Publication:Dread Codex/Monsters/Ghost Eater

''This short humanoid's form is quite emaciated, its long limbs ending in gnarled claws and feet. Short tufts of white hair just from the creature's brown skin like moss patches on a tree. Its golden-hued eyes fade totally to an off-white as it bears sharp teeth and attacks.''

Found in any environment where there is undead, the ghost eater hunts these unnatural creatures and consumes their essence by biting into what is left of their bodies. A wizard, whose home town was destroyed by an undead horde of ghouls, labored for years to create the perfect vehicle for his vengeance—the ghost eater. Few would guess the ghost eater is fashioned from infant trolls found near the wizard's tower. The creature's innate defensive abilities were mutated by exposure to positive energy to be more effective against the undead. In addition, the basic troll size was altered to lure intelligent undead into a false sense of security. Today, ghost eaters have bred enough that their kind are spread across the lands and have collectively consumed thousands of their undead prey over the decades since their creation.

Combat
Ghost eaters typically avoid living creatures. When dealing with undead, they are cautious and careful; despite their special powers, ghost eaters are still small and weak in comparison to most undead creatures, and they rely on stealth and speed to bring down their more powerful prey.

 (Su): A ghost eater can continuously detect undead as the spell, with no need for concentration. This covers a 120-foot radius around the ghost eater, and allows it to interact with invisible undead without penalty. In addition, the ghost eater gets a +10 bonus to Survival checks when tracking undead creatures.

 (Ex): The ghost eater's bite has the same effect as the spell disrupt undead. Whenever the ghost eater makes a successful bite attack against an undead creature, it inflicts an additional 1d6 points of damage. In addition, a ghost eater can hit incorporeal creatures with its bite attack as if using a ghost touch weapon.

 (Su): The ghost eater's eerie, echoing howl causes mindless terror to take hold of all creatures that hear it— including the spirits of the dead. All creatures within 60 feet must make a Will save (DC 14). The howl has the same effect as a fear spell with the following exceptions: it affects undead creatures, and it is a sonic effect which can be countered with silence or the bard's countersong ability. A ghost eater can emit an eerie howl up to 3 times per day. The save DC is Charismabased.

 (Ex): Undead creatures destroyed by a ghost eater cannot return; even ghosts with the rejuvenation ability are destroyed forever. A living creatures killed by a ghost eater cannot rise as undead, its corpse cannot be affected by or used for animate dead, create greater undead, create undead, raise dead, reincarnate, resurrection, or similar spells.

There are two ways to restore life to a creature slain by a ghost eater. True resurrection still functions normally. And if the ghost eater that killed the victim can be found, captured alive, and brought to the corpse of the victim, wish, limited wish, or miracle can restore the connection between spirit and corpse, at which point raise dead and similar spells function normally. If the ghost eater is killed, the spirits it has consumed are lost forever.

 (Ex): A ghost eater receives a +10 racial bonus to resist the spell-like abilities and supernatural powers of undead creatures. It is immune to the level drain and ability damage attacks of undead creatures. It receives a +4 deflection bonus to AC against the physical attacks of undead. Finally, it receives spell resistance 17 against spells cast by undead creatures.

Skills: A ghost eater receives a +8 racial bonus on Climb and Jump checks. It can always choose to take 10 on these checks, even if distracted or endangered. The ghost eater uses its Dexterity modifier for these checks instead of its Strength modifier.

Treasure
None — Since ghost eaters' prey is the undead, not even defeated foes leave treasure lying around for the taking. The ghost eater has no use for these items, using only its abilities to hunt.

In Your Campaign
As magical beasts, ghost eaters used as companions are extremely difficult to train. In the past, a few paladins and undead hunters have managed to subdue and domesticate ghost eaters, training the creatures to assist them in their battles against the restless dead. Some simply use ghost eaters as living warning systems, training them to howl any time they detect the presence of the undead. A character can use the Handle Animal (DC 15-20) skill to teach a ghost eater any basic set of commands (such as distract, howl, or warn) to follow at any given moment.

A character who understands how to harvest and employ elements of a ghost eater can use its body to empower certain spells (as spell components), as shown below:
 * Ghost Eater Eye for detect undead (Effect: +2 caster level)
 * Ghost Eater Tooth for animate dead (+2 caster level), create greater undead (+1 caster level), create undead (+1 caster level), disrupt undead (increase damage to 2d4), undeath to death (increase damage to 1d6/level)
 * Ghost Eater Tongue or Windpipe for fear (spell can affect the undead), halt undead (+2 caster level)

Each spell component is destroyed when the associated spell is cast. As ghost eaters are rare and few people know how to properly harvest these powers, there is little market for ghost eater organs.

If it is incorporated into a magic item, the ghost eater tooth reduces the XP cost of creating ghost touch or bane (undead) weapons by 10%. It is possible that a ghost eater tooth could be used to create potions of restoration, if the GM wanted to put these items on the market.