The Modern Dispatch 061 - Revenant

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The
Modern
Dispatch
Revenants
Revenants are a type of
lost soul
that combines corporeal and incorporeal elements. It is essentially
a corpse animated by its own spirit. Revenants possess many of the powers of lost souls, but also
have some of the physical strength of a zombie. However, revenants are limited by these physical ties and can be
destroyed in the same manner as a zombie.
Revenant spirits have the same general appearance
as the bodies they inhabit, and any damage to the corpse
is done to the
lost soul
as well. However, revenant
bodies decay unnaturally slowly, taking centuries to
decompose. If a revenant’s corporeal body sustains
physical damage, that damage is permanent.
Because of their innate connection to their bodies,
revenants can be damaged just as a zombie can.
Destroying a revenant’s body (reducing it to –10 Hit
Points) while it is animate also destroys the revenant
spirit. A revenant that is cut off from, or can no longer
animate, its body is just a spirit and becomes a weak
lesser manifestation
. If the body is destroyed while
the revenant does not possess it, the revenant spirit
cannot possess another body and it remains a
lesser
manifestation
forever.
#61
So, what’s a Lost Soul?
Lost souls are the spirits of those who die, but
are unable or unwilling to leave our plane of
existence—usually because of some unfinished
business, but in rare instances because of outside
intervention. The lost soul template may be
found in
Green’s Guide to Ghosts
, and includes
more detailed information regarding lesser
manifestations, poltergeists, ABEs, phantoms,
and dominating spirits.
Requires the use of the d20 Modern Roleplaying
Game, published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
“Howdy” from 12 to Midnight
In case you are not familiar with us, 12 to Midnight
is a Texas-based RPG publisher specializing in
modern horror. You might not normally think “Texas”
and “horror” go together, but we are pretty sure you
will change your mind after spending some time in
Pinebox.
Pinebox, Texas, that is—a nice little rural community
smack-dab in East Texas. There is a university nearby,
a pine forest called the Big Thicket, and a mess of
beautiful wildflowers every spring. Unfortunately, it is
also the epicenter of a whole lot of bad mojo. We’re
talking dark magic, serial killers, haunted buildings—
the whole ball of wax.
If you want to learn more about Pinebox, just visit
our Web site at
. You can start using
the free campaign setting on our site right now, then
watch it continue to grow right here in the pages of
Modern Dispatch
. Of course, Pinebox is
our
setting,
but all the material in these pages can just as easily be
dropped into
yours
.
If you have any ideas for future issues,
or if you want to comment on what you
read here, please drop by the forums on
our website.
Revenants are sometimes created when people die
while in situations of prolonged physical danger, such
as soldiers in battle or inmates in violent prisons.
Revenants are also created when a person who desired
that they be interred as a complete, undisturbed body
has their wishes disregarded. Still other revenants have
a devotion to a place or object and act as a guardian,
even after death. This location may be the revenant’s
own tomb, but it can also be a location or object
important to it in life.
When a revenant is not active, its body returns to
its grave via magical transport. The body often has
evidence on it that it has been “out and about,” such as
grass or dirt on its feet, or blood on its hands.
When active, revenants can transport their bodies
through an otherworldly dimension and cause them to
appear at the approximate location (within 1 mile) of
where they desire.
Author/Interior
art:
Neal.Hyde�
editors:
Jerry.Blakemore�
Cray.Crouse
ed.wetterman
layout/editing:
Preston.dubose
Revenant
Page
1
The
Modern
Dispatch
Creature Templates
Personalities of the Dead
Revenant
T
here are as many different types of revenants as
there are personalities of the dead. Three different
types of revenants are discussed in this
Modern
Dispatch
.
Retriever Revenants
Many revenants seek a missing part of their bodies,
one with which they were not interred. Such
revenants attack the living to retrieve their missing
parts. The most well-known retriever revenant is the
Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, a revenant of
a Revolutionary War soldier who was beheaded by a
cannonball. The Headless Horseman seeks to acquire
a new head and haunts a lonely stretch of backcountry
New England road.
Revenants have the same Dexterity, Intelligence,
Wisdom, memories, and skills they possessed in life.
Special Qualities:
A revenant loses all of the
base creature’s supernatural and spell-like abilities,
except for immunity/resistance to specific energy
types and SR. A revenant may retain any or all of the
base creature’s extraordinary abilities, at the GM’s
discretion.
Animate Own Body:
Revenants can animate their
own bodies.
Transport Own Body:
Revenants may transport their
own bodies through an otherworldly dimension and
cause it to appear within 1 mile of a location in the
mortal world.
Allegiances:
A revenant retains its previous
allegiances, and develops a fanatical devotion to
them.
Saves:
A revenant’s saving throw modifiers are
based on Hit Dice and given in Table 8–2: Creature
Saves and Base Attack Bonuses of the
d20 Modern
Roleplaying Game
.
Action Points:
none
Reputation Bonus:
+0
Ability Scores:
Str 18, Dex – as base creature, Con
-, Int – as base creature, Wis –as base creature, Cha 3
Skills:
As base creature
Feats:
As base creature, Toughness, Frightful
Presence.
Template Traits
“Revenant” is a template that can be added to any
corporeal creature other than undead (referred to
hereafter as the base creature). It uses all the base
creature’s statistics and special abilities except as
noted here.
Challenge Rating:
base creature +1.
Type:
Undead.
Hit Dice:
d12.
Speed:
As base creature
Defense:
Natural armor bonus to Defense increases
to a value based on size (use the base creature’s
natural armor bonus, if it’s higher): Tiny +0, Small +1,
Medium-size +2, Large +3, Huge +4, Gargantuan +7,
Colossal +11.
Attacks:
As base creature. Slam.
Damage:
Slam damage depends on the revenant’s
size (use the base creature’s slam damage, if it is
greater): Fine 1, Diminutive 1d2, Tiny 1d3, Small 1d4,
Medium-size 1d6, Large 1d8, Huge 2d6, Gargantuan
2d8, Colossal 4d6. For purposes of Strength bonuses
to damage, a slam attack is considered a two-handed
attack.
The Organ Retriever
New medical technology has extended and improved
the lives of millions, but it has also created a new breed
of revenant—the organ retriever. At death, some people
have their organs harvested for transplant to people in
need. The deceased person must have arranged prior
to death to donate the organs, or the deceased’s legal
guardian may donate the organs. In rare cases, the
legal guardian donates the organs against the wishes
of the deceased.
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Revenant
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Dispatch
Organ retrievers haunt the people responsible
for the loss of their organs, such as the doctors,
family decision makers, and the organ recipients
themselves. Some revenants go so far as
to attack the recipients and reclaim the
transplanted organs, resulting in gruesome
and painful deaths for the new victims.
These horrific crimes often perplex law
enforcement personnel, because the only
evidence they find implicates someone
who is already dead.
Pinebox Adventure Outlines
The Repossession
Jimmy Lee Wilcox was an unlucky criminal
from Austin, Texas. During the last of his many
stays in the county jail, a fellow inmate crushed
the back of his skull with a rake
handle. Wilcox’s common-law wife
allowed his organs to be harvested
as a last spite to the mean man. His
corneas went to an aging doctor in
Maine, his lungs went to a young
woman in Florida, his heart went
to a firefighter in Pennsylvania,
and his two kidneys went to a set of
twins in Pinebox, Texas.
However, Jimmy Lee had been
raised in a religious sect that taught
that a person had to be buried whole, or
the spirit could not enter God’s celestial
paradise. Although he was not the religious
type while alive, Jimmy Lee’s spirit was
extremely angered by his wife’s decision to
donate his organs. He appeared to his wife on
the one-month anniversary of his death, chastised her
for her decision to donate his organs, and told her that
he was going to retrieve his missing parts.
Exactly a month later, the revenant tore his eyes
from the aging doctor. The following month, he
attacked and killed the firefighter in Pennsylvania.
When Wilcox’s wife learned of the deaths in Maine
and Pennsylvania, she tried to warn the woman who
had received his lungs, but her warnings were ignored
and Wilcox claimed another victim.
The adventure starts with the twin girls who received
the kidneys getting strange phone calls from Austin.
The caller often doesn’t say anything (Wilcox’s wife
doesn’t know what to say), but finally she warns the
girls that they are in danger. Shortly afterward, they
receive an anonymous package containing newspaper
clippings detailing the horrific murders in Maine,
Pennsylvania, and Florida. With some detective work,
the heroes can trace the phone calls back to Wilcox’s
wife, who admits to making the calls and repeats her
warning that Jimmy Lee is coming, and that the month
is about up.
Wilcox appears near the twin’s home during the night
on the monthly anniversary of his death. The revenant
makes its way through the wealthy neighborhood
where the twins live and enters the house. If the heroes
don’t stop Wilcox, he kills both girls and retrieves his
kidneys. If the heroes do manage to stop Wilcox but do
not destroy him, they learn that his wife was murdered
the night of their conflict and her kidneys taken.
Hook:
The heroes can become involved if the twin’s
father, a successful criminal lawyer, asks them to
investigate the source of strange phone calls coming
to his house. He can pay the heroes or offer to assist
them in the future when they come into conflict with
the law.
Alternative Hook:
A doctor from the organ donation
organization that handled the Wilcox donation contacts
the heroes anonymously. He is aware that recipients
of the organs from Jimmy Lee Wilcox are being
murdered. He is afraid that it is a bizarre serial killer,
and asks the heroes to intervene.
Alternative Hook 2:
The twin girls are cousins or
little sisters to one of the heroes, and are creeped out
by the person who keeps calling them.
Alternative Hook 3:
Any hero who is in law
enforcement may become involved in the murder
investigations and realize that there are other donor
recipients who are now targets of the murderer.
Organ Retriever Special Abilities
Organ retriever revenants have the
following special abilities in
addition to those listed in the
revenant template.
Organ Location:
The
revenant can identify the
location and condition of any
of its missing organs. This
operates like the Locate
Object spell, with no
material requirement.
Scalpel Nails:
The
revenant grows long,
razor-like fingernails,
which it uses to remove the
“stolen” organs from the
recipient’s body. Counts
as armed attack, 1d6
damage).
Revenant
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The
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Guardian Revenants
Guardian revenants are tied to a special location that they cherished, protected, or were
summoned to guard. This location could be anything from a sacred place, a natural area, a
tomb or gravesite, to anywhere that would make a good, scary story. The revenant violently
defends its area against any who would disturb the sanctity of the place.
Organ Retriever Revenant, Jimmy Lee Wilcox
Tough Hero 3/Dedicated Hero 2
CR 6; Medium-size undead;
HD 5d12+5(+3 for Toughness); HP 43; Mas 12; Init +0; Spd
30 ft; Defense 16, touch 16, flatfooted 16 (+2 size, +0 Dex,
+4 class); BAB +3; Grap +4; Atk +4 melee (Razor Nails
1d6+4, Knife 1d4+4), or +3 ranged; FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach
5 ft; SQ See below; AL Recovery of his organs; SV Fort +4,
Ref +1, Will +4; AP 2; Rep +0; Str 18, Dex 10, Con -, Int 8,
Wis 10, Cha 3.
Occupation:
Criminal (Gamble, Knowledge
[Streetwise])
Skills:
Climb +3, Drive +3, Intimidate +9, Listen
+4, Spot +4, Swim +3
Special Qualities:
Animate Own Body, Transport
Own Body, Scalpel Nails, Locate Organs at
will
Feats:
Athletic, Brawl, Confident, Frightful
Presence, Improved Brawl, Iron Will,
Personal Firearms Proficiency, Toughness
Possessions:
Knife
Talents (Tough Hero):
Acid
Resistance, Fire Resistance
Talents (Dedicated Hero):
Empathy
Jimmy Lee appears as a Caucasian
man in his mid-30s. He wears torn
jeans, a ripped, soiled-white “wife
beater” undershirt, and has
a “Y” incision on his body
from the autopsy. Another
sewn incision circles
his head above the
eyebrows (the top of his
skull was opened in the
autopsy). If the heroes
make a Spot (DC 10),
they notice that the
back of the revenant’s
head is caved in.
Guardian Revenant Special Ability
Location Teleport – A guardian revenant can freely teleport within the area it protects. This
power acts just like
Greater Teleport,
but is limited to an area of 5 miles around the protected
area. This is a standard action.
Pinebox Adventure Outlines
Ancient Anger
Hundreds of years ago, a Native American shaman lived in the area now known
as the Big Thicket National Forest of Texas. This shaman had been from one
of the local tribes, but was exiled for practicing dark magic that healed at the
expense of the victim’s soul.
The shaman took up residence alone in a clearing of the forest, living without
shelter or fire. He offered his services as a healer to the people in the area, but
only the most desperate made use of his power because the price was always
too high. After an unnaturally long life, the shaman erected his own burial
platform and gave up his soul to the evil spirits that had given him so much
power. But as he died, the evil that gave him his power twisted his devotion
into punishment and forced him to remain in his cursed grove, forever
wreaking destruction upon any who disturb it.
The gnarled, twisted grove remained untouched for many years, and
over time the place became an animal graveyard. The burial platform and
the shaman’s body eventually disintegrated, and only four poles, each
topped with an animal skull, remain.
The first time the grave was disturbed was in 1933, when a Works
Progress Administration (WPA) work crew of twelve men entered the
Big Thicket to dig a series of canals through the area. The WPA crew
vanished after three months, killed by the shaman for disturbing his
grave. By the time a search party found the scattered remains of their
camp, another month had passed. No further evidence of what happened to the
work crew was ever found.
Revenant
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The
Modern
Dispatch
In the present, five biology grad students from East
Texas University had the misfortune of entering the
clearing while hiking and disturbing the revenant’s
gravesite. Four of the students were killed by the
revenant, but a fifth managed to escape. She emerged
from the forest in a catatonic state. Her body bore savage
wounds in addition to starvation and dehydration.
She currently remains in the Pinebox hospital in her
unexplained catatonia.
Hook:
The heroes are asked to join a search and
rescue party sent into the Big Thicket to find the
missing grad students. They find the clearing full of
animal bones and the four poles, just as a powerful
storm whips through the area. If they
Search
the
clearing (DC 15) they find human bones from both the
WPA party and the missing grad students. However,
they also disturb the revenant, causing it to appear and
attack them.
Alternative Hook:
The heroes come into possession
of an account of a searcher who looked for the missing
WPA party in 1938. He describes finding a strange
clearing with four poles set into the ground. The
remains of animals were all around, and the clearing
had a very ominous feeling about it. The account states
that if there ever was a place that was haunted, it was
that clearing.
Feats:
Archaic Weapons Proficiency, Athletic,
Attentive, Brawl, Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Frightful
Presence, Improved Brawl, Power Attack, Toughness
Special Qualities:
Animate Own Body, Transport
Own Body, Location Teleport;
Talents (Strong
Hero):
Extreme Effort, Improved Extreme Effort,
Melee Smash, Improved Melee Smash
Possessions:
obsidian knife, obsidian spear
The shaman appears as a tall, thin Native American
with withered features and an almost mummified body.
His eyes are narrow, and glow with a fiery red evil.
The shaman wears deteriorated leather breeches, and
caries an obsidian knife and obsidian-tipped spear.
Animal Revenants
Animals can become revenants, too. Although rare,
these are frightening creatures to come across as they
often kill out of perverse instinct. Like formerly human
revenants, some animal revenants guard a place that is
sacred or special to them, but others simply retain their
animal desire to hunt and feed.
haunts and hunts the Big Thicket, looking for the
hunters who had a hand in their extermination. They
also attack inherently evil people who venture into the
Big Thicket, such as poachers, criminals, and those
people who kill animals for fun.
Hook:
Reports of a pack of wild dogs hunting on the
outskirts of Pinebox have locals in a panic. The sheriff
has requested help from anyone who can to hunt the
dogs down. Of course, this is just what the revenants
want, as many of those who volunteer participated in
the hunt during the 1990s. The Mullins brothers are
some of the first to volunteer.
Alternate Hook:
A park ranger who participated
in the wild dog hunts of the 1990s swears that she is
being haunted by some kind of creature while she’s
in the Big Thicket. She comes to the heroes looking
for help to discover what it is that follows her in the
woods and why she feels so threatened by it.
Animal Revenant, Dog
CR 2; Medium-sized undead; HD 2d12+4(+3
Toughness); HP 21; Mas 15; Init +2; Spd 40 ft; Defense
15, touch 14, flat-footed 13 (+2 Dex, +1 Natural, +2
Size), BAB +1, Grap +3, Atk +3 melee (1d6+4, bite);
Full Atk +3 melee (1d6 +4, bite); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.;
Reach 5 ft, SQ see below AL pack; SV Fort +5, Ref
+5, Will +1; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 18, Dex 15, Con -, Int
2, Wis 10, Cha 3.
Skills:
Jump +4, Listen +5, Spot +5, Survival +1
(+5 when tracking by scent), Swim +5
Special Qualities:
Animate Own Body, Transport
Own Body, Scent
Feats:
Frightful Presence, Toughness
Six dogs are in the undead pack, including a Golden
Retriever, Chow, St. Bernard, and three mid-sized
dogs of mixed breeds. All have filthy, matted coats,
and some have obvious gunshot wounds. The Golden
Retriever, whose skull is half blown off, is the alpha
male.
Pinebox Adventure Outlines
The Pack
In the late 1990s, feral dogs plagued the Big Thicket
National Forest. These were domesticated dogs that
had gone wild and joined together in a large pack. They
hunted down deer, livestock, pets, and even threatened
campers in the campgrounds. Receiving pressure
from local ranchers, the National Park Service hired
local hunters Bill and Joe Ray Mullins from Pinebox
to destroy the pack, and they performed their duty
with brutal efficiency. The pack was caught in traps,
tortured, and left to rot in the woods.
The evil from the two men caused the animals to
seek revenge, and something in the thicket empowered
some of the dogs to be returned from the dead as
animal revenants. The pack of six undead dogs now
Guardian Revenant, Shaman
Strong Hero 7
CR 8; Medium-size undead; HD
7d12+7(+3 Toughness); HP 50; Mas 13; Init +2; Spd
30 ft; Defense 18, touch 18, flatfooted 16 (+2 size,
+2 Dex, +4 class); BAB +7; Grap +9; Atk +9 melee
(1d6+4, Knife 1d4+4, spear 1d8+4), or +9 ranged
(1d6+0, spear 1d8+4); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ
see below; AL Burial site; SV Fort +5, Ref +2, Will
+2; AP 0; Rep 0; Str 18, Dex 14, Con -, Int 12, Wis
10, Cha 3.
Occupation:
Rural (Ride, Survival)
Skills:
Climb +7, Hide +4, Jump +5, Know (Tactics)
+4, Listen +2, Spot +1, Survival +5, Swim +4
Revenant
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