Splinter Officer
Level 19Attacks
Abilities
The splinter officer knows the direction and distance of all undead that share splinters of the same splinter officer's soul. These undead are always considered to be allies of the splinter officer.
Trigger The splinter officer is targeted by an attack
Requirements At least one of the officer's undead allies is adjacent to the officer
Effect The ally interposes itself, granting the officer a +2 circumstance bonus to AC against the triggering attack.
The splinter officer mentally commands its undead allies to strengthen their defenses. For 1 round, each undead that shares the officer's splintered soul gains a +1 circumstance bonus to AC.
Effect: Raise Defenses
The splinter officer mentally energizes the undead under its command. Each undead that shares the officer's splintered soul is Quickened for 1 round. Quickened allies can use the extra action only to Stride or Strike. The officer can't Rally the Rabble again for .
The splinter officer mentally commands the undead that share its splintered soul to reposition. The officer Steps, and each undead that shares the officer's splintered soul can use a reaction to Step.
An army of mindless undead possesses a fatal flaw: it requires near-constant babysitting from its maker. Yet, any undead with enough sentience to command such an army runs the risk of turning on its creator. Skilled necromancers have endeavored to strike a balance between these two extremes with the creation of splinter officers. Capable of leading small battalions of undead, splinter officers are at the same time uniquely bound to their creator—and easily disposed of should they ever decide to go rogue.
The first splinter officer was created when a lich separated his soul cage into multiple parts and implanted each shard into a unique undead champion, over which the lich enjoyed complete control. Ultimately, the lich decided the risk to his soul cage wasn't worth the benefits, but the technique of soul-splitting proved too useful to abandon. Today, splinter officers are created by plucking an intelligent creature's soul from Pharasma's clutches at the moment of the creature's death. The fresh soul is then shattered, with the splinter officer receiving the largest portion and the remaining splinters being implanted into the mindless undead soldiers the officer controls.