Visage (CR 9)
Medium Undead (Chaotic, Evil, and Extraplanar)
Alignment: Always chaotic evil
Initiative: +8 (+4 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative); Senses: darkvision 60 ft.
Languages: Common and Abyssal
AC: 22 (+4 Dex, +8 natural), touch 14, flat-footed 18
Hit Dice: 12d12+12 (90 hp); DR: 10/magic
Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +9
Speed: Fly 40 ft. (perfect)
Space: 5 ft./5 ft.
Base Attack +6; Grapple +7
Attack: Claw +10 melee
Full Attack: 2 claws +10 melee
Damage: Claw 1d6+1
Special Attacks/Actions: Assume identity, create spawn, dominate person, lucidity control
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 18, Con -, Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 16
Special Qualities: positive immunity, sneak attack +4d6, SR 15, undead traits, +4 turn resistance
Feats: Ability Focus (lucidity control); Improved Initiative; Improved Natural Attack (claws); Improved Toughness; Weapon Finesse
Skills: Bluff +18, Diplomacy +5, Disguise +3 (+5 acting in character), Escape Artist +29, Hide +19, Intimidate +5, Move Silently +29, Search +17, and Sense Motive +16
Advancement: 13-18 HD (Medium)
Climate/Terrain: Infinite Layers of the Abyss
Organization: Solitary, pair, or gang (3-4)
Treasure/Possessions: None
Source:
Libris Mortis
Assume Identity (Su): A visage can, as a free action, take on the form of someone it has killed within the last round. A visage in an assumed identity gains a +20 bonus on Bluff and Disguise checks made to pass as the victim. It also gains proficiency in the skills of the victim; treat this as an enhancement bonus to the skill check equal to the number of ranks the victim had in life. The visage does not gain the victim's extraordinary, supernatural, or spell-like abilities, not does it gain any spellcasting powers of the victim. The visage retains its own ability scores, special attacks, and special qualities.
This effect lasts for 24 hours, though the visage can dismiss it at will. While a visage is in the form of its victim, that victim can't be returned to life except by a true resurrection spell (which also immediately ends the effect on the visage). After 24 hours, or if the identity is dismissed, the soul is damaged, and the victim can be returned to life only by a miracle or wish spell followed by a true resurrection.
Create Spawn (Su): Any evil outsider slain by a visage becomes a visage 24 hours after death. Spawn are under the command of the visage that created them and remain enslaved until death. They do not possess any of the abilities they had in life.
Dominate Person (Sp): Once per day, a visage can use dominate person, as the spell cast at 12th level (Will DC 19 negates). The save DC is Charisma-based.
Lucidity Control (Su): A visage can create a major image, similar to the major image spell except that only one target, selected by the visage, can perceive the illusion (Will DC 21 disbelief). The save DC is Charisma-based.
Positive Immunity (Ex): A visage is immune to damage from positive energy effects, including holy water, cure wounds spells, and the like. It gains no immunity to turning.
Sneak Attack (Ex): A visage deals an extra 4d6 points of damage on any successful attack against flat-footed or flanked targets, or against a target that has been denied its Dexterity bonus for any reason. This damage applies to point-blank ranged attacks as well. Creatures with concealment, creatures without discernible anatomies, and creatures immune to extra damage from critical hits are also immune to the visage's sneak attack.
Skills: A visage gets a +10 racial bonus on Escape Artist and Move Silently checks (already figured into the statistics above).
Visages prefer subterfuge to overt combat, since their physical attacks aren't very threatening. They use their dominate person and lucidity control abilities to influence weak-willed individuals, hoping to draw them to places where they can finish them off secretly and assume their identities. Then, the visage uses this new identity to sow chaos and discord as long as possible.
A visage's natural weapons, as well as any weapons it wields, are treated as chaotic-aligned and evil-aligned for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
The visage is a devious undead creature that steals the identity of its victims to further its chaotic and evil aims. The first visages were formed from the spirits of demons by Orcus, Demon Prince of Undead, while he had assumed the identity of Tenebrous. When he reassumed his true identity and mantle, however, Orcus discarded the visages from his service, and since that time, they have reproduced by spawning new visages from any evil outsiders.
Though a visage appears incorporeal, it does not actually possess that quality. A visage isn't very dense, though, and only weighs about 75 pounds despite its size. In its normal form, it is sometimes mistaken for a wraith.
Chaotic Subtype
A subtype usually applied only to outsiders native to the chaotic-aligned Outer Planes. Most creatures that have this subtype also have chaotic alignments; however, if their alignments change they still retain the subtype. Any effect that depends on alignment affects a creature with this subtype as if the creature has a chaotic alignment, no matter what its alignment actually is. The creature also suffers effects according to its actual alignment. A creature with the chaotic subtype overcomes damage reduction as if its natural weapons and any weapons it wields were chaotic-aligned (see Damage Reduction).
Evil Subtype
A subtype usually applied only to outsiders native to the evil-aligned Outer Planes. Evil outsiders are also called fiends. Most creatures that have this subtype also have evil alignments; however, if their alignments change, they still retain the subtype. Any effect that depends on alignment affects a creature with this subtype as if the creature has an evil alignment, no matter what its alignment actually is. The creature also suffers effects according to its actual alignment. A creature with the evil subtype overcomes damage reduction as if its natural weapons and any weapons it wields were evil-aligned (see Damage Reduction).
Extraplanar Subtype
A subtype applied to any creature when it is on a plane other than its native plane. A creature that travels the planes can gain or lose this subtype as it goes from plane to plane. This book assumes that encounters with creatures take place on the Material Plane, and every creature whose native plane is not the Material Plane has the extraplanar subtype (but would not have when on its home plane). An extraplanar creatures usually has a home plane mentioned in its description. These home planes are taken from the Great Wheel cosmology of the D&D game (see Chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master's Guide). If your campaign uses a different cosmology, you will need to assign different home planes to extraplanar creatures.
Creatures not labeled as extraplanar are natives of the Material Plane, and they gain the extraplanar subtype if they leave the Material Plane. No creature has the extraplanar subtype when it is on a transitive plane; the transitive planes in the D&D cosmology are the Astral Plane, the Ethereal Plane, and the Plane of Shadow.