Bone Priest

This skeletal creature wears rotting robes, and carries a sword in its talon-like hands. An evil blue light dances in its empty eye sockets.

Bone Priest (CR 4)

Medium Undead
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Initiative: +6
Senses: Darkvision 60 feet; Perception +11

Speed: 30 feet
Space: 5 feet

Defense

Armor Class: 16, touch 12, flat-footed 14 (+2 Dex, +4 natural)
Hit Points: 37 (5d8+15)
Saving Throws: Fort +4, Ref +3, Will +7
Channel Resistance +2
Damage Reduction: 5/bludgeoning and magic
Immunity: cold, undead traits

Offense

Melee: mwk bastard sword +7 (1d10+3/19-20) or slam +5 (1d4+3)
Reach: 5 feet

Special Attacks: death drink, unnerving gaze

Spells Prepared (CL 3rd, Concentration +6):

• 2nd - Hold Person (DC 15), Spiritual Weapon, Touch of Idiocy (DC 15)
  
  
• 1st - Cause Fear (DC 14), Command (DC 14), Confusion, Lesser (DC 14), Protection From Good
  
  
• 0 - Detect Magic, Guidance, Read Magic, Resistance

Statistics

Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
14 (+2)	15 (+2)	-	11 (+0)	16 (+3)	17 (+3)

Base Attack Bonus: +3
CMB +5
CMD 17

Feats: Combat Casting, Improved Initiative, Weapon Focus (Bastard Sword)

Skills: Intimidate +11, Knowledge (religion) +8, Perception +11, Stealth +10

Languages: Common, Undercommon

Special Abilities

Death Drink (Su)

When a bone priest reduces a creature to 0 hit points or fewer with a melee attack or coup de grace, it can use death knell against that creature as a free action. It doesn't need to be touching the creature to use this ability.

Spells

A bone priest casts spells as 3rd-level cleric. It also gains domain spells from the Madness domain, but none of the other domain abilities or cleric abilities.

Unnerving Gaze (Su)

A bone priest can make a gaze attack that strikes fear into the hearts of all creatures within a 30- foot radius that can see the bone priest. These creatures must succeed at a DC 15 Will saving throw or be shaken for 1d4 rounds. This is a mind-affecting fear effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Ecology

Environment: Any
Organization: solitary
Treasure: standard (mwk bastard sword, other treasure)


Bone priests are undead servants of evil gods, condemned to continue serving for decades or centuries after death. In life, bone priests were acolytes or underpriests who failed at some difficult test or fell in battle against powerful enemies of the faith. Their dark gods have rewarded their fanaticism by giving another chance to demonstrate their worthiness.

Bone priests retain the spellcasting ability and some of the domain spells they possessed in life. A typical bone priest casts spells as a 3rd-level cleric and has the bonus spells of one of the domains it had originally-usually Darkness, Death, Destruction, Evil, or Madness (the bone priest presented here possesses the Madness domain).

While bone priests occasionally arise with no outside intervention other than the will of their gods, they are normally created through a profane ritual that culminates in the casting of a create undead spell by a caster of at least 11th level.