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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Voadam" data-source="post: 6906558" data-attributes="member: 2209">Heroes of Horror<a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/3724/Heroes-of-Horror-35?affiliate_id=17596" target="_blank">Heroes of Horror</a>3.5Jonah Parsons Human Ghost Expert 4: Less than a year ago, Jonah and Annalee Parsons were a happy couple in a happy community. They had just found out that they were expecting a child. While Jonah, a researcher and scribe by profession, was working overtime to provide for all that they would soon need, Annalee was busily converting their unused barn into a study for her husband, now that his former study was going to become the new baby’s room.Not long into the pregnancy, however, Jonah began to notice a change in his wife. She wasn’t doing anything different or unusual, but she just didn’t seem like the same person. The one person in whom he could confide his concerns blamed them on the combination of the changes of pregnancy and the anxiety felt by every expectant father. But Jonah was not convinced, and he began to investigate his wife’s condition. Within three months, Jonah was dead—stabbed to death by town guards in his own study; records indicate that he was “slain while attempting to resist a lawful arrest.”What actually happened is that Jonah began to suspect that something had infected his wife’s mind, soul, or both. But before he could discover what was really going on, and perhaps find a way to bring back the Annalee he once knew, the thing inside her sensed his suspicion and contrived a way to silence him. The unholy scion made its mother, now some five months pregnant, scratch and beat herself before running in terror to the local constable. She claimed her husband had gone mad and locked himself into his study after nearly killing her. When the soldiers arrived, they took Jonah by surprise and, in the confusion, mortally wounded him.The story picks up some five months after the death of Jonah Parsons. His daughter, Eve, was born recently, and with her birth came the return of her father as a ghost. What Jonah had begun to uncover is that inside his barn dwelled a dark entity that began to take over the unborn child growing inside his wife as she worked to convert the site into a study for him. Unknown to anyone, the site had once been the location of a shrine dedicated to Cas, the demigod of spite, and that lingering taint was an open invitation to demonic forces to take up residence in Cas’s absence.Cas, rarely one to forgive a slight of any kind, offered Jonah’s restless soul a glimpse of what the Lord of Spite would see as hope. Jonah arose as a ghost, filled with the knowledge that the source of his wife’s madness and his own death was the child she had borne in her womb.Haunting Presence: Sometimes when undead are created they come into being without a physical form and are merely presences of malign evil. Haunting presences usually occur as the result of atrocious crimes. Tied to particular locations or objects, these beings might reveal their unquiet natures only indirectly, at least at first.As a haunting presence, an undead is impossible to affect or even sense directly. A haunting presence is more fleeting than undead who appear as incorporeal ghosts or wraiths, or even those undead enterprising enough to range the Ethereal Plane. Each haunting presence is tied to an object or location and can only be dispelled by exorcism or the destruction of the object or location. Despite having no physicality, each haunting presence still possesses the identity of a specific kind of undead. For instance, one haunting presence might be similar to a vampire, while another is more like a wraith.Bane Wraith: They result when someone dies a violent and gruesome death, accompanied by the deaths of his family, friends, and everything he loved and worked for. Bane wraiths develop most frequently, but not exclusively, in or near tainted regions.Bloodrot: While sages originally believed that bloodrots were slain oozes animated by necromantic spells, they have now come to understand that the bloodrot is not a true ooze at all, despite its oozelike form. Rather, a bloodrot is formed from the remaining fluids of a creature dissolved in acid or otherwise liquefied.Tainted Minion: A tainted minion is a mortal who has been transformed into a horrific undead servant of evil.“Tainted minion” is an acquired template that can be added to any humanoid or monstrous humanoid creature with at least mild levels of both corruption and depravity (referred to hereafter as the base creature). It is most often applied to a creature that dies because its corruption score exceeds the maximum for severe corruption for a creature with its Constitution score.Tainted Minion Human Fighter 5: ?Undead: Any creature that dies in a tainted area animates in 1d4 hours as an undead creature, usually a zombie of the appropriate size. Burning a corpse protects it from this effect.Oath of Blood spell.Lich: When a dread necromancer attains 20th level, she undergoes a hideous transformation and becomes a lich.A dread necromancer who is not humanoid does not gain this class feature.Mummy: Whether it’s a mindless, shambling corpse or a spellcasting sorcerer, a mummy is usually the protector of a tomb or the victim of a curse. Either of these scenarios generates a worthwhile horror villain, but consider the possibility of a mummy not bound to a higher power. Perhaps an ancient necromancer chose mummification over lichdom in his bid for immortality. Or a mummy might indeed be cursed but potentially able to escape her eternal imprisonment if she can find another to take her place.For a bizarre twist, consider the possibility that the power animating the mummy is in fact contained in the wrappings. Should even a scrap of the cloth survive the first mummy’s destruction, the next creature to touch it might find itself possessed by the ancient’s vengeful spirit.Skeleton: Plague of Undead spell.Vampire: Vampire myths older than Dracula (novel 1897, film 1931) attribute the existence of the undead to sinners and suicides unable to enter Heaven.Wraith: Any humanoid slain by a bane wraith becomes a standard wraith in 1d4 rounds.Zombie: Any creature that dies in a tainted area animates in 1d4 hours as an undead creature, usually a zombie of the appropriate size. Burning a corpse protects it from this effect.Plague of Undead spell.Corpse Gatherer: Mass graves and charnel pits sometimes give rise to large undead formed from multiple corpses, such as corpse gatherers.OATH OF BLOODNecromancyLevel: Cleric 5, sorcerer/wizard 5Components: V, S, M, DFCasting Time: 1 minuteRange: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)Target: One living creatureDuration: See belowSaving Throw: NoneSpell Resistance: YesOath of blood functions only when cast on a creature that has recently been subject to a geas or similar spell. It extends the reach of the geas beyond death. If the individual subject to the geas dies before completing the task, oath of blood animates him as an undead creature in order that he might continue his quest. The nature of the undead creature is determined by the caster level of this spell, as per create undead. Once the task is complete or the original geas (or similar spell) expires, the magic animating the subject ends and he returns to death.Material Component: Grave dirt mixed with powdered onyx worth at least 40 gp per HD of the target.PLAGUE OF UNDEADNecromancy [Evil]Level: Cleric 9, dread necromancer 9, sorcerer/wizard 9Components: V, S, MCasting Time: 1 standard actionRange: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)Targets: One or more corpses within rangeDuration: InstantaneousSaving Throw: NoneSpell Resistance: NoThis spell unleashes great necromantic power, raising a host of undead creatures. Plague of undead turns the bones or bodies of dead creatures within the spell’s range into undead skeletons or zombies with maximum hit points for their Hit Dice. The undead remain animated until destroyed. (A destroyed zombie or skeleton can’t be animated again.)Regardless of the specific numbers or kinds of undead created with this spell, a single casting of plague of undead can’t create more HD of undead than four times your caster level.The undead you create remain under your control indefinitely and follow your spoken commands. However, no matter how many times you use this spell or animate dead, you can only control 4 HD worth of undead creatures per caster level; creatures you animate with either spell count against this limit. If you exceed this number, newly created creatures fall under your control and any excess undead from previous castings of this spell or animate dead become uncontrolled. Anytime this limit causes you to release some of the undead you control through this spell or animate dead, you choose which undead are released.The bones and bodies required for this spell follow the same restrictions as animate dead. All the material to be animated by this spell must be within range when the spell is cast.Material Component: A black sapphire worth 100 gp or several black sapphires with total value of 100 gp.</blockquote>

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