Flayed Man

Here’s a 3.5 update of a monster from a sourcebook on necromancy, revised from an earlier attempt. The following text is Open Game Content:

This creature has the shape and gait of a man, but its horrible red face is nothing but exposed flesh and muscle, as if all its skin had been ripped or torn away.

In Death as in Life. Flayed men are created from the body of a dead spellcaster who in life was devoted to death and necromancy. The process for creating a flayed man requires that the body first be skinned, revealing the musculature underneath, and then treated to prevent quick decay.

Grisly to Behold. The bones and muscles of a flayed man are all visible. It can still speak in its former voice and gesture as fluidly as a living creature. As a consequence of its creation process, the flayed man’s touch and footprints are not bloody; a flayed man does not bleed.

Controlled by Forces of Darkness. A flayed man retains much of its former intelligence but seeks to destroy all living things. A flayed man is an even more powerful conduit for energies from the Negative Energy Plane as an undead creature than it was as a living spellcaster; it suffers none of the limitations of the flesh.

Flayed Man CR 7

Often NE Medium undead

Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Listen +3, Spot +3

Languages Common, Elven, Dwarven

Aura grisly face (30-ft. radius, DC 19)

Defense

AC 19, touch 11, flat-footed 19 (+1 Dex, +8 natural)

hp 68 (10 HD)

Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +8

Immune undead traits

Offense

Spd 40 ft.

Melee slam +10 (1d6+7)

Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.

Typical Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10th)

1/day—animate dead, bestow curse (+10 melee touch, DC 18), chill touch (+10 melee touch, DC 15), death knell (DC 16), disrupt undead (+6 ranged touch, DC 14), enervation (+6 ranged touch), ghoul touch (+10 melee touch, DC 16), quickened ray of enfeeblement (+6 ranged touch), touch of fatigue (+10 melee touch, DC 14), vampiric touch (+10 melee touch)

Special Attacks black touch 4/day (+6 ranged touch, 5d6), rebuke undead 7/day (+6, 2d6+14 HD, 10th)

Tactics

During Combat A flayed man uses its link to the Negative Energy Plane both intelligently and ruthlessly to destroy the living, especially other spellcasters. It initially fights from the rear with its spell-like abilities behind a wall of lesser undead, then engages in melee when its spells run out.

Morale A flayed man fights until destroyed.

Statistics

Str 20, Dex 12, Con –, Int 15, Wis 12, Cha 19

Base Atk +5; Grp +10

Feats Alertness, Lightning Reflexes, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (ray of enfeeblement), Toughness

Skills Concentration +17, Hide +14, Intimidate +17, Knowledge (religion) +15, Spellcraft +15, Use Magic Device +17 (+19 using scrolls)

SQ dying energies (DC 19, 1d8+10)

Ecology

Environment Any

Organization Solitary

Treasure Standard

Advancement 11–20 HD (Medium)

Special Abilities

Black Touch (Sp) A flayed man can fire a ray 4 times per day as a ranged touch attack with a range of 50 ft. A successful hit does 5d6 points of negative energy damage. Since undead are powered by negative energy, this effect heals any undead struck of as much damage as it would deal.

Dying Energies (Su) When a flayed man is reduced to 0 hit points or less it releases a burst of negative energy in all directions with itself as the center point. The circular effect has a 20 ft. radius and inflicts 1d8+10 damage; DC 19 Will save for half. The save DC is Charisma-based. Since undead are powered by negative energy, this effect heals any undead within the area of effect of as much damage as it would deal.

Grisly Face (Su) A flayed man’s horrific appearance and seemingly normal voice and demeanor are extremely unnerving. Creatures within 30 feet that view a flayed man are affected as if by a fear spell from a 10th-level caster (Will DC 19 partial). Creatures that successfully save cannot be affected again by the same flayed man’s grisly face ability for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting, fear effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Spell-Like Abilities A flayed man is created with the ability to use eight different spells as spell-like abilities (two each of levels 0 through 4th), each one once per day. These spells can vary and are either arcane spells from the necromancy school or divine spells from the Death domain. The save DCs are Charisma-based. The caster level is equal to the flayed man’s HD.

Rebuke Undead (Su) A flayed man rebukes undead as a cleric of level equal to its HD.

Flayed Man Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (religion) can learn more about flayed men When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC	Result
17	Flayed men are undead spellcasters that retain the ability to use necromantic spell-like abilities.
23	The mere appearance of a flayed man is enough to induce terror in onlookers.
27	Flayed men have strong ties to the Negative Energy Plane and are able to cast rays of pure negative energy.
32	Destroying a flayed man results in a dangerous blast of negative energy.

Advanced Flayed Men

As flayed men advance in Hit Dice, they gain additional spell-like abilities, as detailed in the following table:

Advanced Flayed Men

HD	CR	Additional Spell-Like Abilities
11	7	–
12–13	8	2 5th-level spells
14–15	9	2 6th-level spells
16–17	11	2 7th-level spells
18–19	12	2 8th-level spells
20	13	2 9th-level spells

OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a

The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc (“Wizards”). All Rights Reserved.

1. Definitions: (a) “Contributors” means the copyright and/or trademark owners who have contributed Open Game Content; (b) “Derivative Material” means copyrighted material including derivative works and translations (including into other computer languages), potation, modification, correction, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compilation, abridgment or other form in which an existing work may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) “Distribute” means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute; (d) “Open Game Content” means the game mechanic and includes the methods, procedures, processes and routines to the extent such content does not embody the Product Identity and is an enhancement over the prior art and any additional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by the Contributor, and means any work covered by this License, including translations and derivative works under copyright law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) “Product Identity” means product and product line names, logos and identifying marks including trade dress; artifacts, creatures, characters, stories, storylines, plots, thematic elements, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts, themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or audio representations; names and descriptions of characters, spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, likenesses and special abilities; places, locations, environments, creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other trademark or registered trademark clearly identified as Product identity by the owner of the Product Identity, and which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f ) “Trademark” means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto, designs that are used by a Contributor to identify itself or its products or the associated products contributed to the Open Game License by the Contributor (g) “Use”, “Used” or “Using” means to use, Distribute, copy, edit, format, modify, translate and otherwise create Derivative Material of Open Game Content. (h) “You” or “Your” means the licensee in terms of this agreement.
2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains a notice indicating that the Open Game Content may only be Used under and in terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to any Open Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted from this License except as described by the License itself. No other terms or conditions may be applied to any Open Game Content distributed using this License.
3. Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your acceptance of the terms of this License.
4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license with the exact terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content.
5. Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original material as Open Game Content, You represent that Your Contributions are Your original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed by this License.
6. Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE portion of this License to include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any Open Game Content You are copying, modifying or distributing, and You must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder’s name to the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open Game Content you Distribute.
7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product Identity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of such Trademark or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that Product Identity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity.
8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Game Content.
9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this License. You may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed under any version of this License.
10. Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open Game Content You distribute.
11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game Content using the name of any Contributor unless You have written permission from the Contributor to do so.
12. Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then You may not Use any Open Game Material so affected.
13. Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License.
14. Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.
15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE
    
    • Open Game License v 1.0a, Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
    • System Reference Document, Copyright 2000-2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce R. Cordell, John D. Rateliff, Thomas Reid, James Wyatt, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
    • Secret College of Necromancy. Copyright 2002, Green Ronin Publishing; Authors David "Zeb" Cook and Wolfgang Baur.
    • Flayed Man. Copyright 2017, R. Dorman.