Medium-Size Undead

Hit Dice: 8d12+3 (55 hp)

Initiative: +3 (-1 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative)

Speed: 20 ft

AC: 17 (-1 Dex, +8 natural)

Attacks: Slam +7 melee

Damage: Slam 1d6+4 and bog rot

Face/Reach: 5 ft by 5 ft/5 ft

Special Attacks: Despair, bog rot, create spawn

Special Qualities: Undead, resistant to blows, marsh move, damage reduction 5/+1, fire resistance 20, cold vulnerability

Saves: Fort +2, Ref +1, Will +8

Abilities: Str 17, Dex 8, Con –, Int 6, Wis 14, Cha 15

Skills: Hide +9, Listen +10, Move Silently +9, Spot +10

Climate/Terrain: Any marsh

Organization: Solitary, wardens (2-4), or guardians (6-10)
Challenge Rating: 6

Treasure: Standard

Alignment: Always chaotic evil

Advancement: 9-16 HD (Medium-size); 17-24 HD (Large)

Wherever a spark of unlife or negative energy touches a corpse naturally preserved by swamp mud, the result is a bog mummy. Bog mummies are always found roaming the place where they arose, and very rarely venture from it.

   In the Great Swamp, the Witch of the Fens, Thingizzard, provides the spark of negative energy needed to create bog mummies.

   A bog mummy appears as a withered, desiccated husk, covered in mud and wearing whatever apparel it had on at the time of death (though its clothes are now tattered and filthy).

COMBAT

In battle, a bog mummy attacks with its fists, attempting smash any living creature it encounters.

   Despair (Su): At the mere sight of a bog mummy, the viewer must succeed at a Will save (DC 16) or be paralyzed with fear for 1d4 rounds. Whether or not the save is successful, that creature cannot be affected again by that mummy’s despair ability for one day.

   Bog Rot (Su): Supernatural disease—slam, Fortitude save (DC 20), incubation period 1 day; damage 1d6 temporary from Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, or Charisma (determine randomly using 1d4), secondary damage 1d6 temporary from the same ability score. Creatures afflicted with bog rot do not heal naturally and gain one-half benefit from magical healing until the disease is cured. Unlike normal diseases, bog rot continues until the victim reaches Constitution 0 (and dies) or receives a remove disease spell or similar magic.

   Create Spawn (Su): Any humanoid that dies from bog rot becomes a bog mummy in 1d4 days unless a remove disease is cast (within one day after death)or the creature is brought back to life (raise dead is ineffective, but resurrection or true resurrection works). Spawn are under the command of the bog mummy that created them and remain enslaved until its death. They do not possess any of the abilities they had in life.

   Resistant to Blows (Ex): Physical attacks deal only half damage to bog mummies. Apply this effect before damage reduction.

   Marsh Move (Ex): Bog mummies suffer no movement penalties for moving in marshes or mud.

   Cold Vulnerability (Ex): A bog mummy takes double damage from cold attacks unless a save allows for half damage. A successful save halves the damage and a failure doubles it.

   Undead: Immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease. Not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, energy drain, or death from massive damage. Bog mummies have darkvision with a range of 60 feet.

GREAT SWAMP BOG MUMMY

Bog mummies from the Great swamp carry a particularly virulent form of bog rot. The information below replaces the information above (for the Great Swamp version of the bog mummy). A character slain by this disease rises as a Great Swamp bog mummy (see the create spawn ability above).

   Great Swamp Bog Rot (Su): Supernatural disease—slam, Fortitude save (DC 20), incubation period 1 hour; damage 1d2 temporary from Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, or Charisma (determine randomly using 1d4), secondary damage 1d2 temporary from the same ability score. Creatures afflicted with Great Swamp bog rot do not heal naturally and gain one-half benefit from magical healing. Unlike normal diseases, Great Swamp bog rot continues until the victim reaches Constitution 0 (and dies) or receives a remove disease spell or similar magic.

The Bog Mummy first appeared in Dragon 283 (Pengelly and Walton, 1997), but this version is taken from Return to White Plume Mountain (Cordell, 1999).