Shadow AshConsumable 12
Source Pathfinder #184: The Ghouls Hunger
Price 750 gp
Weight light
Activate Cast a Spell or successfully perform a ritual as the primary or secondary caster
This small pile of ash glows with strange blue embers that coat whatever they touch with a thin layer of frost laced with veins of necrotic ichor. Adding this catalyst to an animate dead spell or create undead ritual wreathes the resulting undead creature in a shroud of frost that pulses with negative energy. During a combat encounter, the first opponent to deal damage to the undead creature with a melee Strike takes 3d6 cold damage and becomes Drained 1 as the shroud of ice and rot shatters from the blow. If the undead creature survives the encounter, the shroud of frost reforms the next day. When an undead creature animated or created with this catalyst dies, it can return to animation with half of its Hit Points within 1d4 rounds of its death (unless it was killed in a manner that destroys it remains completely such as a Disintegrate spell) with a DC 11 flat. If the undead creature rises again, a desperate, garbled screech resonates from within its corpse.
Traits
This rarity indicates that a rules element is very difficult to find in the game world. A rare feat, spell, item or the like is available to players only if the GM decides to include it in the game, typically through discovery during play. Creatures with this trait are rare. They typically can't be summoned. The DC of Recall Knowledge checks related to these creatures is increased by 5.
CatalystItems with the catalyst trait are consumable material spell components that alter or magnify specific spells. Activating a catalyst is part of Casting the Spell. The catalyst might increase the number of actions required to Cast the Spell, as indicated in the catalyst's Activate entry. Additionally, the spell gains material components if it didn't have them already or adds the catalyst to its existing components. Because the catalyst becomes part of the material components, you can draw the catalyst as part of Casting the Spell.
ColdEffects with this trait deal cold damage. Creatures with this trait have a connection to magical cold.
ConsumableAn item with this trait can be used only once. Unless stated otherwise, it's destroyed after activation. Consumable items include alchemical items and magical consumables such as scrolls and talismans. When a character creates consumable items, they can make them in batches of four.
MagicalSomething with the magical trait is imbued with magical energies not tied to a specific tradition of magic. A magical item radiates a magic aura infused with its dominant school of magic. Some items or effects are closely tied to a particular tradition of magic. In these cases, the item has the arcane, divine, occult, or primal trait instead of the magical trait. Any of these traits indicate that the item is magical.
NecromancyEffects and magic items with this trait are associated with the necromancy school of magic, typically involving forces of life and death.