Maestrolich Creature (CR +2)
While some creatures seek the state of lichdom to extend their own existence, some move to reach a state of powerful undeath purely for their art. These crazed seekers of some dread truth wish to understand death and undeath, not to extend their own power, or to gain years of time to research, or to seek wealth, but as the only way to truly understand those horrors well enough to create art that expresses the true nature of these fell powers. While this is most often the case with evil bards and skalds, anyone willing to sacrifice everything for their art has the dedication, or more accurately, the obsession, to continue to make more and more dreadful art, until they woo undeath itself, and accept that unholy condition’s embrace … in the name of music and art.
The quest to become a maestrolich is a lengthy one. While construction of a masterwork piece of music that perfectly exemplifies the idea of undeath is a critical component, a prospective maestrolich must also learn the secrets of the arts that most appeal to the dead. What music and form can be drawn forth from the agony and death rattles of the tortured and dying? What noises can move even the undead, and the gods and the demons that rule over them? The exact methods for each master artist’s transformation are left to the GM’s discretion, but should involve expenditures of tens of thousands of gold pieces, numerous deadly artist explorations, and a large number of difficult skill checks over the course of months, years, or decades.
Creating a Maestrolich Creature
Maestrolich is an acquired template that can be added to any living creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature), provided it can create the required masterwork of undeath-defining art. A maestrolich retains all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
CR: Same as the base creature + 2.
Alignment: Any evil. Sometimes nonevil creatures take the first steps down the path to maestrolichdom, but the horrors that must be willfully committed to complete the transformation ensure anyone who reaches this state is evil.
Type: The creature’s type changes to undead. Do not recalculate BAB, saves, or skill ranks.
Senses: A maestrolich’s refined hearing grants it blindsight 60 ft.
Armor Class: A maestrolich has a natural armor bonus equal to half its HD, or the base creature’s natural armor bonus, whichever is better.
Hit Dice: Change all of the creature’s racial Hit Dice to d8s. All Hit Dice derived from class levels remain unchanged. As undead, maestroliches use their Charisma modifiers to determine bonus hit points (instead of Constitution).
Defensive Abilities: A maestrolich gains channel resistance +4, DR/- equal to one-third its HD, and immunity to gaze attacks, sonic damage, and effects depending on auditory or visual components unless such effects are created by a creature with a number of ranks in Perform 4 or more higher than the maestrolich’s HD.
Skills: The maestrolich gains ranks in all forms of Perform equal to its HD, but can only use these to create macabre art that focuses on despair, pain, torture, death, and undeath. If it gains a boost to any Perform skill from feats or class features, these also apply to all forms of Perform.
Special Abilities: A maestrolich gains the following special abilities.
Artistic Immortality (Su): A maestrolich leaves a small part of itself in every work of art it creates, and as a result is not destroyed when dropped to 0 or fewer hit points. Instead the maestrolich’s physical form falls inert and becomes colorless, and all materials the maestrolich carried disappear. Within 2 hours, a new body is created adjacent to the nearest copy of the maestrolich’s masterwork exemplifying death and undeath that allowed it to become a maestrolich. This new body may take visual or audible cues from the nature of that masterwork art, and has all the possessions the maestrolich had at the time of its previous body’s destruction.
Similarly, if its last copy of its masterwork exemplifying death and undeath is destroyed, a copy of it reforms within an hour adjacent to the maestrolich. The only way to permanently destroy either is to destroy both within an hour of one another.
Deadly Artistry (Su): Any spell or effect of a maestrolich that targets creatures of a specific type, but not undead, can also target undead. Undead so targeted take the full effects of the spell or effect, even if they would normally be immune. For example, a maestrolich can cast charm person on an undead. If the undead fails its save, it is then charmed despite undeads’ normal immunity to charm. If the spell or effect would normally allow a Fortitude save, an undead target instead receives a Will save.
Such spells and effects always allow a saving throw when applied to undead, even if the spell of effect does not normally do so. If the effect is not a spell, the save is equal to 10 + 1/2 the maestrolich’s HD or caster level (whichever is higher), + the maestrolich’s Charisma bonus. If such a spell or effect would normally restore a dead target to life, it can instead restore a destroyed undead to its undead state prior to destruction. Additionally, any spell or effect of a maestrolich that would normally provide bonuses to Constitution scores or checks, instead provides the same bonuses to Charisma scores and effects when applied to undead.
Corpse Cacophony (Su): All maestroliches are capable of playing the dread sounds of death in arrangements drawn from musical theory, though living creatures do not always recognize the end result as “music.” These horrific dirges can create magical effects. A maestrolich can use this ability for a number of rounds per day equal to 4 +2 per HD + its Charisma modifier. Each round, the maestrolich can produce any one of the types of corpse cacophony that it has mastered, as indicated by its HD.
Starting a corpse cacophony is a standard action, but it can be maintained each round as a free action. Changing a corpse cacophony from one effect to another requires the maestrolich to stop the previous performance and start a new one as a standard action. A corpse cacophony cannot be disrupted, but it ends immediately if the maestrolich is prevented from taking a free action to maintain it each round. A maestrolich cannot normally have more than one corpse cacophony in effect at one time (but see instruments of agony, below).
A maestrolich of 7 or more HD can start a bardic performance as a move action instead of a standard action. A maestrolich of 13 or more HD can start a bardic performance as a swift action.
Each corpse cacophony has audible components, visual components, or both.
If a corpse cacophony has audible components, the targets must be able to hear the maestrolich for the performance to have any effect. If a corpse cacophony has a visual component, the targets must have line of sight to the maestrolich for the cacophony to have any effect. Unlike bardic performance, a maestrolich does not suffer any risk of failing at a corpse cacophony while deaf or blind – the horrid sounds and movements are an inherent part of the maestrolich which it never gets wrong.
A maestrolich with the bardic performance or raging song class features (or both) combines the rounds of those abilities with the rounds of corpse cacophony it can use each day, and can use any of these rounds to power any of these abilities. In essence, it treats all these abilities as an extended version of corpse cacophony, though only one of these abilities can be active at a time, taking an action to activate. Additionally, any feat that augments, modifies, or interacts with bardic performance can be used to instead augment, modify, or interact with corpse cacophony.
Any corpse cacophony that calls for a saving throw has a save DC of 10 + 1/2 the maestrolich’s HD + the maestrolich’s Charisma bonus.
List of Corpse Cacophonies
Countersong (Su): As the bardic performance of the same name.
Disgust (Su): A maestrolich with 1 or more HD can use its corpse cacophony to instill disquiet and disgust in other creatures. Each creature to be disgusted must be within 90 feet, able to see and hear the maestrolich, and capable of paying attention to it. Each creature within range receives a Will save to negate the effect. If a creature’s saving throw succeeds, the maestrolich cannot attempt to disgust that creature again for 24 hours. If its saving throw fails, the creature is flatfooted and takes a –4 penalty on skill checks made as reactions, such as Perception checks, as it is shocked and horrified by the corpse cacophony, but unable to fully draw its attention away, and it is considered distracted for purposes of being unable to take 10 and foes being free to make Stealth checks.
Disgust is an enchantment (compulsion), mind-affecting ability, and relies on audible and visual components in order to function.
Inspire Horror (Su): A maestrolich with 1 or more HD can use its corpse cacophony to instill horror in its foes, causing them to make a Will save or be shaken. When using this ability any ally of the maestrolich that has a fear effect (including any fear effect the maestrolich has other than inspire horror), instead gains a +1 bonus per 5 HD of the maestrolich to the fear effect’s DC and duration. To be affected, a creature must be able to perceive the maestrolich’s corpse cacophony. Inspire horror is a mind-affecting fear effect. Inspire horror can use audible or visual components. The maestrolich must choose which component to use when starting his cacophony.
Imbue with Deadliness (Su): A maestrolich with 6 or more HD can use its corpse cacophony to lend the art of death to all the actions of a single ally (including the maestrolich itself, if desired). All attacks made by that ally gain a +4 bonus to confirm critical threats. Additionally, the maestrolich may select any one critical feat with a base attack bonus prerequisite no higher than double its HD to add to all critical hits the ally scores. The ally must be able to see or hear the maestrolich for this effect to work. Dirge of Discord (Su): A maestrolich with 9 or more HD can use its corpse cacophony to make sounds so loud and terrible they drown out all other sounds, or even the idea of other sounds. All foes within 60 feet of the maestrolich are deafened, and must make a Fortitude save or also be effectively silenced (as the silence spell). Dirge of discord relies on audible components.
Aggravating Cacophony (Su): A maestrolich with 12 or more HD can use its corpse cacophony to create an effect equivalent to mass cause serious wounds, using the maestrolich’s HD as the caster level. In addition, this cacophony increases the duration of any existing fatigued, sickened, or shaken conditions from all those affected. These conditions’ durations are not diminished by any time the target is in the aggravating cacophony, and have 5 minutes added to their durations after the cacophony ends. Using this ability requires 2 continuous rounds of cacophony, activating at the beginning of the maestrolich’s second round, and uses two rounds of cacophony for each round it is active (total of four rounds used for every 2 rounds, and activating no more often than every other round). Targets must be able to see and hear the maestrolich throughout the performance. Aggravating cacophony can use audible or visual components. The maestrolich must choose which component to use when starting its cacophony.
Dark Arts (Ex): If the maestrolich has access to cure spells (such as cure light wounds) from a class spell list or spell-like ability, it may choose to swap these out for the matching cause wound spells.
Deadly Performance (Su): A maestrolich with 15 or more HD can use his cacophony to create this effect, which functions as the bardic performance of the same name.
Instruments of Agony (Su): When a maestrolich creates an undead through any means, or has access to an undead for one day per HD of that undead, it can turn the undead into a mobile musical instrument or artistic accompaniment. Skeletons can be molded into percussion or woodwind instruments, zombies form string instruments of their own sinew, ghoulish choirs can sing through dead lungs, or dance and caper in time with a beat. As long as a maestrolich has at least one such altered undead within 60 feet, it can use that undead to begin and maintain a second corpse cacophony. It cannot begin a third or additional cacophonies, regardless of how many instrumental undead it has nearby.