General Rules: Monsters - Ash Guardian

Ash Guardian (from Blackdirge's Dungeon Denizens)
Large Undead (Incorporeal)

Hit Dice: 11d12 (82 hit points)
Initiative: +9
Speed: Fly 60 feet (good)
Armor Class: 18 (+4 deflection, +5 Dexterity, -1 size); touch 18, flat-footed 13
BAB/Grapple: +5/-
Attack: Incorporeal touch +9 melee (2d6 plus whithering caress)

Full Attack: Incorporeal touch +9 melee (2d6 plus whithering caress)

Space/Reach: 10 feet by 10 feet/10 feet
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities, steal essence, whithering caress
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 feet, +2 turn resistance, unnatural aura, vulnerable to sunlight, incorporeal traits, undead traits
Saves: Fortitude +3, Reflex +8, Will +11
Abilities: Str -, Int 14, Wis 14, Dex 20, Con -, Cha 19

Skills: Concentration +14, DIplomacy +6, Intimidate +14, Knowledge: Arcana +12, Listen +16, Spellcraft +14, Search +12, Sense Motive +12, Spot +16, Survival +2 (+4 when following tracks)

Feats: Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Improved Initative, Iron Will, Skill Augmentation (Listen and Spot), Weapon Finesse
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 10
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Advancement: Special
Level Adjustment: -

The ground before you suddenly erupts in a geyser of blackened soil and ash. The debris does not fall to the earth, how3ever; instead it hands suspended in the air, a greasy black cloud of palpable evil and unholy will. A frightful cacophony of screams arises from the floating mass, and it moves towards you with definite, malignant purpose.

The ash guardian is a creature of dust, earth, and ash created when soil is fouled with the remaind of innocent victims burned en masse; their angry spirits infest the earth itself with an unimaginable thirst for revenge. Ultimately, the wrath of these spirits congeals into a single entity capable only of hate and evil. The ash guardian is usually found in the "special" earth belonging to a vampire. Most vampires find the ash guardian to be as good or better a protector for their precious earth than anything they could engineer, so it is left to its own devices as a de facto guardian of their sacred earth.

An ash guardian takes on a semi-anthropomorphic shape when attacking. In this form, it is roughly the size of an ogre. Since an ash guardian is incorporeal, it is weightless.

Ash guardians speak Abyssal and one common language, although they rarely communicate with living creatures.

Combat
The ash guardian attacks ferociously and has little regard for its own safety. It acts purely out of anger, trying to inflict as much suffering as possible. Its magic is an extension of its dark will, so the ash guardian uses spell-like abilities as easily as its incorporeal touch attack.

Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): At will - death knell, doom, ray of enfeeblement; Three times per day - enervation, fear; once per day - slay living. Caster level 11^th, save DC 14 + spell level. The save DCs are Charisma-based.

Steal Essence (Su): When an ash guardian slays a living intelligent creature with its incorporeal touch attack or a spell-like ability, it can attempt to absorb the victim's life essence, and grow in power if successful. For every three living, sentient creatures an ash guardian absorbs, it gains 1 Hit Die. This extra Hit Die is of the undead type and grants any skill points, base attack bonus increase, and feats as normal for a monster davancing in Hit Dice.

A dying creature can resist this absorption with a successful DC 19 Fortitude save, allowing it to go on to whatever afterlife it has earned. A failed saving throw means the victim's soul has been abosrbed into the ash guardian, and it forever lost. Only powerful magic, such as a wish or miracle spell, can restore life to such an individual. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Whitering Caress (Su): Living creatures hit by an ash guardian's incorporeal touch attack much succeed on a DC 19 Fortitude save or take 1d4 points of Strength and Dexterity damage. On each such successful attack, the ash guardian gains 5 temporary hit points. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Unnatural Aura (Su): Any animal within 30 feet of an ash guardian must make a DC 19 Will save or become panicked. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Vulnerable to Sunlight (Su): An ash guardian in natural sunlight (not merely a daylight spell) cannot attack and can only take a single move action or a standard action but not both.

Incorporeal: An incorporeal creature has no physical body. It can be harmed only by other incorporeal creatures, magic weapons or creatures that strike as magic weapons, and spells, spell-like abilities, or supernatural abilities. It is immune to all nonmagical attack forms. Even when hit by spells or magic weapons, it has a 50% chance to ignore any damage from a corporeal source (except for positive energy, negative energy, force effects such as magic missile, or attacks made with ghost touch weapons). Although it is not a magical attack, holy water can affect incorporeal undead, but a hit with holy water has a 50% chance of not affecting an incorporeal creature.

An incorporeal creature can enter or pass through solid objects, but must remain adjacent to the object’s exterior, and so cannot pass entirely through an object whose space is larger than its own. It can sense the presence of creatures or objects within a square adjacent to its current location, but enemies have total concealment (50% miss chance) from an incorporeal creature that is inside an object. In order to see farther from the object it is in and attack normally, the incorporeal creature must emerge. An incorporeal creature inside an object has total cover, but when it attacks a creature outside the object it only has cover, so a creature outside with a readied action could strike at it as it attacks. An incorporeal creature cannot pass through a force effect.

An incorporeal creature’s attacks pass through (ignore) natural armor, armor, and shields, although deflection bonuses and force effects (such as mage armor) work normally against it. Incorporeal creatures pass through and operate in water as easily as they do in air. Incorporeal creatures cannot fall or take falling damage. Incorporeal creatures cannot make trip or grapple attacks, nor can they be tripped or grappled. In fact, they cannot take any physical action that would move or manipulate an opponent or its equipment, nor are they subject to such actions. Incorporeal creatures have no weight and do not set off traps that are triggered by weight.

An incorporeal creature moves silently and cannot be heard with Listen checks if it doesn’t wish to be. It has no Strength score, so its Dexterity modifier applies to both its melee attacks and its ranged attacks. Nonvisual senses, such as scent and blindsight, are either ineffective or only partly effective with regard to incorporeal creatures. Incorporeal creatures have an innate sense of direction and can move at full speed even when they cannot see.

Undead: Immune to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects), immune to poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, and death effects. Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, fatigue, or exhaustion effects. Cannot heal damage on its own. Immune to any effect that requires a Fortitude save unless it also works on objects or is harmless. Not a risk of death due to massive damage. Does not eat, breathe, or sleep.

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