Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Cold Shades

These are the creatures the party in my Labyrinth Lord PBEM game, The Wilds, ran into a few turns back and then again a few turns later. I thought I'd spec them out, LL-style and share. They're similar to wraiths but colder.

Warning: players in my Wilds game keep out!


The Cold Shades are shadowy, incorporeal undead creatures, the remnant spirits of a lost human civilization. They haunt abandoned tombs and bone-strewn battlefields, hiding from the sun during the day and venturing forth at night to hunt living prey. Intelligent living creatures slain by a Cold Shade are dragged back to the creatures' lair, where it is transformed into a Lesser Shade (below).

Cold Shade
# Encountered: 1-2
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 90' (30')
Armor Class: 3
Hit Dice: 4+4
Attacks: 1 + special
Damage: 1d6 cold + special
Save: F5
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: XXI
XP: 400

Cold Shades are immune to non-magic weapons and silver weapons only do half-damage. They are also immune to sleep, hold or charm spells. Cold Shades, as the name suggests, are surrounded by an aura of bitter cold (10'R). Any creature within this area suffers 2d4 cold damage per round of exposure. Anyone touched by a Cold Shade suffers cold damage and loses either one point of Wisdom or Constitution. Cold Shades have a gaze attack with a 60' range that they can use thrice per day. Anyone that meets their gaze must save versus petrification or move directly toward the Shade at their full movement rate. Each Cold Shade is accompanied by 1d4-1 Lesser Shades.

Lesser Shade
# Encountered: 1-4
Alignment: Chaotic
Movement: 90' (30')
Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 3
Attacks: 1 + special
Damage: 1d6 cold + special
Save: F3
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: VI
XP: 300

When a Cold Shade slays an intelligent creature, it drags the remains back to its lair. There it transforms the creature's earthly remains into a Lesser Shade, a process that takes two full days and destroys the victim's corpse and all possessions. Creatures that have been turned into Lesser Shades cannot be raised from the dead.

Lesser Shades are controlled by their creator and have similar properties. They are surrounded by an aura of cold (10'R) that does 1d4 damage per round. The touch of a Lesser Shade inflicts cold damage and the loss of one point of either Wisdom or Constitution. Lesser Shades are immune to sleep, charm and hold spells and take no damage from non-magic weapons. Silver and magic weapons do full damage. If the Cold Shade that created a Lesser Shade is destroyed, the Lesser Shade loses cohesion and is destroyed in 1d4 rounds.

Attribute Loss

Cold and Lesser Shades drain Wisdom and Constitution. This effect is permanent, and characters reduced to zero in either attribute are slain. Lost attributes can be restored by dispel evil, heal, restoration or other powerful healing or purification effects.

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