Dread Revenant Creature - Alternate (CR +2?)

Dread revenants are driven by the deities of wrath and vengeance. A dread revenant rises from the grave to hunt and kill its murderer, or who in life it perceived to be its murder, for a revenant is driven by a roaring rampage of revenge, not a quest for justice. They are single-minded in their purpose and sometimes become monsters in their quest to destroy one. They cannot rest until they have found vengeance against the person they perceive to have wronged them.

Dread revenants appear much as they did in life. Some appear as horrific undead, while others appear exactly as they did in life, though they tend to wrap themselves in the morbid symbolism of tragedy and death.

Creating a Dread Revenant Creature

“Dread Revenant” is an acquired template that can be added to any living corporeal creature. A dread revenant creature uses all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

CR: Not provided. Estimated at +2.

Alignment: Always lawful evil.

Type: The creature’s type changes to undead with the augmented subtype. Do not recalculate BAB, saves, or skill points.

Senses: A dread revenant gains blindsense with a 60-ft. radius.

Armor Class: Natural armor improves by +4.

Hit Dice: Change all racial Hit Dice to d8s. Class Hit Dice are unaffected. As undead, dread revenants use their Charisma modifier to determine bonus hit points (instead of Constitution).

Defensive Abilities: A dread revenant has channel resistance+4, fast healing (equal to the dread revenant’s Charisma score); DR 5/slashing (increase to 10/ magic and slashing if the base creature’s CR is 10 or higher, increase to 15/magic, good and slashing if its CR is 15 or higher); Immune cold, undead traits; SR 11 + the dread revenant’s CR. Weakness: Self-loathing (see below).

Melee: A dread revenant gains a slam attack based on its size (Medium 1d6) if it does not already have one.

Special Attacks: Grab (slam), constrict (as slam)

Special Abilities: A dread revenant gains the following.

Baleful Shriek (Su): Once every 1d4 rounds, a dread revenant can shriek as a free action. All creatures within a 60-foot spread must make a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the dread revenant’s HD +its Charisma modifier) or suffer the cowering condition for 1d4 rounds. This is a mind-affecting fear effect.

Reason to Hate (Su): A revenant's existence is fueled by its hatred for its murderer. As long as the murderer exists, the revenant exists. If the murderer dies, the revenant is immediately destroyed. If the murderer is raised, resurrected, reincarnated, becomes undead or has its soul transferred into a construct, the revenant returns to existence. When a revenant encounters its murderer, it gains the benefits of a haste spell (CL 20th) that lasts as long as its murderer remains in sight. Against its murderer, the revenant also gains a +4 profane bonus on attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, combat maneuver checks, and saving throws.

Rejuvenation (Su): When a dread revenant is destroyed, but its reason for hate still exists, it only remains destroyed until the next sunset. After this time, the dread revenant reforms where it was destroyed or at the sight of its original death (GM’s choice), fully healed. The only way to permanently destroy a dread revenant is to remove its reason for hate. This could be executing its murderer or to set right whatever is driving its need for vengeance. The exact means varies with each dread revenant and may require a good deal of information gathering or knowledge, and should be created specifically for each different dread revenant or group of dread revenants, by the GM.

Self-Loathing (Ex): When confronted with its reflection or any object that was important to it in life, a dread revenant must make a Will save (DC 10 +1/2 the dread revenant’s HD + its Charisma modifier) to avoid becoming overwhelmed with self-pity. This effect inflicts the revenant with the helpless condition, and it lasts until the revenant is attacked or sees its murderer. If a dread revenant resists becoming overwhelmed, the dread revenant becomes obsessed with the source that triggered the saving throw and does everything it can to destroy it, reacting to the trigger as if the trigger were its murderer and gaining bonuses from its reason to hate ability.

Sense Murderer (Su): A revenant knows the direction but not the distance to its murderer—this sense can be blocked by any effect that blocks scrying. When it encounters its murderer, a revenant gains the continuous benefits of true seeing and discern lies in effect at all times (CL 20th); these abilities cannot be dispelled.

Unnatural Aura (Su): Animals, whether wild or domesticated, can sense the unnatural presence of the dread revenant at a distance of 30 feet. They do not willingly approach nearer than that and panic if forced to do so unless a master succeeds at a DC 25 Handle Animal, Ride, or wild empathy check. A panicked animal remains so as long as it is within 30 feet of the dread revenant.

Abilities Increase the creature's abilities as follows: Str +6, Cha +6. As an undead creature, a dread revenant has no Constitution score.