The Resurrection Women
- Medium Aberration (Evil)
- Hit Dice: 10d8+40 (120 hp)
- Initiative: +5
- Speed: 30 ft (6 squares)
- Armor Class: 23 (+5 Dex, +8 Deflection), touch 23, flat-footed 18
- Base Attack/Grapple: +7/+8
- Attack: Dagger +8 melee (1d4+1)
- Full Attack: Dagger +8/+3 melee (1d4+1)
- Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
- Special Attacks: Charming Smile, Necrotic Touch, Aura of Profanity
- Special Qualities: Profane Grace, Immunities, Necrotic Healing, Medium, Allure of the Grave
- Saves: Fort +15, Ref +16, Will +20
- Abilities: Str 12, Dex 20, Con 18, Int 16, Wis 20, Cha 26
- Skills: Bluff +15, Concentration +14, Diplomacy +15, Gather Information +15, Hide +10, Intimidate +15, Knowledge (History, Local, Nobility, Religion) +3, Listen +10, Move Silently +10, Sense Motive +15, Spot +10, Use Magic Device +15
- Feats: Corpsecrfter, Necromantic Might, Necromantic Presence, Nimble Bones *
- Environment: Any
- Organization: Solitary, Pair, Group (3-7)
- Challenge Rating: 7
- Treasure: Standard
- Alignment: Any Evil (usually Chaotic)
- Advancement: By Character Class
- Level Adjustment: -
- Feats * are from Libris Mortis. If the Resurrection Woman doesn't have Class Levels allowing her access to spells that will let her create Undead, she can use the Feats to grant the Bonuses to Undead she creates with her Racial Abilities instead.
"//Things in the kingdom weren’t always so bad. We didn’t always live in despair. Count Zamfirescu wasn’t always the most pleasant man, but he was a much less harsh ruler than the neighboring nobles. Things were tough, but we were happy. Until he married the Countess.
He came back from travels abroad with a wife. Her face was never seen, and her name was never spoken. She was referred to only as the Countess, and all were forbade to enter her rooms except the Count himself. Not long after the young men of the village began disappearing. It got worse and worse until a mob formed and rioted through the city streets into the palace where it was rumored one of the missing boys had been seen.
The scene waiting for us was…awful. The countess was a raging hag, a monstrous old woman who had bewitched the Count. She used her powers to seduce the villages men, and so besotted was the Count that he did not raise a hand against her, but had her amours murdered instead, and thrown into a mass grave. We burned her alive, and the Count was to be imprisoned for life. He swore at us that things were not over, and that the fruit of his loins would avenge him.
15 years later a young woman who looked very much a member of his family came to our village and announced she was his daughter, and heir to his estate. We were skeptical, but when she produced proof as well as a ring with the Counts seal she was taken to his cell where he admitted he had a daughter. This was not welcome news. It meant by legal right she had right to rule in his stead, and she deposed the Regent who had been ruling since the Counts fall from grace.
The rumors began almost immediately. Rumors of the dead rising from their graves. Rumors of men disappearing again, and worst of all rumors of an unholy relationship with her imprisoned father. Eventually we had had enough and marched on the palace again, but this time we were not met by a few loyal palace guards. The palace was surrounded by corpses who immediately began attacking the crowd. We could do nothing against them. She’s up there still. Feeding on us. And that’s why no one must know you are not a girl my son. Or she will feed on you, and the worms will finish what she leaves behind//."
The Resurrection Women are curses by the Gods. Hellish mutations of nature that thrive on death as opposed to life. Their close link to death gives them great power over the Undead and makes them immune to things like aging or disease. Their feel compelled to seduce and destroy whomever has offended the Gods, as well as anyone that crosses their path. It is this lack of any form of morality that makes it possible to spot them. They are a very blunt instrument of terror, and are rarely used because of the havoc they create. In some cases a powerful dying curse by a powerful evil being can change a female child into one of these creatures.
Resurrection Women set themselves up as the power behind some sort of throne, whether that throne is literal or metaphorical. They then corrupt whatever men come in contact with them and see to the murder of any women who can reveal her secrets. Undead enable them to heal themselves and gain power, and they begin to make as many of them as they can, eventually ruling over a town of corpses if they cannot be stopped.
Charming Smile (Su): Resurrection Women can cast Charm Person at will as a Supernatural Ability, and Charm Monster once per day.
Necrotic Touch (Ex): The Resurrection Women can slowly corrupt men (or women) they seduce with their touch. Any mortal being they remain in "intimate" contact with for at least 1 minute takes 1 point of either Wisdom or Constitution Drain (a maximum of 1 point per day can be taken in this manner). Despite the Drain, the victim remains unaffected by it and is able to perform as though his Ability score was normal. If Wisdom is being drained his behavior will become more and more erratic, and his peers will begin to think he is going mad. Once his Wisdom becomes 0, he still can act as though he had his full Wisdom score, but is under the complete mental control of the Resurrection Woman (as per the Dominate Monster spell but with a permanent duration). Only restoring his full Wisdom score or killing the Resurrection Woman will release him from her control. If Constitution is being drained the victim will appear sickly, and once his Constitution is 0 he will die, only to rise again as some form of corporeal Undead whose CR is half or less the Resurrection Woman's. This new undead will have all the memories and abilities it had in life unlike usual, and is fanatically loyal to the Resurrection Woman.
Aura of Profanity (Su): Any corpse within 120' of the Resurrection Woman becomes cursed, and animates as an Undead within 1d6 days. If it isn't a fresh corpse (i.e. has been dead more than a week) it becomes either a Skeleton or a Zombie. These Undead are under the control of the Resurrection woman who can control up to (her Hit Dice times 5) Hit Dice worth of Undead at any one time.
Mindless Undead feel a perverse attraction for the Resurrection Women, and will never attack them, even if they are not controlled. Intelligent Undead who enter her Aura must make a DC 23 Willpower Save to avoid falling under the Resurrection Woman's control if they are not under it already. A Resurrection Woman instantly knows of any Undead within the Area of Effect of her Aura and can decide whether to attempt control or not. Once controlled an Undead does not need to remain within the Resurrection Woman's Aura to remain controlled, she can control it from any distance and order it telepathically to do as she wants.
Undead touching her feel alive again, and can remember the passions of the flesh they once had. This is instantly addictive to them (i.e. no Saving Throw), and they cannot 'live' (for lack of a better word) without it. If using the addiction rules in the Book of Vile Darkness it uses these stats: Addiction Rating (Vicious), No Save, Satiation (3 days), Damage (1d4 Wisdom and Charisma). The magical addiction overcomes the Undead's normal immunity to Ability damage. Resurrection women use this to convince intelligent Undead to do their bidding.
Once per week a Resurrection Woman can 'awake' a fresh corpse (i.e. less than a week old) by touching it as a Standard Action. This corpse becomes any form of corporeal undead whose CR is half or less the Resurrection Woman's. Normally this corpse is either intended to be her lover or her bodyguard, so whichever she intends it to be will usually decide what template it gets. In addition this aura grants the Resurrection Woman herself the benefits of a permanent Magical Circle Against Good.
Profane Grace (Su): The Resurrection Women gain a Deflection Bonus to AC and a Profane Bonus to all Saves equal to their Charisma Bonus.
Immunities: The Resurrection Women are immune to Mind-Affecting Effect, poison, sleep effects, paralysis, aging, stunning, disease, death effects, fatigue/exhaustion, Ability Drain/Damage, Energy Drain, and non lethal damage. They are also immune to all Spell-Like or Supernatural abilities that are used by Undead.
Necrotic Healing (Su): Resurrection Women heal from negative energy just like undead do, but are unaffected by positive energy (i.e. they aren't healed by Cure spells, but they don't take damage from them either). They heal 1d6 damage for each pound of dead, rotten flesh they consume, or gain Fast Healing 1 while in "intimate" contact with the Undead.
Medium (Su): Resurrection Women can permanently See Invisible, but only if the invisible creature is Undead. Their ability to see Undead extends partly into the Ethereal Plane, and they can see Ghosts or other Incorporeal Undead that have chosen not to Manifest. They may communicate telepathically with any Undead within 120' (further if they control it).
Allure of the Grave (Su): The Resurrection Woman gains a temporary +1 Bonus to Charisma for every 5 HD of Undead she controls (round down).
Skills: The Resurrection Women gain a +4 Racial Bonus to all skills based on Charisma.
Combat: The Resurrection Women prefer to leave combat to their Undead minions. They seduce men and eventually turn them into undead monsters so they always have plenty of soldiers to surround them, all of whom adore her. Many have levels in Sorcerer, and if they do they attack with spells.
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Lore
Characters with ranks in Knowledge (Religion) may have heard the stories about the Resurrection Women. When the character makes a skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.
DC Lore
10 - Resurrection Women are corrupted human children created when someone has greatly offended the Gods, or spawned by a powerful dying curse.
15 - The Resurrection Women cannot be healed normally, but thrive on death and corruption instead. While they appear as normal human women otherwise, they are immune to many things that would kill mortals. Their charms are very difficult to resist, and it is said they can seduce any man and corrupt him.
20 - The Resurrection Women awaken any corpse in their vicinity as Undead servants. The Undead appear ot be smitten by Resurrection Women and will not allow them to come to harm.
20 - Those who lie with a Resurrection Woman eventually become her Undead lovers.
Plot Hook
- A young girl in the village has suddenly changed, and the men can’t seem to keep their eyes off her or say no to her. Marriages are ending, and many of the men thrown form their houses by their wives have gone to live with the girl in a relationship widely regarded as blasphemous. As the days go by they look worse and worse, and eventually all of them are found dead with the girl missing. You are hired to find out what has happened. And when the mens bodies begin walking, you’ll also be hired to stop them.
- Years after burning a witch at the stake the villages female children show signs of magical talent themselves. When a Wizard stops by the villagers ask him to look at their daughters, and if they do have talent how to best channel it away from unwholesome activities. Upon seeing the girls the Wizard turns pale, and leaves the village without saying a word. After he leaves the girls begin a reign of terror, committing acts of lewdness that break their parents hearts and throw the village into chaos. It all comes to a boil when you’re assaulted by corpses one night after refusing one of the girls.
- The local priestess has hired you to find out why the dead won’t stay in their graves. Rumor has it a woman is seen dancing through the graveyards at midnight, and she wants this woman stopped if she is the cause of things.
- Stopping by a gypsy encampment one of the adventurers is surprised to find out an old lover is dead, and that she bore him a daughter. A daughter whose a bit of a strange girl…
