Undead Origins

GM's Miscellany: Village Backdrops V

GM's Miscellany: Village Backdrops V
Pathfinder 1e
Aldrich Hellbrooke, human vampire cleric 4: ?

Undead: An old lizardfolk tells younger lizardfolk scary stories about how dead lizardfolk who aren't properly eaten become vengeful undead.
Needlebriar’s citizens toss anything they don’t consume into a field they loosely refer to as the Bone Pit. Occasionally these remains arise as horrid undead creatures. The creatures never attack the halflings, instead roaming the nearby countryside.

GM's Miscellany: Wilderness Dressing

GM's Miscellany: Wilderness Dressing
Pathfinder 1e
Burning Skull: ?
Falling Rocks: ?
Shrieking Woman: ?
Killer in the Flames: ?
The Pit: ?
Bloody Battle: ?
Akh‐en‐Tholus, human lich necromancer 11: ?

Mummy: ?

Gonzo 2

Gonzo 2
Pathfinder 1e
Necromantic Frame: Risen from the grave, necromantic frames are frankensteinian monstrosities; assembled from multiple corpses and given a semblance of life with foul necromancy.
Necromantic Frame Large: Risen from the grave, necromantic frames are frankensteinian monstrosities; assembled from multiple corpses and given a semblance of life with foul necromancy.
Necromantic Frame Huge: Risen from the grave, necromantic frames are frankensteinian monstrosities; assembled from multiple corpses and given a semblance of life with foul necromancy.
Necromantic Frame Gargantuan: Risen from the grave, necromantic frames are frankensteinian monstrosities; assembled from multiple corpses and given a semblance of life with foul necromancy.
Necromantic Frame Colossal: Risen from the grave, necromantic frames are frankensteinian monstrosities; assembled from multiple corpses and given a semblance of life with foul necromancy.

Knowledge Check: Last Rites

Knowledge Check: Last Rites
Pathfinder 1e
Undead: Cremating corpses to keep them from rising as undead.
Some religions include the need to anoint the corpse as part of the funeral rites. The anointing is usually done by a priest or other religious leader, and involves placing oil, incense, perfume, or other holy liquids on various parts of the body, usually while saying a prayer. These anointing rites are usually to protect or cleanse the corpse after death, and in some areas serve as proof against reanimation as undead. (In an ironic twist, very similar rites are usually used to create undead).
Simply put, cremation is burning a body until there is nothing left to burn. There are several ways to accomplish this, but in a typical medieval setting the most common is to build a pyre of some sort, place the corpse on top, and set it alight. Cremation is the funeral rite of choice for religions heavy on fire symbolism, while a few instead use it to free the spirit by removing the body it was attached to. As a side benefit, it also tends to keep them from coming back as undead.

Lost Lore: The Headhunter

Lost Lore: The Headhunter
Pathfinder 1e
Animated Severed Head: Animated severed heads are a product of shamanistic and magic-using headhunters experimenting with the creation of familiars. They are a gruesome parody of the dead arcane spell casters they are made from, possessing rudimentary intelligence and personalities.
“Severed Head” is an acquired template that can be added to any living Medium creature possessing arcane spell casting levels.
Oracle Mystery of the Head's Final Revelation.
Jaquel's Head: Jaquel was a village midwife and herbalist — as well as a semi-professional witch, in a village raided by a gang of headhunters. The headhunter shaman slew her and took her head as a severed head familiar as part of a rite of passage.
Jaquel’s Head is derived from a 2nd-level witch, and she belonged to a headhunter with 6 sorcerer levels, 3 barbarian levels, and 3 headhunter levels.

Oracle Mystery of the Head Final Revelation: Upon reaching 20th level, you become acephalic, and able to remove your own head without dying, or even to have your own head removed by violence harmlessly. No ability that derives its power from possession of your head can be used by another creature. Your head becomes capable of hovering with a speed of 30 ft. (clumsy), and takes a quarter of your hp with it; the head can travel up to one mile from the your body, and retains command over both itself and the headless body, which is still conscious and motile, and aware of the surroundings around its body as if using the scrying spell (caster level equals the oracle’s class level). An acephalic oracle may cast spells from the location of her head, and if the body is slain or destroyed, the hovering head continues to exist. Destroying the head (and the head alone) slays the oracle. You must still satisfy your body’s physical need for sustenance, unless these needs are provided for otherwise, and hence you must reattach your head for to provide for these, according to the rules for starvation and thirst in the Core rulebook. If the body is destroyed, the oracle’s head needs an alternate means of feeding itself to remain alive. Acephalous oracles who cannot do so become free-willed animate severed heads after their deaths, as per the description under the headhunter class, with the oracle’s former hit dice and abilities being used to calculate the undead head’s statistics as if the oracle had been its own master.

Lunar Knights

Lunar Knights
Pathfinder 1e
Serbian Lycanthrope: These monsters are men who would return from the grave to haunt their widows.

Marshes of Malice

Marshes of Malice
Pathfinder 1e
Cheated Spirit: Some swamp cultures practice athletic competitions where individuals or teams compete against one another in an event with strong religious overtones. The stakes for the participants could not be higher. The victors bask in the glory and live to see another day. The losers, meanwhile, meet their permanent and ignominious end on the playing field. With life and death hanging in the balance, it comes as no surprise that some competitors may attempt to gain an unfair advantage over their rivals. They may bribe game officials to rule in their favor, use illegal equipment, or rely upon outside interference to get a leg up on their opponents. When their plans succeed, the adversary they cheated suffers the fatal consequences. Though the vanquished often fail to realize they were duped, seasoned foes who spot the telltale signs of a rigged outcome vow to avenge their loss. Unwilling to meekly accept undeserved defeat, these slighted souls rise from their graves as the sorest of losers.
Unrequited: When a life is cut short under tragic circumstances long before Nature takes its toll on the mind, body, and spirit, the residual force left in its wake can take physical shape and coalesce into the embodiment of that person’s unrealized potential. An unrequited only forms from the enduring essence of an adolescent humanoid. Small children are too inexperienced and naïve to formulate the complex wants necessary to give rise to one of these creatures, while adults are too jaded and goal oriented to forsake their everyday responsibilities and instead dwell on what may come to pass. It takes at least a year for the creature’s consciousness to take on a life of its own; therefore the brain must remain well-preserved and intact during this strange metamorphosis. The introduction of foreign substances during the typical embalming process imbalances the brain’s unique chemistry and prevents the unrequited from springing into existence. However, corpses that undergo natural processes that impede decomposition, such as the cool, acidic environment found in a bog or fen, are ideal to giving rise to an unrequited. The means of death is another important ingredient for its genesis. Most of these vaporous undead coalesce from an adolescent who died suddenly and violently at another’s hands. Shortly after the being’s demise, the creature’s unfulfilled aspirations take physical form as wispy clouds of crimson vapor. In the coming weeks and months, the swirling scarlet gases gather together in close proximity to the decedent’s final resting place. When the disparate parts merge to create a singularity, the unrequited’s formation is complete and its desires become reality.
Needless to say, an unrequited is a creature borne of supernatural events rather than a natural occurrence. An unrequited appears as swirling, egg-shaped cloud of luminescent, crimson vapors vaguely resembling an angry child. Despite being created from the thoughts of a sentient being, the spiteful undead has no memory of its former existence. It acts upon pure impulse, directing its hatred towards its fellow humanoids, although it cannot distinguish any specific individual from another. An unrequited rarely strays far from its body, thus it is not uncommon to encounter more than one of these monsters in a particular area, especially a locale containing a mass grave associated with a bloody massacre or similar atrocity. Regardless of the number inhabiting that location, they all share the same, common goal — to slay other sentient creatures before they fulfill their hopes and aspirations by emptying their minds of any rational thought. In a few isolated cases, a humanoid adolescent slain by an unrequited later rises to join the ranks of its killer.
On this spot centuries ago the callous soldier systematically butchered 22 mothers and their children. After he finished the deed, he tossed their bodies into these waters. Their suffering was so great, 3 unrequiteds coalesced at the spot.
Tyler Ebbensflow, Advanced Draugr Captain: Unfortunately the horrible circumstances surrounding the deaths of these ships’ sailors left some of them hungry for revenge. A draugr captain with his remaining crewmembers serving as his 2 draugr mates hide within the wreckage of the Flighty Amalie, emerging to attack encroaching humanoids.
William the Mad Crawdad, Duppy: The pool filled with pike also contains the earthly remains of the scuttled rowboat’s only occupant, William the Mad Crawdad — a notorious saboteur, sailor and murderer on the run from distant Endhome. Confident he shook his dogged pursuers, the fugitive blissfully set sail for the shores of the Dragonmarsh Lowlands only to come face to face with a greater horror than a hangman’s noose. The scoundrel ran afoul of the disgusting sea hags, but even their revolting appearance and dread curse could not overcome his evil. He swam toward the wharf and climbed onto dry land, where he outran his enemies straight into Quattu’s waiting tentacles. The aberration and its allies finally meted out justice to William, but even death could not suppress his despicable spirit. The lifelong mariner longed to be buried at sea, a fate the chuul foolishly denied him. Instead, the despicable William’s spirit rose from the grave as a duppy.
Human Meat Puppet: During the struggle, Quattu ordered the crabmen to subject three of the facility’s fish processors to the horrific fate of being gutted and filleted alive. Unbeknownst to the chuul, the revelry of carnage infused the boneless corpses with the necromantic energy that suffuses the marshlands here and animated them as revolting undead creatures.
Hamish MacDuncan, Human Nosferatu Fighter 8: Hamish MacDuncan, a grizzled veteran of distant wars and expatriate of the upper regions of far-off Eamonvale, told the Viroeni matriarch that he knew of a safe path through the accursed bogs that he could guide them on and allow them to escape the confines of the Kingdoms of Foere for the promised freedom of Cailin Lee to the west. A mercenary to the core, though, MacDuncan told them he would do this only if the tribe paid him with all of the gold they had left.
Realizing that a better offer was unlikely to materialize, the matriarch agreed to the deal but promised a curse upon MacDuncan’s eternal soul if he betrayed them and turned the Viroeni over to the hostile locals. MacDuncan swore an oath upon a holy book of Vanitthu he had never felt cause to read and promised he would see them delivered away from the folk they sought to flee. He did not tell them, however, that he had taken gold from those same people to remove the gypsy problem from their midst or that no such safe path through the bog, in fact, existed.
Once in the depths of the Wytch Bog, it was a simple matter for the woods-wise veteran to lead the Viroeni astray, cause them to become separated, and use his swampcraft and battle experience to eliminate them in small groups or one by one through treachery or outright murder. When all was said and done, and the blood-spattered MacDuncan watched the matriarch’s lifeless eye seemingly fix its baleful gaze upon him as her corpse sank beneath the waters of a bog, no more than a handful of the Viroeni had made it out of the swamp alive to tell the tale. But four of those handful did not scatter and flee like the rest. Instead they made their own preparations and returned only a few weeks later.
The four sons of the Viroeni matriarch had managed to elude MacDuncan’s murderous intent but were unable to stop his massacre of their people. When they emerged from the swamp they swore their bond to one another to see their mother’s curse completed. When they returned scant weeks later they were penniless with only the clothes they wore upon their backs to their names — and a new pine coffin carried between them.
The sons found MacDuncan drunk at his isolated home one night when the moon was dark. They set upon the surprised warrior and overpowered him before he could mount a resistance. With thick ropes they bound his coffin closed and carried him deep into the Wytch Bog where he had taken the lives of their kinsmen and women. As MacDuncan sobered up and found himself unable to break free from his confinement, the truth of the situation began to seep into his gin-soaked mind. The last any outside the bog ever heard from him were his muffled cries begging mercy, cursing his captors, and promising eternal revenge. Neither he nor the Viroeni youths was ever seen alive again.
But life — such as it was to become — was not entirely over for Hamish MacDuncan. The Viroeni matriarch’s curse, enacted by the vengeance of her sons, came to fruition when Hamish did not rest easy but awoke after only a short time as a vampiric monster. His immersion in the bog waters had not been kind to his physical body, so he emerged as a grotesque nosferatu, a foul caricature of the vitality he had known in life.
Eladrian, Groaning Spirit: ?
Swamp Mummy: The ghastly reminders of Hamish’s infamous deed are visible throughout the Wytch Bog. Stray bones, personal mementoes, and shreds of clothing line the edges of most stagnant ponds in the accursed parcel of wetlands. These objects, however, can never fully reveal the abject terror the victims experienced during their final moments. These raw emotions stir the dead back into existence as undead monstrosities.

Draugr: Unfortunately the horrible circumstances surrounding the deaths of these ships’ sailors left some of them hungry for revenge. A draugr captain with his remaining crewmembers serving as his 2 draugr mates hide within the wreckage of the Flighty Amalie, emerging to attack encroaching humanoids.
Undead: The PCs’ subsequent delve into the bog enters a haunted realm populated by shambling corpses, vengeful undead creatures, and pathetic spirits borne from Hamish’s genocide.

Midgard Worldbook for 5th Edition and Pathfinder

Midgard Worldbook for 5th Edition and Pathfinder
5e
Sated Fang, Darakhul Monk: ?
Undead: The serpents in the hills around the valley offer a deadly hazard to those wishing to find the garden. Grandmother's magic has made the snakes' venom particularly deadly; those suffering a bite from these enchanted snakes typically die within hours of being injected. To make matters worse, the bodies of those who die from the poison sometimes return as foul undead monstrosities.
The fire lords make their home in a range of volcanoes called the Blodejord (“Crib of Earth’s Blood,” in the Jotun tongue), rising around the charred and desolate remains of what once was a stunningly fertile valley. Fire and ash erupt into the air, and any who die covered by the Crib’s enchanted ashes rise again as twisted undead.
Fire giant necromancers of Sengajordensblod are using the Crib-ash to raise an undead horde and to forge Surtalogi, the great weapon of Ragnarok.
King Lucan, Vampire Fighter 9: ?
Ghoul: ?
Darakhul: ?
Haunt: ?
Undead Centaur Ghost: ?
Vampire: ?
Lich: ?
Ghost: When Chernobog walks the earth in the dark of the moon and during eclipses, winds rise and howl, animals grow skittish and dogs bite, and ghosts rise from every grave.
Zombie: When he’s not indulging his foul appetites for blood and sex, the Lord Mayor likes to spend time nurturing the necrotic ticks he is breeding in the laboratory beneath his mansion. He uses them to create zombies to fight in the gladiatorial arena close to the city’s central Hangman’s Square.
Skeleton: ?
Emperor Nicoforus The Pale, Darakhul: ?
Thurso Dragonson, Duke of Morgau, Master of the Black Hills, Protector fo the Fane of Blood, Heir to the Twin Thrones, Spellcaster Vampire: ?
Lady Mihaela, Baroness of Doresh, Pale Lady of Fandorin, Vampire Warlock: ?
Princess Hristina, Protector and Duchess of Krakovar, Grand Marshall of the Ghost Knights, Warrior Vampire: ?
Baron Urslav, The Crawling Lord of Vallanoria, Keeper of the Red Sisters, Vampire: ?
Lord Mayor Rodyan, The Glutton of Hangksburg, Spellcaster Vampire: ?
Countess Urzana Dolingen of Morgau, Spellcaster Vampire: ?
Lady Darvulia, Voivodina of Cloudwall, Keeper of the Gate Subterranean, Warrior Vampire: ?
Commander Balenus of the Ghost Knights, Warrior Vampire: ?
Shroudeater: ?
Specter: ?
Lady Chesmaya, Voivodina of the Verdant Tower, Lich: ?
Burning Skeleton: ?
Liquid Zombie: ?
Undead Purple Worm: ?
Deathwisp: ?
Count Warrin, Vampire Lord: ?
Otmar the Sallow, Vampire Lord: ?
Strigoi: ?
Draugir: ?
Ibbalan the Illustrious, Ancient Undead Gold Dragon: ?
Wraith: ?
Gray Thirster: ?
Mummy: ?
Undead Gnoll: ?
Ghul King: ?
God-King Irsu Thanetsi Khamet, Eye of Anu-Akma and Warden of the Red Portal: ?
Wight: ?
Hungry Shade: Long ago, the desert swallowed up the remnants of a foolish Mharoti army. Occasionally, hungry shades emerge from the sands near the ruins of Iram, City of Pillars. These are the undead spirits of the hapless soldiers of the Dragon Empire, doomed to follow their general’s last commands until a new master learns how to control them.
Catfolk Mummy: ?
Menet-Ka: Menet-Ka was a minor king in ancient Nuria Natal who was buried beneath an oasis fed by an underground branch of the River Nuria and close to a powerful ley line. The plan was that the blessed waters of the river would flow into the dead king after entombment, and he would return to life gifted with staggering power. Unfortunately, Menet-Ka’s corruption meant he returned as an undead creature, and his tomb now serves as a death trap, designed to steal the breath from any who dare to disturb his final resting place.
Ghost Head Goblin Horror: This infamous tribe contains
as many undead goblins as living ones. They are led by Kamelk Twice-Killed, an unstoppable force who has been slain both as a living goblin and as a ghost, securing his legend when he returned each time. Many of his followers have undergone rituals to become undead “horrors.”
Kamelk Twice-Killed: ?
Undead Giant: Cursed with long lives and restless deaths, these giants are joyless at best and feral at worst.
With each passing year, increasing numbers of giant corpses—sometimes one or two, other times entire tribes—are driven up from the ground. Their animated bodies rise up to walk the land, pursue strange goals, and protect otherwise barren areas without discernible cause. When a giant’s body fails to rest quietly, its soul returns to haunt its living descendants.
Vaettir: ?
Shadow: ?
Will o' Wisp: ?
Vilmos Marquering, The Black Fang: ?
Beggar Ghoul: ?
Duke Wierdunn Bonehand: ?
Duchess Angvyr Ssetha, The Lady of Chains, Slave Mistress of Chaingard: ?
Duke Eloghar Vorghesht, Regent of Evernight, High Priest of Vardesain: ?
Duke Borag the Executioner, Warlord of Gallwheor: ?
Duchess Mikalea Soulreaper, Lorekeeper of Ossean, Necrophage: ?
Valengurd the Confessor, Necrophage: ?
Ghast: ?
Imperial Ghoul: ?
Iron Ghoul: ?
Vizorakh the Ravenous, Cave Dragon Dracolich: Vizorakh the Ravenous, thought long gone like all cave dragons of sufficient age, clings to existence. This ancient horror sought out great wizards of the Ghoul Imperium and burrowed into forgotten dungeons beneath the earth in search of salvation. On the brink of death, it found its answer. Vizorakh cast its soul into an onyx gemstone the size of an elephant and passed into undeath. It rose again as a dracolich, no longer hungering for flesh but for the souls of its own kind.

Pathfinder 1e
Sated Fang, Darakhul Monk: ?
King Lucan, Vampire Fighter 9: ?
Darakhul: ?
Undead Centaur Ghost: ?
Emperor Nicoforus The Pale, Darakhul: ?
Thurso Dragonson, Duke of Morgau, Master of the Black Hills, Protector fo the Fane of Blood, Heir to the Twin Thrones, Vampire Wizard 12: ?
Lady Mihaela, Baroness of Doresh, Pale Lady of Fandorin, Vampire Sorcerer 9: ?
Princess Hristina, Protector and Duchess of Krakovar, Grand Marshall of the Ghost Knights, Vampire Fighter 14: ?
Baron Urslav, The Crawling Lord of Vallanoria, Keeper of the Red Sisters, Vampire Rogue 8: ?Lord Mayor Rodyan, The Glutton of Hangksburg, Vampire Wizard 12: ?
Countess Urzana Dolingen of Morgau, Vampire Wizard 13: ?
Lady Darvulia, Voivodina of Cloudwall, Keeper of the Gate Subterranean, Vampire Fighter 13: ?
Commander Balenus of the Ghost Knights, Vampire Fighter 11: ?
Shroudeater: ?
Lady Chesmaya, Voivodina of the Verdant Tower, Lich: ?
Liquid Zombie: ?
Undead Purple Worm: ?
Deathwisp: ?
Count Warrin, Vampire Lord: ?
Otmar the Sallow, Vampire Lord: ?
Strigoi: ?
Draugir: ?
Ibbalan the Illustrious, Ancient Undead Gold Dragon: ?
Gray Thirster: ?
Undead Gnoll: ?
Ghul King: ?
God-King Irsu Thanetsi Khamet, Eye of Anu-Akma and Warden of the Red Portal: ?
Hungry Shade: Long ago, the desert swallowed up the remnants of a foolish Mharoti army. Occasionally, hungry shades emerge from the sands near the ruins of Iram, City of Pillars. These are the undead spirits of the hapless soldiers of the Dragon Empire, doomed to follow their general’s last commands until a new master learns how to control them.
Catfolk Mummy: ?
Menet-Ka: Menet-Ka was a minor king in ancient Nuria Natal who was buried beneath an oasis fed by an underground branch of the River Nuria and close to a powerful ley line. The plan was that the blessed waters of the river would flow into the dead king after entombment, and he would return to life gifted with staggering power. Unfortunately, Menet-Ka’s corruption meant he returned as an undead creature, and his tomb now serves as a death trap, designed to steal the breath from any who dare to disturb his final resting place.
Ghost Head Goblin Horror: This infamous tribe contains
as many undead goblins as living ones. They are led by Kamelk Twice-Killed, an unstoppable force who has been slain both as a living goblin and as a ghost, securing his legend when he returned each time. Many of his followers have undergone rituals to become undead “horrors.”
Kamelk Twice-Killed: ?
Undead Giant: Cursed with long lives and restless deaths, these giants are joyless at best and feral at worst.
With each passing year, increasing numbers of giant corpses—sometimes one or two, other times entire tribes—are driven up from the ground. Their animated bodies rise up to walk the land, pursue strange goals, and protect otherwise barren areas without discernible cause. When a giant’s body fails to rest quietly, its soul returns to haunt its living descendants.
Vaettir: ?
Will o' Wisp: ?
Vilmos Marquering, The Black Fang: ?
Beggar Ghoul: ?
Duke Wierdunn Bonehand: ?
Duchess Angvyr Ssetha, The Lady of Chains, Slave Mistress of Chaingard: ?
Duke Eloghar Vorghesht, Regent of Evernight, High Priest of Vardesain: ?
Duke Borag the Executioner, Warlord of Gallwheor: ?
Duchess Mikalea Soulreaper, Lorekeeper of Ossean, Darakhul Wizard: ?
Valengurd the Confessor, Darakhul Wizard: ?
Imperial Ghoul: ?
Iron Ghoul: ?
Vizorakh the Ravenous, Cave Dragon Dracolich: Vizorakh the Ravenous, thought long gone like all cave dragons of sufficient age, clings to existence. This ancient horror sought out great wizards of the Ghoul Imperium and burrowed into forgotten dungeons beneath the earth in search of salvation. On the brink of death, it found its answer. Vizorakh cast its soul into an onyx gemstone the size of an elephant and passed into undeath. It rose again as a dracolich, no longer hungering for flesh but for the souls of its own kind.

Undead: The serpents in the hills around the valley offer a deadly hazard to those wishing to find the garden. Grandmother's magic has made the snakes' venom particularly deadly; those suffering a bite from these enchanted snakes typically die within hours of being injected. To make matters worse, the bodies of those who die from the poison sometimes return as foul undead monstrosities.
The fire lords make their home in a range of volcanoes called the Blodejord (“Crib of Earth’s Blood,” in the Jotun tongue), rising around the charred and desolate remains of what once was a stunningly fertile valley. Fire and ash erupt into the air, and any who die covered by the Crib’s enchanted ashes rise again as twisted undead.
Fire giant necromancers of Sengajordensblod are using the Crib-ash to raise an undead horde and to forge Surtalogi, the great weapon of Ragnarok.
Ghoul: ?
Haunt: ?
Vampire: ?
Lich: ?
Ghost: When Chernobog walks the earth in the dark of the moon and during eclipses, winds rise and howl, animals grow skittish and dogs bite, and ghosts rise from every grave.
Zombie: When he’s not indulging his foul appetites for blood and sex, the Lord Mayor likes to spend time nurturing the necrotic ticks he is breeding in the laboratory beneath his mansion. He uses them to create zombies to fight in the gladiatorial arena close to the city’s central Hangman’s Square.
Skeleton: ?
Specter: ?
Burning Skeleton: ?
Wraith: ?
Mummy: ?
Wight: ?
Shadow: ?
Ghast: ?

Monster Focus: Ghouls

Monster Focus: Ghouls
Pathfinder 1e
Ghast Lord: A ghast lord can be made by casting create undead by a 14th level caster.
Gluttonous Ghoul: These variants can be created using create undead by a 12th level caster.
Leaping Ghoul: These variants can be created using create undead by a 12th level caster.

Skeleton: ?
Zombie: ?
Ghoul: A ghoul’s bite carries a terrible disease that can rot flesh and dull the reflexes. Those who die from it become a ghoul themselves.
A humanoid that dies from ghoul fever rises as a ghoul at the next midnight. Those that possess 4 HD or more instead rise as a ghast.
Animate Ghoul spell.
Ghast: A humanoid that dies from ghoul fever rises as a ghoul at the next midnight. Those that possess 4 HD or more instead rise as a ghast.
Ghast Tooth alchemical item.

Animate Ghoul
School necromancy [evil]; Level antipaladin 4, cleric 4, sorcerer/wizard 5
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (piece of rotting flesh and an onxy gemstone worth 100 gp)
Range touch
Target one corpse
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
This spell causes one humanoid corpse to rise as a ghoul under your control. As long as the corpse is a Medium humanoid, it rises as a standard ghoul, regardless of any class levels, Hit Dice, or abilities it had in life. This spell can also be used on a Small humanoid to create a Small ghoul. If the caster is 11th level or higher, it can be used on the corpse of a Large humanoid to create a Large ghoul. If the caster is at least 13th level, this spell can be used to create a ghast instead, but the material component changes to an onyx gemstone worth at least 200 gp. Undead created by this spell are loyal to the caster, but are subject to the usual Hit Dice limit for the number of undead that can be controlled (as per animate dead).

Ghast Tooth: This alchemical component is made from the yellowed fang from a slain ghast. If imbedded into the tongue of a dead creature before casting animate ghoul or create undead, the ghast tooth causes the creature to rise up as a ghast, regardless of caster’s level and material component used. In addition, the ghast receives a +2 racial bonus to the DC of its stench ability.

Monster Focus: Graveling

Monster Focus: Graveling
Pathfinder 1e
Graveling: Made from dead flesh stretched over an odd assortment of bones, this small twisted thing moves with surprising speed.
Created by fledgling necromancers, these undead things can often be found skulking about their lair performing menial tasks.
Necromancy is a dangerous art to master. Such black magic tampers with the forces of life and death and the resulting creations are usually lethal. While many are reckless in their pursuit of power, those that start off cautiously often create gravelings. These tiny undead creatures are little more than a collection of dead flesh held together by simple stitches, and animated with the most rudimentary of skills.
Animate Graveling spell.

Animate Graveling
School necromancy [evil]; Level antipaladin 1, cleric 1, sorcerer/wizard 1
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (an onyx gemstone worth 25 gp per graveling created)
Range touch
Target one or more lumps of flesh touched
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
This spell functions like animate dead, but it causes one or more lumps of flesh and bone to animate as a graveling under your control. You can animate one graveling per casting of this spell, plus one additional graveling for every two caster levels you possess, maximum 5. These gravelings count against the total number of undead you can control, as per animate dead.