Spell-Inscribed Undead Template (CR +1)

Spell-inscribed undead are specially treated undead creatures whose form has been carved and wrought with spells and arcane runes. Their undead bodies are inscribed with magical formulae allowing the undead creature to use some magic granted to them by their creator. This is much more effective if the undead creature is intelligent as they can employ their spells with much more strategy involved.

No undead creature is reanimated with this template without special work involved. After they are created, or during the reanimation process, the creator must have the Craft Wondrous Items feat and be able to cast the spells inscribed upon the undead and the undead must be of sufficient HD to be able to cast the spells inscribed. The inscribing process takes a number of days equal to the Charisma score of the undead being modified and costs 150 gp per spell inscribed for materials. So, if you are reanimating a creature with a spell such as animate dead or create undead, either this process increases the time to cast the spell or the inscribing process must be performed after the creature is reanimated.

Undead with a spellcasting capacity that have Craft Wondrous Item can inscribe spells upon themselves.

Creating a Spell-Inscribed Undead

Spell-inscribed is an acquired template that can be applied to any corporeal undead with a Charisma score of 10 or higher (referred hereafter as the base creature). A spell-inscribed undead retains the base creature’s statistics and abilities except as noted here.

CR Same as base creature + 1.

Defensive Abilities +2 channel resistance. This bonus against channeling stacks with existing bonuses.

Saves A spell-inscribed undead gains a +2 bonus on all saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities.

SR A spell-inscribed undead gains a spell resistance of 10 + its Charisma modifier. If it has SR from a source other than this template, the SR does not stack, use the greater spell resistance amount.

Spell-like Abilities A spell-inscribed creature can be imbued with spell-like abilities according to its Charisma, as indicated on the Table 5-1 on page 41.

The number of spell-like abilities granted is cumulative, for example, a spell-inscribed undead with a Charisma of 15 can cast 2 4th level spells twice per day, 2 3rd level spells twice per day, 2 2nd level spells four times per day and 2 1st level spells four times per day. The caster level for the spells is equal to the spell-inscribed undead’s CL, and the DCs for the spells are based upon the spell-inscribed undead’s Charisma modifier.

When inscribing a spell on the undead, the undead creature must have sufficient HD to equate to the minimum caster level for that level of spell. So for example, a Wight has a Charisma of 15 which should allow them to cast up to 4th level spells, however, their HD is only 4, so they can only cast the 1st and 2nd level spells inscribed upon them.

The table below notates the minimum HD required for each spell level.

Table: Spell-Inscribed Undead

Minimum HD	Minimum Charisma	Spells Imbued	Times per Day
1	10	2 1st-lvl spells	4
3	11	2 2nd-lvl spells	4
5	13	2 3rd-lvl spells	2
7	15	2 4th-lvl spells	2
8	17	2 5th-lvl spells	2
11	19	1 6th-lvl spells	1