While they exist and are present on the continent of Zheng-Kitar, Sarcophagus Knights are an exceedingly rare sight - to offering up ones' soul and permanently sever one's connection to The Lifestream is a mighty burden most cannot fathom, even if it is for the holy goal of serving a Lesser Idol, Elemental Saint, Elemental Lord, or other Divine. GM's considering allowing the Sarcophagus Knight should consider if the gods in their setting would even support such followers(As many might find the idea repulsive), but for those that wish to include it rules are included in the document below for how to become one. Unlike the lich, the Sarcophagus Knight's greater power is offset by their code of conduct - the breaking of which spells instant death for these mighty holy knights.
Description
As rare as they are powerful, the Sarcophagus Knight is a hallowed undead that results from the oft-fanatic devotion and fervor that servants of the divine find themselves slipping into. The pinnacle of the path of serving a higher power, the Sarcophagus Knight is a being who has chosen to shed his life as a method to cheat death by becoming undead, so that they might embody the ideals of their chosen idol or deity for all eternity, serving as the Paragon of their faith they often believe they are. While many who reach such heights of devotion, piety and faith frequently stop at nothing to prove their devotion and faith, the idea of becoming a Sarcophagus knight is something few creatures of faith can stand. Entombed forever within iron and rock, bound to live forevermore in the material plane in the service of a higher power with neither feeling nor pleasures of the flesh, the process involves the extraction of the worshiper’s life-force and its imprisonment in a specially prepared sarcophagus—the worshiper gives up life, but in offering up his life to his god he also offers up his death, and as long as his sarcophagus remains intact he can continue on in his sermons, faith-spreading, and work without fear of the passage of time.
The quest to become a Sarcophagus Knight is a lengthy one. While construction of the magical sarcophagus to contain the worshiper’s soul is a critical component, a prospective Sarcophagus Knight must also learn the secrets of transferring his soul into the receptacle and of preparing his body for the transformation into undeath through rigorous mummification and embalming to ensure his form stays long-lived even without divine assistance, neither of which are simple tasks. While other transformation rituals rely more on the prospective candidate for transformation, the process to become a Sarcophagus Knight is one that places the highest importance on the approval of a worshiper’s chosen idol or deity. It is their approval, their help, assistance and promise of acceptance that allows a worshiper’s soul to be bound to the receptacle, and without such a promise and favor, the process is doomed from the start. Further complicating the ritual is the fact that no two bodies or souls are exactly alike—a ritual that works for one worshiper might simply kill another or drive him insane. The exact methods for each worshiper's transformation are left to the GM’s discretion, but should involve expenditures of tens of thousands of gold pieces, numerous deadly adventures in the service of their god to curry their favor for the binding of their soul to the sarcophagus, and a large number of difficult skill checks over the course of months, years, or decades to prove to their chosen idol or deity that they are, in fact, worth the effort to create a servant capable of carrying out their will for eternity.
Rarely, a Sarcophagus knight is created naturally when a creature or being dies that, in the eyes of a certain
Lesser Idol, Elemental Saint, Elemental Lord, Powerful outsider, or similar idol the now deceased being worshiped or venerated in some way in their lives, dies or perishes in an act that their object of worship deems suitable to merit the reward of becoming a Sarcophagus Knight. In such rare, rare cases, the being who died is often given a choice...accept a reward in the afterlife, or return to life as an undying pastor and servant of their object of worship. In such cases, all cost and expense is waived by the object of worship, though the Sarcophagus Knight’s Code of Conduct is a bit more stringent than it otherwise would be, as it is not decided by the Sarcophagus knight itself.
Creating a Sarcophagus Knight
“Sarcophagus Knight” is an acquired template that can be added to any living creature with 5 or more Hit Dice (referred to hereafter as the base creature). Most Sarcophagus Knights were once humanoids. A Sarcophagus Knight uses the base creature’s statistics and abilities except as noted here.
CR: Same as base creature +2.
Alignment: A Sarcophagus Knight’s alignment must be within one step of her chosen Divine’s alignment, along either axis.
Special: Must be either a follower of, or have a strong connection to a
Lesser Idol, Elemental Saint, Elemental Lord, or other Divinity that they wish to serve in unlife.
Type: The Sarcophagus Knight type changes to undead (augmented). Do not recalculate class Hit Dice, BAB, or saves.
Senses: A Sarcophagus Knight gains darkvision 60 ft.
Aura: A Sarcophagus Knight emanates the following aura.
Desiccation Aura (Su)
A Sarcophagus Knight constantly exudes an aura of intense and moisture-evaporating heatwaves in a 30-foot radius. Within this aura, all living creatures take 1d6 damage at the beginning of each round they remain inside the aura as the moisture is ripped from their bodies. Plant creatures and water elementals are especially harmed by this process, which instead take 1d8 points of damage every round. Non-magical plants and water inside this aura wither and evaporate. At 10, 15, and 20 HD, add an extra damage die to this aura. A Sarcophagus Knight can surpress this aura and reactivate it as a free action, and can exclude creatures from this aura's effects in a manner identical to the selective channel feat.
Armor Class: Natural armor improves by +4.
Hit Dice: Change all racial Hit Dice to d8s. Class Hit Dice are unaffected. As an undead, a Sarcophagus Knight uses its Charisma modifier to determine bonus hit points.
Defensive Abilities: A Sarcophagus Knight gains channel resistance +4; DR 10/magic; and immunity to fire and electricity. A Sarcophagus Knight also gains spell resistance equal to its HD + 11.
Weaknesses: Much like those who serve the gods, a Sarcophagus Knight has their own personal oath that they can never break(Decided upon when the transformation takes place), which always relates to the idol they choose to serve and embody eternally in their unlife. Bound by such an oath, they are restrained by supernatural forces from breaking such an oath, and to willingly do so will instantly destroy their sarcophagus and render them to dust. Finally, Each round of immersion in running water inflicts damage on a Sarcophagus Knight equal to one-third of its maximum hit points—a Sarcophagus Knight reduced to 0 hit points in this manner is destroyed, though will return to unlife as normal with their Rejuvenation ability.
Speed: A Sarcophagus Knight gains a burrow speed equal to their base land speed.
The Sarcophagus Knight also gains the following ability.
Rejuvenation (Su)
One day after a Sarcophagus Knight is destroyed, its sarcophagus begins to rebuild its withered body. This process takes 1d10 days—if the body is destroyed before that time passes, the sarcophagus merely starts the process anew. After this time has elapsed, the Sarcophagus Knight wakens fully healed.
Attacks: A Sarcophagus Knight gains a slam attack if the base creature didn’t have one. Damage for the slam depends on the Sarcophagus Knight’s size.
Special Attacks: A Sarcophagus Knight gains the following special attacks. Save DCs are equal to 10 + 1/2 the Sarcophagus Knight’s HD + the Sarcophagus Knight’s Charisma modifier unless otherwise noted.
Omni-Channel (Su)
A Sarcophagus knight gains the use of the Channel Energy ability as a cleric of ½ their level, and may channel any energy type regardless of their alignment. If the creature can already channel energy, this pool’s uses is added to their existing one(They only gain half as many channels as a normal cleric would gain in this case) and they can now channel any energy type.
Omni-Smite (Su)
A numbers of time per day equal to their Charisma modifier, a Sarcophagus Knight may use the Smite paladin ability against any alignment (Good, Neutral, Evil), but can only focus on one alignment at a time. See the Smite Good description for further details. If the creature can already smite good or evil, this ability modifies their existing smite ability.
Special Qualities
A Sarcophagus Knight gains the following:
Omni-Detection (Su)
At-will, a Sarcophagus Knight may use the spell Detect Alignment, which functions as Detect Good, Evil, Law, and Chaos and additionally provides the same effect with Neutral alignments as well.
Mask of the Judicator (Su)
Anytime the Sarcophagus Knight is the target of a spell or special ability meant to discern their alignment or type, they are immediately alerted to such an attempt, and learn the name, type and alignment of the creature using the effect. Additionally, they may choose any alignment and type as the result returned by the spell or ability.
Eyes of Divinity(Su)
The Sarcophagus Knight gains the permanent, at-will use of the Deathwatch spell against all applicable creatures within line of sight. If this ability is used and focused on a specific target for one full minute, the Sarcophagus Knight learns the type of the target, but not subtype, and knows if the target follows or worships the Sarcophagus Knight’s chosen Deity.
Sand Form (Su)
As a standard action that provokes Attacks of Opportunity, a Sarcophagus Knight can assume gaseous form at will (caster level 5th), but it can remain gaseous indefinitely and has a fly speed of 20 feet with perfect maneuverability. However, instead of a cloud of mist, it appears as a cloud of sand.
Ability Scores: Str +4, Int +4, Wis +4, Cha +4. As an undead creature, a Sarcophagus Knight has no Constitution score.
Skills: Sarcophagus Knights gain a +8 racial bonus on Intimidate, Sense Motive, and Knowledge(Religion) checks.
Feats: Sarcophagus Knights gain Selective Channel, Extra Channel, Improved Channel and Channel Smite as bonus feats.
The Sarcophagus Knight’s Sarcophagus
An integral part of becoming a Sarcophagus Knight is the creation of the Sarcophagus in which the character stores his soul. The only way to get rid of a Sarcophagus Knight for sure is to destroy its Sarcophagus. Unless its Sarcophagus is located and destroyed, a Sarcophagus Knight can rejuvenate after it is killed.
Each Sarcophagus Knight must create its own Sarcophagus by using the Craft Wondrous Item feat. The character must be able to either cast divine spells and have a total level of 11th or higher, or have a Knowledge Religion total skill bonus of over 40, and gain the favor of a chosen
Lesser Idols, Elemental Saint, or other Divinity to gain permission to do so. The sarcophagus costs 50,000 gp to create and has a caster level equal to that of its creator at the time of creation, but as mentioned, without approval from the prospective Knight's chosen Divine, no amount of gold will be sufficient to construct the coffin, and this approval is
never given lightly.
The most common form of sarcophagus is a sealed stone coffin containing strips of parchment on which magical phrases have been transcribed. The sarcophagus is one size bigger than its creator was upon its creation, and has 100 hit points, hardness 25, and a break DC of 40.
The Sarcophagus Knight’s Appearance
After completing his transformation, a Sarcophagus knight’s body remains the same overall size as it did in life, though their exterior appearance takes on a stony, coffin-like appearance to symbolize their nature. As they offer up their very souls and mummify their bodies in the transformation process to the sarcophagus they create with their chosen idol or deity’s assistance, they also leave behind many of the things that once made them so human so as to better serve their god in undeath. While they lose many of the pleasures of the flesh they once enjoyed, such as taste, touch, smell, etc…, they gain an undying and renewed vigor and pleasure in knowing they are closer than any other to their object of worship. To them, though they may no longer be able to experience their favorite foods, their favorite drinks, or the touch of a companion, their object of worship ensures that their new servant remains capable of simulating such feelings in their eternal service, and they take solace in such a fact. Following their new code is how they now experience such things, though many still go through the acts of their old lives in an act of habit or comfort. However, each object of worship will treat their Sarcophagus Knights differently...a goddess of pleasure would always ensure they would remain capable of such things, a god of battle would ensure they could enjoy such an act...and so on.
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