Ravener Husk
Level 14Attacks
Abilities
A ravener senses the spiritual essence of living and undead creatures within the listed range. Creatures whose material bodies are one unit with their souls, like celestials and fiends, appear brighter to this sense.
Trigger The ravener husk takes any amount of bludgeoning damage
Effect The ravener's brittle bones shatter, spraying bone shards everywhere. Every creature within a 10-foot emanation of the ravener husk takes 7d6 piercing damage (DC 31 reflex save).
90 feet. DC 31 will
Frequency once per day
Effect The ravener husk makes a jaws Strike against a deceased creature that has been dead no longer than 1 minute, was holy, and was at least level 15 in life. The ravener attempts a DC 5 flat; if successful, they transform back into a ravener with 1 Hit Point in their soul ward.
The ravener husk breathes a torrent of void energy that deals 16d6 void damage in a 40-foot cone (DC 34 reflex save). They can't use Void Breath again for .
Raveners require a steady diet of souls, and a ravener that's unable to feed for too long eventually cannibalizes their own soul. Should a ravener's soul ward ever be reduced to 0 Hit Points by hunger while the ravener has more than 1 Hit Point (see Soul Ward) they lose all traces of their former identity (losing most of its unique traits, including the one matching its former tradition) and descend into a feral, nearly mindless state. Even if a ravener husk later consumes soul energy, the transformation can be reversed only via Ravenous Repast.
Though their lifespans can measure in millennia, all dragons must eventually perish. While many do so on the blades or under the spells of dragonslayers, some manage to outlast their enemies and must, in time, face the truth that awaits all living creatures at the end of their natural life span. As with many other creatures, some dragons respond to such looming reminders of their own mortality poorly, and the particularly prideful or wrathful of their kind often lash out in anger when confronted by this grim truth. Peace and acceptance are found by some dragons, but the most stubborn of their ilk (and invariably the most wicked) can pursue a different answer to the problem. These dragons seek out sinister rites that can transform them into undead creatures known as raveners.
A ravener's flesh is stripped away as part of the transformation, leaving only bones. What they lose in flesh, however, the dragon gains in soul-rending power, as their spiritual energy forms a protective barrier around their body, keeping it intact and allowing flight with now-skeletal wings. This existence isn't as easy to maintain as other forms of undeath, however, and the ravener must feed regularly on living souls to power their profane metabolism. Their hunger is much greater than that of a living dragon, so raveners are forced to relocate regularly, traveling to fresh hunting grounds each time they strip their current home of prey.