselahs are not without vulnerabilities. They cannot enter a private dwelling unless invited, and they are repelled by holy symbols, though this effect can be resisted by those with strong faith. Exposure to sunlight is a significant weakness—while it doesn't destroy them outright, it severely hampers their ability to regenerate and fights them into a weakened state. Similarly, immersion in running water or the impaling of a blessed wooden stake through their heart can temporarily end their existence.The Methuselah’s final downfall can only be achieved by discovering the unique and often cryptic method tied to each individual creature—something known only to the greatest of scholars or the most experienced vampire hunters.Creating a Methuselah“Methuselah” is an acquired template that can be added to any living creature with an Intelligence score of 5 or higher (referred to hereafter as the base creature). A character that has been a mythic or dread vampire for 2,000 years can replace the mythic vampire or dread vampire template (both of them if it possess both) with the methuselah template through a blood ritual that consume 10,000 gp of rare materials and require 24 hours to be brought to fruition. A methuselah uses the base creature’s stats and abilities except as noted here.CR: As the base creature +5.Alignment: Any evil.Type: The creature’s type changes to undead with the appropriate augmented subtype. Do not recalculate base attack bonuses, saves, or skill points.Senses: A methuselah gains blindsight +40 ft., darkvision 60 ft., and scent special ability.Armor Class: Natural armor improves by +10.Hit Dice: Change all of the base creature’s racial HD to d8s.Defensive Abilities: A methuselah has channel resistance +16; DR 10/good and silver and DR 5/epic; immunity to cold; resistance to acid 20, electricity 20, sonic 20; and fast healing 8, in addition to all of the defensive abilities granted by the undead type. Unlike a normal fast healing, this fast healing can regrow lost portions of the vampire body and it can reattach severed limbs or body parts as for regeneration. methuselah also gain the dread rejuvenation and unholy ego abilities.Dread Rejuvenation (Su)Methuselah are notoriously hard to destroy. If reduced to 0 hit points in combat, a methuselah assumes gaseous form (see below) and attempts to escape. It must reach its coffin home within 3 days or be utterly destroyed. (It can normally travel up to 9 miles in 1 hour.) Additional damage dealt to a methuselah forced into gaseous form has no effect. Once at rest, the methuselah is helpless. It regains 1 hit point after 1 hour, and then is no longer helpless and resumes healing at the rate of 5 hit points per round.Even if a methuselah is killed, if its remains are bathed in the blood of a single non-extraplanar good creature with at least a number of HD equal to the methuselah’s, it returns to unlife within 1d4 minutes.The method to permanently destroy a methuselah is unique to each vampire, and should be created specifically for each different methuselah by the GM.Unholy Ego (Su)A methuselah gains a bonus equal to its Charisma bonus (if any) on all saving throws and as a deflection bonus to AC. This does not stack with similar abilities that add the Charisma as untyped bonus to saving throws like the unholy resilience of the antipaladin or the towering ego of the mesmerist.Weaknesses: Unlike their lesser brethren, garlic or mirrors do not affect methuselah. They ignore holy symbols unless they are presented by someone with strong faith (someone who can cast divine spells, or who is otherwise favored by their deity). Presenting a holy symbol is a standard action against which a methuselah gets a Will save. The save DC is either Wisdom– or Charisma-based, whichever is better. If it fails, the methuselah recoils and cannot approach within 5 feet or act against the presenter, and the methuselah is considered staggered. The methuselah gets another save each round the symbol is presented to act normally.Methuselahs cannot enter a private home or dwelling unless invited in by someone with the authority to offer an invitation. If invited in, the methuselah gains immunity to its normal weaknesses while in that abode for 10 years or until the invitation is revoked. If the methuselah is in the home when an invitation is revoked, the vampire is immediately expelled and appears 30 feet from the abode’s entrance.Reducing a methuselah’s hit points to 0 or fewer incapacitates it, but doesn’t always destroy it due its fast healing ability. However, certain attacks can slay methuselahs, at least temporarily (see dread rejuvenation above). Exposing any methuselah to direct sunlight staggers it on the first round of exposure, and it takes 5 hit point of damage each round after if it does not escape. While exposed to direct sunlight, the methuselah does not gain the benefits of fast healing.Unless the base creature has the aquatic subtype or has as swim speed, each round of immersion in running water inflicts 5 hit points of damage to a methuselah—a methuselah reduced to 0 hit points in this manner is destroyed.Driving a blessed wooden stake through a helpless methuselah’s heart instantly slays it (this is a full-round action); any other wooden stake has no effect on the methuselah except for the weapon’s normal damage. If the blessed stake is removed from the methuselah, the methuselah comes back to life, unless the vampire’s head is severed, its body and head anointed with holy water, its body sanctified with a gentle repose spell, and its corpse buried in land under the effects of a hallow spell.Speed: If the base creature has both a climb speed and a land speed, the lower of the two increases to match the higher. If it lacks one of those speeds, the methuselah gains the missing mode of movement at a speed equal to the other. If the base creature lacks both modes of movement, the methuselah gains both at a speed equal to one-half the base creature’s highest speed.The methuselah also gains a fly speed equal to one-half the base creature’s highest speed if it cannot already fly. Its maneuverability class becomes perfect. Flight gained by application of this template is supernatural in nature.If the base creature has a swim speed, the methuselah retains it and is not vulnerable to immersion in running water.Attacks: The methuselah gains two claw attacks and a bite if the base creature didn’t have any (1d4 points of damage for a Small vampire, 1d6 points of damage for a Medium one). The claws also gains bleed (1d3). Its natural weapons are treated as epic magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.Special Attacks: The methuselah gains energy drain (2 levels) on any single natural attack type the base creature possesses. Saves DCs are Charisma-based unless otherwise specified.Blood Drain (Ex)A methuselah can suck blood from a grappled opponent; if the methuselah establishes or maintains a pin, it drains blood, dealing 1d6 points of Constitution damage. The methuselah heals 5 hit points or gains 5 temporary hit points for 8 hours (up to a maximum number of temporary hit points equal to its full normal hit points) each round it drains blood.Blood Omen (Su)Three time per day, but no more than once per 10 minutes, as a standard action that provoke attack of opportunity, a methuselah can drain blood from all creatures within 30 ft. Each creature must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw or be affected by the methuselah’s blood drain ability. The methuselah gains the normal benefits of all blood drained in this manner.Children of the Eclipse (Su)A methuselah can command the lesser creatures and undead of the world. At will, a methuselah can call forth 1d6+1 rat swarms, 1d4+1 bat swarms, or 2d6 wolves as a standard action (if the base creature is not terrestrial, this power might summon other creatures of similar power). Three times a day, as a standard action, it can summon creature of the animal, vermin, or undead type. Each creature summoned must have an Intelligence score of 2 or lower. The methuselah can summon any combination of creatures so long as their total CR is less than 3/2 its own HD and the single creature cannot have a CR higher of his HD. Once per day, the methuselah can use children of the eclipse to call forth 3d8 ghouls, 1d6 mohrgs, 2d6 shadows, or 1d6 wraiths. Summoned creatures arrive in 2d6 rounds and serve the methuselah for up to 1 hour.Create Spawn (Su)Methuselahs can create spawn only if their victims are kept in coffin homes until they rise. A coffin home can be any container capable of accommodating the corpse. The container is often a coffin because ignorant family members of a methuselah’s victims often bury their lost loved ones in the traditional manner. When a methuselah wants to make a specific creature its spawn, however, it often places the body in a specifically designed receptacle, such as an iron box. If a methuselah’s or vampire’s coffin home is ever destroyed, the vampire cannot reform and is destroyed when it reaches 0 hit points.Under these conditions, a creature slain by a methuselah’s blood drain or energy drain attack rises as a standard vampire (moroi) or vampire spawn (moroi if the creature has 5 or more HD, vampire spawn if less) 24 hours after death. If the methuselah want to generate more powerful spawns, it can take a number of permanent negative levels equal to the HD of the creature slay at the time of its death for returning it as a mythic dread vampire (<a href="https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/dread-vampire-cr-3/" target="_blank">dread vampire</a> with the <a href="https://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/paizo-rules-systems/mythic/mythic-monsters/mythic-vampire/" target="_blank">mythic vampire</a> template) instead of a normal vampire (this negative levels ignore any immunity or protection and cannot be removed in any way short of wish or miracle but go away at the rate of 1 per day). If the methuselah is slay by this negative levels (the creature has a number of HD equal or higher than the methuselah), the effect backfire as all the energy is drained by the methuselah, permanently destroying it (as for its unique method capable of overcome dread rejuvenation) and returning the slay creature as a methuselah instead of a dread/mythic vampire (without the need to be kept in a coffin home). The new methuselah automatically gains the control of all the spawn of the previous methuselah (as if it had created them).A vampire, vampire spawn, or dread mythic vampire created in this manner is under the command of its creator (as dominate monster) and remains so until either it or the creator is destroyed. A dread mythic vampire that become a methuselah is automatically free. At any given time, a methuselah may have enslaved vampires, vampire spawns, or dread mythic vampires totaling no more than six times its own Hit Dice; spawn created that exceed this limit rise as free-willed vampires, vampire spawns, mythic vampires, or dread vampires. A vampire or dread mythic vampire enslaved to its creator may create and enslave spawn of its own; thus, a master methuselah can indirectly control a large number of lesser vampires. A methuselah may voluntarily free an enslaved spawn in order to enslave a new one, but once freed, the former spawn cannot be enslaved again.Dominate (Su)A methuselah can crush an opponent’s will as a standard action. Anyone the methuselah targets must succeed on a Will or fall instantly under its influence as though by a dominate monster spell (caster level equals methuselah’s character level). The ability has a range of 40 feet and is a mind-affecting effect.Eclipse (Su)A methuselah can oblot out the power of the sun in a 1-mile radius as a move action by expending a use of Mythic Power. In this area, for 1 hour, the light level is lowered by two steps. Bright light becomes dim light and normal light becomes darkness. Areas of dim light and darkness become supernaturally dark. Eclipse automatically dispel any light spell of spell level lower than 1/3 the methuselah HD. Vampires of any kind can see through this darkness.Mist Shapes (Su)A methuselah can summon and sculpt mist into realistic shapes as the major image spell (CL equal to the methuselah’s total Hit Dice). A shape created in this way lasts for as long as the methuselah can see and concentrate upon it. In areas of particularly dense mist, this ability functions as mirage arcana instead of major image (CL equal to the methuselah’s total Hit Dice).Telekinesis (Su)As a standard action, a methuselah can use telekinesis (CL equal to the methuselah’s total Hit Dice) without the maximum weight limit of 375 pounds at 15th level.Spell-like Abilities:Constant—true seeing, unseen servant;3/day—darkness, fog cloud;1/day—deeper darkness, haste, overwhelming presence.Caster level equals methuselah’s total Hit Dice. All DCs are Charisma-based.Special Qualities: The methuselah retains all the base creature’s special qualities and gains those described here.Change Shape (Su)As a standard action, a methuselah can assume the shape of any animal, vermin, or corporeal undead. This ability otherwise functions as beast shape III, vermin shape II, or undead anatomy III except that the methuselah does not adjust its ability scores and can remain in this form until it assumes another or until the next sunrise.Gaseous Form (Su)As a standard action, a methuselah can assume gaseous form at will (caster level equal to the methuselah’s total Hit Dice), but can remain gaseous indefinitely and has a fly speed of 40 feet with perfect maneuverability.Hibernation (Ex)A methuselah can enter a state of voluntary hibernation. While in hibernation, it can take no actions, is helpless, and its fast healing ability ceases to function. The methuselah also appears dead to most observers, though a successful Heal check DC 10 + methuselah HD + its Charisma modifier reveal its undead nature. Magical abilities, such as the deathwatch or detect undead spells, or magical senses like lifesense or spiritsense, automatically reveal the ruse. If it is jostled or damaged while hibernating, a methuselah can attempt a DC 35 Will save. If it succeeds, it awakens in 2d4 rounds. Otherwise, it takes 1d4 days to awaken from hibernation. A methuselah can set the length of its hibernation when it first enters this state, so that it can awaken after a set amount of time has passed. When awakening at a set time in this manner, the methuselah needs only 1d3 rounds to rouse itself, with no Will saving throw necessary.Mastermind (Su)A methuselah can see, hear, and speak through the body of a creature it has dominated or one of its spawn and can communicate telepathically with it. The methuselah can use this ability indefinitely on one creature at a time, as long as it and the creature under its control or spawn remain on the same plane. A methuselah using this ability can’t move, but is still aware of its surroundings and can end this ability as a free action.Mythic (Ex)A methuselah has Mythic Power (3/day, Surge +1d6) and counts as a 3rd-rank Mythic creature. It does not gains any other mythic ability, feat, or traits. A methuselah must select one of the following options.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Vampire Caster: A methuselah can use any of its spells and spell-like abilities as the Mythic versions of those spells (if a Mythic version of that spell exists), expending Mythic Power as normal. It can also expend Mythic Power to use the augmented versions of these spells. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Vampire Fighter: When a methuselah expends mythic power to add a Surge die to an attack roll, it also adds a Surge die to that attack’s damage roll. This is not an action and does not require it to expend any additional uses of Mythic Power to use this ability. </li> </ul>A methuselah with 8 or more HD counts as a 6th-rank Mythic creature and has Mythic Power (6/day, Surge +1d8).A methuselah with 14 or more HD counts as a 10th-rank Mythic creature and has Mythic Power (10/day, Surge +1d12).See Through Blood (Su)A methuselah, when use its blood drain attack, can see into a being’s past and learn his history. The target must make a Will save (DC 10 + ½ methuselah HD + its Charisma modifier) or have his entire history become known to the methuselah. The methuselah can attempt to discern an individual’s history any number of times, but each time the target successfully save against this ability, he gains, for a week, a cumulative +4 circumstance bonus on his next save against this ability. Each successful save reset the week duration. This is a mind-affecting affect but immunity against it instead give only a +8 racial bonus on the save.Shadowless (Ex)A methuselah casts no shadows and shows no reflection in a mirror.Swarm Shape (Su)As a standard action, a methuselah can change into a bat swarm, centipede swarm, rat swarm, or spider swarm. The methuselah gains the swarm attack and extraordinary special attacks of the swarm it has transformed into. While in swarm form, a methuselah can’t use its natural weapons or any of its special attacks. It retains all its other abilities, counts as an undead creature, and can use any of the swarm’s abilities and defenses. It can remain in swarm form until it assumes another form or until the next sunrise. This is a polymorph effect.Tenuous Existence (Su)A methuselah can pass through solid objects (like walls, doors, ceilings, and floors) using its fly speed as if they weren't there. If it end its inside a solid object, it takes 6d6 points of damage which ignore damage reduction and is shunted in the nearest open space.Uncanny Climber (Su)A methuselah can climb with its hands (or upper limbs) free and even walk about on the ceiling as if affected by a spider climb spell. In addition, it can use the accelerated climb action to cover any distance up to four times its climb speed, with each check allowing it to climb a distance equal to its climb speed. Climbing a distance equal to or less than its climb speed is a move-equivalent action.Vitae (Var.)A methuselah gains the vitae as an antediluvian vampire, except that its blood pool can store only a number of points at the same time up to ½ its HD and it unlock only a single vitae power when it reach 10 HD (does not gains vitae powers at 7, 14, 21 HD or higher).Abilities: Str +10, Dex +8, Int +6, Wis +6, Cha +8. As an undead creature, a methuselah has no Constitution score.Feats: A methuselah gains Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Improved Grapple, Improved Initiative, and Lightning Reflexes as bonus feats.Skills: A methuselah receives a +10 racial bonus on Bluff, Perception, Sense Motive, and Stealth checks. Bluff, Perception, Sense Motive, and Stealth are always class skills for a methuselah.</blockquote>

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