Jiang-Shi

Medium undead, lawful evil

Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 110 (13d8+52)
Speed 20 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
20 (+5)	20 (+5)	18 (+4)	11 (+0)	12 (+1)	14 (+2)

Saving Throws Dex +8, Str +8
Damage Resistances cold, necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from weapons not made from the wood of peach trees
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Skills Perception +4, Stealth +8
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages The languages it knew in life
Challenge 7 (2,900 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Hopping Vampire. The jiang-shi moves around by hopping, ignoring all difficult terrain.
• Jiang-Shi Weaknesses. The jiang-shi recoils from mirrors and handbells that are rung within 10 feet of them, as well as glutinous rice. A recoiling jiang-shi must attempt a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw in order to get within 5 feet of a creature brandishing any of these items. Brandishing an item in this manner requires an action each turn from the creature trying to keep the jiang-shi at bay.
• Talisman Scroll. The scroll on the jiang-shi’s face, often inscribed with an imperial writ or divine command, makes it immune to the spells and effects of scrolls, staves, and wands. Once the jiang-shi is reduced to half its hit points, the talisman scroll is damaged and this trait no longer functions.

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The jiang-shi makes one bite attack and two claw attacks.
• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 5) piercing damage.
• Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) slashing damage. Instead of dealing damage, the jiang-shi can grapple the target (escape DC 15).
• Steal Breath. When the jiang-shi successfully grapples a creature, as a bonus action it can try to draw forth the grappled creature’s life energy through its breath. The target must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or gain 1 level of exhaustion. If the target fails its saving throw, the jiang-shi regains 10 hit points.

ABOUT

Jiang-shis (often known as “hopping vampires”) are undead humanoid creatures that feed on the exhaled life energy of the living. A jiang-shi’s appearance is based on the state of the creature’s corpse at the time of its reanimation. Regardless of the state of decay, jiang-shis wear the clothing or armor they were buried in. Sometimes this is common clothing but for some it may be generations out of style. Additionally, each has a short parchment scroll talisman affixed to its brow by rice glue; intended in some cases to protect the body from restless spirits, in others to cause them to rise, and others where fear of them rampaging the talisman is meant to weaken or restrain them. A jiang-shi rises from the grave when an excess of necrotic yin energy builds up where the coffin is buried (or sometimes as a result of a curse), and all three parts of its soul being bound into its body at the time of death and are instead forced to fester and putrefy within. At some point during the body’s decomposition, the thing rises in its grotesque form and seeks living creatures to feed upon, though they do not create spawn the way Western vampires do.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Asian Monsters (5E) © 2021, Legendary Games; Authors Miguel Colon, Jason Nelson, Andrew Ha, Aurélien Lainé, Dan Dillon, Ismael Alvarez, James-Levi Cooke, Robert J. Grady, Jeff Ibach, Matt Kimmel, and Thurston Hillman

Jiang-shi (Human Jiang-shi Monk 5) – CR 6

XP 2,400 Human jiang-shi Monk 5 LE Medium undead (augmented humanoid) Init +10; Senses Blindsight 60 ft. (breathing creatures only), Darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +22

DEFENSE

AC 25, touch 22, flat-footed 18 (+6 Dexterity, +1 Dodge, +3 natural, +1 monk, +4 Wisdom) hp 51 (5d8+25); fast healing 5 Fort +8, Ref +11, Will +9; +2 vs. enchantment Defensive Abilities Channel Resistance +4, evasion, prayer scroll; DR 10/magic and slashing; Immune disease, spell completion and spell trigger effects, undead traits; Resist cold 20 Weaknesses jiang-shi weaknesses

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft. Melee flurry of blows +9/+9 (1d8+3/19-20 plus grab), bite +4 (1d6+4) Special Attacks brutal claws, drain chi (DC 15), flurry of blows, Stunning Fist (5/day, DC 16)

STATISTICS

Strength 16, Dexterity 23, Constitution -, Intelligence 12, Wisdom 18, Charisma 16 Base Atk +3; CMB +8 (+12 grapple); CMD 28 (can’t be tripped) Feats AlertnessB, Combat Reflexes, DodgeB, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, MobilityB, Skill Focus (Acrobatics)B, Spring AttackB, Stunning Fist,Toughness, Weapon Finesse Skills Acrobatics +25 (+30 when jumping), Escape Artist +14, Perception +22, Sense Motive +14, Stealth +22, Swim +11; Racial Modifiers +8 Acrobatics, +8 Perception, +8 Stealth Languages Common SQ fast movement, high jump, ki pool (6 points, magic), maneuver training, purity of body, slow fall 20 ft., still mind

SPECIAL ATTACKS

Brutal Claws (Ex) A jiang-shi’s nails are brutally sharp and can extend and retract at will. They threaten a critical hit on a roll of 19-20 and grant the grab ability. A jiang-shi with monk levels gains this enhanced critical threat range and grab ability with its unarmed attacks, and uses its unarmed monk damage or its claw damage, whichever is higher, when making such attacks.   Drain Chi (Su) Instead of draining blood, a jiang-shi vampire drains “chi,” or life energy, from a victim’s breath. When a jiang-shi makes a successful grapple check (in addition to any other effects caused by a successful check, including additional damage), the jiang-shi can attempt to drain chi by drinking the victim’s breath. The victim can resist this attack by making a successful DC 15 Fortitude save. On a failed save, the victim gains 1 negative level and is staggered for 1d4 rounds.

ECOLOGY

Environment any Organization solitary or brotherhood (2-8) Treasure NPC gear (amulet of natural armor +1, cloak of resistance +1, potion of invisibility, alchemist’s fire [6])

Creating a Jiang-shi

“Jiang-shi” is an acquired template that can be added to any living creature with 5 or more Hit Dice (referred to hereafter as the base creature). Most jiang-shis were once humans, but any creature that undergoes specific rites can acquire the template. A jiang-shi uses the base creature’s stats and abilities except as noted here.

CR: Same as the base creature +2.

Alignment: Any evil.

Type: The creature’s type changes to undead (augmented). Do not recalculate class Hit Dice, BAB, or saves.

Senses: A jiang-shi vampire gains Darkvision 60 feet. It also gains the ability to sense the breathing of living creatures – a jiang-shi has Blindsight to a range of 60 feet against creatures that breathe. A creature may hold its breath to prevent a jiang-shi from noticing it in this manner.

Armor Class: Natural armor improves by +2.

Hit Dice: Change all racial Hit Dice to d8s. Class Hit Dice are unaffected. As undead, jiang-shis use their Charisma modifier to determine bonus hit points (instead of Constitution).

Defensive Abilities: A jiang-shi gains Channel Resistance +4, DR 10/magic and slashing, and resistance to cold 20, in addition to all of the defensive abilities granted by the undead type. A jiang-shi also gains fast healing 5. In addition, all jiang-shis gain the following defensive ability.

Prayer Scroll (Su) The scroll attached to the brow of a jiang-shi grants immunity to any effects generated from spell-completion or spell-trigger magic items, such as scrolls and wands. Such magical effects treat the jiang-shi as if it had unbeatable Spell Resistance. A jiang-shi’s prayer scroll can be removed with a successful steal combat maneuver, which immediately ends the jiang-shi’s immunity to these effects. If a jiang-shi’s prayer scroll is destroyed (a standard action), the vampire also loses its fast healing ability. A jiang shi may create a replacement prayer scroll by using any strip of parchment and a writing instrument, but doing so requires 10 minutes of uninterrupted work.

Weaknesses: Jiang-shis recoil from mirrors or the sound of handbells rung within 10 feet of them. Cooked rice, which to jiang-shis mocks the fundamental fact that they no longer eat food, shames them into recoiling as well. These things don’t harm a jiang-shi vampire—they merely keep it at bay for a period of time. A recoiling jiang-shi vampire must stay at least 5 feet away from the object of its revulsion, and cannot touch or make melee attacks against a creature brandishing the object during that round. Holding a jiang-shi vampire at bay takes a standard action. After being held at bay for 1 round, a jiang-shi vampire can attempt to overcome its revulsion of the object and function normally each round it makes a DC 20 Will save at the start of its turn.

Destroying a Jiang-Shi: If reduced to 0 hit points, a jiang-shi vampire crumbles to dust but is not destroyed. It reforms in 1 minute with 1 hit point in the same space, or the nearest unoccupied space. Scattering the dust before the jiang-shi reforms destroys it permanently, as does mixing rice into the dust with a dose of holy water. Jiang-shi vampires are also susceptible to wooden weapons carved from peach trees, as such weapons represent the unity of all elements and life to these creatures. A wooden weapon carved from a peach tree automatically bypasses a jiang-shi vampire’s damage reduction. Additionally, any successful hit from such a weapon that reduces a jiang-shi to 0 hit points immediately destroys the creature. Although they normally retreat from daylight, jiang-shi vampires are not destroyed by sunlight like regular vampires and can move around during the day without harm.

Speed: A jiang-shi moves only by hopping. This mode of movement is somewhat less swift than regular movement, and thus a jiang-shi’s base speed is reduced by 10 feet from the base creature’s speed, to a minimum of 10 feet. This unusual mode of movement allows the jiang-shi to ignore the effects of difficult terrain on movement, and makes it impossible to trip. Other speeds (like fly or Swim speeds) are not affected by this reduction.

Melee: A jiang-shi gains a bite attack and 2 claw attacks if the base creature didn’t have them. Damage for the bite attack depends on the jiang-shi’s size, but its claw attacks do damage as a creature two size categories larger. For a Medium jiang-shi, a bite attack deals 1d6 points of damage and a claw attack deals 1d8 points of damage. A jiang-shi’s claws are even more dangerous than this, though – see the “brutal claws” special attack below. A jiang-shi’s natural weapons are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Special Attacks: A jiang-shi gains several special attacks. Save DCs are equal to 10 + 1/2 the jiang-shi’s Hit Dice + the jiang-shi’s Charisma modifier unless otherwise noted.

Brutal Claws (Ex) A jiang-shi’s nails are brutally sharp and can extend and retract at will. They threaten a critical hit on a roll of 19-20 and grant the grab ability. A jiang-shi with monk levels gains this enhanced critical threat range and grab ability with its unarmed attacks, and uses its unarmed monk damage or its claw damage, whichever is higher, when making such attacks.

Drain Chi (Su) Instead of draining blood, a jiang-shi vampire drains “chi,” or life energy, from a victim’s breath. When a jiang-shi makes a successful grapple check (in addition to any other effects caused by a successful check, including additional damage), the jiang-shi can attempt to drain chi by drinking the victim’s breath. The victim can resist this attack by making a successful Fortitude save. On a failed save, the victim gains 1 negative level and is staggered for 1d4 rounds.

Ability Scores: Strength +4, Dexterity +6, Intelligence +2, Wisdom +4, Charisma +2. As an undead creature, a jiang-shi has no Constitution score.

Feats: Jiang-shis gain Alertness, Dodge, Mobility, Skill Focus (Acrobatics), and Spring Attack as bonus feats.

Skills: Jiang-shis gain a +8 racial bonus on Acrobatics, Perception, and Stealth checks.

Section 15: Copyright Notice – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 3

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary 3, © 2011, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors Jesse Benner, Jason Bulmahn, Adam Daigle, James Jacobs, Michael Kenway, Rob McCreary, Patrick Renie, Chris Sims, F. Wesley Schneider, James L. Sutter, and Russ Taylor, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.