Creature Templates: R

Any evil dragon of at least level 13 can become a ravener, although it is exceedingly rare for a dragon younger than an ancient true dragon (such as a chromatic, primal, or metallic dragon) to do so. Typically, the dragon must perform a rare ritual called ravenous reanimation, but this requirement can be waived if the prospective ravener has the aid of a powerful patron. In certain unique conditions, such as the intervention of a vile god of undeath, a dragon can transform into a ravener after death without the use of this rite at all. A ravener is a powerful creature that is likely to have a major impact on your game, so you might want to create each one as a custom monster. If you don't have time, you can also create a ravener via the following steps.

Increase the dragon's level by 2 and change their statistics as follows.

• They gain the undead trait and the Necril language.
• Increase their AC, attack bonuses, DCs, saving throws, and skill modifiers by 2.
• They gain weakness to good damage and more HP (see below).
• The ravener's melee Strikes deal an additional 2d6 negative damage, and their damaging Breath Weapon deals an additional 4d6 persistent negative damage.

Darkvision

Soulsense A ravener senses the spiritual essence of living and undead creatures within the listed range. Creatures whose material bodies are one unit with their souls, like celestials and fiends, appear brighter to this sense.

Negative Healing

Immunities death effects, disease, paralyzed, poison, unconscious

Cowering Fear (aura, emotion, fear, mental) A ravener's frightful presence causes creatures to cower in fear as well. As long as a creature is at least frightened 2 or more as a result of the ravener's frightful presence, it is also immobilized from the fear.

Soul Ward An intangible field of necromantic energy protects a ravener from total destruction. A soul ward has 150 maximum Hit Points, or 200 if the ravener is level 21 or higher. Whenever a ravener would be reduced below 1 Hit Point, all damage in excess of what would reduce them to 1 Hit Point is instead dealt to their soul ward. If this damage reduces the soul ward to fewer than 0 Hit Points, the ravener is destroyed. A soul ward's Hit Points can be restored only via specific ravener abilities such as Consume Soul, ravenous breath, or vicious criticals. A ravener who goes more than a week without successfully using Consume Soul to feed on a dying creature starves, and their soul ward loses 1d4 Hit Points each day until they feed. If the ravener's soul ward loses all its Hit Points while the ravener still has more than 1 HP, they become a ravener husk.

Consume Soul [F] (death, divine, necromancy) Trigger A living creature within 30 feet of the ravener dies; Effect The ravener tears the creature's soul from its body with their maw and gulps it down. The dying creature must attempt a Fortitude save with the same DC as the ravener's Breath Weapon. Critical Success The creature is unaffected.Success The ravener tears off a small chunk of the creature's soul. If the victim is restored to life, they are drained 1 in addition to any other side effects of returning to life. The ravener adds a number of Hit Points to their soul ward equal to half the creature's level.Failure As success, but the creature's soul is ravaged. The creature is drained 3 and the ravener adds a number of Hit Points to their soul ward equal to the creature's level.Critical Failure As failure, but the ravener devours the entire soul. The victim can't be restored to life as long as the ravener exists except via a 10th-level effect such as miracle or wish, and the ravener adds a number of Hit Points to their soul ward equal to twice the creature's level.

Discorporate [F] (divine, necromancy) Trigger The ravener takes excess damage to their soul ward but still has at least 51 Hit Points in their soul ward; Effect The ravener draws deeply into their soul ward, discorporating their body into soul energy in order to escape. They take 50 damage to their soul ward and their physical body vanishes, reappearing 1d4 hours later in a random location within 1 mile from the location where they used Discorporate.

Ravenous Breath A ravener's Breath Weapon is infused with negative energy and strips life essence from the victims. Any creature that fails its save against the ravener's Breath Weapon is drained 1 (or drained 2 on a critical failure). If at least one creature is drained by the ravener's Breath Weapon, the ravener's soul ward gains 5 Hit Points.

Vicious Criticals The ravener treats an attack roll as a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20, as long as the attack roll was a success. Additionally, whenever the ravener makes a critical hit with one of their Strikes, the target must succeed on a Fortitude save or gain the drained 1 condition. If the target already has a drained value of greater than 0, their drained value instead increases by 1, to a maximum of drained 4. Whenever the ravener applies drain to a creature in this way, their soul ward gains 5 Hit Points.

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You can turn an existing creature into a rumored cryptid by completing the following steps. Increase the creature's level by 1 and change its statistics as follows.

• Add the rare trait. If the creature was an animal, it loses the animal trait and gains the beast trait.
• If the creature's Intelligence modifier is –4 or lower, increase it to –3.
• Add Stealth with a modifier equal to its highest skill modifier.
• Increase the creature's AC, attack bonuses, DCs, Perception modifier, saving throws, and skill modifiers by 1.
• Increase the damage of the creature's Strikes and other offensive abilities by 1. If an ability can be used only a small number of times (such as a dragon's Breath Weapon), increase the damage by 2 instead.
• Increase the creature's HP by the amount listed on the table.

Burning Eyes The cryptid's eyes are distinctive perhaps they burn bright red in the dark night. The rumored cryptid gains darkvision. If the base creature already has darkvision, it gains greater darkvision.

Creature Obscura The cryptid appears in so many urban legends, it can be identified using Society or a Lore skill connected to a nearby settlement, in addition to the normal skills. However, much of the information known about it is dubious. The DC to identify a rumored cryptid is incredibly hard (rather than very hard for most rare creatures), but all failures to identify a rumored cryptid gain the effects of the Dubious Knowledge skill feat.

Shifting Form The cryptid is sustained by localized tales or reports from witnesses. As a result, its appearance morphs between different appearances. If all records of the rumored cryptid are destroyed or all witnesses die, the rumored cryptid ceases to exist.

Obscura Vulnerability The cryptid is weakened by those who seek its truth. Whenever a creature succeeds at a Recall Knowledge check to identify the rumored cryptid, the rumored cryptid becomes drained 1 (or drained 2 if the Recall Knowledge check was a critical success).

Stalk [>] Requirements The rumored cryptid is undetected; Effect The rumored cryptid swiftly stalks prey from hiding. It Strides, then Strikes.

Vanishing Escape [>] The rumored cryptid breaks away and fades into the background. It Strides, then Hides.

Hybrid Form The cryptid's form morphs to be like a specific animal as the tales get longer. The rumored cryptid gains either a burrow, climb, or swim Speed equal to its land Speed.

Howl [>>] (auditory, emotion, fear, mental) The rumored cryptid calls out with a wretched sound no living creature should make. Each creature in a 30-foot emanation must attempt a Will save. A creature that fails is frightened 1 (or frightened 2 on a critical failure). A creature that succeeds is temporarily immune for 1 minute. The DC is the high DC for a creature of the rumored cryptid's level.

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