Harrowed

The **Harrowed** are undead possessed and reanimated by evil entities known as *manitous*. These entities are incorporeal by nature and use the host's mind and body to affect the physical world.

## Possession and Dominion

When an individual with exceptional skill or ability dies, there is a slim chance that a manitou will latch onto the person's spirit and force it back into their body, along with the manitou itself. A manitou in a Harrowed host is slain if the body's brain is destroyed - one of the few ways these spirits can be killed - so they only risk their otherwise immortal existences on truly noteworthy individuals.

Most Harrowed lie dormant in their graves for 1d6 days as the person's soul battles the manitou for control, plus another 10-12 hours for freshly-create Harrowed to dig themselves out, assuming the body was properly buried. Some Harrowed come back quicker and some take longer - especially if the body was badly mangled or otherwise in bad shape. The manitou needs the host's brain, so the head must be intact.

### Dominion

The manitou is constantly seeking to gain control of the host body. This constant war for control is referred to as "Dominion". This is represented by Dominion Points. A Harrowed character has Dominion Points equal to half their Wisdom score, rounded up. A character with 13 Wisdom, for example, has 7 Dominion Points. A newly-created Harrowed controls half of these points, the manitou controls the other.

At the beginning of each session, the Harrowed character must make an opposed Dominion check. This is a roll of 1d20 + the character's Wisdom bonus + their Dominion points (a character with a 13 Wisdom and 7 Dominion points would roll 1d20+8). Manitous have a Wisdom score of 14, and thus add +2 to the roll, plus however many Dominion points they control. The winner of the opposed roll takes one of the loser's Dominion Points. A natural 1 by either party results in a loss of 2 Dominion Points to the other.

### A Demon at the Wheel

From time to time, the manitou inside a Harrowed attempts to take control to spread fear and misery in the world. Manitous aren't interested in flagrantly attacking a Harrowed's companions - that would get it killed eventually. It is much more likely to wait until someone is in a precarious position. Often, this happens when the rest of the Harrowed's companions are away doing something else. Then the manitou can take control, cause trouble elsewhere, and be back in time to play innocent. While the manitou is control, the Harrowed is essentially unconscious, and is entirely unaware of the manitou's activities.

To take over, the manitou and the Harrowed make opposed Dominion checks. If the manitou wins, it takes over for a while. Exactly how long, and what it does while in charge, is determined by the GM. If it fails, the Harrowed is aware of it and it cannot try again for 24 hours.

### Total Dominion

If a manitou ever controls all of a Harrowed's Dominion Points, it has "total dominion". It retains permanent control of the Harrowed until some special circumstance gives the character a reason to break free. The unfortunate host is usually lost for years, usually requiring a special event or threatened harm to a loved one to allow the soul inside to regain control.

## Harrowed Traits

All Harrowed have several abilities and characteristics in common.

### Death Wounds

The wound that killed the Harrowed never quite heals. Those aware of the existence of Harrowed, such as the BPRD, can sometimes identify a Harrowed by looking for such a wound. Since someone who knows what they're looking for might take this as evidence of undeath, most Harrowed do what they can to hide these wounds.

### Decay

Harrowed have sallow skin and a faint scent of decay about them, but these are usually only noticeable up close. A character who, for whatever reason, decides to sniff a Harrowed character can detect a faint odor of decay with a DC 10 Perception check. For creatures without the Scent ability, this usually requires them to be right next to the Harrowed to detect the odor. Many Harrowed "pickle" themselves by drinking at least a quart of alcohol a day, which increases the Perception DC to 15. Others may use heavy doses of perfume, aftershave, or cologne to hide their scent. The exact effect of those actions is up to the GM.

Creatures with the Scent ability automatically detect the Harrowed's smell of decay. All animals react poorly to their undead nature, and as a result the Harrowed gains a -2 penalty to all Ride checks, as well as all Survival checks made to handle or rear an animal, and all Wild Empathy checks.

### Regeneration

A Harrowed must consume meat to heal damage and reverse the constant decay of their body. It doesn't matter if the meat is fresh or rotten, as long as it is rare or raw. The manitou uses the energy from the flesh to repair the damage to its undead host. Every pound of meat consumed allows the Harrowed to heal 16 hit points per hour when they sleep later that day. At least one pound of meat per day is required just to keep the Harrowed's body from looking too corpselike. If the host does not feed themselves, the manitou will take over and grab whatever it can.

A Harrowed requires no other food or water to survive. Many do consume large amounts of alcohol to mask the scent of decay, but as undead creatures, alcohol and other drugs have no effect on the Harrowed's physiology.

The manitou inhabiting the Harrowed's body needs downtime each day to repair and maintain its host's body. Assuming the Harrowed has consumed enough raw meat, they heal 1d6 hit points per hour spent sleeping. If they have not had enough to eat, they lose 1d6 hit points per hour starting 24 hours after its last meal. This hit point loss stops at 1, and the Harrowed suffers -4 to all attacks, saves, and ability checks until it heals by eating and sleeping. If reduced below 0 and the Harrowed has not eaten in the last 24 hours, they go dormant and remain so until fed raw meat. When a dormant Harrowed is fed, they immediately regain 1d6 hit points and may go off in search of food.

While sleeping, a Harrowed is not totally oblivious to their environment The manitou keeps an eye out for trouble while recuperating, negating the normal -10 penalty to Perception checks while asleep.

A Harrowed can regenerate as long as it has its head.

### Nightmares

While the Harrowed is asleep, the manitou makes use of its host's inactivity to torment them, sending them horrible nightmares and picking away at their will in an attempt to fully subjugate the Harrowed.

### Unnatural Toughness

It is very difficult to kill the Harrowed. Unlike most undead, Harrowed are not destroyed when reduced to 0 hit points. In fact, while rendered dormant if their hit points reach 0, a Harrowed can have any amount of negative hit points, so long as the brain is not destroyed, and regenerates normally given enough time.

## Harrowed Template

"Harrowed" is an acquired template that can be added to any humanoid creature of Small or Medium size. This creature is referred to hereafter as the base creature.

**CR:** Base creature +1.

**Type:** The creature's type becomes undead, and gains all undead traits except where contradicted by a Harrowed trait.

**Alignment:** Same as base creature, see Dominion.

**Armor Class:** The Harrowed's natural armor bonus increases by +2.

**Hit Dice:** Change all of the creature's racial Hit Dice to d8s. Hit Dice from class levels are unchanged.

**Defensive Abilities:** A Harrowed gains channel resistance +4, in addition to undead traits.

**Abilities:** Str +2, Dex +2. As an undead, it has no Constitution score.

**Feats:** A Harrowed gains Toughness as a bonus feat.

**Special Qualities:** See Harrowed Traits.