Blisterwell Oathrisen
CREATURE 7Most undead are reanimated without consent, but those known as oathrisen arise willingly—at least at first. These loyal subordinates swear themselves to a cause or leader, vowing to assist even in death. Within days of their death, their oath reanimates them and restores most of their memories. In theory, an oathrisen's existence lasts no more than a year. In practice, the cause's leader might demand their service indefinitely. If denied their afterlife too long, some oathrisen turn on their former masters, afterward either becoming independent or destroying themselves.
The oathrisen presented here is a variant that frequents Blisterwell during the events of this Adventure Path. Other regions and traditions might create oathrisen with different abilities.
Knight By Another Name
An oathrisen resembles a graveknight—both being heavily armored, corporeal, undead warriors. Yet a graveknight arises through its own unholy ambitions and is inextricably bound to its armor. By comparison, an oathrisen reanimates out of loyalty and is not intrinsically malicious. Some oathrisen even resent graveknights, taking special joy in destroying these unholy copycats.
A Blisterwell oathrisen's undead nature is not obvious. While wearing armor, an oathrisen gains a +4 circumstance bonus to its Deception checks to Impersonate a living orc and does not require a disguise kit to do so. Creatures that don't notice the disguise are not subject to the oathrisen's Frightful Presence. An oathrisen can abandon its disguise as a free action with the manipulate trait when it attempts to Demoralize a creature.
Once a Blisterwell oathrisen is reduced to less than half its Hit Points, portions of its armor break off. This reduces its AC by 2, increases its Speed by 5 feet, and gives it weakness 5 to vitality damage. This also immediately exposes nearby creatures to the oathrisen's frightful presence.
30 feet. DC 25 Will
A creature that first enters the area must attempt a Will save.
Regardless of the result of the saving throw, the creature is temporarily immune to this monster's Frightful Presence for 1 minute.
Critical Success The creature is unaffected by the presence.
Success The creature is Frightened 1.
Failure The creature is Frightened 2.
Critical Failure The creature is Frightened 4.
A creature with void healing draws health from void energy rather than vitality energy. It is damaged by vitality damage and is not healed by vitality healing effects. It does not take void damage, and it is healed by void effects that heal undead.
A creature muffled by this curse cannot speak above a whisper. The creature must succeed at a DC 25 Fortitude save to use actions with the auditory trait