Skeleton Parasite / Possessed Flesh LotFP Class

WEAK-WILLED HOSTS ARE AN OPEN INVITATION TO US. Parasitic skeletons are said to have been created by a necromantic ritual gone awry. A small group of necromancers fell prey to their own devious machinations and their minds were trapped within spell-wrought bones. These bones thirsted for living hosts, and the trail of withered corpses from that need are littered through history in a meandering path of destruction.

The unfortunate hosts of these malign bones only last a short while (1D12 days) before their life energy is completely devoured and the enslaved flesh dies. The pale cracked parasite can only survive for 6 turns without a host before their lingering magical energy ceases to be and their bones crumble into a pile of dust; utterly destroyed.

If the unwitting host is in close range and fails a saving throw vs. paralyze the arcane-infested parasitic organism sinks in its bony fingers, grasps the spine, and then rips out the host's entire skeletal structure through the bleeding wound. The parasite then crawls in the bloody exit wound like it's a new set of clothes, before sealing up the injury. The whole process of "melding" with a host takes a full turn as the nervous system and other bodily connections join with the new skeleton. The horrendously scarred back of a host in the shape of shredded skin flaps are a tell-tell sign of bodily possession.

Parasitic bone structure can tear free of a used up host in one full round, but they can only do this if they have one hit point or more. If they are reduced to negative hit points they are trapped within the host and are destroyed along with the flesh if they are not healed before they get to -3 hit points. Those that witness a skeleton emerging this way are often traumatized.

Intelligent creatures can tell that they are "not quite right" with a roll of 2-in-6. Parasitic skeletons also have a -2 penalty to reaction rolls when they are in a host because of how unnatural they are.

In regards to healing, if your parasitic character is in a host they will heal normally but if the naked skeleton is out of a body then only the reverse of healing spells work on the bony creature. With a GM's permission damaged or broken bones can be replaced or repaired with new bones from victims the character has slain. Holy water hurts them because they are undead (even if they are wearing a living meat suit).

They can use all forms of armor, but weapons that they wield deal one dice-step less of damage. For example, a longsword would only deal 1D6 of damage instead of 1D8. The parasite has a difficult time manipulating the flesh puppet with it's spliced nerve connections. Their fists can be used as if they were a medium sized melee weapon and they deal 1D4 damage. 

Bludgeoning weapons deal full damage to them, but edged and sharp weapons deal only half damage. They are immune to sleep effects. Turn Undead affects the character as if they were an Undead of the same HD as their character level.

Level	XP	HP	Par	Pois	Brth	Dev	Mag
0	-	1D6*	17	10	17	15	18
1	0	1D8*	15	8	16	13	16
2	2800	+1D8*	15	6	16	13	16
3	5600	+1D8*	15	6	16	13	16
4	11200	+1D8*	13	4	14	11	14
5	22400	+1D8*	13	4	14	11	14
6	44800	+1D8*	13	2	14	11	14
7	89600	+1D8*	11	2	10	9	12
8	179200	+1D8*	11	2	10	9	12
9	358400	+1D8*	11	2	10	9	12
10	537600	+2*	9	2	8	7	10
11	715000	+2*	9	2	8	7	10
12	893750	+2*	9	2	8	7	10
13	+ 180000 /lvl	+2*	7	2	6	5	8

*Constitution modifiers do not affect a parasitic skeleton's hit point total.

Thanks go to: Jeff Cape, Ignacio Bergkamp, and Shawn Urban for their feedback and suggestions on how to improve this class.