Making Monster Templates: Festering Spirit Creature Template

I do a lot of work with monsters, I have written them for Paizo, I have written the Book of Monster Templates, I have written 101 Not So Simple Monster Templates and 101 Variant Monsters. I thought I would do a few articles every now and then giving some examples of how you can turn nearly any monster into a monster template simply based on its origin story.

For this experiment I am going to start with an undead creature as these are the easiest things in the world to make a template. 

In my personal opinion ALL undead creature’s should be templates.

The Festering Spirit you will find the stats of the creature HERE!

 Illustration by John Baur

Festering Spirit Creature (CR +2)

A festering spirit arises when a vile being's corpse is put in a mass grave, or when such a creature is buried, exhumed, and placed in a charnel house or ossuary. The lingering hatred and evil of the dead mixes with the worst remnants of dozens of other people, creating a frustrated incorporeal shade of sickness, hate, and rot. Powerful creatures might arise as multiple festering spirits, each spawned from a different aspect of the original creature's personality.

Rebuild Rules: Type undead (augmented, incorporeal); Senses darkvision 60 ft.,  Aura stentchl AC a festering spirit creature gains a deflection bonus equal to its Charisma modifier, it loses the base creature's natural armor bonus, as well as all armor and shield bonuses not from force effects or ghost touch items; Hit Dice change all of the creature's racial Hit Dice to d8s, all Hit Dice derived from class levels remain unchanged, it uses its Charisma modifier to determine bonus hit points; Defensive Abilities channel resistance +2, incorporeal; Immune undead traits; Speed festering spirit creatures lose their previous speeds and gain a fly speed of 40 feet (good), unless the base creature has a higher fly speed; Melee and Ranged Attacks a festering spirit creature loses all of the base creature's attacks, if it could wield weapons in life, it can wield ghost touch weapons; Melee incorporeal touch (1d4 Con damage + slime); Special Attack create spawn, slime, trample (1 Con damage plus slime); Ability Scores loses Str and Con, +6 Dex, +2 Cha.

Create Spawn (Su): A coporeal creature killed by a festering spirit's Constitution damage becomes a festering spirit under the control of its killer in 1d4 days. Giving the corpse a proper burial (or cremation) prevents it from becoming a festering spirit.

Ghost Touch (Su): A festering spirit can manipulate corporeal objects that weigh up to 25 pounds as if those objects had the ghost touch special ability

Slime (Su): A festering spirit's slime resembles the putrefying sludge of decaying corpses. Any creature that is hit by the spirit's incorporeal touch attack, passes through its square, or hits it with a natural weapon or unarmed strike must attempt a Fortitude save (DC 10 +1/2 the festering spirit creature’s HD + its Cha Modifier) . On a failure, the creature is nauseated for 1d4 rounds, and on a success the creature is staggered for 1 round. A festering spirit's slime persists on objects and creatures for 1d10 minutes but has no harmful effect after its initial contact. Creatures immune to poison or disease are immune to this ability.