#creature template

"Manticore!" © Fur Affinity user iLeomaru, accessed at their gallery here

[It was awfully nice of Paizo to make a canonical way of making monster girls for Pathfinder 2e. The paaridar feels like it should be a template, and in fact should be multiple templates. I might go and do more at some point. So the CR 7 manticore paaridar that we get in Bestiary 3 is what I was aiming for, but you can make a whole monastery by using this template on a variety of different monk stat blocks. I didn't use the canon art for it because that art is missing the tail; maybe the art was commissioned before the stats were finalized]

Paaridar, Manticore CR +1 Acquired Template This woman has clawed hands, a long tail ending in multiple spines, and a pair of leathery wings. She grins resolutely with fang-like teeth.

Paaridus was a monk obsessed with shortcuts for gaining power. Rather than develop his own ki by focusing on his chakras and personal growth, he developed a technique to steal the ki from other organisms. Envious of various monstrous life and ashamed of the limitations of human flesh, he focused on monsters, and his followers, known as paaridars, have mastered the technique. But the more chakras are replaced, the more the mind of the original person is lost, replaced with a feral personality. The root, sacral and naval chakras are the ‘safe” ones, but even this is seen as a profane and disgusting act by most monks. The “donor” survives the process, barely, a husk of its former self, which is usually put out of its misery as an initiation ceremony for the new paaridar.

Different types of paaridars exist, each one drawing from the ki of a different magical beast or dragon. Each type of paaridar is its own template. These templates are similar to the template below, with the following adjustments. Most paaridars has one offensive ability, one defensive ability and one type of special movement. Swap out the claw attacks for another natural weapon, if appropriate, but retain Feral Combat Training as a bonus feat. A paaridar typically gains a +4 bonus to one physical ability score, a +2 bonus to another physical ability score, and a -2 penalty to a mental ability score (usually Intelligence or Charisma).

Creating a Manticore Paaridar “Manticore paaridar” is a template that can be added to any creature with a ki pool, typically a monk or ninja. CR +1 Alignment any non-good. A paaridar must still maintain the alignment requirements for its class (lawful for a monk, for example) Type change the creature’s type to monstrous humanoid if it is a humanoid. Do not recalculate HD, BAB or saves. Armor Class increase natural armor bonus by +2 Defenses/Qualities gains darkvision 60 ft. if the base creature doesn’t have it, and the following defensive ability: Sharp Disruption (Ex) a manticore paaridar can block an attack with its claws as an immediate action. It gains DR /- equal to its HD, and the creature that hits it takes slashing damage equal to the paaridar’s claw damage plus its Strength modifier. A manticore paaridar can use this ability once per day, plus an additional time per day per 3 HD. Weakness a manticore paaridar gains the following weakness Disrupted Ki (Su) whenever a manticore paaridar uses a ki point, it takes 1d6 points of damage. It cannot reduce the damage taken from this ability in any way. Speed the manticore paaridar gains a fly speed equal to ½ its land speed, and clumsy maneuverability. Its flight gains the following quality: Limited Flight (Ex) a manticore paaridar can fly consecutively without penalty for a number of rounds equal to its Constitution modifier. Unless it then lands and doesn’t fly for a number of minutes equal to the number of rounds it flew, it gains the fatigued condition. Melee the manticore paaridar gains 2 claw attacks that deal damage as if it were one size larger than its actual size category Ranged the manticore paaridar gains the following ranged attack: Spikes (Ex) With a snap of its tail, a manticore paaridar can loose a volley of spikes as a standard action (make an attack roll for each spike). A paaridar of CR 4 or lower can fire two spikes at a time, one of CR 5 to 10 can fire four spikes at a time, and one of CR 11 or higher can fire six spikes at a time. This attack has a range of 180 feet with no range increment and deal 1d6 damage (assuming a Medium paaridar) plus the paaridar’s Strength bonus on a successful hit. All targets must be within 30 feet of each other. The manticore paaridar can launch a number of spikes per day equal to 4x its Hit Dice. Ability Scores Str +4, Con +2, Int -2. Feats A manticore paaridar gains Feral Combat Training (claw) as a bonus feat. Skills A manticore paaridar gains Fly as a class skill.

Here’s I2 – Tomb of the Lizard King. It’s messed up. But in a good way.

Tomb is split across three parts – a wilderness journey, a conflict with bandits and the delve into the titular tomb. As you might expect, there is something darker behind the bandit raids.

That dark power is Sakatha, the late lizard king. He’s not entirely dead, of course – he’s a vampire, too. While he’s no Strahd, I love this dude. He can mess a party up – he’s got a two handed trident that does a minimum of 15 points of damage per round, the usual suite of vampire powers and casts arcane spells as a 9th level magic-user. He’s gonna tear right through up that 5-7th level party, count on it.

I love how weird a vampire lizard man is. And here’s a crazy theory: I bet basic idea for the template mechanics for 3E’s monster variations (altering or adding to a base monster with a pre-defined powers, like “greenbound” or “ravenous”) comes from old Sakatha. That’s just me spit-ballin’ though.

“Undead Dragon” © Indigo Jenar. Accessed at their ArtStation page here

[Commissioned by @tar-baphon​ . The dracolich has been around for decades, first appearing as a vague plot hook in White Plume Mountain (”beyond to the land of Dragotha, the undead dragon...”) before being fleshed out in Dragon Magazine. As an Ed Greenwood creature, the original dracolich was overly complicated--if its soul couldn’t enter its own body, it could form a “pseudo-dracolich” which had some, but not all, of its original powers. Greenwood also didn’t think too much of the dracoliches in his own work; he seemed to be much more interested in the human Cult of the Dragon that makes them, and in his novel Spellfire, dracoliches are basically cannon fodder.

There are no canon dracoliches in Pathfinder, because the name is copyrighted. The ravener fills the same niche (undead dragon boss monster), but has the whole soul ward mechanic, which strikes me as being very fiddly. I’ve never run a ravener at the table, and I have avoided them for the extra paperwork. I can see both dracoliches and raveners existing in the same world, and thus have included a paragraph to that effect.]

Sample Dracolich CR 23 LE Undead This enormous dragon is clearly dead—its body is mostly skeletal, although patches of blue scales and mummified flesh are visible.

A dracolich is a dragon who has intentionally transformed themselves into an undead monster, to avoid death, as a shortcut to power, or both. Like a lich, a dracolich’s life force is tied to its phylactery, a reliquary in which it can store its soul. It requires the corpse of another draconic creature to rebuild its body, and so many dracoliches keep the bodies of their rivals as a combination of a trophy and a backup body.

Dracoliches and raveners view each other with mutual disdain and disgust. Raveners view the reliance on a phylactery to maintain undeath as a weakness, whereas dracoliches consider a soul ward to be too unreliable and inconsistent. The rituals to becoming a dracolich are longer, more expensive, and more intricate than those to become a ravener. Lawful dragons are somewhat more likely to take the path of dracolich, and chaotic ones slightly more likely to become raveners, but both types of undead can be found in either alignment.

A Dracolich’s Phylactery A dracolich’s phylactery requires the Craft Wondrous Item feat, 120,000 gp and a caster level of 11th to build. Some dracoliches build their own phylacteries, but others employ humanoid spellcasters to do this for them. This is rather shortsighted—if another creature builds the dracolich’s phylactery, the dracolich is controlled by them, as if it were just another undead they had created. Mortal spellcasters who know of this loophole do not tell the dragon they are trying to convince to pursue lichdom, of course.

Creating a Dracolich “Dracolich” is an acquired template that can be added to any evil true dragon of adult age or older (hereafter referred to as the base creature). A dracolich retains all of the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here

CR Same as base creature +2

Type The creature’s type changes to undead. Do not recalculate BAB, saves, or skill ranks. It keeps any subtypes possessed by the base creature

Armor Class The dracolich’s natural armor increases by +2

Hit Dice Change all of the base creature's racial Hit Dice to d8s. All Hit Dice derived from class levels remain unchanged. As an undead, a dracolich uses its Charisma to determine bonus hit points instead of its Constitution.

Saving Throws: As undead, a dracolich uses its Charisma modifier on Fortitude saves (instead of Constitution).

Defensive Abilities: A dracolich gains channel resistance +4 and all of the immunities derived from undead traits. It gains immunity to cold and electricity. Its damage reduction changes from DR/magic to DR/bludgeoning and magic. A dracolich also gains the following ability: Rejuvenation (Su) When a dracolich’s physical body is destroyed, its soul moves into its phylactery. If there is a corpse of a creature with the dragon type within 60 feet of the phylactery, the soul moves into the corpse, transforming it into a new body for the dracolich in 1d10 days. If the phylactery is destroyed, the dracolich cannot use this ability. If the phylactery is destroyed while the dracolich is rebuilding a body, the dracolich is also destroyed.

Special Attacks A dracolich loses the crush special attack if the base creature had it. Any special attacks with a DC based on Constitution become based on Charisma instead. It also gains the following special attacks: Admixed Breath (Su) A dracolich can choose at will to deal half of the damage from its breath weapon as negative energy. Gaze (Su) Range—30 ft.; Save—Will (Cha based DC); effect paralyzed 2d6 rounds. A creature that has been exposed to a dracolich’s gaze, whether it passes or fails the save, cannot be affected by the gaze of that dracolich for the next 24 hours.

Spell-like Abilities A dracolich gains control undead as a spell-like ability, usable 1/day. It uses its HD as its caster level for this SLA.

Abilities Str +4, Dex +4, Cha +6. As an undead creature, a dracolich does not have a Constitution score.

Feats A dracolich gains Toughness as a bonus feat

Skills A dracolich gains a +8 racial bonus on Perception and Stealth checks.

Statistics for a sample dracolich are below the cut

Image © Wizards of the Coast.

[Volo’s Guide to Monsters only has two brand new monsters in it, and then only on a technicality. The deep scion and the sea spawn are basically deep ones from Lovecraft or skum from previous editions of D&D, except one of them can talk and change shape (deep scion) and one of them can’t (sea spawn). Since Pathfinder already has both deep ones and skum, this would seem to be especially redundant. But neither of those is a template. And by combining the two monsters and transforming it into a template, it makes an excellent model for Davy Jones and his crew of sea monsters from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.]

Sea Spawn CR +1 Template Sample Sea Spawn This creature is clearly humanoid, and may once even have been a man, but has been warped into some manner of piscine creature. His hands and feet are webbed, eyes bulging and he has irregular scales and fins along his moist skin.

A sea spawn is a humanoid creature that has pledged itself, body and soul, to a power of the ocean. Krakens are most notorious for creating sea spawn, but they can also be created through divine dispensation by gods of the water, the curses of aquatic fey or sea hags, or even by the designs of powerful merfolk sorcerers. Whatever the origin, transformation into a sea spawn causes the creature’s body to warp in various ways, gaining the features of one or more aquatic animals. Some sea spawn are dimwitted brutes, but others have their intellect sharpened by the transformation and are canny schemers. Many, but not all, of these more intelligent sea spawn can change shape, disguising themselves in the garb of their previous lives to act as spies and agents in the air-breathing world.

Creating a Sea Spawn “Sea spawn” is an acquired template that can be added to any humanoid creature without the aquatic subtype. A sea spawn retains the base creature’s statistics and special abilities, except as noted here.

Challenge Rating As base creature +1 (minimum CR 1)

Type The creature’s type changes to monstrous humanoid and the creature gains the aquatic subtype. Do not recalculate its Hit Dice, base attack bonus or saves

Senses A sea spawn gains darkvision 60 ft. and low-light vision.

Armor Class A sea spawn gains a +1 natural armor bonus.

Defensive Abilities A sea spawn gains the following defensive ability. Deep Dweller (Ex) A sea spawn is immune to cold and bludgeoning damage as a result of water temperature or depth

Speed Reduce the creature’s land speed by 10 ft (minimum 10 ft.). A sea spawn gains a swim speed equal to twice its new land speed if it didn’t already have a swim speed.

Attacks A sea spawn gains a slam attack as a primary natural weapon that deals damage as normal for a creature of its size.

Statistics A sea spawn gains a +4 bonus to two ability scores of its choice, and a -2 penalty to two ability scores of its choice.

Skills A sea spawn always treats Intimidate, Perception, Stealth and Swim as class skills.

Languages A sea spawn gains the ability to speak Aquan

SQ A sea spawn gains the amphibious special quality, and gains the following special quality. Water Reliant (Ex) A sea spawn must submerge itself in water for at least 1 full hour in order to gain the benefits of rest.

Aquatic Anatomy A sea spawn has one of the following benefits, plus an additional benefit per 4 HD it possesses. All-Around Vision (Ex) As the universal monster ability Alternate Form (Su) The sea spawn may change shape, as the universal monster ability, but only to appear as its original form before the transformation into a sea spawn. It gains a +10 racial bonus on Disguise checks to appear as its previous identity when using this ability. Bleeding Bite (Ex) The sea spawn gains a bite attack that deals damage as normal for a creature of its size, as well as 1 point of bleed damage. Blindsense (Ex) The sea spawn gains blindsense out to 60 feet. Camouflage (Ex) The sea spawn can change color at will, gaining a +8 racial bonus on Stealth checks. A sea spawn with this ability can make Stealth checks to hide without cover or concealment. Crushing Claw (Ex) One of the sea spawn’s hands becomes a claw that deals damage as a creature one size category larger. It cannot wield weapons with this claw, but gains the grab and constrict universal monster qualities. Electric Touch (Ex) As a standard action, the sea spawn may make a melee touch attack that deals 1d6 points of electricity damage per 2 Hit Dice. A sea spawn may use this ability once every 1d4 rounds. Fast Healing (Ex) The sea spawn gains fast healing equal to ½ its Hit Dice (maximum fast healing 10). Jet (Ex) Once per round as a full round action, a sea spawn may move six times its normal swim speed in a straight line without provoking an attack of opportunity. Keen Scent (Ex) The sea spawn can detect creatures by scent within 180 feet, and sense blood in the water at a range of one mile. Major Tentacles (Ex) The sea spawn gains two tentacle attacks as secondary natural weapons. These deal damage as normal for a creature of the sea spawn’s size. Minor Tentacles (Ex) The sea spawn can draw or stow a small item with its minor tentacles as a swift action. The minor tentacles can manipulate objects, but cannot wield weapons or a shield. Pain Poison (Ex) A creature struck by one of the sea spawn’s natural attacks must succeed a Fortitude save (Con based DC) or be sickened for 1d6 rounds. Multiple failed saves increase the duration. This is a poison effect. Resistance (Ex) The sea spawn gains cold and fire resistance 10. Shell Armor (Ex) The sea spawn gains an additional +1 natural armor bonus and fortification (25%). Spikes (Ex) A creature that strikes the sea spawn with a melee weapon, natural weapon, touch attack or unarmed strike takes piercing damage equal to the damage from a claw attack of a creature of the sea spawn’s size. Manufactured weapons with the reach property do not harm their wielders in this way.

“Goblin Jester” © Joe Shawcross, accessed at his deviantArt here

[The nilbog is one of those Fiend Folio monsters that in the early 3.x era, WoTC decided to allow to become Open Content through the Tome of Horrors. Like some other of those monsters, like the flumph and the flail snail, D&D 5e has decided to embrace them as part of D&D’s history instead of sweeping them under the rug as something of an embarrassment. So there are multiple versions of the nilbog out there, and I’ve actually used the 3.x version from Tome of Horrors in my games (as the consequence of what happens when a goblin’s name is written down, in the shaggy, weirder days of Pathfinder before things got more locked in place).

This version of the nilbog is most closely inspired by the Volo’s Guide to Monsters D&D 5e version, where it’s a goblin possessed by a chaotic spirit instead of a goblin suffering from some wibbly wobbly timey wimey disease. I’ve also gone and made it a template, which the Volo version feints at, but doesn’t quite commit to. ]

Nilbog CR 2 CE Humanoid (goblinoid) This goblin is dressed in a garish array of clashing colors and carries a staff tipped with an effigy of its own head. Its eyes shine like opals.

Goblins are numerous, fecund and profoundly disorganized. Although goblin tribes can temporarily be whipped into shape by a greater power, these alliances typically collapse after no more than a few months or a handful of successive raids. There are multiple reasons for this, but one of them is the scourge of nilbogism. A nilbog is possessed by the soul of a charismatic goblin killed for failing to obey orders. Most nilbogs are true goblins, but hobgoblins, bugbears and even goblinoid oni can become overcome by these spirits. Nilbogs are capable of throwing an entire army into chaos, using their mind-warping magic to cause commanders to act in strange and improbable ways. An army host to a nilbog may be stymied or even shattered by the creature’s antics.

Nilbogs are very difficult to kill, as drawing weapons against them triggers a compulsion to fawn over and praise them. In addition, the spirit inhabiting their bodies defends them by allowing them to absorb blows and become healthier, not injured. Few nilbogs are as interested in killing an enemy as in tormenting and humiliating them, and nilbogs typically fight on the run. They may support allies to help them topple an adversary, but are just as likely to spend their time pulling pranks as they are dealing damage. If a nilbog is slain, a nearby goblinoid may become host to the nilbog spirit in turn—wise adventurers isolate a nilbog before picking them off.

Goblins adore nilbogs, even if hobgoblins and bugbears do not, but nilbogs are also seen as strange and uncanny. A goblin settlement home to a nilbog has an extra level of protection from outside forces, and the nilbog’s wild and weird humor is a constant source of entertainment. Even though few goblin tribes play host to a nilbog, many pretend to, often by dressing up a chosen goblin like a jester and having them behave unpredictably when possible enemies or conquerors approach. True nilbogs have opalescent eyes, and eschew goblin superstitions and taboos. For example, a nilbog may ride a horse, read books or find the use of fire as a weapon distasteful. Most nilbogs are still evil, but a few are chaotic neutral or even chaotic good. Some good aligned goblin tribes claim a nilbog as culture hero, having encouraged them to find a better philosophy of life than destruction.

Creating a Nilbog “Nilbog” is an acquired template that can be added to any creature with the goblinoid subtype. A nilbog gains the following traits and abilities. The save DC for supernatural abilities, where applicable, is equal to 10 +1/2 Hit Dice (including class levels) + Cha modifier. CR +1 (minimum 1) Aura A nilbog gains the following aura Fawning Adoration (Su) Any time a creature within 60 feet of a nilbog attempts to make an attack against that nilbog must succeed a Will save or lose that action and be nauseated for 1 round, spending their standard action praising the nilbog. This is a mind-influencing compulsion effect, and the save DC is Charisma based. Defensive Qualities A nilbog gains negative energy affinity and the following defensive quality. Reversal of Fortune (Su) As an immediate action when it would take damage from an attack or spell, a nilbog may instead heal that amount of damage. Extra hit points above the nilbog’s maximum are lost. A nilbog can use this ability a number of times a day equal to its Charisma modifier. Weaknesses A nilbog gains the following weakness Nilbogism (Su) Nilbogism is a possession effect—the benefits of the nilbog template are suppressed when the nilbog is under the effects of a protection from chaos or similar spell, and the template can be removed by successful break enchantment or dispel chaos effect against the nilbog’s HD. When a nilbog is slain, the nearest goblinoid within 30 feet must succeed a Will save or gain the nilbog template. The save DC is Charisma based. A nilbog cannot heal hit point damage except through negative energy or its reversal of fortune ability. It heals ability damage through rest normally. A nilbog has the alignment aura of a chaotic outsider of its HD.

Spell-like Abilities A nilbog with a Cha of 10 or greater gains the following spell-like abilities At will—mage hand; 3/day—hideous laughter, lesser confusion; 1/day—suggestion, touch of idiocy

A nilbog with 10 HD or more can use hideous laughter and lesser confusion at will, suggestion and touch of idiocy 3/day, and gains the following spell-like abilities 1/day—confusion, phantasmal killer Abilities Int +2, Wis -2, Cha +4 Feats A nilbog gains Dodge as a bonus feat. Skills A nilbog gains a +4 racial bonus on Acrobatics checks and Perform (comedy) checks.

Statistics for a sample nilbog are below the cut:

“Feral Minotaur” by Wayne Reynolds, © Wizards of the Coast

[Savage Species was a boon for players and DMs alike, giving rules for how to play monsters as classes a la the Basic D&D “races as classes” model, along with tons of feats, prestige classes and templates for modifying existing monsters. These two concepts played together with... mixed success. Namely, power creep, which was huge with this book. I remember playing a thri-kreen with the Multiweapon feats from Savage Species who made twelve bastard sword attacks by 12th level. And the feral template, which was a level adjustment +1 way to get the pounce ability, was much abused. One player in my high school game had a feral frenzied berserker who was so overpowered that I made him the final boss of the entire campaign. So as one GM to another I am saying this right now. The feral template should be reserved for monsters, not players.]

Feral Creature CR +2 Template

Feral Minotaur CR 6 CE Monstrous Humanoid This bull-headed humanoid is muscle-bound, with a leathery hide and large clawed hands.

Feral creatures are humanoids or monstrous humanoids with an animalistic aspect. Some of them are the process of natural selection, with stronger, more brutal individuals being favored over time in harsh environments. Some are blessed or cursed by gods of strength and monsters, being granted a tougher physical form at the expense of their minds. Still others are the results of alchemical experiments, partially fleshwarped or permanently affected by mutagenic chemicals.

Feral creatures vary in alignment, but most are at the very least chaotic. They are impatient with the trappings of civilization and have little patience for book learning, but have keen senses and intuitive minds. Their clawed fingers lack manual dexterity and they tend to be somewhat swollen with muscle, and they much prefer melee combat to ranged warfare or spellcasting. Some feral creatures still use manufactured weapons, typically of simple or crude make, but others prefer to feel the warmth of blood on their hands.

A feral creature is more massive than an ordinary member of its species, but many are not as tall due to hunched postures. Some even run on all fours with an ape-like gait, but this is by no means universal.

Creating a Feral Creature

“Feral creature” is an inherited or acquired template that can be added to a humanoid or monstrous humanoid. A feral creature uses all of the base creature’s statistics except as noted here

CR: +2 Type: The creature’s type changes to monstrous humanoid. Do not adjust HD, BAB, saves or skills Armor Class: natural armor increases by +4 Defenses/Qualities: Gains darkvision 60 ft. and scent; if the creature already had darkvision, its darkvision increases by 30 ft.; gains ferocity; gains fast healing equal to ½ the creature’s adjusted CR (maximum fast healing 10) Melee: A feral creature gains two claw attacks that deal damage as normal for a creature of its size. If the base creature already has claw attacks, increase the damage they deal by one die. Special Attacks: A feral creature gains one of the following special attacks. It gains two if its Hit Dice are 8 or higher, and three if its Hit Dice are 16 or higher. Grab (Ex) as the universal monster quality. Pounce (Ex) as the universal monster quality. Powerful Blows (Ex) as the universal monster quality, with one natural weapon. This ability can be selected multiple times. Rake (Ex) with two claws, as the universal monster quality. A feral creature must have grab or pounce before selecting this ability Rend (Ex) with two claws, as the universal monster quality. Trample (Ex) As the universal monster quality, dealing damage as a slam attack of the creature’s size. If the creature already has a slam attack, it deals that damage if it is higher. Abilities Str +4, Dex -2, Con +4, Int -2 (minimum 3), Wis +2 Skills A feral creature gains a +4 racial bonus to two of the following skills: Acrobatics, Climb, Fly, Perception, Stealth, Swim.

Statistics for a sample feral creature below the cut

Image by Wayne England, © Wizards of the Coast.

[Commissioned by @tar-baphon. It’s a template, and hoo boy is it a long one! It’s actually less complicated than the original, which added racial HD and stripped off the special attacks of the base creature. At that point, why make it a template?

As you’ll notice in the art, this template was originally called “brood spawn”. I’ve changed the name to embrace the “Father” theme of Father Llymic, the Elder Evil that these are associated with. I’ve got plenty of problems with Llymic, but my complaints will wait until that entry specifically.]

Child of Llymic CR +2 Template (acquired) This hulking creature appears roughly humanoid, with a stooped posture and a metallic blue exoskeleton. It has three solid black eyes overlooking a drooling, fanged maw. Instead of hands, its forelimbs end in oversized claws like those of a mantis.

The children of Llymic are monstrous mutants, warped by exposure to the alien entity known as Father Llymic. The hands of a child of Llymic are warped into large talons, rendering them incapable of wielding weapons or using anything but the most basic of tools. Although sapient children of Llymic do not lose any intelligence, and indeed become more in tune with their surroundings, they rapidly abandon material culture, although they may wear a few scraps of jewelry or clothing as reminders of their previous lives. They have no society or behavior except for pursuing their basic survival and tending to Father Llymic’s needs. Regardless of their original species, they cooperate with each other as park carnivores.

The children of Llymic despise the touch of sunlight. During the long polar summers, they hide in caves and burrows, hibernating until winter in a reversal of many other creatures. In the darker seasons, they are more active. The children of Llymic are stronger and tougher than they were as mere mortals, and gain access to a number of magical powers manipulating cold and darkness. Their freezing breath carries the chill of the void, and creatures that are exposed to it, even if they take no cold damage, begin to dwindle. If not saved through magic, these victims transform into children of Llymic themselves.

Creating a Child of Llymic “Child of Llymic” is an acquired template that can be applied to any living corporeal creature that is not immune to curses (hereafter referred to as the base creature). A child of Llymic retains all of the base creature’s statistics and special abilities, save as noted here.

CR: Same as the base creature +2 (minimum CR 3) Alignment: Chaotic evil Type: Change to outsider (native). Do not recalculate BAB, HD or saves Armor Class: Natural armor improves by +4 Special Qualities and Defenses: A child of Llymic gains the see in darkness universal monster quality as well as the following Damage Reduction: A child of Llymic has DR 5/magic. A child of Llymic with 10 or more HD has DR 10/magic. Immunities: A child of Llymic is immune to ability damage, ability drain, cold, mind-influencing effect, petrifaction and polymorph effects Resistances: A child of Llymic has electricity and fire resistance 10. A child of Llymic with 20 or more HD has electricity and fire resistance 20 Spell Resistance: A child of Llymic gains spell resistance equal to its adjusted CR +11. Weaknesses: A child of Llymic gains the following weaknesses Light Sickness (Ex) A child of Llymic is sickened in an area of normal or bright light. It takes damage as if it were undead from light based spells and abilities that deal damage, such as searing light or sunbeam Vulnerable to Sonic: A child of Llymic takes 150% damage from sonic based spells and effects. Speed: Increase the base creature’s land speed by 20 feet. A child of Llymic also has the following special ability Ice Walking (Ex) A child of Llymic ignores all difficult terrain and movement penalties from natural or magical snow and ice. Melee: A child of Llymic has no hands and loses the ability to use manufactured weapons. They gain two claw attacks and a bite attack. The bite attack deals damage as normal for a creature of the child of Llymic’s size. The claw attacks deal damage as if they were two sizes larger. A Gargantuan child of Llymic deals 3d8 points of damage with its claw attacks, and a Colossal child of Llymic deals 4d8 points of damage with its claw attacks. Special Attacks: A child of Llymic gains a breath weapon that deals 1d6 points of cold damage per 2 HD of the creature. Creatures that take damage from the breath weapon are also exposed to the curse of Llymic (see below). The save DC for the breath weapon is Constitution based. This breath weapon can be used three times per day, but the child of Llymic must wait 1d4 rounds between uses. The size of the breath weapon is as follows:

Size                                         Cone Length Tiny or smaller                          10 ft. Small                                         15 ft. Medium                                     20 ft. Large                                        30 ft. Huge                                         40 ft. Gargantuan                              50 ft. Colossal                                    60 ft.

If the base creature has a better breath weapon, it retains that breath weapon instead, but deals the curse of Llymic to creatures that take damage from it. Curse of Llymic (Su) Breath weapon—contact; save Fortitude, Charisma based DC; onset 1 hour; frequency 1/day; effect 1 temporary negative level. Negative levels dealt by the curse of Llymic can only be removed through magic, and only if the creature is in natural sunlight. A creature that has as many temporary negative levels as HD from this ability is transformed into a child of Llymic over the course of one minute. Spell-like Abilities A child of Llymic with an Intelligence or Wisdom of 8 or higher gains access to the following spell-like abilities. CL = HD.

HD                                             Abilities 1-2                                             snowball 3/day 3-4                                             darkness 3/day 5-6                                             sleet storm 7-8                                             dispel magic 3/day 9-10                                           deeper darkness 3/day 11-12                                         wall of ice 13-14                                         enervation 15-16                                         cone of cold 17-18                                         greater dispel magic 3/day 19-20                                         polar ray

Abilities: Change from base creature as follows: Str +6, Con +6, Wis +2, Cha +4 Skills: A child of Llymic gains skill ranks from its racial HD as a creature of the outsider type (6+Int modifier). Do not change class skills for racial HD. Feats: A child of Llymic gains Improved Critical (claw) and Power Attack as bonus feats.

“Fire Goddess” © deviantArt user Clooms, accessed at their gallery here

[Commissioned by @tar-baphon, based on the 4e Archangel template. Angels in 4e worked differently than they have in all other editions, because that was 4e’s whole deal. Angels were divine servitors that could be of any alignment, and were typically not good. That way, you could fight ‘em. I’ve expanded the template to more than just angels, since they got brought back into the good outsider family. Since most of the 4e angels were glowing humanoids, I figured the brijidine azata was a good match for their look. Also, I haven’t done much with azatas, and the CR is right for a powerful force of Good. Gotta counteract all those fiends I’ve been posting lately!]

Example Empyreal Exemplar Exemplar Brijidine CR 18 CG Outsider (extraplanar) This woman appears to be made of living lava. Her hair is a sheet of flame, and her expression is stern but not unkind.

An empyreal exemplar is a celestial being that has distinguished itself in service to the forces of good. Such entities are rewarded by the powers they serve, be they gods or empyreal lords, granting them unparalleled protection. Empyreal exemplars are extremely difficult to kill, and they often act as bulwarks, protecting lesser celestial beings from the forces of evil. They are sometimes referred to as “archangels”, but this is not necessarily an accurate distinction—they can form from any type of goodly outsider, not just an angel.

 Creating an Empyreal Exemplar “Empryeal exemplar” is an acquired template that can be added to any outsider with the (good) subtype, referred to hereafter as the base creature. CR as the base creature +1 Armor Class the empyreal exemplar gains a sacred bonus to Armor Class equal to ¼ its racial Hit Dice (minimum +1) Saving Throws the empyreal exemplar gains a sacred bonus to all saving throws equal to ¼ its racial Hit Dice (minimum +1) Defensive Abilities the empyreal exemplar gains regeneration equal to ½ its racial Hit Dice that can only be overcome by an evil-aligned weapon. If the base creature already had better regeneration, use that value instead. Special Attacks the empyreal exemplar gains the following special attacks Avenging Strike (Ex) If an ally within the empyreal exemplar’s reach is knocked to 0 or fewer hit points by an enemy’s melee attack, the empyreal exemplar may take an attack of opportunity against that enemy. Overwhelm (Su) As a standard action once per day, an empyreal exemplar may create a burst of holy energy in a 20 foot radius centered on its space. All non-good creatures in the area take 1d6 damage per 2 HD of the base creature and are stunned for 1 round. A successful Fortitude save halves the damage and negates the stun effect. A neutral creature gains a +2 bonus on this saving throw. A good aligned creature in the radius instead heals 1d6 points of damage per 2 HD of the base creature. The save DC is Charisma based. Abilities Increase from the base creature as follows: Int +2, Cha +2 Feats An empyreal exemplar gains Combat Reflexes and Toughness as bonus feats