Corpse Wraith - Undead Template

Wraith Lords are the undead abominations that seek to end life merely to cause suffering to others. While some creatures are driven by greed or sadism, these creatures have no dark passion, they merely want to destroy other things and beings, just for the sake of destruction. Cunning and seemingly cruel, they display no outward emotion.

Corpse Wraith (Template)

Size and type: Change to undead; do not recalculate hp
Hit Dice: Change to d12, 3 HD is the base, it can be higher
Speed: As original creature; loses swim burrow or climb movement, gains fly 40 (good)
Armor Class: +5 deflection bonus (if not in host), otherwise as host
Attack: Incorporeal Touch
Full Attack: Incorporeal Touch

Damage: based on HD
3-4 HD: 1d6 dmg + 1 charisma drain, +1 deflection AC bonus
5-8 HD: 1d10 dmg + 2 charisma drain, +2 deflection AC bonus
9-12 HD: 2d8 dmg + 2 charisma drain, +4 deflection AC bonus
13-16 HD: 2d12 dmg + 3 charisma drain, +6 deflection AC bonus
17 HD +: 3d10 dmg + 1d6 charisma drain, +9 deflection AC bonus

Level tiered effects
3-4 HD: +1 deflection AC bonus; +1 on SA effect DCs
5-8 HD: +2 deflection AC bonus; +2 on SA effect DCs
9-12 HD: +4 deflection AC bonus; +4 on SA effect DCs
13-16 HD: +6 deflection AC bonus; +6 on SA effect DCs
17 HD +: +9 deflection AC bonus; +8  on SA effect DCs

Special Features

Displacement: 50% miss for missile weapons or spells that require attack rolls.

Special Attacks:

Paralysis Stare (DC 13), paralyzed for 10 rounds or less, can do once every 1d3 rounds. Subtract the saving throw from 17 to find the number of rounds the victim is paralyzed. Those affected can mumble with great effort but cannot cast spells, turn or activate magic items requiring words.

Chill Metal: (DC 11) can affect any piece of metal once a day, it is an auto effect if not being controlled or touched by a living creature.

Word of Terror: (Will DC 15) or tremble in fear for 1d4 rounds, if less than 6HD/levels will flee, usable once an hour

Possess Corpse: Can infest any dead humanoid body. Corpse Wraiths retain their mental stats but take on the corpse. They do this usually to escape detection. They have limited capacity to retain their host's memory.

Wraith lords retain the memories and abilities they had in life, including any spell casting abilities. Most reside in urban settings, where it is easy to hide their presence as well as to find a new host body if needed. They are hunted down with religious zeal by Jackalla, the undead hunters of Nyssa.

They appear as a dark spirit, all their features matching who or what they were during their life, but they have an evil, ominous presence.

Creatures killed by wraith lords have their spirits or souls absorbed by the wraith lord, and can only be freed once the wraith itself is vanquished. New Corpse Wraiths are created by necromancers who are seeking undead servants. Unlike with many other types of undead, corpse wraiths are not mindless servants, once created they serve themselves and try to get freedom and accomplish their own goals.

The most powerful ones are released by their masters to serve as free-willed terrors, not in their thrall but in equal service. Appear as grey-shaded humanoids, in tatters mostly in the background unnoticed as they go about their actions. When they attack, they seem to instantly change to vengeful warrior spirits, full of dread, power inflicting horror on anyone within fifty feet.