Evolved Undead
An evolved undead is an undead whose body is flushed with more negative energy than normal due to an exceptionally long lifetime. Any undead may gain this template, and in doing so, it retains all its previous abilities, but becomes more powerful than before.
When an intelligent undead creature survives for 100 years or more (or when the DM decides to create an undead monster with a twist), there is a 1% chance that its connection to the Negative Energy Plane grows more mature. When this "evolution" occurs, the undead gains this template. Each additional 100 years of existence affords an additional 1% chance of a more mature connection, plus an additional 1% chance for each previous evolution. For example, if an undead creature's connection to the Negative Energy Plane evolved three times previously, it has a 4% chance to gain one more step of maturation the next time its age requires an evolution check. Every step of evolution means that the evolved undead template can be applied again to the undead creature (setting this template apart from most other templates, which can be applied only once).
Creating An Evolved Undead
"Evolved undead" is an acquired template that can be added to any undead with an Intelligence score (referred to hereafter as the base creature). An evolved undead uses all the base creature's statistics and special abilities except as noted here. This template does not alter the creature's type.
Note: Unlike most templates, an evolved undead can potentially acquire this template more than once, evolving more with each application.
Armor Class: The base creature's natural armor bonus improves by 1. If the creature is incorporeal, its deflection bonus to AC improves by 1.
Special Attacks: An evolved undead retains all the special attacks of the base creature and gains one spell-like ability from the following list. You can choose this ability from the list below, or roll randomly. The spell-like ability gained herein can be used once per day. If the undead already has the indicated ability, it gains another use; if it already has the ability as an at-will ability, choose another ability. The spell-like ability has a caster level equal to the evolved undead's HD (if the caster level is too low to cast the spell in question, choose another). The save DCs are Charisma-based:
| d12 | Spell-Like Ability |
| 1 | circle of death |
| 2 | cloudkill |
| 3 | cone of cold |
| 4 | confusion |
| 5 | contagion |
| 6 | creeping doom |
| 7 | greater dispel magic |
| 8 | greater invisibility |
| 9 | haste |
| 10 | hold monster |
| 11 | see invisibility |
| 12 | unholy blight |
Special Qualities: An evolved undead retains all the special qualities of the base creature and gains the one described below.
Fast Healing (Ex): An evolved undead heals 3 points of damage each round so long as it has at least 1 hit point.
Abilities: An evolved corporeal undead gains +2 Strength and +2 Charisma. An evolved incorporeal creature gains only +2 Charisma.
Organization: An evolved undead usually becomes a leader among those of its base kind.
Challenge Rating: Same as the base creature +1.
Level Adjustment: Same as the base creature +1
Sample evolved undead: Evolved Wraith.