Undead Monster Brainstorm

In my newest campaign, I plan to center the theme around undead and the different chosen paths (as opposed to forced paths) to undeath. There is a god of undeath who has three paths to undeath. Lich, or the intelligent/wise path already exists. And all need to be of that power level. The other two paths have yet to be finished, but here is what I am looking for (no names yet either):
I do not want published monsters for this. I am just looking for a little brainstorming session to get the juices flowing.

1. a warrior type, possibly mounted
2. an insubstantial sneaky type (though the ability to become material would make the creature more fearsome.

Thanks in advance
Dave

My first thoughts are these:

a wisp of smoke that forms into a robed skeleton armed with a black blade that drips a sizzling green goo constantly; mainly assassins, but also rogues, bards, and monks that used a dark ritual to trade its life for shadowstuff and undeath. Requires an expensive focus component to hold the shadowstuff until the prospects lifeforce is transferred into the receptacle to mix with the shadows.

an undead warrior, usually a fighter or ranger, but sometimes a blackguard, barbarian, or fallen paladin who has used a dark ritual to trade its life (and the lives of 13 sacrifices) for undeath. This same ritual enchants its armor making it very distinctive (bloody, rusted, gothic, etc.) and ties it to its weapon (of any kind) to deal its special attacks. [Disarming becomes an option to limit its choices of attacks]

So, Fighter/Mage/Thief trio for Lich-level Undead? I'd alter the Lich, to make it more balanced, but have some creature outlines for the other two:

I'd have the Fighter-equivalent be bound to their armor(or shield or weapon, make it an option for what item they're bound to) in the same way a Lich is bound to their phylactery, complete with revival if the item isn't destroyed. The abilities would be focused on being a head-on leader of Undead, with all their personal combat abilities being usable in a support role. Negative Energy damage on any attacks, with a Touch Attack option, but without targeting restrictions like the Lich's to enable healing Undead. Boosting it's own combat abilities, but in an area of effect that makes surrounding Undead stronger. The Lich has their legions of Undead and reality-shaking magic, the Draugr(old Nordic word for Revanent, Skyrim badly misuses it) carries a small group of immensely potent Undead, made even stronger by its mere presence, and is driven not by greed for ever more power or an eternal existence like the Lich, but by the refusal to die before accomplishing what they desire. A barbaric conqueror who refuses to stop waging war until their last great rival falls, a disgraced iron-hearted Warblade general who wishes to right the failure that cost them their honor and life, a once-holy guardian who sacrificed all they had in life to stand watch until their own tomb crumbles to dust.

The Rogue-type would be close to ElectricDragon's idea, but be incorporeal by default, with the shadowstuff their life is transfered through becoming a form of Shadesteel and the immense negative energy utterly destroying their body, leaving them as a spirit of the Plane of Shadows, rather than the Ethereal like conventional ghosts. The item housing the last of their life can be drawn fully into the Plane of Shadows, but it must be within the Prime Material for them to truly act upon the Prime Material. If this Shadesteel anchor is destroyed, they are trapped within the Plane of Shadows until they form a new one. However, their status as being between the Prime Material and Plane of Shadows grants them the power of Shadow Illusions, and many were Shadowdancers, dark-handed Swordsages and holders of potent Mysteries in life, granting them the power to shape shadow-creatures and shift to and from many shadows with east to serve their hunger without a trace. The Jikininki, in contrast to the Draugr and Lich, is driven by the all-too-mortal desire for material things. Their transition deprives them of mundane gluttony, so they devour the spirits of others, at times instead shaping their victims into Shadows, while many are driven by their mortal desire for mundane riches. Gold, jewels, potent artifacts and artwork, the lair of the Jikiniki houses much for adventurers willing to take the risk. Should one be foolish enough to face one in the Plane of Shadows, they shape the world around them with greater potency than all but the greatest Liches, crafting vast fortresses and great monstrosities with shocking ease.

For a martial character, there is a death knight template in MM2. I would use that as a good starting point.

For a rogue, why not start with a ghost? Easy to sneak and steal when you can just walk through the walls.

[MENTION=6892324]Morphile[/MENTION] Thank you, that was exactly what I was looking for. I can build the template myself. Any ideas on special abilities as opposed to the lich's paralyze for life ability?

[MENTION=6682960]Grogg of the North[/MENTION] Non-published material only. I want to surprise my players.

Of course all three undead will not be met at once, just behind the scenes machinations from 3 different foes until the pc's get high enough level to take on first one, then the second and finally the third (fully boosted by a dark artifact, the clerical lich leader of the cult). All tied to a little-known underground cult of death which is teaching anyone who will listen dark rituals that impart power in exchange for sacrifices (higher level members of the cult learn the rituals to become these powerful undead).

Here is the god upon which this campaign is built:



Nethrancor
Bone Giant, Death Father, Keeper of the Core, Spirit Caller
Intermediate Deity
Symbol: A dragon skull with flaming eyes
Home Plane: Hades* (The Grotto of Death)
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Portfolio: Darkness, death, secrets, undead dragons, undeath, underworld
Worshipers: Draconic undead of various types, some humanoid tribes, isolated giant clans, advanced lizard men
Cleric Alignments: LE, NE, LN (adepts and clerics)
Domains: Darkness, Death, Mind, Shadow, Undeath, War
Favored Weapon: Bite (undead dragons), scythe (humanoids and giants)
*Or any Evil or Neutral Evil plane.

When in his lair, Nethrancor (neth-ran-kor) most often appears as a Colossal dragon, with black scales so ancient they appear to be almost gray. His wings are leathery and make him seem even darker when they are unfurled and outstretched. Outside his lair, he usually appears as a huge pair of serpentine flaming eyes. To his worshipers of humanoid or giant type, sometimes he assumes the form of a Huge robed skeleton of any type of giant carrying a scythe. It is unknown what form he uses for his undead dragon followers. In all forms, his eyes flame and smolder. As the Death Father he knows the specifics of all means of unlife and he is more than willing to trade such secrets to gain another sycophant follower. Nethrancor always uses his salient divine ability of Lay Quest on such potential followers to ensure they will worship him properly by becoming undead. He also makes deals to hand out some secret of undeath in return for a service, but only to undead.

Canon
Nethrancor is the draconic deity of endings, afterlife, undeath, and secrets. He provides the secrets of how to become immortal through undeath for mere subservience and alliegeance to him. Many dragons near the end of their life have pledged fealty to him in order to learn some of the secrets of undeath. Most giant undead have made the same bargain, and it is not unheard of for a human or humanoid lich to worship the Death Father. Those who have already moved into undeath can hope to offer a service for some secret of unlife.
There is only one holiday associated with Nethrancor, but it has been known by many names. The Feast of Samhain, Hallows Eve, The Day of the Dead, All Saints' Eve, The Blood Moon, Dead Dawn, and The Hollow Night, are a few of the names it has been called over the centuries. Bardic songs tell that it is a day where daylight does no harm to and has no effect on undead. Undead usually exiled to only rule the night, have one day to dance in the sunshine. It is also a popular time for dark rituals concerning undead animation or lower planar creature summoning.

In game terms, vampires and other undead usually exiled to the night are able to move about freely during this one day. Undead animated on this day gain extra 1 hp per Hit Die, and lower planar creatures summoned lose their ability to break free of the spell through their magic resistance. A strange quirk of the ritual requires that none of the blood of any of the sacrifices be drank.]

Kalisstan, the celebrated sage of the south, imparts a hint that the holiday is mostly celebrated by vampires as their one time a year to watch the sunrise. Those celebrating this holiday usually dance in the streets, watch sunrise and sunset, and gleefully cause as much havoc as possible in Nethrancor's name.
Some places developed a habit of dressing up as ghouls and zombies to confuse and confound the evil denizens that walk the earth that day, making it more of a holiday than a horror day. Other times saw the gifting of candies, cookies, or once even garlic buds to any stranger on this day. It was thought that the roaming undead could not kill someone they were beholden to until they repaid with a gift of equal value. These practices always quickly died out because they did not offer any actual protection from the undead.

Today, in most places where the holiday is "celebrated", the day is spent barricaded at home or in the local temple, going outside only when absolutely necessary. Most families spend The Hollow Night or whatever the holiday is called in that land at that time, telling scary stories around the fireplace, sometimes in rooms fortified with garlic or silver mirrors, always with ale or some other spirit.

The holiday has no set date; instead it is caused by a year-long ritual held once per month, on the night of the new moon. On the thirteenth night of the ritual (1 year later), the holiday starts at dawn and encompasses an radius of five miles from the sight of the sacrifices. Each session of the ritual takes several hours and requires a sacrifice of some kind. All sacrifices must take place on the same sanctified sacrificial altar. The year's sacrifices are divided by the seasons into 4 triads. The first triad of sacrifices must be: wild animals. The second triad of sacrifices must be: befriended animals (pets). The third triad of sacrifices must each be: intelligent creatures. And the last triad of sacrifices must each be: an intelligent creature well-known by the creature performing the ritual. The thirteenth night requires no sacrifice unless the caster wishes to continue the holiday next year (then the sacrifices must start over with at least a wild animal). It is always permissible to use a later sacrificial requirement for an earlier one (e.g. use pets for the first six sacrifices).

Only areas with a strong alliance of death priests, cult of vampires, or cabal of necromancers have this holiday for more than several years at a time (usually hoping to command, control, or forge an alliance with a light-impaired undead clan).
When the holiday first starts though; the general populace will be unprepared for its effects and many will be lost the first few years until sages or bards bring enlightenment, the ritual sacrifices are halted, or the land is overrun with undead.

As Keeper of the Core, Nethrancor trades one secret of undeath for a service from an undead. The only deal he will make with living creatures is to trade the knowledge of one method of becoming undead in return for using that method to become that type of undead in his service.

Clerics and Holy Sites
The Spirit Caller considers the lair of any undead being that worships him to be a holy site. No shrine or temple is needed; indeed, he only has two actual temples: The Grotto of Death (also known as just “The Grotto”), his demesnes in Hades [or any Neutral Evil plane or even the plane of the afterlife], and the frost giant built Krag'r Kompf hidden somewhere among the peaks of the Misty Mountains [or any other snow-capped mountain range].
Giant and humanoid clerics to Nethrancor wear linen arm wrappings called phylacteries, most sport Nethrancor’s symbol on the left breast of their black robe and go about with the hood pulled up to shadow their often dessicated undead face. Undead draconic worshipers of the Keeper of the Core usually have carved statuettes of Nethrancor’s unholy symbol prominately placed in their lair; but other than their undead state, they do not otherwise advertise their choice of lord.

I'll go a slightly different direction on the undead rogue: he binds most of his essence into a weapon crafted of bone that is similar to a lich's phylactery in terms of construction and how it detects. When grasped, it dominates the wielder, forcing him to do the rogue's bidding, with roguish abilities and high skill/attribute bonuses based on the rogue's.

The weapon binds itself to the wielded- think of the gun fro Videodrome- so it can't be disarmed.

The undead rogue also has a spectral presence that the wielder can always hear and see, but others only can by using magic.

On the undead warrior, how about some kind of corporeal undead that can be defeated by purely martial means, but the more magic you throw at it- possibly including magic from weapons- the stronger it gets? It's ultimate form would be an incorporeal body that can nonetheless affect corporeal opponents with its weapon. Said weapon might even ignore all armor bonuses except those derived from magic.

Ok, I really like the Videodrome reference. Bone blade, nice, can't be disarmed or released nice, [also can't harm the thief as it is made from the thief's own thighbone as part of the ceremony to become this undead]. Gives wielder +10 to Climb, Hide, Jump, and Move Silently.
I'm not too sure on the possession/mind control thingy though: it seems more mage-like than thief-like to me. The "only the wielder can see the thief" though would make that weapon very memorable.

The bone dagger would have to be ghost touch and eventually drag the wielder into the plane of shadow where the thief eats his soul to continue its existence (a la early lore and liches needing larvae). Eating the soul releases the dagger back into the material plane to wherever it was when it drug the wielder across the planes.

I'll have to think a bit about the warrior though. Seems like he would have to be vulnerable to normal weapons.

Yes, he would. And as an intelligent undead warrior, he’d know his weaknesses.

But presumably, he’d also be at least a good enough tactician to draw his foes into powering him up. For instance, he might surround himself with lesser undead that would tempt his foes to use magic. Assuming they don’t know his true nature...

I’d look at the Spellfire rules to determine how he absorbs magic and how much he can absorb.