Wormskull Creature

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.

A Wormskull Creature uses all of the base creature's statistics and abilities except as noted below.

CR (challenge rating)

Same as base creature +2.

Size and Type

The creature's Size does not change. Its Type remains the same but it gains the subtype Wormskull.

Initiative Modifier

The creature's initiative modifier increases by +2.

Senses

All senses such as scent, tremorsense, keen hearing, etc. are unchanged. A Wormskull creature gains Mindsense with a range of twenty feet, but it only works on other Wormskulls. A Wormskull Creature gains a +3 bonus on Perception rolls.

Armor Class

Wormskull Creatures gain +2 AC to all armor types.

Hit Dice

A Wormskull Creature gains +3 hit points per hit die of its adjusted CR.

Defensive Ability

A Wormskull Creature gains the following abilities, which may be added to their Bestiary entry:

• It gains a +3 untyped bonus to all saving throws.

Aura

Same as Base Creature.

SR

Same as Base Creature.

Special Defenses

The Wormskull Creature gains DR/Common equal to its adjusted CR.

Immunities

A Wormskull creature is immune to Psychic (energy, uncommon) damage, as well as immune to all mind-affecting spells and abilities.

Weaknesses

If subjected to a Remove Disease (Cleric Spell) a Wormskull Creature takes 1d6 of Positive Energy damage per caster level of the spell.

Out of Combat

Same as base creature, except every action is subtly warped to advance the Wormskull agenda. A Wormskull seeks to survive, prosper, infest others, and expand the reach of the Worms. As a non-combat function, Wormskull creatures can spread their parasites, the details being left to the GM. It is also possible to cure a Wormskull, requiring a Remove Disease and a Raise Dead to do so.

Speed

A Wormskull Creature's base speed improves by ten feet in all movement categories it has.

Melee Attacks

A Wormskull Creature retains all the base creature's attacks. It gains a +2 untyped bonus to all attacks and a +2 untyped bonus to all save DC's.

Wormskull Psychic Tendril

A Wormskull Creature gains a swift action melee attack, as it extrudes one or more long greenish ectoplasmic tentacles from its head or upper body. This attack has a reach equal to its Size +1, is a touch attack, and does Melee Attack Damage for the creature Adjusted CR (challenge rating) looked up on the Monster Pattern Damage Chart.

Damage

A Wormskull Creature gains a damage bonus to all base creature attacks of +2.

Space and Reach

No change.

Offensive Ability

A Wormskull Creature gains the following abilities, which may be added to their Bestiary entry:

Wormblast (Su)

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 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 Special Standard Damage for the monster's adjusted CR (challenge rating) as psychic (energy, uncommon) damage. Check the Monster Pattern Damage Chart to calculate this value. Wormblast allows a Will save versus an Average DC for the monster's adjusted CR (challenge rating) taken from the Save DC chart, or, the same DC as the monster's adjusted save DC, to take half damage.

Ability Scores

All ability scores increase by 2. If the creature was Mindless (Intelligence -) it gains an Intelligence score of 10.

Maneuver Offense and Maneuver Defense

+2 untyped bonus to Maneuver Offense and Maneuver Defense.

Feats

Same as base creature.

Skills

Bluff, CR+10. This is used by a Wormskull Creature to hide its new alignment and utter allegiance to The Worms.