Variant Dread Wraith
CREATURE 9Variant Dread Wraith
These menacing spiritual remnants of wicked warlords or bloodthirsty generals are towering specters of shadow and death. Like other wraiths, dread wraiths haunt the shadowy places of the world, but dread wraiths are more likely to travel greater distances to sow terror or amass influence, often sticking to dark glades or sinister ruins when journeying across sun-dappled lands. Dread wraiths tends to be arrogant and rarely form a pack with others of their kind, preferring instead to dominate groups of ordinary wraiths. A particularly powerful necromancer might compel packs of dread wraiths into service, however, while a particularly malevolent goal-such as to eradicate a bastion of light and life-might draw several dread wraiths together in a common purpose.
Lifesense allows a monster to sense the vital essence of living and undead creatures within the listed range. The sense can distinguish between the vitality energy animating living creatures and the void energy animating undead creatures, much as sight distinguishes colors.
10 feet. A creature entering the aura must succeed at a DC 26 Fortitude save or become Drained 1. It recovers after it has been out of the aura for 1 minute. This drained condition value is cumulative with the drained value caused by drain life, but not with multiple draining presence auras.
A creature that succeeds at its save is temporarily immune to draining presence for 24 hours.
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.
The dread wraith extends its hand toward another wraith creature within 100 feet. The target wraith dissolves and streaks toward the dread wraith in a straight line, dealing 6d10 void damage to each creature along the line (DC 28 basic Fortitude save).
The dread wraith absorbs the essence of the target wraith, becoming Quickened and gaining a +10-foot status bonus to its fly Speed for a number of rounds equal to the level of the absorbed wraith. It can use its extra action only to Fly or Strike.
An unwilling target can attempt a DC 28 Will save to resist being absorbed.
When the dread wraith damages a living creature with its spectral hand Strike, the wraith gains 10 temporary Hit Points and the target must succeed at a DC 28 Fortitude save or become Drained 1. Further damage dealt by the wraith increases the drained condition value by 1 on a failed save, to a maximum of drained 4.
Effect: Drain Life
A living humanoid slain by a wraith's spectral hand Strike rises as a Wraith Spawn after 1d4 rounds. This wraith spawn is under the command of the dread wraith that killed it. It doesn't have drain life or wraith spawn. If the creator of the wraith spawn dies, the wraith spawn becomes a full-fledged, autonomous wraith; it regains its free will and gains drain life and wraith spawn.