Nightrealms Carrion Crown
Clad in ancient leather and bronze and a great horned helm, this withered gray figure is surrounded by a palpable aura of death.
The Whispering Tyrant
CR 26/MR 10
Source Mythic Realms
Human mythic lich necromancer 20 (Pathfinder RPG Mythic Adventures 206)
NE Medium undead (augmented humanoid, human, mythic)
Init +18M; Senses darkvision 60 ft., see in darkness, spell perception; Perception +33
Aura absolute terror (60-ft. radius, DC 39)
AC 46, touch 19, flat-footed 42 (320)
Fort +21, Ref +16, Will +22
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +12, rejuvenation; DR 15/bludgeoning and magic; Immune acid, channel energy from non-mythic sources, cold, electricity, undead traits; Resist half damage from positive energy; SR 42
Speed 30 ft.
Melee 10 (1d4+5/19–20), touch 10 plus 5d6 negative energy plus paralysis)
Special Attacks animate touch, channel negative energy (DC 29, 16/day), immediate counterspell, mythic power (12/day, surge +1d12), mythic spells (2/day), paralyzing touch (DC 39), wild arcana
Necromancer Spells Prepared (CL 20th; concentration +39)
9th—energy drain (DC 36), foresight, mage’s disjunctionM, meteor swarmM (DC 32), time stopM, wail of the banshee (DC 36), wishM
8th—empowered disintegrateM, horrid wilting (DC 35), mazeM, moment of prescience, power word stun, protection from spells, trap the soul
7th—finger of deathM (2, DC 34), force cage, greater scrying (DC 30), limited wish, quickened fireballM, spell turning
6th—acid fog, disintegrateM (DC 29), greater dispel magic (2), repulsion (DC 29), true seeing, empowered vampiric touchM
5th—cone of cold (DC 28), silent dimension door, dismissal (DC 28), dominate person (DC 28), quickened magic missile (2), wall of forceM, waves of fatigue
4th—black tentacles, detect scrying, dimension door, enervation (2), greater invisibility, empowered scorching ray, stoneskin
3rd—dispel magic (2), displacement, fireballM (DC 26), fly, haste, vampiric touchM (2)
2nd—detect thoughts (DC 25), false life (2), resist energy (3), extended shield (2)
1st—expeditious retreat, grease, magic missile (3), ray of enfeeblement (2, DC 28), true strike (2)
0 (at will)—detect magic, mage hand, message, read magic
Opposition Schools enchantment, illusion
Str 14, Dex 19, Con —, Int 36, Wis 14, Cha 28
Base Atk +10; CMB +12; CMD 19
Feats Command Undead, Craft Construct, Craft Wondrous Item, Empower Spell, Eschew MaterialsM, Extend Spell, Extra Mythic Power, Greater Spell Focus (necromancy), Improved Initiative, Improved Iron Will, Iron Will, Mythic Spell Lore, Quicken Spell, Scribe Scroll, Silent Spell, Spell Focus (necromancy)M, Spell Penetration, Still Spell, Toughness
Skills Acrobatics +25, Bluff +30, Diplomacy +30, Escape Artist +25, Fly +28, Intimidate +33, Knowledge (arcana, dungeoneering, history, planes, religion) +37, Perception +34, Sense Motive +34, Spellcraft +37, Stealth +36, Use Magic Device +30; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception, +8 Sense Motive, +8 Stealth
Languages Abyssal, Aklo, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Infernal, Orc, Undercommon
SQ arcane bond (amulet), life sight (40 feet, 20 rounds/day), mythic phylactery, perfect necromancer
Combat Gear greater silent metamagic rod, maximize metamagic rod, quicken metamagic rod, scrolls (contingency, discern location, gate, greater teleport, harm 2, mage’s disjunction, mass charm monster, project image, soul bind, time stop, and wish), wand of inflict critical wounds; Other Gear +2 keen wounding dagger, amulet of natural armor +4, belt of physical might +4 (Str, Dex), boots of teleportation, bracers of armor +8, cloak of resistance +5, gloves of the shortened pathUE, headband of mental prowess +6 (Int, Cha), Horns of Naraga, lavender and green ellipsoid ioun stone, pale green prism ioun stone, ring of protection +5, robe of the archmagi (black), tyrant’s ring (minor artifact, acts as a ring of freedom of movement and a ring of greater spell storing containing antilife shell and spell immunity), unfettered shirt
Animate Touch (Su) As a standard action, the Whispering Tyrant can touch a dead creature and animate it as a skeleton or zombie, as if using animate dead. He can expend one use of mythic power when using this ability to animate the body as a different type of undead, as if using greater create undead. The Whispering Tyrant treats his total Hit Dice as his caster level for these effects. Undead created in this way are automatically under his control. The Whispering Tyrant does not need to expend any material components when using this ability. This ability replaces the creeping paralysis mythic lich ability.
Aura of Absolute Terror (Su) Living creatures within 60 feet of the Whispering Tyrant are paralyzed by absolute terror for 1d4 rounds, after which they are shaken as long as they remain within his aura. Once a creature has been paralyzed by this aura, it is immune for 24 hours. Mythic creatures receive a DC 29 Will save to negate the paralysis, but are still shaken as long as they remain within the aura. This is a mind-affecting fear effect. This ability replaces the formidable animation mythic lich ability.
Perfect Necromancer (Ex) The Whispering Tyrant can prepare spells from his opposition schools without needing to expend an additional spell slot. He always succeeds at concentration checks to cast spells. He can have any number of undead under his control, and he is not limited by the total Hit Dice of those undead. This ability replaces the enhanced spellcasting mythic lich ability.
The Whispering Tyrant was perhaps the greatest threat that the people of the Inner Sea have ever known. Even after his defeat atop Gallowspire, he wasn’t finished. The forces that brought him low had no choice but to seal him within the tower that was once his capital.
Before becoming a lich, the Whispering Tyrant was a powerful necromancer by the name Tar-Baphon. Though his origins are lost to time, it’s thought that he grew up on the shores of Lake Encarthan, where he first studied the necromantic arts. As his power grew, so did his ambition, eventually leading him to the Cenotaph, the resting place of the slumbering runelord of gluttony. After unlocking the powers of Zutha, Tar-Baphon gained power beyond that of mortals. He realized then that true greatness required bringing the world itself under his control—alive or dead, all would serve him.
His campaign was brutal. Enlisting nearby orcs and undead, he quickly conquered Ustalav and began a conquest that consumed most of central Avistan. He set down stones on the Isle of Terror, intent upon making it his capital. His actions drew the attention of Aroden, the Last Azlanti, who knew what destruction the runelords had caused, and refused to allow the world to return to those ancient ways. The two met on the Isle of Terror in 896 ar. The battle raged for days and leveled the entire surface of the island. Tar-Baphon’s broken form lay among the rubble, and Aroden buried him there, thinking that was the end of the threat.
However, Tar-Baphon had intended to die by Aroden’s hand all along. His studies had revealed to him that his only true path to immortality lay in undeath. For Tar-Baphon’s last step in becoming a lich beyond compare, he needed to be killed by a god, and Aroden served this purpose. The process sparked by Aroden took time, however, and for 2,307 years Tar-Baphon’s body laid dead in the ground before he returned to grim unlife. The Whispering Tyrant was born.
He soon reestablished his power, animating thousands of dead. For centuries, the forces of the living were unable to resist the tide of the dead—with Aroden gone, nothing could stop the Whispering Tyrant. Only the Shining Crusade had a chance to end his threat. Bearing the Shield of Aroden, General Arnisant faced the lich, but when the Whispering Tyrant used a wish to summon the general’s heart to his waiting claw, the symbol of Aroden flared to life, the shield shattered, and the lich’s body was destroyed. Without a means to locate the Tyrant’s phylactery, let alone destroy it, the crusaders instead sealed him away in his tower, where their descendants remain ever watchful for his return.