Soulbound Mauler (Chaotic Good)
Level 4Attacks
Abilities
A soulbound mauler encapsulates an entire soul within its soul focus gem, with that soul's personality and past shining through along with a confusing mix of fragmented memories and instincts. This causes a soulbound mauler to match the donor soul's alignment and gain the corresponding alignment traits. When the mauler doesn't have a soul bound, it's inanimate.
The soulbound mauler has a living creature Grabbed.
Effect The soulbound mauler holds the creature it has grabbed and attempts to tear it in two. That creature takes 5d6 bludgeoning damage (DC 18 fortitude). On a critical failure, the target also becomes Enfeebled 1.
The soul focus gem that powers a soulbound mauler is tethered with eight ectoplasmic leashes inside an open cavity in the creature's chest. It can be targeted directly with a Disarm, Grapple, or Steal action. Rather than the normal result of these actions, the soulbound mauler takes 4d6 mental damage and is Stunned 1 on a success; on a critical success, it takes 8d6 mental damage and is Stunned 2.
If a soulbound doll isn't large and strong enough for one's needs, there's the oversized soulbound mauler. An upgrade to the soulbound doll, this mannequin is powered by the entire soul of a sapient creature. Many a necromancer has attempted to use these constructs as a method to live forever, likely as a shortcut around the complicated and ultimately morbid path to lichdom. However, the soul within the mannequin has problems properly expressing itself and displays rudimentary control over the host, often resulting in childlike behavior anywhere from curious to sadistic.
Rather than embedding the soul focus gem in the construct's neck or chest, it's tethered by bands of ectoplasm within an exposed chamber on the mannequin's chest. Until the soulbound mauler is destroyed, the focus gem cannot be removed from the empty cavity in its chest. However, the gem can be displaced which causes the soulbound mauler significant anguish, not only damaging the connection between the gem and artificial body, but also impairing the construct's ability to function.
Innate Spells
Like a soulbound doll, a soulbound mauler gains an additional 3rd-rank innate spell depending on its alignment, as listed below.
Lawful Good: Heal
Neutral Good: Jump
Chaotic Good: Haste
Lawful Neutral: Blindness
Neutral: Shared Invisibility
Chaotic Neutral: Shatter
Lawful Evil: Slow
Neutral Evil: Stinking Cloud
Chaotic Evil: Harm