Publication:Dread Codex/Monsters/Blighted One

''You see only a glimpse of this creature, but even that is enough to make you wretch. This amorphous shape is about the height of a human but that is where the similarity ends. Red and yellow sores ooze puss across the creature’s undulating green skin. A single pseudopod reaches out from the mass, swinging dangerously in your direction.''

Born of pestilence, the blighted one is the incorporeal manifestation of creatures that have died from a disease. For only a shadow of the deceased’s essence remains on the Material Plane. When enough creatures die in a general area from the same disease, their shadowy soul remnants band together to form a blighted one (usually 20 creatures to a blighted one).

From that point on, the blighted one exists as one consciousness, determined only to spread the same disease which slew its component souls.

Combat
Blighted ones exist solely to harass the living and spread their horrible diseases. They spend their nights passing through towns, caressing the faces of the sleeping in order to infect them. This is likely how characters encounter a blighted one and immediately identify it as a threat.

 (Su): Any creature touched by a blighted one must succeed at a DC 13 Fortitude save or contract an advanced form of whatever disease killed the blighted one originally. GMs can tailor such disease to the specifics of their campaigns, but they should assume as a default that the disease has an onset period of 1d10 days and that it subsequently causes 1d3 points of Constitution damage per day until it is cured. Disease-curing magic (remove disease, wish and the like) restores the victim to health.

Treasure
None - As an incorporeal creature, the blighted one has neither the need nor interest for treasure of any kind.

In Your Campaign
Blighted ones are the logical result of massive plagues that sweep across nations, sending many creatures to their graves. The way a blighted one is made means that the spirits of those who create one can still pass onto the afterlife, for only an echo of that essence remains. This is why so many are needed just to create a single blighted one. It may also be why they are not hunted by more people who want their slain loved ones to rest in peace—because they already are.

Sages speak of blighted ones who, after infecting more creatures that then die and become blighted ones, become stronger. These “ancient blighted ones” have roamed the lands for centuries or longer in their eternal mission to spread disease. There have been some evil creatures that have searched for these ancient blighted ones in hopes of harnessing a more powerful version of a disease. Strong outbreaks of a particular plague will be the tip off that those creatures were successful (unless the PCs stop them first, of course).