New Monster – Phantom Warrior

Phantom Warrior (CR +1)

The phantom warrior is an echo of a warrior’s spirit who left behind an unfinished task in life, they exist only to called back by strong emotion or magic to attempt to complete that last task in some fashion.

A phantom warrior rarely has an independent existence, they are usually tied to and item of event and are summoned by some trigger to appear in an attempt to complete their unfinished task. Their perception of their status as a spiritual echo is faint and they tend to perceive the world as it had been with the completion of the one task their overriding goal which can make interacting with them difficult.

A phantom warrior looks as a faded version of how they last appeared in life, and when incorporeal light will pass through them, complete with echoes of the equipment they were carrying.

Creating a Phantom warrior

“Phantom warrior” is an acquired template that can be added to any living creature that has a Charisma score of at least 6 and can feel devotion to a cause. A phantom warrior retains all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature +1.

Type: The creature’s type changes to undead. Do not recalculate the creature’s base attack bonus, saves, or skill points. It gains the incorporeal subtype.

Armor Class: A phantom warrior gains a deflection bonus equal to its Charisma modifier. It loses the base creature’s natural armor bonus, as well as all armor and shield bonuses not from force effects or ghost touch items.

Hit Dice: Change all of the creature’s racial Hit Dice to d8s. All Hit Dice derived from class levels remain unchanged. Phantom warriors use their Charisma modifiers to determine bonus hit points (instead of Constitution).

Defensive Abilities: A phantom warrior retains all of the defensive abilities of the base creature save those that rely on a corporeal form to function. Phantom warriors gain channel resistance +4, darkvision 60 ft., the incorporeal ability, and all of the immunities granted by its undead traits. Phantom warriors also gain the rejuvenation ability.

Rejuvenation (Su) In most cases, it is difficult to destroy a phantom warrior through simple combat: the “destroyed” spirit restores itself in 2d4 days. Even the most powerful spells are usually only temporary solutions. The only way to permanently destroy a phantom warrior is to determine the reason for its existence and set right whatever prevents it from resting in peace or to destroy what is anchoring it to this world.

Speed: Phantom warriors lose their previous speeds and gains a fly speed of equal to their former ground speed (at perfect maneuverability), unless the base creature has a higher fly speed.

Melee and Ranged Attacks: A phantom warrior loses all of the base creature’s attacks. If it could wield weapons in life, it can wield phantom ghost touch weapons as a phantom warrior.

Special Attacks: A phantom warrior retains all the special attacks of the base creature, but any relying on physical contact do not function as long as it is incorporeal. However, all phantom warriors gain the following special ability:

Crossover (Su), a phantom warrior become semi-corporeal for a round to be able to attack, during this time they are treated as no longer possessing the incorporeal trait for purpose of attacks by and against them instead gaining an armor bonus equal to their Wisdom modifier (minimum 0), DR 5 + Charisma Modifier/magic and resistance to all energy types of 10 + Charisma modifier. The warrior can attack during this time with any physical special abilities or attacks using its Wisdom or Charisma modifier (whichever is higher) in place of Strength, the phantom copy of any weapon they carry functions as a normal weapon of its type during this time.

In addition, a phantom warrior gains special attack from the list below for every 3 points of CR (minimum one). The save DC against a phantom warrior’s special attack is equal to 10 + 1/2 phantom warrior’s HD + phantom warrior’s Charisma modifier unless otherwise noted. (Additional phantom warrior abilities beyond these can be designed at the GM’s discretion.)

Deathly Wounds (Su) The wounds inflicted by the phantom warrior wound both the body and spirit, the phantom warrior’s attacks gain bleed 1 and as long as the target is suffering from bleed they suffer a -1 morale penalty to attacks, saves and skill checks.

Fearsome Mein (Su) The very appearance of the phantom warrior weakens the resolve of enemies, all enemies within 30′ must make a Will save of be shaken as long as the phantom warrior is present. A successful save make one immune to this effect until the next dusk.

Inspiring Presence (Ex) Fighting alongside a hero from the post can be inspirational to those allied with the phantom warrior and their cause, all of the phantom warrior’s allies within 30′ gain a +1 morale bone to attack rolls and saves against fear.

Otherworldly Chill (Su) The phantom warrior’s attacks carry the chill of the underworld with them, inflicting an additional 1d6 points of cold damage and requires a Fortitude save to avoid 1 point of Strength damage.

Phantom Weapon (Su) The phantom warrior’s weapon makes all attacks as though they were touch attacks and targets other incorporeal creatures as though it had the ghost touch quality.

Abilities: Wis and Cha +2; as an incorporeal undead creature, a phantom warrior has no Strength or Constitution score.

Skills: Phantom warriors have a +8 racial bonus on Perception and Stealth skill checks. A phantom warrior always treats Fly, Intimidate, Perception, Sense Motive, and Stealth as class skills. Otherwise, skills are the same as the base creature.

Example Phantom Warrior:

Betrayed and killed by a subordinate, the Captain of the Watch was unable to prevent raiders from sacking the city. The echo of his spirit stalks the River Tower, waiting for a chance to redeem himself by defending the city from an outside threat.

Adventure seed: The characters are hired to exorcize the phantom of the River Tower . . . but it is because the person hiring them is working with smugglers using the River Tower who the phantom sees as an outside threat

Phantom Warrior of the River Tower Ruins (Phantom of the former Captain of the Watch)
CR 7 XP 3,200
Human fighter 7
LN Medium undead (human, incorporeal)
Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +15

DEFENSE
AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 12 (+2 Deflection, +1 Dex)
hp 52 (7d10+14)
Fort +5, Ref +3, Will +4
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, incorporeal, rejuvenation; Immune undead traits

OFFENSE
Speed fly 30 ft. (perfect)
Melee phantom halberd +11/+6 touch (1d10+5/x3 + bleed 1 and see below)
Ranged phantom javelin +10 touch (1d8+2/x3 + bleed 1 and see below)
Special Attacks deathly wounds, phantom weapon, weapon training (pole arms +1)

STATISTICS
Str –, Dex 12, Con –, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 15
Base Atk +7; CMB +7 (+11 trip); CMD 18 (22 vs. trip)
Feats Alertness, Combat Expertise, Dazzling Display, Greater Trip, Improved Trip, Iron Will, Persuasive, Weapon Focus (halberd), Weapon Specialization (halberd)
Skills Diplomacy +7, Handle Animal +6, Intimidate +14, Knowledge (engineering) +5, Perception +11, Profession (soldier) +5, Ride +2, Sense Motive +9
Languages Common, Halfling
SQ armor training 2, crossover
Phantom gear full plate, halberd, as many javelins as needed

Crossover (Su), a phantom warrior become semi-corporeal for a round to be able to attack, during this time they are treated as no longer possessing the incorporeal trait for purpose of attacks by and against them instead gaining an armor bonus equal to his Wisdom modifier (+1), DR 7/magic and resistance to all energy types 12. The warrior can attack during this time with any physical special abilities or attacks using its Wisdom or Charisma modifier (whichever is higher) in place of Strength, the phantom copy of any weapon they carry functions as a normal weapon of its type during this time.

Deathly Wounds (Su) The wounds inflicted by the phantom warrior wound both the body and spirit, the phantom warrior’s attacks gain bleed 1 and as long as the target is suffering from bleed they suffer a -1 morale penalty to attacks, saves and skill checks.

Phantom Weapon (Su) The phantom warrior’s weapon makes all attacks as though they were touch attacks and targets other incorporeal creatures as though it had the ghost touch quality.

Notes: Needed a phantom warrior (which did not seem to exist) for the Lost Legion’s Banner, so here is a nice variant on the ghost.

Image from Wikimedia Commons and is in the public domain.