Volumengeists of the Necropus Laruascriptum
A necropus laruascriptum has the special ability to bind a spirit of a slain creature within its pages. When a creature’s spirit becomes bound to one of the enchanted books, it becomes a volumengeist (sometimes referred to as a page spirit) that can later be summoned as a servant via use of the Summon Volumengeist ability of the spellbook.

A volumengeist is a perfect copy of the base creature in its natural state. It bears the appearance of the base creature with no equipment, clothing, armor or weapon of any kind.

The ghostlike, incorporeal volumengeist is a spirit of unbridled rage and vengeance; it is always Chaotic Evil regardless of the base creature’s original alignment. It maintains a constant demeanor and expression of uncontrollable anger, attempting to direct its wrath at any living target it senses within 500 feet of the necropus laruascriptum it is bound to.

A volumengeist has no memory of its past life and has no means to communicate other than emitting a frightful moan. It cannot speak or be spoken to. It understands the spoken commands of its master who summoned it via supernatural means.

To create a volumengeist, apply the volumengeist template to the base creature stats.

 

Binding a Volumengeist
The ritual of binding required for creating a volumengeist is included within the necropus laruascriptum along with other various preparation rituals. To bind a spirit to the spellbook, a whose spirit is being bound must have died within 10 minutes of the start of the binding ritual attempt. The ritual takes one hour to complete and fails if interrupted. Success of the ritual requires a Spellcraft check (DC 20 + CR of base creature).

To create a volumengeist, there must be at least one blank page within the necropus laruascriptum and the user must define a keyword used to trigger the summoning of that particular volumengeist. The keyword must be written upon the blank page that the volumengeist is being bound to. If the ritual fails then nothing happens, but that page is no longer considered to be blank.

The binding powers of a necropus laruascriptum are finite, and thus can only bind a limited number of spirits within its pages. Volumengeists created from creatures with 5 or less hit dice are considered lesser page spirits, and creatures with higher hit dice are considered greater page spirits. No creature with more than 10 hit dice can be used to create a volumengeist.

A lesser necropus laruascriptumcan bind three lesser page spirits. A greater necropus laruascriptum can bind six lesser page spirits and three greater page spirits.

Once bound to a necropus laruascriptum a volumengeist is harmless and bound to a specific page within the spellbook until it is summoned. When not summoned, the binding page depicts an expertly drawn inked-visage of the volumengeist as a fully animated illustration. When its page is revealed, the bound volumengeist is aware of the observer and its animation displays contempt and anger towards the viewer. The page also highlights the written keyword used as the trigger to summon that particular volumengeist, but any other writing, drawing, or discoloration to the page magically vanishes within moments of being applied.

When a necropus laruascriptumis found, it already has a randomly determined volumengeist bound within it. Each of these is bound to one of the blank pages found in the back of the book.

A found lesser necropus laruascriptum has one lesser page spirit bound within, and a greater necropus laruascriptum has three lesser page spirits and one greater page spirit bound within. Use the following charts to randomly determine what type of volumengeists are inside:

Random Lesser Page Spirits Chart
d10    Volumengeist Type:
1–3    Diminutive Animal or Vermin (1 HD or less)
4–6    Small Animal or Vermin (1-3 HD)
7–9    Medium Animal (4 HD)
10      Humanoid (5 HD)

Random Greater Page Spirits Chart
d10    Volumengeist Type:
1–5    Large Animal (6-8 HD)
6–9    Humanoid (6-8 HD)
10      Leveled NPC (10 HD; humanoid)

Summoning a Volumengeist
To summon a volumengeist, the user of the necropus laruascriptum must open the book to reveal the page in which the page spirit is bound. The volumengeist is summoned when the user then speaks the keyword assigned to it.

Summoning a volumengeist requires a standard action (to find the correct page) and functions as a supernatural ability of the necropus laruascriptum. The summoning cannot be prevented by antimagic effects such as the antimagic field spell. Already having the spellbook open to the correct binding page makes summoning a free action. Placing a bookmark in the spellbook or creating a dog-ear to identify a specific binding page also makes summoning a free action provided that only one specific page has been marked.

When a volumengeist is summoned, the character using the necropus laruascriptum to summon it must make a Will save (DC 15 + DC of page spirit being summoned).

If the Will save is failed by the user then the volumengeist turns its full focus and wrath upon the one who summoned it. It is not able to be recalled back to the spellbook and continues to attempt to kill its target (and nothing else) until it is destroyed. If the volumengeist kills the user in this way then the volumengeist itself is destroyed.

If the Will save upon summoning attempt is successful, the user becomes the summoned volumengeist’s master. It manifests in an available space near its master and awaits a command. The page spirit follows any order given to it by its master with unwavering devotion provided that the commanded action is within its abilities. If its master becomes unconscious or otherwise unable to provide verbal commands, the volumengeist defaults to actively defending its master from any perceived threats.

A summoned volumengeist may be recalled back into its binding page as a free action by its master via spoken command.

Destroying a Volumengeist
When a summoned volumengeist reaches zero hit points, the page spirit is released from its bondage and fades away into nothingness (presumably finding peace in the hereafter). When this happens, the keyword for its summoning scribed within the necropus laruascriptum vanishes and the page is once again considered blank.

If the page a volumengeist is bound to is ever destroyed then the page spirit is automatically summoned without a master, and attacks any living creature within range. If a page is torn from the necropus laruascriptum then that page is considered destroyed. In this case, the volumengeist cannot be recalled to the spellbook (since the page binding it has been destroyed), and finds restful peace once its incorporeal form is destroyed.

If a volumengeist is successfully turned, instead of the normal effects of turning an undead creature, the page spirit is immediately returned to its binding page. When returned to the necropus laruascriptum this way, a page spirit cannot be summoned again for a number of hours equal to the total number of hit dice turned.

 

Volumengeist (Page Spirit) Template
Creatures with the volumengeist (or page spirit) template are bound to a necropus laruascriptum, whim to the will of the spellbook’s owner.

Challenge Rating: Same as base creature +2

Size: The creature’s sized does not change.

Type: The creature’s type changes to undead (do not modify base attack, saves or skills), change to incorporeal subtype

Armor Class: The creature loses any natural armor bonus and gains a deflection bonus equal to its Charisma modifier.

Hit Dice: Change to d8 for all class levels.

Defensive Abilities: Retains the defensive capabilities of the base creature except for those that depend on a corporeal form to function. A volumengeist gains the incorporeal ability, undead traits and darkvision 60 feet.

Speed/Movement: A volumengeist retains the same movement types as the base creature at 30 feet (perfect maneuvering if a fly speed) unless base creature has a higher speed for the give movement type. A volumengeist cannot travel beyond 500 feet of the necropus laruascriptum it is bound to, the limit of this range acts as an impenetrable wall of force to the volumengeist.

Attack: Since the incorporeal form of a volumengeist assumes only the natural form of the base creature (no clothes, equipment, weapons, or armor), attacks become unarmed or natural attacks. A volumengeist can wield ghost touch weapons, but will not be summoned equipped with such weapon.

Special Attacks:

Corrupting Touch (Su) By passing part of its incorporeal body through a target as a standard action, the volumengeist inflicts a number of d4’s equal to its CR in damage. This damage is not negative energy but instead manifests as physical wounds and aches from supernatural aging (creatures immune to magical aging are immune to this attack). This attack bypasses all forms of damage reduction. A Fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ of volumengeist’s CR, rounded down) halves the damage inflicted.

Frightful Moan (Su) A volumengeist can emit a frightful moan as a standard action. All living creatures within a 30-foot radius must make a Will save (DC 10 + ½ of volumengeist’s CR, rounded down) or become panicked for 1d4 rounds. This is a sonic mind-altering fear effect. A creature that successfully saves against the moan cannot be affected by the same volumengeist’s moan for 24-hours. The master of the volumengeist is immune to this effect.

Abilities: Charisma +4; as an incorporeal undead creature, a volumengeist has no Strength or Constitution score.

Skills: Same as base creature except the creature receives a +4 racial bonus on Perception and Stealth checks. A volumengeist always treats Intimidate, Perception, and Stealth as class skills.

 

[Designed by Justin Andrew Mason!]

 

 

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