Archives of Nethys

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Template Grafts | Universal Monster Rules


Derelict Shade

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 130

Derelict Shade Tier 4

NE Small starship undead
Speed 8; Maneuverability good (turn 1); Drift
AC 19; TL 16
HP 90; DT —; CT 18
Shields 60 (forward 15, port 15, starboard 15, aft 15)
Attack (Forward) howling souls (3d4 plus numbing; 10 hexes)
Attack (Aft) soul fragments (3d4; 10 hexes)
Attack (Turret) soul fragments (3d4; 10 hexes)

Crew

Engineer (1 action) Engineering +10 (4 ranks)
Gunners (2 actions) gunnery +9 (4th level)
Magic Officer (1 action) Mysticism +15 (4 ranks)
Pilot (1 action) Piloting +10 (4 ranks)

Ecology

Environment any vacuum
Organization solitary

Special Abilities

Ghosts in the Machine (Ex) A derelict shade’s weaponry carries fragments of its crew’s souls. If the derelict shade deals Hull Point damage to an enemy ship, these fragments infect the ship’s systems and cause one randomly determined system to gain the glitching condition until the end of the next round, regardless of the amount of damage dealt. If the damage dealt would already give the system the glitching condition, it instead gains the malfunctioning condition until the end of the next round. A system that is already malfunctioning or wrecked is not affected.

Living Starship (Ex) A derelict shade is an undead creature so immense that it functions as a starship (and thus engages only in starship combat). The ghostly remnants of the crew members, functioning as a unified whole, can take engineer, gunner, magic officer, and pilot actions using the bonuses, level, and ranks listed above. Modifiers for its size, speed, and maneuverability have already been factored into its statistics. Use the following table to determine the effects when a derelict shade takes critical damage.
D%SYSTEMEFFECT
1–30Weapons arrayRandomly determine one arc containing weapons; condition applies to all gunner actions using weapons in that arc.
31–60PropulsionCondition applies to all pilot actions.
61–90MarrowCondition applies to all engineer and magic officer actions, except when patching or repairing the marrow.
91–100Core†During the next round, each of the derelict shade’s attempted actions has a 25% chance of failure.
† A derelict shade’s core doesn’t gain critical damage conditions.

Shadeswarm (Ex) When using its teleportation ability to appear adjacent to a starship that has no shields remaining in one or more quadrants, a derelict shade can attempt a check using its gunnery bonus as part of using its teleportation. If the result is equal to or greater than the adjacent ship’s AC, any living crew members aboard the starship are swarmed by spirits from the derelict shade. Each affected creature must succeed at a DC 11 Will save or be unable to act until after the next round’s helm phase.

Description

On occasion, when an entire starship crew is killed upon destruction of their starship—whether by accident or malice—a derelict shade forms from the remains. Although derelict shades are not true ghosts, as the crew members’ souls do move on, the terror of their last moments causes fragments of their souls to combine and rise as a single creature, taking the form of their old ship. Cunning and cruel, a derelict shade seeks only to inflict on other ships the same pain that it suffered. Though it stays away from larger fleets, it eagerly attacks lone ships that it views as easy prey; if destroyed, such ships often give rise to derelict shades themselves.