Category:Defacer
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This section contains canon info from officially published sources |
A defacer is a particularly nasty type of corporeal undead able to be created by spellcasters of 14th level or higher, although a defacer may be created through accident. Creating the defacer requires a create undead spell cast upon the corpse of a doppelganger or other shapechanger capable of taking the guise of other specific creatures.[1] The defacer experiences enmity toward the living as it has been denied the ability to shapechange in undeath. Therefore, the defacer becomes a defiler of its victims' corpses, removing their facial features leaving only a blank face behind. This prevents the use of speak with dead. When the defacer uses its Steal Face ability, it also capture's the victim's soul, thus preventing resurrection or reanimation into undead until the defacer is destroyed. The faces of its victims swirl around the defacer's own faceless head.[2]
Other Special Abilities
The swirling faces of its previous victims scream a horrible keening, leaving living creatures around a defacer shaken. A defacer can burrow through earth and stone just as easily as an earth elemental with the Earth Glide special ability. Finally, a defacer can stun its victim with its punch. While stunned, the face of its current victim is replaced by a previous victim's face, which proceeds to scream for help.[2]
Origins
Development in Eberron
On the outlander world of Eberron in the nation of Karrnath, Clavius Kreel was the head of a Karrnathi army program during the Last War to use defacers as undead assassins. They were potentially useful for preventing their targets from being subjects of speak with dead spells or resurrection. The program was deemed largely a failure and closed down when several military officers of the army were found with their faces removed. Clavius Kreel disappeared at about this time.[1]
Bringing to Darkon
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This section contains netbook-canon info from netbooks |
Clavius Kreel was claimed by the Mists after using the defacers to murder the Karrnathi officers for unknown reasons. He eventually wound up in Darkon some time prior to the Requiem. There, Clavius presented several types of undead, including the defacer from his homeworld to Azalin Rex. Azalin has since referred to Kreel's discoveries as important new directions for the war efforts against Falkovnia.[3]
A seemingly new introduction to Darkon, it is unknown if the defacer has existed in other times and places within the Demiplane of Dread.
The Defacer and Van Richten's Guide to the Walking Dead
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This section contains netbook-canon info from netbooks |
The defacer has been identified as one of the Walking Dead. According to Van Richten's Guide to the Walking Dead, the defacer is a Hungry Dead. Likely salient abilities include: Keen Scent, Paralysis, Lure Victim, and Recalled Abilities.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Monster Manual IV p. 39
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Monster Manual IV p. 38
- ↑ Van Richten’s Files: The Clavius Keel Case, Quoth the Raven Issue 26, p. 147-151
- ↑ QtR 26 p. 152
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