Starburned Zombie

Starburned Zombie (CR 37)

Pure Evil - Medium - Undead (Outsider)

Lore:	Know (Religion)
72		92
Basic DC		Full DC

Initiative

68

Perception:
78	+68
Passive	Active

Ambush:

6+

on a d20

• Lore Notes: If check fails, identifies as a Salt Zombie
• Ambush Notes: Starburned Zombies are amazing ambushers, able to remain still for decades, waiting to spring out.

Senses:

• Standard Senses
• Low-Light Vision
• Darkvision 300 ft.
• Precise Hearing 150 ft.
• Lifesense 150 ft.

Movement Types:

• Walk 150 ft.
• Greater Climb 150 ft.
• Brachiating 150 ft.
• Greater Teleport 50 ft.

Defense

AC

65

Man Def

75

Monster Health
5,659	2,829	79
Hit Points	Bloodied	Hit Dice

Saving Throws
Fort:	+36
Refl:	+41
Will:	+41

Strong Against:

• (Undead 1) Immune (no effect): diseases (infected, diseased, blighted), poisons (tainted, poisoned, blighted), ability damage (dilution, damage, drain), and essence damage (suppression, omission, destruction)
• (Undead 2) Immune (no effect): bleeds (bruised, bleed, ruptured), fatigued, exhausted
• (Undead 3) Immune (no effect): magical sleep (drowsy, sluggish, asleep), paralyzed, stunned
• (Undead 4) Immune (no effect): any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless)

Weak Against:

Offense

Size:	Medium
5 ft.		10 ft.
Space		Reach

To-Hit

+51

Man Off

+63

Action

0

Points

Standard Attack (Melee):

• 1x Starburned Zombie Bite +51 (6d10+127/x2)
  as mutilation (physical, rare)
  plus Zombie Rot
• 1x Starburned Zombie Claws +51 (6d6+69/18-20 x2)
  as flensing (physical, rare)
  plus Immolation of the Stars

Full Attack (Melee):

• 2x Starburned Zombie Bite +51 (6d10+121/x2)
  as mutilation (physical, rare)
  plus Zombie Rot
• 2x Starburned Zombie Claws +51 (6d6+56/18-20 x2)
  as flensing (physical, rare)
  plus Immolation of the Stars

Standard Attack (Ranged):

• 1x Bolt of Starflame +49 (6d10+121/x2)
  as Stellar (energy, rare)
  (Increment: 200 ft.; Max Range: 1000 ft.)
  plus Immolation of the Stars

Full Attack (Ranged):

• 3x Bolt of Starflame +49 (6d10+121/x2)
  as Stellar (energy, rare)
  (Increment: 200 ft.; Max Range: 1000 ft.)
  plus Immolation of the Stars

Siege Damage: Not siege capable

Statistics

44

STR

36

DEX

—

CON

8

INT

22

WIS

16

CHA

Skills:

• Perception: 68
• All other skills: 58 (no ranks)

Languages: Common, Stilth

Feats:

Special Abilities

Starburned Flames (Su) Standard Action

Up to once per round, as a standard action, a Starburned Zombie may raise one morbid hand, dripping with corposcent, putrid blue-green fire, and direct a blast of Starburned Flames outward toward their foes. Starburned Flames inflict 6d8+88 points of Stellar (energy, rare) damage to all enemy creatures caught in the area of effect. This area of effect is a square 7 squares on a side, centered on a target square located within 120 feet of the zombie. A saving throw made against a save DC of 49 reduces this damage by half.

Starburned Gaze (Sp) Standard Action

Concentration: 1d20 + 45 vs. a DC of 53 (8 needed on the die) Up to once per round as a standard action, a Starburned Zombie may affix the flames of its gaze upon a living foe within range (within 600 feet) and will them into death. A bolt of blue-black freezing flame streaks toward the target, always hitting them as long as there is line of effect. Creatures struck by Starburned Gaze gain the Afflicted status condition and suffer 6d8+88 points of Void (energy, rare) damage. They may make a saving throw against a DC of 49 to reduce the damage by half, but the condition, alas, remains.

Zombie Rot (Ex) Automatic after successful attack

A creature struck by Starburned Zombie's bite may also be affected by a dreadful planar infestation which quickly rots the flesh, liquefying both muscle and bone: Zombie Rot    (Injury vector; Poisoned intensity) Save: Fort DC 49;     Frequency: 1/round for 3 rounds Effect: 1d4+5 CON damage and 6d8+88 points of poison (physical, uncommon) damage per interval, and target is Impaired Fruition: Victim dies; they cannot be resurrected as normal, and instead their body requires the application of a Greater Restoration Spell, followed within a round by a Neutralize Poison spell. After the body is treated with these two spells, they may be Resurrected as normal. Fruition Duration: 1 day (full-night's rest).

Immolation of the Stars (Su) Automatic after attack, hit or miss.

Any living creature which is the target of a Starburned Zombie's claws burns. Any claw attack, which could have hit, hit or miss, also inflicts the Immolated condition on the target of the attack, inflicting Stellar (energy, rare)damage. There is no saving throw against this ability, you must actively remove or reduce the condition, endure until you die, or the combat is over. Far worse, Immolation of the Stars spreads. if any living creature ends its turn adjacent to an actively burning victim of Immolation of the Stars, then they too receive the Immolated condition, likewise inflicting Stellar (energy, rare) damage. Creatures that have received this 'spreading' of the stellar fires more than once burn even more terribly, suffering double Immolated damage. In such cases, the Immolation damage is added together for purposes of overcoming damage resistance.

Relentless Hunger (Ex) Auto Upon Death

When a Starburned Zombie is reduced to zero or fewer hit points, instead of dying, it is replaced with a single Scattered Zombie Parts minion. This is to represent that the largest still-intact bit of the zombie continues to seek to extinguish all life from the world. When the minion is slain, the zombie is dead (but see "Immortal" in the Out of Combat section, below). Note that players should receive XP and treasure for killing both the zombie and the Zombie Parts minion, assuming they successfully slay both. Unlike lesser zombies, Starburned Zombies are smart enough to recognize their reduced state, but rather than being non-plussed, they generally find being smashed to pieces hilarious, and if able to speak will attempt to make jokes, or if unable to speak will make rude gestures until they are finally destroyed.

Starburned Zombie

Zombies are corpses, brought back to horrifying unlife through necromantic ritual, having been killed by other zombies, or dying on desecrated ground. While brains may be their preferred food, zombies are happy to eat any living (or recently dead) flesh. Most zombies are shambling undead horrors which mindlessly seek the flesh of the living. But a large minority of zombies develop into far worse things, their undead flesh warping and corrupting with eldritch terrors, seething with eerie, unworldly, corposcent.

One of the absolute facts of zombies is their utter mindlessness. Zombies are defined by their utter lack of sentience, their simple mindless hunger fueling their unstoppable staggering advance.

Except for Starburned Zombies. Some zombies have wandered into the Outer Dark, or drifted into the Silver Sea, or slogged through the middens of Hell, and have been exposed to such eerie, unnatural emanations that they have grown, or been infested by, sentient spirits of cannibalistic murder. This is not unheard of, for example, Janissary Skeletons are also possessed of intelligence far beyond what they rightfully should possess, but Starburned Zombies are different.

Janissary Skeletons have no memory of their flesh, and are all inhabited by competent, martially-skilled killer spirits.

Starburned Zombies are aflame with corpse-light, and the minds that have taken root in their decaying skulls are...astonishingly jolly. Starburned Zombies make Ogres seem kind, but there is no denying that they have a weirdly pleasant demeanor and a strangely upbeat view of their existence. Some of them faintly recall their days of life, but many do not. Compared to most zombies they are mental giants, and they have an uncomfortable and deadly cunning, although they are not clever in most affairs.

Starburned Zombies delight in being 'zombie-like', shambling about groaning of brains, and then adroitly unlocking a door to fall upon a foe who thought they were safe, laughing all the while. Starburned Zombies burn with hideous corpse-light, dancing eldritch flames, and woe betide the adventurer who catches alight from their corposcent embrace. Starburned Zombies have sharp senses, and are far faster and more capable than most lesser zombies.

Beware the attack of Starburned Zombies. Just because they are jolly, does not mean they will spare you.

Combat Tactics

Starburned Zombies are intelligent...for zombies. This does not make them canny or dangerous attackers, and honestly, they are quite stupid. But their powers are such that they don't really need to be supremely skilled attackers. In almost all cases, Starburned Zombie default to 'shoot the guy who's shooting at me, or attack the guy I can reach.'

They are aware of the difference between Bolt of Starflame, Starburned Flames, and Starburned Gaze, and they will mix them up so they can stack conditions upon tough foes. In melee, they will always try to stack Zombie Rot on top of their automatic Immolation of the Stars ability, but honestly, in most fights, Starburned Zombies just crush most foes in a storm of rotting, putrid flame.

They will never retreat, having far too much fun in fighting to even consider backing down.

Out of Combat

Starburned Zombies are genuinely weird, terrible, and alien things that can occasionally drift down from the blackest of night skies almost anywhere. They are willing to work with almost any monster, as long as they are getting a steady supply of death and tasty brains to eat. If they are not kept appeased, they will turn on former living allies without hesitation, and many a powerful monster's lair is driven to even worse deeds than usual to keep a pack of Starburned Zombie 'allies' well-fed and amused.

If they are well fed and amused, Starburned Zombies make terrific allies. They are intelligent zombies, but they are fun to be around, they crack (very bad) jokes, and they are willing to do all the dull, boring stuff a regular zombie will do, forever, but they're smart enough to understand orders and actually make decisions. Even better, although they are far from genius, they are also spellcasters, since they have a spell-like ability. They aren't likely to be doing any eldritch research or great grand plans or anything, but they are perfectly able to cast useful spells out of combat like dispel magic, and enchant things as they are asked. Some Starburned Zombies combined with some Ogre minions might even mean magic weapons and potions and the like for the clever monsters hosting them! These effects can be easily simulated using Patterns.

Canny and extremely evil allies, who are willing and able to keep a group of starburned zombies fed and gainfully occupied, find them to be tremendously valuable allies. More intelligent undead, the most powerful of Hobgoblins, even Bandit kingdoms, have been known to have a few Starburned Zombies around as 'muscle'. Rumor has it that in the Deep Dark, they are more common...which is another reason to stay in the Prime Material....

Given their magical skills and easygoing (although very, very evil) natures, Liches and Vampires often find Starburned Zombies to be nearly ideal minions.

Immortality
Many undead creatures, such as this one, cannot be killed by normal means. It will lie shattered and dormant only until the night of the next full moon before rising again to seek to rid the world of life. Casting either Sanctify Corpse (Cleric Spell) or Gentle Repose (Cleric Spell) on the defeated corpse of the creature will add an additional month to the time it takes for it to re-compose. Laying the defeated corpse on consecrated ground for a full day will prevent it from ever rising again, as will casting Rest Eternal (Cleric Spell) on it. Applying Raise Dead (Cleric Spell), Resurrection (Cleric Spell), or using similar life-giving abilities will restore the original soul back to the corpse, bringing that person back to life and permanently destroying the necromantic animus that had possessed the body previously. This creature's body will never decay (further than it already has) nor age due to time or neglect.

Rewards

XP: 104,960,000

Treasure: Sellable Goods worth 4,337,313 gp.

Weight: 370 lbs.     Volume: 14.8 cu. ft.

Optional Treasure Rules: Roll a d20 on Table 1 below once per encounter (NOT per creature). Any items discovered are in addition to the normal treasure for the encounter.

Table 1: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 10	Nothing Found
11 - 14	1 Languid Remnant (tier 1)
15 - 17	1 Pale Remnant (tier 2)
18 - 19	1 Bright Remnant (tier 3)
20	Roll on Table 2
###	Nothing to see here!
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 2: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5	3 Languid Remnants (tier 1)
6 - 10	3 Pale Remnants (tier 2)
11 - 14	1 Intense Remnant (tier 4)
15 - 17	1 Blazing Remnant (tier 5)
18 - 19	1 Vital Remnant (tier 6)
20	Roll on Table 3
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 3: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 5	3 Bright Remnants (tier 3)
6 - 8	3 Intense Remnants (tier 4)
9 - 11	3 Blazing Remnants (tier 5)
12 - 14	3 Vital Remnants (tier 6)
15 - 17	1 Prime Remnant (tier 7)
18 - 19	1 Mythic Remnant (tier 8)
20	1 Empyrean Remnant (tier 9)