Lifelink (3.5e Template)

Lifelink
Summary::Through powerful magics or rituals, creatures with this template have gained a shared life force.

Creating a Lifelinked Creature
Lifelink is an acquired template that can only be added to two or more similar non-unique creatures. It cannot be applied to creatures with class levels, nor can it be used to link different creatures like for instance a babau and a succubus, but creatures of the same 'species', like three vrocks, can be lifelinked. For all intents and purposes, they are still separate creatures, but they draw from a shared pool of life force. Each of the lifelinked creatures thrives as long as the pool lasts, but when it runs out, they all die.

Size and Type
The base creatures' size and type do not change.

Hit Dice
The base creatures' Hit Dice are unchanged, but they no longer have individual hit points. A pack of lifelinked creatures has hit points as if it is a single creature. While every creature in a lifelink can act individually, the lifelink itself is treated as a singular entity with an amount of hit points equal to the sum of the base creatures' hit points. A lifelink consisting of three creatures that normally have 100 hit points each will have 300 hit points, and can take 300 points of damage before dying.

Special
While creatures sharing a lifelink can still act individually, they count as a single creature in certain situations. Events that positively or negatively affect hit points or the status of the creatures sharing the lifelink are resolved separately, but draw from the same pool of hit points. This makes the lifelink strong against targeted attacks, but vulnerable to area effects. Effects that bestow ability damage, drain or negative levels only affect the targeted creature, though hit points lost as a result of these effects is deducted from the lifelink's hit points. Status effects are not shared through the lifelink, unless they reduce or increase hit points (or temporary hit points).

For the sake of being affected by spells and other special ability components, lifelinked creatures are concidered indiviudually. As such, a fireball and other spells and abilities that affect an area can hit multiple creatures in a lifelink, while targeted spells like haste or scorching ray need to be distributed among individual targets.

A lifelinked creature killed by a destruction, annihilation or death effect causes the lifelink to lose hit points equal to the total hit points of the creature slain.

Challenge Rating
Equal to the EL (encounter level) of the creatures within the lifelink +Level Adjustment::2, or double the EL, whichever is lower.