Wormskull Creature

Wormskull Creature Pattern (+2 CR)

Subtype: add Wormskull to subtypes

Wormskull Creature is a pattern that can be added to any creature with a physical body. Constructs and plants are unlikely targets but not impossible, oozes may or may not be possible depending upon GM fiat, and incorporeal creatures are a bad fit. Wormskull Undead are completely possible, and if they were formerly mindless, the parasites will somehow dredge up a copy of the original person's mind and start trying to deal with being a newborn Wormskull with rot issues.

The creation of a Wormskull creature begins when any corporeal creature is infected with the horrific Wormskull parasites. The parasites infest the creature and multiply, consuming the creatures brain and nervous system (or analog, if its a golem or undead), then filling the creature's cored-out body with hundreds or thousands of their threadlike bodies. From there, the parasites thread their way through the hosts entire body, following nerves and blood vessels, infesting muscles and other tissues. Once the infestation is complete, the parasites then effectively recreate the original creature's mind through some eldritch psionic process, or in the case of things that never had a mind, makes one up from scratch.

Once the worms have constructed a new vessel for thought, the Wormskull creature 'wakes up'. It seems to be exactly the same creature it once was, it has all the memories and even personality of the original creature, except that it is now lawful evil and sincerely is a member of the Wormskull collective 'race'. As a result, it will blend back into its old life, but it will seek to spread the parasites to others, so that they may also know the happiness of being one of the collective.

Once the parasites are mature, they create large amounts of psionic ectoplasmic ichor, which floods the skull and body and eventually can even ooze out of the hosts body openings, such as eyes and ears. This ichor is non-corporeal unless the Wormskull wishes it to be solid, and as a result often appears in pendulous drops, seeming to ooze from its head orifices or straight out of their skin or hair, a bilious grey-green translucent slime. If the Wormskull pays attention to its hygiene, this ooze is easily controlled even in advanced infestations.

A Wormskull creature can and does think for itself, even if its base type was mindless. Although its brain is nearly gone or was never even present to begin with, the psionic slime put in to replace or create the nervous system gives the creature the ability to function even better intellectually than it could before the transformation. The Wormskull process also leaves a creature faster, stronger, tougher, and (most important for the parasites) unchanged in physical appearance. A Wormskull creature looks in every way like the creature from which it was made, except for the occasional leak of a small amount of the greenish fluid.

A Wormskull creature is bound to its new family, and sincerely wishes to spread the parasites to all they meet. That said, they are far from stupid, and realize that the meat creatures around them will resist furiously if they figure out what is going on. So, a wormskull will lie low, slowly and patiently infecting and infesting others. There are tales of adventurers finding entire towns and cities that ran in amazing harmony, until nearly every inhabitant was revealed to be horrific monsters.

This creature appears completely normal, except it might have a slight cold. It feels a bit nerve-inducing though, for some reason.

General

Init: +2 CRs greater than base creature.

Senses:

• Mindsense 10 ft.

Perception: +2 CRs greater than base creature.

Movement Types:

Defense

AC: +2 CRs greater than base creature.

Hit Points: +2 CRs greater than base creature.

Fort: +2 CRs greater than base creature.

Refl: +1 CRs greater than base creature.

Will: +1 CRs greater than base creature.

Special Defenses:

• (Wormskull Creature) Gains DR 1/Common, or Uncommon, as the GM decides. This will not stack if the creature already has DR of a different sort, and only the largest amount of Resistance may be used.

Strong Against:

• (Wormskull Creature) Immune: Psychic damage

Weak Against:

• (Wormskull Creature) Vermitype:If subjected to a Remove Disease (Cleric Spell) a Wormskull Creature takes 1d6+3 points of positive (energy, uncommon) damage per caster level of the spell.
• (Wormskull Creature) 'SPECIAL': Can only use Mindsense to see other Wormskulls

Offense

Space / Reach: - / -

To-Hits: +2 CRs greater than base creature.

Damage: +2 CRs greater than base creature.

Maneuver Offense: +2 CRs greater than base creature.

Save DC's: +2 CRs greater than base creature.

Statistics

Str: 2    Dex: 2    Con: 2    Int: 6    Wis:     Cha: 2

Feats:

Skills:

• creature adds +2 CRs to all of its existing skills.

Languages:

Special Abilities

Psychic Tendril (Su; Wormskull Creature Pattern)

A Wormskull gains an extra melee attack, with ten additional feet of inclusive reach. This is usable as a swift action, has the same to-hit as their normal melee attacks, and on a successful hit inflicts 1d6 points of damage as psychic (energy, uncommon) damage.

Wormblast (Su; Wormskull Creature Pattern)

Once per encounter, as a standard action, a Wormskull creature may blast out a vile gush of psionic ectoplasmic slime in a 30 foot cone (a 6x6x6 space) adjacent to its space. The exact origin and mechanics of this power are left to the GM, except that it should be uniformly grotesque. This Wormblast inflicts 1d4 points of psychic (energy, uncommon) damage. Wormblast allows a Will save versus a DC of 14 to take half damage.