Cravedead

Description

This foul, hideous creature resembles an ugly humanoid with an immensely large, fanged maw. Its gray, putrid flesh appears both rotted and diseased, and it hangs sagging upon a obese, distended frame.

Cravedead are humanoids who indulged in avarice, greed, and lust of the worst sort during their lives. It was so strong that upon death they would not part from their possessions and obsessive hungers, but remain as undead to pursue their insatiable desires. Now, all they seek is to amass and eat ever more. Despite being rare, these undead are renowned for the vast treasures they are supposed to hoard. However, they are also well known for devouring anyone they can get their hideous mouths upon. Such mouth is their main characteristic: it is filled with sharp fangs and can open to incredibly large proportions. Lastly, the oldest of these undead are said to have grown to huge sizes and repulsive obesity, becoming even larger than ogres.

The only purpose of a cravedead is to eat and amass wealth. Nevertheless, whatever amount of food and creatures he may eat, a cravedead is always hungry. The creature may only be satiated when his stomach has reached its full capacity. However, as such lunches are not assimilated (as living beings) but quickly consumed by the negative energies that burn in his gut, this usually doesn't last for long. Of course, being an undead, a cravedead could go without devouring anything for years without dying either.

Normally, a cravedead begins its unlife wandering everywhere he may find something to eat, which must be either typical humanoid food, or any living creature. However, as much creatures he devours, he also takes their treasures for himself. A cravedead's greed is so strong that he cannot part from it, even if the treasure is perfectly hidden and protected. These undead always carry their treasure with them, wherever they go. The end result is that a cravedead whose treasure outweighs his carrying capacity, must stay close to it and wait for creatures to come by.

Often, the great treasure of a cravedead will be sufficient to lure victims, but at other times it may oblige him to remain without food for centuries. Note that giving more treasure to a cravedead, so it outweighs his carrying capacity, can be a way of holding him to a certain place and preventing his escape to safety. It is even rumored that some clever necromancer lured a cravedead in such a way that he remained thereafter as a perfect guardian for his treasure room (as well as a convenient way to get rid of unwelcome visitors).

Combat

The only purpose of a cravedead is to eat living beings and steal their possessions. When encountering some potential food, the cravedead will first go to the biggest source of food first. As such, throwing some ration at a cravedead won't distract him from his objective, which is to consume the biggest creature he sees, then go on to the smaller ones. As such, a cravedead would begin to eat a human's horse, then the human, then his halfling compatriot, and then the rations they tried to give him. Now, if the horse was carrying a half-ton of gold, the two adventurers could flee as the undead would remain near his newfound treasure. However, if he could carry it with him, he would pursue them, even if very slowly due to the gold's weight. In any case, as soon as a cravedead has put his hands on someone, he immediately proceeds to eat him…

The natural weapons of a cravedead are treated as magical weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Paralysis (Ex): Those hit by a cravedead’s bite or claw attack must succeed on a DC 14 Fortitude save or be paralyzed for 1d6+1 rounds. The save DC is Charisma based.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, a cravedead must hit with its bite attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can attempt to swallow the foe the following round.

Swallow Whole (Ex): A cravedead can try to swallow a grabbed opponent of a size smaller than itself by making a successful grapple check. Once inside, the opponent takes 2d4 points of crushing damage and gains one negative level per round, from the cravedead’s gizzard. The DC is 14 for the Fortitude save to remove a negative level. The save DC is Charisma-based. For each such negative level bestowed, the cravedead gains 5 temporary hit points.

A swallowed creature can cut its way out by using a light slashing or piercing weapon to deal 20 points of damage to the gizzard (AC 12). Once the creature exits, muscular action closes the hole; another swallowed opponent must cut its own way out.

A cravedead's interior can hold 1 Small or 4 Tiny or smaller creatures.

Advanced Benefits

In addition to the standard changes due to Hit Dice advancement, cravedead also gain the following special benefits.

• The save DC of the paralysis is equal to 10 + ½ HD + Charisma modifier.
• The save DC of the Fortitude save to remove a negative level is 10 + ½ HD + Charisma modifier.
• 11–14 HD ― A Large cravedead's interior can hold 1 Medium, 2 Small or 8 Tiny or smaller creatures.
• 15–18 HD ― A Huge cravedead's interior can hold 1 Large, 2 Medium, or 4 Small or 16 Tiny or smaller creatures.