| Hit Dice: | 8d12 (52 hp) |
| Initiative: | +3 |
| Speed: | 30 ft. (6 squares) |
| Armor Class: | 27 (+3 Dex, +14 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 24 |
| Base Attack/Grapple: | +4/— |
| Attack: | Slam +10 melee (1d6+9 plus 2d6 cold) |
| Full Attack: | Slam +10 melee (1d6+9 plus 2d6 cold) |
| Space/Reach: | 5 ft./5 ft. |
| Special Attacks: | Cold to the touch, create spawn, heat-draining aura |
| Special Qualities: | Contingent healing 10, darkvision 60 ft., diet dependent, fire lover, undead traits, turn resistance +2 |
| Saves: | Fort +2, Ref +7, Will +8 |
| Abilities: | Str 22, Dex 16, Con —, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 15 |
| Skills: | Diplomacy +6, Hide +11, Intimidate +10, Listen +12, Search +10, Sense Motive +8, Spot +12, Survival +2 (+4 following tracks) |
| Feats: | Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Lightning Reflexes |
| Environment: | Any |
| Organization: | Solitary |
| Challenge Rating: | 7 |
| Treasure: | None |
| Alignment: | Always neutral evil |
| Advancement: | 6–10 HD (Medium) ♊ |
| Level Adjustment: | — |
This frigid corpse is so cold that it is frosted with icy crystals. Sensing the warmth of life, it shambles eagerly toward its victims. Its eyes reflect the vacuum of the void, its touch chills to the bone, and its very presence seems to drain the heat from your pores.
When inactive, a bleakborn appears to be nothing but a humanoid corpse, slain either by bitterly cold conditions (or if in a warmer environment, as if by a magical cold attack so potent that the corpse still sparkles with ice crystals). However, whenever any living creature comes to within 30 feet of an inactive bleakborn, the warmth and life of the interloper revive the undead creature, giving it purpose and a icy semblance of life.
Bleakborns are also referred to as Moil zombies in some lesser-known tomes about undead, in supposed reference to the cursed city in which they first arose. A bleakborn is not marked by direct violence; rather, it looks like a humanoid that has been flash-frozen, with discoloration and some ruptured flesh showing here and there.
A bleakborn stands a little over 6 feet tall and weighs between 150 and 230 pounds.
Bleakborns speak Common and their own language (called Moilian).
A bleakborn actively moves toward living creatures, attempting to keep them within range of its heat-draining aura. If possible, a bleakborn pummels a living creature with its ice-cold limbs, hoping to deprive its victim of all warmth and life.
Cold to the Touch (Su): The touch of a bleakborn deals 2d6 points of cold damage. Each 3 points of cold damage dealt heals a bleakborn of 1 point of damage. If this amount of healing would cause a bleakborn to exceed its full normal hit point total, it gains any excess as temporary hit points. These temporary hit points last for up to 1 hour. Anyone who hits a bleakborn in melee also takes 1d6 points of cold damage, unless wielding a reach weapon.
Contingent Healing: A bleakborn only heals when in range of a living creature that it can affect with its heat-draining aura. Even if brought to 0 hit points or less, a bleakborn eventually heals if a living creature at some future date wanders within 30 feet of the bleakborn’s remains, automatically triggering its heat-draining aura. As long as affected creatures are within its heat-draining aura, a bleakborn’s contingent healing remains active.
A bleakborn does not have immunity to cold. While a bleakborn doesn’t take cold damage from its own abilities, it can take cold damage from another of its kind.
Create Spawn (Su): Any humanoid slain by a bleakborn becomes a normal zombie in 1d4 rounds. These spawn are under the command of the bleakborn that created them and remain enslaved until its destruction. They do not possess any of the abilities they had in life.
Sometimes a newly created spawn becomes a bleakborn instead of a mere zombie, though the wiles of the dark gods determine such instances (that is, the DM decides when this occurs).
Diet Dependent: Bleakborns are diet dependent (see Undead Metabolism) upon warmth, which they gain through their heat-draining aura, as described below.
Fire Lover (Su): A magical fire attack heals a bleakborn of 1 point of damage for each 3 points of damage the attack would otherwise deal. If this amount of healing would cause bleakborn to exceed its full normal hit point total, it gains any excess as temporary hit points. These temporary hit points last for up to 1 hour. For example, a bleakborn hit by a fireball that would normally deal 18 points of damage instead gains 6 hit points. A bleakborn makes no saving throws against fire effects.
Heat-Draining Aura (Su): All living creatures (except those immune to cold damage) that approach within 30 feet of a bleakborn are subject to its heat-draining aura. Victims must make a DC 16 Fortitude save. If they fail, they take 2d6 hit points of cold damage per round as their living heat is sucked away, but if they succeed, they lose only 1d6 hit points per round that they remain in the radius. Should a bleakborn kill a humanoid creature with its heat-draining aura, the victim rises again as a bleakborn spawn. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Source: Libris Mortis, page 86.