Salt Zombie

Salt Zombie (CR 17)

Pure Evil - Medium - Undead (Zombie)

Lore:	Know (Religion)
33		48
Basic DC		Full DC

Initiative

30

Perception:
39	+29
Passive	Active

Ambush:

10+

on a d20

• Lore Notes: identifies as a CR 2 Zombie if lore check is failed.

Senses:

• Standard Senses
• Darkvision 120 ft.
• Lifesense 60 ft.

Movement Types:

• Walk 60 ft.
• Vaulting 40 ft.

Defense

AC

41

Man Def

41

Monster Health
611	305	32
Hit Points	Bloodied	Hit Dice

Saving Throws
Fort:	+20
Refl:	+15
Will:	+15

Strong Against:

• (Mindless) Immune (no effect): all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, fear, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms)
• (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.		5 ft.
Space		Reach

To-Hit

+26

Man Off

+29

Action

0

Points

Standard Attack (Melee):

• 1x Broken Salt Bite +26 (4d10+24/x2)
  as crushing (physical, common)
  plus: Zombie Rot, plus: Stinging Salt

Full Attack (Melee):

• 1x Broken Salt Bite +26 (4d10+24/x2)
  as crushing (physical, common)
  plus: Zombie Rot, plus: Stinging Salt
• 2x Salt-Crusted Claws +26 (4d6+9/x2)
  as slashing (physical, common)
  plus: Zombie Rot, plus: Stinging Salt

Standard Attack (Ranged):

Full Attack (Ranged):

Siege Damage: Not siege capable

Statistics

25

STR

19

DEX

—

CON

—

INT

18

WIS

18

CHA

Skills:

• Perception: 29
• Stealth: 30
• All other skills: 23 (no ranks)

Languages:

Feats:

Special Abilities

Salt Spray (Ex) Standard Action

As a standard action, a Salt Zombie may tear free a handful of the sharp, rot-infested salt that suffuses its body, and with a spastic jerk of its limb, scatter the salt in a wide arc. This affects a 35-foot cone (a 7x7 square area adjacent to its space). All enemy creatures in the Salt Spray take 4d6+10 points of slashing (physical, common) damage. They may make a Reflex save versus a DC of 27 to reduce this damage by half. If a Salt Zombie is caught in the Salt Spray, it is instead granted temporary hit points for the same amount. All living creatures caught in the Salt Spray also suffer the effects of Stinging Salt (see below), if they have not already been affected this round.

Stinging Salt (Ex) Automatic after successful attack, 1/Rnd/Victim

The first time each round that a living creature is attacked by a Salt Zombie, either in melee or after taking damage from Salt Spray, that creature must make a Fort save versus a DC of 27. If the saving throw is failed, the creature becomes Sickened. If the creature is already Sickened and fails this save, it is instead Afflicted. If the creature is already Afflicted and fails the save, it is instead Nauseated. Each of these conditions lasts until healed or until the end of the encounter, whichever occurs first. If the saving throw is successful, the creature gains the Burned condition, as the sharp, stinging salt crystals painfully cauterize each injury of their flesh. Damage caused by the Burned condition is considered acid (energy, common) damage. Additional successful saves do not make the Burned condition worse, but of course, it persists.

Zombie Rot (Su) Automatic after successful attack, 1/Rnd/Victim

Up to once per zombie per round, when a creature is bitten or clawed by a Salt Zombie, it is also subjected to the Zombie Rot disease: Zombie Rot    (Injury vector; Diseased intensity) Save: Fort DC 27;     Frequency: 1/day for 3 days Effect: 1d4+1 points of STR drain Fruition: Target dies. A new Salt Zombie spawns immediately from their corpse. Fruition Duration: Permanent until the new salt zombie is destroyed and a Resurrection (Cleric Spell) is cast upon it. There are no visible warning signs of the disease's fruition, other than the ongoing sickness, until the zombie begins trying to eat all their nearby friends. Similarly, any creature killed by a zombie through damage will also rise as a salt zombie in 2d6 hours. If resurrection is cast on a zombie, it returns to life and is no longer a zombie.

Relentless Hunger (Ex) Auto Upon Death

When a 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.

Salt Zombie

Zombies are corpses of the (fairly-)recent dead, brought back to unlife through necromantic ritual, having been killed by other zombies, or dying on desecrated ground. They have no intelligence, and are driven only by a need to consume the living. While brains may be extra tasty, zombies are happy to eat any living (or recently dead) flesh. Indeed, all but the freshest zombies show extensive bite wounds from being near other zombies (or even themselves).

Zombies are attracted to sounds, but can sense life when it is nearby. Once attracted, zombies will never stop trying to kill and eat their prey.

Salt Zombies are powerful and dangerous examples of this horrid strain of monstrosity. They can be created by powerful workers of death by modifying the standard zombie creation rituals. Alternatively, they can arise spontaneously in places where the earth is both unhallowed and exceptionally bitter. Dead Salt Seas, bitter alkali wells, crystal caves, abandoned salt mines, all are places where salt zombies can arise spontaneously.

Even worse, it is fairly common for Salt Zombies to arise on especially bitter battlefields, and especially from salted ruins, where one nation hated another so intensely they razed entire regions and then salted the earth. Such places may be left as benighted wastes where Salt Zombies amble ceaselessly with eternal, silent hunger.

Salt Zombies are much faster and more agile than lesser examples of the breed, able to shamble with alarming speed, moving in a scuttling sideways shuffle faster than a man can run. They are not usually able to climb, but they can make astonishing leaps. Astonishing and deadly.

And of course, there's always the salt. Wounds left after attacks by Salt Zombies are festering, abraded messes, with coarse, sharp, bitter salt infesting every injury they inflict.

Combat Tactics

There's not much finesse to zombie tactics, which are basically 'follow the living until you catch them.' Zombies are mindless and will always attack the nearest living creature or the creature that most recently attacked them. If a quarry runs from them, they will chase them until they catch them, or until a new living creature is closer to them than their quarry. Zombies will chase prey forever, since they are immortal and really have nothing better to do. If they've defeated all prey they've sensed, they will shamble aimlessly until they detect new prey.

Once engaged with opponents, salt zombies will use Salt Spray if they can hit at least 3 or more targets without moving first. While they will never bother to check whether their fellow salt zombies are in Salt Spray's area of effect, if they happen to be there, all the better!

If the salt zombie is adjacent to a target (and they can't hit at least 3 targets with Salt Spray), a Salt Zombie will make a full attack against that target.

If no targets are adjacent, the salt zombie will do one of two things with its move action (determined randomly with a d20 roll):

• use Vaulting to close with the nearest enemy it can reach (on a result of 1 to 10)
• use Vaulting to close with the furthest enemy it can reach (on a result of 11 - 20).

After a move action, it will go back to the top of this list of instructions (checking for three targets to Salt Spray, or meleeing an adjacent foe, or moving again, in that order).

If faced with multiple potential targets, salt zombies will prefer an injured target over a healthy one, and a bloodied target over an injured one. If there are several targets at the same state, roll randomly. If a vault will move the salt zombie close enough to a bloodied victim to make an attack, they will leave their current foe (as long as that foe is unbloodied) to attack the bloodied victim. This means that salt zombies tend to mob the most badly hurt of their foes, which can lead to some tense moments.

This order of "programming" is not perfect, as salt zombies are organic creatures, and sometimes behave chaotically. They are completely mindless, though, so rarely do these aberrant operations end up being more tactically sound for the zombie.

Out of Combat

Zombies shuffle aimlessly if left alone, unceasing, never stopping. If they detect the living, they leap to the attack, always.

Salt Zombies can be found in the lairs of the powerful and dangerous. Aboleths, in particular, seem to have a liking for Salt Zombies as simple but effective trip-wire monsters in places they are planning to be for a while. It is entirely possible that Aboleths can even create these wretched things, which would explain a lot, if true.

Mummies also often have Salt Zombies as minions, and persistent rumors place Deathknights and even Liches in control of Salt Zombies.

With all these powerful, dangerous, and intelligent foes utilizing Salt Zombies, don't be surprised if these crusted terrors seem to be acting in unusual ways. Who knows what awful powers can influence monsters with such dire foes as allies?

Immortality
Many undead creatures, such as this one, cannot be killed by normal means. However, it will lie shattered and dormant after being defeated for approximately a decade 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 ten years 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: 102,400

Treasure: Sellable Goods worth 51,444 gp.

Weight: 170 lbs.     Volume: 6.8 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)