Tzardok's Miscellaneous Homebrew Repository

[Tzardok]

New Creatures: Devourers

The following variants of the intellect devourer were originally created for the D&D video game Neverwinter Nights and received 3.0 stats in the Dragon Magazine #303. I converted them to 3.5 and spiffied up them a bit. If someone comes up with other devourer variants that inspire me, I may stat them. Enjoy.

Battle Devourer
Small Aberration (Evil, Psionic)
Hit Dice: 8d8+24 (60 hp)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 40 ft., Climb 20 ft.
Amor Class: 26 (+1 size, +5 Dex, +9 natural, +1 dodge), touch 17, flat-footed 20
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+4
Attack: Claw +9 melee (1d6+2 plus poison)
Full Attack: Four claws +9 melee (1d6+2 plus poison)
Space/Reach: 5 ft/5 ft
Special Attacks: Adamantine touch, cone of fear, poison
Special Qualities: Blindsight 120 ft., damage reduction 10/adamantine, immunity to fire, power resistence 27, resistence 15 to acid, cold, electricity and sonic, vulnerability to protection from evil
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +7
Abilities: Str 15, Dex 21, Con 17, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 12
Skills: Climb +13, Concentration +11, Hide +28, Move silently +24
Feats: Ability Focus (Cone of fear), Dodge, Psionic Dodge
Environment: Underground
Organisation: Solitary or pod (2-4)
Challenge Rating: 8
Treasure: ½ coins; standard goods; standard items
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Advancement: 9-10 HD (small); 11-16 HD (medium); 17-20 HD (large); 21-24 HD (huge)
Level Adjustment: +6

Specifically bread as spies, assassins and couriers, the battle devourer has lost most of its psionic power in exchange for physical toughness. The devourer's brain has developed into a highly specialized sensory organ, increasing the perceptive abilities of the devourer massively. It's body is covered in an exoskeleton resembling natural full-plate, making the creature nearly invulnerable and sharpening its claws to make a formidable combatant.
Battle devourers understand Common and Undercommon. They are unable to speak, requiring writing or telepathy to communicate with their masters.

Adamantine Touch (Ex): A battle devourer's natural attacks count as adamantine in regards to overcoming hardness and damage reduction.
Poison (Ex): Claw; Fortitude DC 17; initial damage 1d4 Dex; secondary damage 2d4 Dex. DC is based on Con.
Cone of Fear (Psi): The last remnant of a battle devourer's psionic abilities, the devourer can project a 40 ft. long cone of fear up to 6 tmies per day. Creatures in the area must make a Will save (DC 16) or be affected as though by the fear spell. The DC is based on Cha.
Vulnerability to Protection from Evil (Ex): A battle devourer is treated as a summoned creature for the purpose of determining how it is affected by a protection from evil spell.
Skills: Battle devourers receive a racial bonus of +8 to Concentration, Hide and Move silently. It can add its Dex modificator instead of its Str modificator to Climb if higher.

Skeletal Devourer
Small Undead (Evil, Psionic)
Hit Dice: 9d12 (58 hp)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 40 ft.
Amor Class: 23 (+1 size, +5 Dex, +7 natural), touch 16, flat-footed 18
Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+2
Attack: Claw +7 melee (1d3+2 plus Stunning Pain)
Full Attack: Four claws +7 melee (1d3+2 plus Stunning Pain)
Space/Reach: 5 ft/5 ft
Special Attacks: Corpse thief, psi-like abilities, stunning pain
Special Qualities: Blindsight 60 ft., damage reduction 10/adamantine and bludgeoning, immunity to cold and fire, power resistence 25, resistence to elektricity 15, vulnerability to turning
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +8, Will +7
Abilities: Str 15, Dex 21, Con -, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 14
Skills: Bluff +18, Concentration +14 (+18 when manifesting defensively), Hide +21, Intimidate +18, Listen +17, Move silently +21
Feat: Combat Manifest, Penetrating Power, Up the Wall, Wild Talent^B
Environment: Underground
Organisation: Solitary or pod (2-4)
Challenge Rating: 10
Treasure: ½ coins; standard goods; double items
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Advancement: 10-15 HD (small); 16-21 HD (medium); 22-27 HD (large)
Level Adjustment: +6

The skeletal devourer, an undead intellect devourer raised by fell magic, resembles a rotting brain held aloft by four bony legs. Both keeping the psychic powers it had when alive and gaining the resiliency of undeath, this disgusting creature becomes even dangerous and terrible. Yet, skeletal devourers are cowards and fear the touch of clerical power.
As skeletal devourers can only inhabit corpses, they prefer to lair near a ready supply of those, like graveyards. Large numbers of corpses may cause them to congregrate.
A skeletal devourer understands Common. It is only able to speak if it possesses a body capable of speech.

Corpse Thief (Su): When a skeletal devourer encounters a corpse, it can consume whatever brain is left and enter the skull. As a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity, the devourer can merge its form with that of a dead creature of Small size or larger and animate the body as a zombie or skeleton (depending on the corpse's state). The devourer cannot merge its body with that of a creature immune to extra damage from critical hits. The devourer can exit the body at any time as a standard action, bursting the victim’s skull and resuming its normal form.
The devourer retains its hit points, saving throws, and mental ability scores, as well as its psi-like abilities. It assumes the physical qualities and ability scores of the undead body, as if it had used polymorph to assume its form. The skeletal devourer is able to speak if it occupies a body that could speak when it was alive. It gains none of the body’s specific memories, knowledge or abilities.
Psi-like Abilities: At will—cloud mind, compression, detect psionics, ego whip (2d4, DC 16*), empty mind (+6 on Will saves*), inflict pain (four targets, DC 17); 3/day— claws of the vampire, intellect fortress, mass cause light wounds (DC 17), stygian bolt^CPsi (DC 18). Manifester level 9th.
*Includes augmentation for the skeletal devourer’s manifester level.
Stunning Pain (Su): A skeletal devourer's claws strike unnaturally painful wounds. Every time it damages a creature with its claw, the creature must make a Fortitude save (DC 16) or be stunned with pain for 1 round. This also applies to the natural weapons of any corpse the devourer is possessing. The DC is based on Cha.
Vulnerability to Turning (Ex): A skeletal devourer is treated as if it had only half hit dice (rounded down) for the purposes of turning attempts.
Skills: A skeletal devourer gains a racial bonus of +4 to Bluff, Intimidate, Listen and Move Silently.

Creating a skeletal devourer
A psionic spellcaster can create a skeletal devourer by casting create undead at 8th caster level or higher on the corpse of an intellect devourer while spending his psionic focus and 8 power points. Alternatively a skeletal devourer can also be created by casting create greater undead at 17th caster level or higher on the corpse of an intellect devourer.

Necromorphosis/Stygian Animation
Psychometabolism [Evil]
Level: Death 4, Egoist 5
Display: Material, Visual, Olfactory
Manifesting time: 1 Minute
Range: Touch
Target: One or more corpses
Duration: Instantaneous
Power points: 7 (Death), 9 (Egoist), XP

This power works similiar to the spell animate dead. It differs in that the manifester can only create up to 14 HD of undead at once (double that in the area of a desecrate spell). A manifester can only control up to 4 HD per manifester level. Skeletons and zombies animated through this power gain Cha 11 and Hidden Talent as a bonus feat. The undead gains access to one 1st level power the manifester knows and will be instinctually able to use it in a fight.
This power is usually called Necromorphosis by psions and Stygian Animation by mantle wearers.
XP Cost: 5 XP per HD of the created undead.
Augment: This power can be augmented in different ways:

• For every additional power point spent, increase the maximum number of HD of undead that can be created at once by 2.
• For every 3 additional power points spent, one of the created undead receives the Phrenic template (ignore the usual prerequisites of the template). Phrenic zombies and skeletons have an Int score of 1.
• Alternatively, this power can be modified to create free-willed sapient undead, similiar to create undead. The exact number of additional power points depends on the type of undead created, as described in the following table. Using this version of the power doubles the XP cost.

Undead	Additional power points	Other requirements	Source
Allip	4	-	Monster Manual
Vasuthant	4	-	Monster Manual 3
Psychic Vampire Spawn	6	-	Libris Mortis, Monster Manual
Vampire Mind Flayer	8	illithid's corpse	Lords of Madness
Caller in the Dark	10	at least five corpses of intelligent creatures	Expanded Psionics Handbook
Skeletal devourer	10	intellect devourer's corpse	here
Duncharath	12	-	Hyperconscious

Additional types of undead may be added or researched at the GM's discrition.