
Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG Starfinder RPG (2nd Edition)

All Creatures
Abilities | Monsters | NPCs
All | Families | Templates
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

There is a Legacy version here.

Ravener

Source Monster Core 2 pg. 268
Though their lifespans can measure in millennia, all dragons must eventually perish. While many do so on the blades or under the spells of dragonslayers, some manage to outlast their enemies and must, in time, face the truth that awaits all living creatures at the end of their natural life span. As with many other creatures, some dragons respond to such looming reminders of their own mortality poorly, and the particularly prideful or wrathful of their kind often lash out in anger when confronted by this grim truth. Peace and acceptance are found by some dragons, but the most stubborn of their ilk (and invariably the most wicked) can pursue a different answer to the problem. These dragons seek out sinister rites that can transform them into undead creatures known as raveners.

A ravener's flesh is stripped away as part of the transformation, leaving only bones. What they lose in flesh, however, the dragon gains in soul-rending power, as their spiritual energy forms a protective barrier around their body, keeping it intact and allowing flight with now-skeletal wings. This existence isn't as easy to maintain as other forms of undeath, however, and the ravener must feed regularly on living souls to power their profane metabolism. Their hunger is much greater than that of a living dragon, so raveners are forced to relocate regularly, traveling to fresh hunting grounds each time they strip their current home of prey.

Members

Ravener (Creature 21), Ravener Husk (Creature 14)

Creating a Ravener

Any dragon of at least level 13 can become a ravener, although it's exceedingly rare for a dragon younger than an ancient dragon to do so. Typically, the dragon must perform a rare ritual called ravenous reanimation, but this requirement can be waived if the prospective ravener has the aid of a powerful patron. In certain unique conditions, such as the intervention of a vile god of undeath, a dragon can transform into a ravener after death without the use of this rite at all. A ravener is a powerful creature that's likely to have a major impact on your game, so you might want to create each one as a custom monster. If you don't have time, you can also create a ravener via the following steps.

Increase the dragon's level by 2 and change their statistics as follows.
  • They gain the undead and unholy traits, as well as the Necril language.
  • Increase their AC, attack bonuses, DCs, saving throws, and skill modifiers by 2.
  • They gain weakness to holy damage and more HP (see below).
  • The ravener's melee strikes deal an additional 2d6 void damage, and their damaging breath abilities deal an additional 4d6 void damage.
Starting LevelHP IncreaseWeakness
13–205015
21 or greater8020

Ravener Abilities

A ravener gains the following abilities. Several of these abilities gain the tradition trait matching the original dragon's tradition trait.

Darkvision

Soulsense A ravener senses the spiritual essence of living and undead creatures within the listed range. Creatures whose material bodies are one unit with their souls, like celestials and fiends, appear brighter to this sense.

Void Healing Immunities bleed, death effects, disease, paralyzed, poison, unconscious

Cowering Fear (aura, emotion, fear, mental) A ravener's frightful presence causes creatures to cower in fear as well. As long as a creature is at least frightened 2 or more as a result of the ravener's frightful presence, it's also immobilized from the fear.

Soul Ward An intangible field of necromantic energy protects a ravener from total destruction. A soul ward has 150 maximum Hit Points, or 200 if the ravener is level 21 or higher. Whenever a ravener would be reduced below 1 Hit Point, all damage in excess of what would reduce them to 1 Hit Point is instead dealt to their soul ward. If this damage reduces the soul ward to fewer than 0 Hit Points, the ravener is destroyed. A soul ward's Hit Points can be restored only via specific ravener abilities such as Consume Soul, Void Breath, or vicious criticals. A ravener who goes more than a week without successfully using Consume Soul to feed on a dying creature starves, and their soul ward loses 1d4 Hit Points each day until they feed. If the ravener's soul ward loses all its Hit Points while the ravener still has more than 1 HP, they become a ravener husk.

Consume Soul [free-action] (death) Trigger A living creature within 30 feet of the ravener dies; Effect The ravener tears the creature's soul from its body with their maw and gulps it down. The dying creature must attempt a Fortitude save with the same DC as the ravener's breath ability.

Critical Success The creature is unaffected.
Success The ravener tears off a small chunk of the creature's soul. If the victim is restored to life, they are drained 1 in addition to any other side effects of returning to life. The ravener adds a number of Hit Points to their soul ward equal to half the creature's level.
Failure As success, but the creature's soul is ravaged. The creature is drained 3 and the ravener adds a number of Hit Points to their soul ward equal to the creature's level.
Critical Failure As failure, but the ravener devours the entire soul. The victim can't be restored to life as long as the ravener exists except via powerful magic such as a wish ritual, and the ravener adds a number of Hit Points to their soul ward equal to twice the creature's level.

Discorporate [free-action] Trigger The ravener takes excess damage to their soul ward but still has at least 51 Hit Points in their soul ward; Effect The ravener draws deeply into their soul ward, discorporating their body into soul energy to escape. They take 50 damage to their soul ward and their physical body vanishes, reappearing 1d4 hours later in a random location within 1 mile from the location where they used Discorporate.

Void Breath A ravener's Void Breath is infused with void energy and strips life essence from the victims. Any creature that fails its save against the ravener's Void Breath is drained 1 (or drained 2 on a critical failure). If at least one creature is drained by the ravener's Void Breath, the ravener's soul ward gains 5 Hit Points.

Vicious Criticals The ravener treats an attack roll as a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20, as long as the attack roll was a success. Additionally, whenever the ravener makes a critical hit with one of their Strikes, the target must succeed at a Fortitude save or gain the drained 1 condition. If the target already has a drained value of greater than 0, their drained value instead increases by 1, to a maximum of drained 4. Whenever the ravener applies drain to a creature in this way, their soul ward gains 5 Hit Points.