Crezenka
An age ago some mage, somewhere, longed to extend his own life by any means necessary. No one quite knows who this mage was, but his discoveries have outlived his memory by centuries. To better protect his own existence he created a place to store his soul, so that he could continue existing even if his rotted body was ever destroyed. Since then, mages all over the world have used this technique to protect themselves. In recent times this power has been refined and perfected, and some mages began to wonder what else they could use it for. The answer was to create an army of unstoppable servants, powerful enough to bring even the most experienced warriors to their knees and utterly invincible.
The Crezenka are a perversion of lichdom, twisted from its original purpose, to extend one’s own life, to the end of creating powerful minions to do the master’s own bidding. Many or the older liches have sneered at this recent advancement, believing that the powers of lichdom should be reserved to those who earned it. Younger liches and living mages are much more accepting of the idea. They see it as a means to an end, certainly they are giving the power of immortality to the unskilled, or in many cases even non-spellcasters, but in exchange they are receiving a powerful new servant. In their mind, it is a worthwhile trade. The same is not true for the victims of the transformation. They are enslaved, forced to do their master’s bidding, not even allowed to die to escape their eternal servitude. The Crezenka hate their masters, and would kill them given half a chance. However, they are bound to service, until either their phylacteries are destroyed or their master is killed.
The process of creating a Crezenka is taken largely from the process of creating a lich, and has all the same costs on the caster. The subject need not be willing, and in fact only rarely is, though there are a handful who see it is a blessing and enthusiastically give themselves over to their master’s in exchange for eternal life. The subject’s soul is ripped from its body and shoved into the phylactery of the caster’s choosing, usually a small cage or something symbolic of its imprisonment. A good creature may make a will save (DC 10+1/2 the caster’s hit dice+ the appropriate modified) and divine spellcasters (including paladins) get +4 to the save. Non-good creatures cannot make a saving throw. The dead body then becomes reanimated, controlled by the newly created Crezenka under the command of its master. The Crezenka is bound to obey any orders given to it by anyone who holds its phylactery. Even if their master puts down the phylactery the Crezenka must skill fulfill the order. Typical first orders are “Never harm me,” “Protect me,” “Obey me” and similar commands. If someone else manages to get their hands on the phylactery they may command the Crezenka to disregard orders from its previous master. A creature that holds the Crezenka’s phylactery can, by saying the creature’s name, call it back to the phylactery’s current location as though a Word of Recall spell. If the Crezenka gains possession of its phylactery all of the orders given to it so far are nullified. If a Crezenka’s phylactery is destroyed it is no longer bound to obey and orders. A spellcaster Crezenka who manages to gain possession of his phylactery can undergo the ritual to become a lich if he meets all the requirements. At that point he loses his status as a Crezenka and becomes a lich instead, no longer bound to obey anyone.
Physically, Crezenka look like dead bodies in various states of decay. Different Crezenka decay at different rates, and stop decaying at a certain point. So, one Crezenka might decay away right down to its skeleton, where another one might not decay at all. No one quite knows why some Crezenka are stuck in different states of decay, some claim it is just luck of the draw and others say it relates to the skill of the caster who created it. Many masters brand their Crezenka with their arcane mark, much like how farmers would brand their cattle.
Crezenka is a template that can be applied to any humanoid or goblinoid creature. All aspects of the Crezenka are the same as the base creature, except as follows.
Hit Dice: Changes to d12
Armor Class: The Crezenka gains a +6 natural armor bonus
Attack: The Crezenka gains a slam attack
Damage: The Crezenka’s slam attack deals 1d8 damage, unless the base creature already had a more powerful slam attack
Special Attacks: Decay Blast, Touch of Death
Special Qualities: Undead Traits, Suicide, Damage Reduction 10/Magic, Turn Resistance, Immunities, Spell Resistance 20
Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Str +8, Dex +4. Being undead, a Crezenka has no constitution score.
Skills: Crezenka have a +4 racial bonus to Hide, Listen, Move Silently and Spot checks. Otherwise, as base creature.
Challenge Rating: As base creature +2
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Any
Advancement: By character class
Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +4
Decay Blast: Once every five rounds a Crezenka may release a sixty foot long cone of black energy. All creatures made of flesh (including corporeal undead) take 1d6 negative energy damage per a hit die of the Crezenka (Reflex Save DC 16+1/2 Crezenka’s hit dice.)
Touch of Death: With a successful touch attack, a Crezenka may release a blast of negative energy intended to kill the target. The touched creature must make a fortitude save (DC 16+1/2 Crezenka’s hit dice) versus death. A creature that makes this save is immune to this Crezenka’s Touch of Death for six hours.
Suicide: As a full round action a Crezenka may sever the negative energy holding it together and die. Its soul is then returned to its phylactery.
Turn Resistance: A Crezenka has turn resistance +2
Immunities: Immune to cold, electricity, polymorph (unless it willfully allows the effect to work), and mind affecting attacks.