#incorporeal

Image © Paizo Publishing

[Thank you, Paizo, for introducing more types of incorporeal undead in PF2e. The fact that, by default, the seething spirit speaks Dwarven and Giant (well, Jotunn in PF2e) has some interesting world building implications.]

Seething Spirit CR 11 CE Undead (incorporeal) This reddish spectral figure is humanoid, its outline wavering as if seen through a shimmer of heat. Its eyes are furious, and its features contorted into a hateful grimace.

A seething spirit is an undead creature of pure anger. The souls that create seething spirits died in a state of extreme wrath, and the seething spirit carries that sentiment into the world. Seething spirits are particularly motivated by the specific target of anger—romantic resentment, a persecution complex, racism and straight-up spite are all common factors that might empower a seething spirit. Seething spirits remember little of their lives except their rage, and cannot be put to rest by resolving any unfulfilled business or the like. Seething spirits seek out people with similar resentments and possess them, turning them into a vessel to channel that anger into violence.

A seething spirit cannot willingly leave a possessed target, and so steers its host’s life into its campaign of hatred. They are excellent liars and capable of strategy, but often short-sighted and impatient around their focus of anger. Their ultimate goals are always violent ones, and if they can incite others into destructive mobs, all the better. A creature possessed by a seething spirit radiates rage as an almost palpable aura, and even their punches and kicks strike with the force of a greataxe. Appropriately enough for a being of extreme emotions, they are nearly powerless in the face of a calm emotions spell, which ejects them from their possessed hosts or tears away at their spiritual forms.

Smaugust Sampler: NIGHT

The Starveil Drake's impeccable camouflage has only one weakness; the excess luminance of the full moon betrays its presence. It is otherwise a remarkably efficient, nearly silent hunter.

The dragon seems incorporeal in parts, but intense light reveals its true, solid form. Scales and all.

A powerful undead spirit of ghostly frost, based on the enemy from Elder Scrolls.

Artwork is official concept art from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, by Ray Lederer on ArtStation, copyright Bethesda Softworks.

Among the folk tales from the northern reaches of the world are the Wispmother: ghostly women who lure unsuspecting travelers to their doom. Wispmothers take the form of elven spirits, wreathed in mist and decaying rags.

Wispmothers are not recent. They are the legacy of an ancient cult of necromancers, who thousands of years ago achieved eternal undeath by transforming their spirits into frost. No new wispmothers have been created in millennia, but destroying them is nearly impossible, and so they persist.

A victim is often initially drawn to the Wispmother by glowing, ghostly lights. Although initially passive, these creatures, frostwisps, later attack in tandem with her, distracting the victim and draining their energy. Wispmothers turn their slain victims into frostwisps, which they send out from their lairs to lure travelers to them.

I included descriptions of several of its feats, including two metamagic spell-like ability feats that aren't real feats and were never published by Paizo (although they did publish the equivalent actual metamagic feats for regular spells).

These creatures are based on the enemies of the same name from Skyrim, with their main feature being the frostwisps they control. Like basically all of my Pathfinder adaptations of creatures from other media, this isn't a direct conversion, it's just inspired by the Wispmother from Skyrim and includes some changes to make the fight more interesting.

Wispmother CR 14

The elven spirit seems to be made of animated frozen mist, wreathed in icy winds and decaying rags.

XP 38,400 NE Medium undead (cold, incorporeal) Init +11 Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +25 Aura snowstorm (200 ft.)

DEFENSE

AC 25, touch 25, flat-footed 17 (+7 deflection, +7 Dex, +1 dodge) hp 184 (16d8+112) Fort +12, Ref +12, Will +17 Defensive Abilities incorporeal Immune cold, undead traits Weaknesses vulnerable to fire

OFFENSE

Speed fly 40 ft. (perfect) Melee incorporeal touch +19 (6d6 cold plus chilling touch plus energy drain) Special Attacks chilling touch, energy drain (1 level, DC 25), restore frost wisp

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 16th; concentration +16)     Constant—blur     3/day—cone of cold (DC 22), ice storm, intensified studied thundering snowball (ranged touch +19, DC 18 (thundering), 10d6 cold damage)     At will—dancing lights, frost glyphs (DC 24, see text), mirror image

STATISTICS

Str —, Dex 24, Con —, Int 21, Wis 24, Cha 25 Base Atk +12; CMB +19; CMD 37 Feats Dodge, Improved Initiative, Intensified Spell-like Ability (snowball), Mobility, Spell Penetration, Studied Spell-like Ability (snowball), Thundering Spell-like Ability (snowball), Intensified Spell-like Ability Skills Fly +26, Intimidate +26, Knowledge (arcana, dungeoneering, local, nature, planes, religion) +17, Perception +25, Sense Motive +15, Spellcraft +26, Stealth +26, Survival +10 Languages Aquan, Elven, Necril SQ bonded frostwisps

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Bonded Frostwisps (Ex) A wispmother has a number of frostwisps bonded to its service, which must stay within 500 ft. of the frostmother. A bonded frostwisp gains the Share Spells, Empathic Link, and Scry on Familiar abilities of a familiar, treating the wispmother as its master. A newly created frostmother typically has 1 bonded frostwisp, but can gain additional bonded frostwisps through its Turn to Frostwisp ability (see below), up to a maximum number of bonded frostwisps equal to half its hit dice.

If a wispmother is destroyed, its bonded frostwisps are instantly destroyed and cease being bonded to it.

Chilling Touch (Su) A wispmother's touch causes 6d6 cold damage. Whenever a creature takes cold damage from a wispmother's chilling touch, it must make a DC 25 Fortitude save to avoid being staggered by the supernatural cold for 1 round. This duration stacks. The save DC is Charisma-based.

After striking a target with its chilling touch attack on its turn, as a free action, a wispmother can attempt to dispels one magical affect effecting the target, as the targeted dispel option of dispel magic (CL 16th). The dispelling effect occurs even if the damage is negated (such as by energy resistance or immunity).

Dispel Synergy If a wispmother successfully dispels an ongoing magical effect on an opponent, that opponent takes a –2 penalty on saving throws against the wispmother's spells until the end of its next turn.

Frost Glyphs (Sp) As a standard action, as a spell-like ability, three times per day, a wispmother can place up to 8 glowing frost glyphs on surfaces she can see within medium range (typically 260 ft.). The frost glyphs must be placed at least 10 ft. apart from each other. Each frost glyph persists for 1 hour or until triggered. A frost glyph is triggered when any creature other than the frostmother or its bonded wisps moves within 10 ft. of it; the frostmother can designate other creatures that can safely approach the frost glyphs at the time of casting.

Upon being triggered, a frost glyph explodes in a 20-ft. burst of frost that deals 1d6 cold damage per 2 caster levels (typically 8d6) and slows target caught in the burst (as the slow spell) for 1 round. A successful Reflex save (typically DC 24) halves the damage and negates the slowing effect.

Glyphs cannot be affected or bypassed by such means as physical or magical probing, though they can be dispelled (doing so dispels all glyphs that were created with a single spellcast). Mislead, polymorph, and nondetection (and similar magical effects) can fool a glyph, though non-magical disguises and the like can’t. Read magic allows a creature to identify a frost glyph with a DC 17 Knowledge (arcana) check. Identifying the glyph does not discharge it and allows the creature to know the effect of the glyph.

Treat this as a 7th-level evocation [cold] spell. Spell resistance applies.

Rejuvenation (Su) In most cases, it’s difficult to destroy a wispmother through simple combat: the “destroyed” spirit restores itself in 1 year. Even the most powerful spells are usually only temporary solutions. If, after 1 year, the area where the wispmother is not below freezing, its rejuvenation is delayed until the area drops below freezing.

When a wispmother rejuvenates, it begins with only one bonded frostwisp; any others it had bonded to it before being destroyed are lost.

Restore Frostwisp (Su) As a one-round action, once every 1d3+2 rounds, a wispmother can restore all of its bonded frostwisps to full hit points and remove any harmful conditions from them, including frostwisps that have been destroyed.

Snowstorm (Su) A wispmother can cause itself to be surrounded by whirling blasts of snow, even in areas that wouldn’t allow for such weather, that comprise a 200-foot-radius spread. It can activate or deactivate this ability as a free action at the start of its turn. Within this area, the snowfall and wind gusts cause a -4 penalty on Perception checks and ranged attacks. The wind itself blows in a clockwise rotation around the wispmother, and functions as severe wind. A wispmother and its bonded wisps are unaffected by snowstorms or blizzards of any kind. Any effect that causes these winds to drop below severe (such as control weather or control winds) cancels the snowstorm effect entirely.

Studied Spell-like Ability Three times per day, when casting its snowball spell-like ability, a wispmother can enhance the spell as if with the Studied Spell metamagic. The wispmother attempts an appropriate Knowledge check based on that target’s creature type as it casts the spell. The DC for this check is equal to 20 + the creature’s CR based on its race and not including any class levels or template (a creature that is defined by class levels has an effective CR of 0 for this ability). If the wispmother succeeds, the snowball spell-like ability ignores any cold resistance the target has because of its race as well as any bonuses on saving throws against the spell granted by the target’s race (such as the bonus from a dwarf’s hardy ability or a halfling’s halfling luck ability). The snowball spell-like ability doesn’t ignore energy resistance or saving throw bonuses granted by other spells and effects. If the wispmother fails the Knowledge check, the snowball spell-like ability still has its normal effects.

Thundering Spell-like Ability Three times per day, when casting its snowball spell-like ability, a wispmother can enhance the spell as if with the Thundering Spell metamagic. If a creature takes damage from the snowball spell-like ability, it becomes deafened for 1 round; a successful Fortitude save (typically DC 18) negates the deafening effect.

Turn to Frostwisp (Ex) If a wispmother or one of her bonded frostwisps kills a living creature with at least 3 Intelligence, the creature turns into a frostwisp bonded to the wispmother after 24 hours. If the wispmother is destroyed during that time (even if it rejuvenates), or the dead creature is revived, the transformation into a frostwisp fails.