The rotting skeleton and muscles of this fanged, decaying horse seem barely able to hold together.
Plagued Horse CR 2
XP 600
NE Large undead (augmented animal)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +6
Defense
AC 14, touch 12, flat-footed 11 (+3 Dex, +2 natural, -1 size)
hp 16 (2d8+7)
Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +1
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +2; DR 5/slashing; Immune cold, undead traits
Offense
Speed 50 ft.
Melee bite +5 (1d8+5 plus disease), 2 hooves +0 (1d4+2)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks disease
Statistics
Str 20, Dex 16, Con —, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 15
Base Atk +1; CMB +7; CMD 20 (24 vs. trip)
Feats Endurance, Run, Toughness
Skills Perception +6
SQ docile
Ecology
Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, or herd (3-30)
Treasure none
Special abilities
Disease (Ex) Demon Plague: Bite—mdash;injury; save Fortitude DC 13; onset 1 day; frequency 1/day; effect 1d3 Constitution damage and 1d6 Wisdom damage, victim is fatigued if it takes any ability damage from the disease, and certain creatures slain by demon plague rise as plagued beasts; cure 3 consecutive saves.
When animals are stricken with demon plague, they may arise as undead and further spread the disease. Some demons and cultists are fond of using plagued horses as mounts.
Creating a Plagued Beast
"Plagued beast" is an acquired template that can be added to a living, corporeal creature with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2. A plagued beast uses all of the creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Challenge Rating: Base creature's CR + 1.
Alignment: Neutral evil.
Type: The creature's type changes to undead (augmented). It retains all subtypes except alignment subtypes and subtypes that indicate kind. Do not recalculate its saves, BAB, or skill ranks.
Armor Class: Increase the base creature's AC by 2.
Hit Dice: Change all of the creature's racial Hit Dice to d8s. As undead, plagued beasts use their Charisma modifiers to determine bonus hit points.
Defensive Abilities: Plagued beasts gain darkvision 60 feet, channel resistance +2, and DR 5/slashing. They are immune to cold, and gain all of the standard undead traits.
Melee: A plagued beast gains a bite attack that deals damage based on the plagued beast's size. If the beast already has a bite attack, the bite's damage increases by one step, as if it had increased one size category.
Special Attacks: A plagued beast inflicts demon plague with each successful bite attack (DC = 10 + 1/2 the plagued beast's Hit Dice + the plagued beast's Charisma modifier).
Ability Scores: +4 Strength, +2 Dexterity. A plagued beast has a minimum Charisma score of 15—if the base creature's Charisma score is lower, increase it to 15. A plagued beast has no Constitution score; as an undead, it uses its Charisma when calculating its hit points, Fortitude saves, and any special abilities that rely on Constitution.
Feats: A plagued beast gains Toughness as a bonus feat.
