Ravener

Ravener
(Creature)
Common Undead Dragon Level 15+ Alignment LG NG CG LN N CN LE NE CE Images of raveners Source: Bestiary 2, pg(s). 222 Type Undead CR +2 Environment Any Alignment LG NG CG LN N CN LE NE CE Images of raveners Source: Bestiary 2, pg(s). 230

This article is about the undead type of dragon. For the demon lord known as the "Ravener King", see Angazhan.

A ravener is a powerful, evil undead form of dragon.

Appearance

During the transition from life to undeath, most of a ravener's flesh rots away to leave only a skeleton that radiates necromantic magic so powerful that it is visible to the naked eye. Sometimes small patches of scales cling to the ravener's bones or remnant shreds of skin hang between its wing bones.

Ecology

Dragons can live for millennia but remain mortal. When they realise that no amount of treasure can extend their natural lives, some evil dragons are consumed by anger and rampage across the nearby countryside. However, a few instead seek a way to bypass death itself. These dragons undertake a necromantic ritual that involves bargaining with unholy powers and sacrificing much of their hoarded wealth.

When a ravener embraces undeath it leaves behind all needs of the flesh along with its mortal life. Like any evil dragon raveners still hunt and kill, but to devour the souls of those they kill rather than their flesh. A ravener possesses no loyalty to its former kin and will devour the souls of living dragons as eagerly as it would anything else.

Abilities

Raveners posses a powerful ward of pure necromantic energy. The fear most creatures feel when encountering a dragon is enhanced, often reducing even the bravest warrior to a cowering wreck. Raveners, like living dragons, possess a powerful breath weapon similar to the one they had while alive but overflowing with negative energy. Many raveners that were spellcasters in life also remain so in undeath.

Due to the sheer necromantic power a ravener wields, their form is much harder to maintain than many other forms of undeath. Their new metabolism leaves raveners even hungrier than when they were alive, such that one can easily depopulate the area around its lair of all life.

Ravener husks

A ravener who cannot maintain its diet of souls degenerates into a ravener husk, an almost mindlessly feral undead beast that retains the ravener's terrible form but none of its personality or intellect. A ravener husk can regain its former form only by feasting on the soul of a very powerful good creature.

Habitat

A ravener alongside morlocks and a serpentfolk.

Due to their insatiable appetites, raveners relocate their lairs much more frequently than living dragons. If possible, raveners prefer lairs that are as hostile to mortal life as possible while still allowing them easy access to hunt for food. Examples include the peaks of mountains so tall that living creatures struggle to breathe, or submerged in a pool of magma within an active volcano. Those with access to powerful magic often flood their lair with poisonous gas or seal it so that a creature must teleport or take on a gaseous form in order to access it.

Raveners view most other undead with almost as much disdain as the living and cannot feed on them, but often employ undead as guardians for their lairs, preferring spectral undead like ghosts, specters and wraiths over crude reanimated flesh. Due to how comparatively often they have to move lairs, raveners favour a treasure horde that is compact and easy to transport. Instead of coins, raveners prefer gemstones, priceless works of art, and powerful magic items.

On Golarion

See also: Category:Ravener/Inhabitants

The ravener Karamorros was a rival of the living Tar-Baphon and continued to seek vengeance into the Whispering Tyrant's undeath. Tar-Baphon turned Karamorros's son Istravek into a ravener and forced the undead dragon to serve him.

At least three raveners are believed to inhabit the ruins of the Slave District of the long-lost city of Xin-Shalast within Varisia's Kodar Mountains. It is unknown whether the city's recent discovery and exploration have driven out these monstrosities.

A white dragon ravener patrols the skies over the Frost Giant's Fist fortress in Irrisen.

Notable raveners

See also: Category:Ravener/Inhabitants

Other known raveners include:

• Arantaros
• Kaververrig
• Marrowgarth
• Nharvode
• Sparkeater
• Terendelev
• Urbulinex
• Vashkiyan

References

Paizo published a major article about raveners in Undead Revisited pgs. 40–45.