Cadaver - base undead

Cadaver (Nyssian Zombies)

This is the base undead found on Nyssa. Cadavers appear the same as zombies at lower levels - slow speed, flesh hanging off them with rotting organs always eager to devour living flesh. As they age, they lose all of their flesh and organs, becoming skeletal in appearance. Just as significant, most of them gain in intelligence and charisma, so they become a very different type of threat at higher levels.

At the start, they are low intelligence beings whose only purpose seems to be hunt and devour living creatures. While believed to be ruthlessly evil this is not entirely true, at their youthful stages and HD they seek to feed on the flesh of living beings. Those that advance often become neutrally aligned, as higher HD ones usually wish for solace, and will only feed only on living beings who disturb their slumber. Some believe it is their transition to undeath which causes the hunger for flesh, as there have been good aligned Cadavers, while incredibly rare, who are not inflicted with these pangs.

At higher level HD, a Cadaver is incredibly influential and charismatic to other undead, in fact this is how many undead hordes converge. Some of these undead are destroyed by their Cadaver Lord if they do not comply with their commanders orders to control where and when they feed.

Cadaver CR 1

XP 600

NE (N)                                           Medium undead

Init +2                                            Senses darkvision 120 ft.; Perception +5

DEFENSE

AC 13, touch 11, flat-footed 12 (+1 Dex, +2 natural)

hp 5 (1d8)

Fort +0; Ref -1; Will +3

DR 2/slashing; Resist cold 20, undead traits

OFFENSE

Speed 20 ft.

Melee Weapon +2 (1d6+1)

SQ Regeneration

STATISTICS

Str 13, Dex 7, Con 10, Int 5, Wis 10, Cha 5

Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 13

Skills: Climb +5, Perception +5, Stealth +5, Knowledge (Religion) +5

Feats Improved Initiative

 ECOLOGY
Environment       Any
Organization       Team (3-6)
Treasure Value    Quarter Standard (Usually worn clothing, jewelry or weapons)

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Regeneration (Su) When reduced to 0 hit points or less, a cadaver is not destroyed; rather it falls inert and begins the process of reanimating.  Hit points lost to magical weapons or spells are regained at the rate of one per day, those lost from non-magical weapons are regained 1 every hour. When the creature reaches its full hit point total, it stands up, ready to fight again.  They are permanently destroyed if interned on a holy site or if a holy weapon is used to inflict the damage.

HD Advancement

Gain +2 skill points only in skill options (not just their base skills) 

Gain +2 in charisma reaction to other undead creatures
Gain +1 in natural AC every other HD

2 HD Pact of Peace (Other Low Level Undead); SR 5; Gain 1 Feat

3 HD Bone Reading,  +2 to any three ability scores; Dmg Reduction 4/bludgeoning or magic

4 HD Speak with Living (1/day) Gain 1 Feat; Move 30 ft

5 HD Pact of Peace (Animals); SR 10;  Dmg Reduction 6/bludgeoning or magic

6 HD Pact of Peace (Faeries & Good Aligned Outsiders) , +2 to any four ability scores, Move 40 ft

7 HD Gain 1 Feat; Speak with Living (3/day); SR 15; Dmg Reduction 8/bludgeoning or magic

8 HD Pact of peace (Lawful Creatures, Death Figures and Religious); No Scent; Gain 1 Feat

9 HD Immunity to Ward Against Death, +2 to any three ability scores; SR 20; Dmg Reduction ,10/magic, Move 50 ft 

Bone Reading: Touching a piece of bone will reveal the name, race and class of who the bone belonged to. Usable 3 / day

Speak with Living: Undead have no workable body parts, so this spell enables them to communicate with the living. It can enable communication for up to five minutes.

Pacts of Peace: Cadavers emit a non-threatening aura for the creatures listed, unless the undead takes violent action, those listed just ignore the undead as non-threats. It is the intent not the actions, if undead are even considering breaking the peace, the creatures will not recognize the peace pact. Their pacts of peace are for NPCs only, not PCs or their companions.

No Scent: At this point, cadavers emit no scent and cannot be tracked in a standard manner

Immunity to Ward Against Death: Spells or effects that normally affect undead have no affect on Cadavers (this includes clerical turning). This only works if the Cadaver is in their home base. Once a Cadaver leaves their home, they can be affected normally.

Feats Options:
Quick Strikes (Ex): With this feat, a zombie can make one additional attack at its highest base attack bonus.

Death Burst (Ex): When a zombie dies with this feat, it explodes in a burst of decay. All creatures adjacent to the plague zombie are exposed to its plague as if struck by a slam attack and must make a Fortitude save or contract zombie rot.