Return of the Revenants

I have been siting on this one a long time, i didnt even post them in my original revenants blog post.

Why so long… originally I used fear and terror on these two, ala mummies and undead. But I really dislike that representation of fear. Maybe fear should be something else… there are monsters that should have fear but never mention it. So I dumped it then got in a rut.

I wanted something special for the greater version, but my source inspiration doesn’t really have magical powers (mortal engines, the book series). Talking with my daughter (we read the books together) revealed that they are often described as fast, super fast dead zombies. This sort of matches a Shadowrun style cyber zombie. Given my players call these cyber-zombies as a nickname the initiative boost power finally clicked into place.

Now I have all the monsters I need to finish my random encounter table for worldship dungeons. I will post that next week.

Revenants

While known as a plague of technological zombies, few know the true terror of the revenants. Their lesser forms are known to collect parts, be they technological or organic. But to what end are these parts collected?

Many speak of more advanced thinking revenants, remembering machines that follow some old memory or programming to unknown ends. These beings build armies of their own kind and seek to harvest kingdoms for their biological materials (people). Like their lesser forms they are monsters of biological material grafted with metal. Even limbs from the metal bodies of Endjinn have been grafted onto their forms making truly monstrous combinations of creatures. Unlike less sophisticated revenants these forms have cognitive abilities to strategize and reason making them far more dangerous than simple constructs. More concerning, is the very crystals that power them do not seem diminished through operation. In a world where no crystals can be created or charged, many seek to explore the cause of this phenomenon.

In combat the more advanced revenants are fast, with the most advanced version being blindingly quick in their actions. They retain the ablative durability of their lesser form while using speed and armor plated to deflect blows. They strike with their claws, referred to as hand glaives, and seem able to extract the very life essence from their targets as they attack.

Advanced Revenants

	Revenant, greater  (medium construct)	Revenant, superior  (medium construct)
% In Lair: Dungeon Enc: Wilderness Enc: Treasure Type / XP:	35% Stalk (1d6) / Hunt (2d6) Hunt (2d6) / Rampage (3d6) Hx2, Dx2 / 245	40% Stalk (1d4) / Hunt (2d4) Hunt (2d4) / Rampage (3d4) R,Q / 3,100
Hit Dice: Armor Class: Save: Special Def.:	4*** 5 F4 Resistance to all damage (half), Immune (sleep, charm, hold and poison)	9**** 7 F9 Resistance to all damage (half), Immune (sleep, charm, hold and poison)
Movement: Attacks: Morale: Special Off.:	150’ (50’) 2 razor claws (7+, 1d6) N/A Vampiric drain (1 pt.)	180’ (60’) 2 razor claws (3+, 1d8) N/A Initiative, Vampiric drain (half)

The mix of desiccated organic material and metal plating embedded and reinforcing their bodies makes revenants highly resistant to damage, they take half damage from all damage sources. As reanimated constructs they are immune to poison as well as charm, hold, and sleep spells. They are not undead as such, being closer in nature to a flesh golem, and are not subject to turning

Killing their physical form is often not the end of a revenant as they have been known to recover from this state after several days. Their core reconstructs damaged joints with pieces of sinew, metal and bone. For advanced forms roll 1d6, on a 1 they are damaged beyond repair, on a 2 to 3 they return as a form one step below their present level (eg greater becomes lesser) on a 3 to 5 they return as they are and on a 6 they return as a superior form if they are not already. If they return, it takes as many days as was rolled. Re-roll their hit points on resurrection.

The Hades Module

As a result of this resurrection process, many a scout or infantryman has learned that they need to burn the corpses in a bonfire; but to those with technological training there is another way to deactivate these monsters. The device that animates these abominations is referred to as the Hades Module. Each Hades Module is an energy crystal, normally with little to no power remaining, with a small box like unit attached that contains it's cogitator and nano-thread tentacles. This device is normally imbedded in the chest and even with low charge crystals they possess an almost unending operating life. A player may test on alien lore robots or general devices to determine if they know of the Hades Module, additionally mechanists may test for awareness using their build throw. If they are aware of the device they may remove it on a successful technological research throw or repair throw. Once removed, the corpse will deteriorate naturally and it is a simple matter to scrape off the attachments to the Hades Module and recover the energy crystal. Crystals recovered from the advanced revenants are often of half power and worth 25gp, though occasionally fully charged crystals have been recovered.

Both greater and superior revenants can reanimate corpses as revenants given sufficient materials. Generally they require a body, some metallic parts and an energy crystal, the process takes an hour to complete. The type animated is based on the crystal's charge; lesser revenants are created with crystals with a quarter power, greater revenants are created with half or higher charge. If using a full crystal, a superior revenent has a 50% chance of animating another superior revenant, otherwise a greater revenant is created as above.

Greater revenants: greater revenants are faster, more armored and all round deadlier than the barely functional lesser forms. They can channel energy from their Hades Module allowing them to drain the life force from their foes as they maul them with their glaives. They recover one health whenever they do damage to a foe with their hand glaives.

Superior revenants: superior revenants display a keen and focused intellect along with lightning speed making them greatly feared. They can channel energy from their Hades Module to give them two distinct advantages in combat. Their hand glaives transfer half of the damage (rounded up) from any attack to heal themselves on each strike. They also gain lighting speed going first in combat regardless of their action. Against foes using the instant action spell treat them as having the spell permanently active (cannot be dispelled).

Build Notes

Following on from the lesser form, the following builds were used;

Greater:

• 2x 1d6 damage (7 - slightly low)
• Construct *
• Damage resist *
• Vampiric strike (hit heals 1 hp) ####
• Swift ## +30ft
• Tough +2AC ##
• The resurrection is more a flavor ability, no points.
• Net specials ***

Superior:

• 2x 1d8 damage (9/18 - half damage -####)
• Construct *
• Damage resist *
• Vampiric strike (hit heals ½ hp) *
• Initiative *
• Swift #### +60ft
• The resurrection is more a flavor ability, no points.
• Net specials ****