Undead Origins

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RA3 Touch of Death

RA3 Touch of Death
2e
Zombie Desert:Anyone struck by the mummies' attack becomes infected with a horrible rotting disease that kills in 1d12 days. On the day after the infection, the character loses 1 point of Strength and Constitution. Their skin begins to wither and flake like old parchment. They get shakes and convulsions making it impossible to cast spells. The only hope is a series of cure disease spells, all cast on the same day, one for each day that the disease has progressed.
Normally the person affected crumbles into dust when they die. However, Senmet has the ability to make the dead body retain its dried out shape and can transform the hapless victim into a desert zombie. He does this by strangling an infected character. Within 8 hours, the dead body withers and reanimates as a desert zombie.
The greater mummy, Senmet, created the first desert zombies. He sacrificed all of his spell casting power to be able to create and control an army of these zombies, as well as take limited control over the domain of Har'Akir.
Any character who dies from the disease transmitted by the touch of the greater mummy becomes a desert zombie. It takes a full day after the death to animate the corpse. If the body is destroyed during that time, then it cannot be animated as a desert zombie.

Mummy: Characters infected by Senmet that are mummified alive (a gruesome process), become mummies under the control of Senmet.
Mummy Greater: Centuries later, Isu read from a magical scroll a fragment of the ceremony used by Anhktepot to create greater mummies. Senmet returned to control his undead body.

 

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Dragon Fist

Dragon Fist
2e
Ghost: Most commonly, ghosts are the po souls of those buried improperly who return to Earth.
Vampire Hopping: When a body is buried improperly or in an inauspicious location, the po soul returns to the body and animates it; however, the hun soul has already moved on to Heaven. The po soul, already suffering after death, reverts to animalistic behavior and hungers to kill mortals. Without the heavenly spark of the hun soul, the body is not truly alive, so it retains the rigidity of death. The result is a hopping vampire.
Anyone who suffers more than 15 points of damage from a hopping vampire runs the risk of becoming a vampire in turn. Exactly how this occurs is a mystery, but most shamans agree it is a form of curse. After combat is over, the injured character must roll percentile dice. The chance of turning into a vampire is equal to the amount of damage he or she sustained (so if the vampire inflicted 20 points of damage, the chance would be 20%). Those who succumb to the curse slowly turn into vampires themselves, growing fangs and long fingernails and becoming more bestial as their po soul takes over. This process takes 1 day, plus an additional number of days equal to a Fortitude stunt roll. To stop the transformation, a shaman must cast the remove curse spell on the victim before the process is complete.
Skeleton: Skeletons are magically animated undead monsters, usually the work of evil shamans with no respect for the dead.
Zombie: Zombies are mindless, animated corpses serving the evil shamans that create them.

 

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Monstrous Arcana I Tyrant

Monstrous Arcana I Tyrant
2e
Undead Beholder: Most undead beholders come into existence through the evil work of mages, beholder mages, elder orbs, or priests. Some of these undead, however, form as a result of magical accidents.
Death tyrants are created through the use of a magical spell cast upon the bodies of slain beholders.
A rogue death tyrant usually forms as a result of a magical accident.
Doomsphere: It usually forms when a beholder dies in a magical explosion.
Kasharin: Kasharin usually form when a wizard or priest transforms a malohurr infected beholder into a death tyrant. Sometimes, however, death tyrants spontaneously transform into kasharin.

Create Death Tryant
Eighth Level Wizard Spell
(Necromancy)
Range: 20 Ft
Components: v
Duration : Instantaneous
Area Of Effect : 1 beholder/Hit Die
Saving Throw: None
This spell allows an elder orb or beholder mage to create death tyrants from the shells or corpses of dead beholders. The spell does not allow the permanent control of the undead beholders. The caster controls the death tyrants created by this spell for Idl2 rounds, plus 1 round per caster level. Thereafter, the caster must use a control death tyrant spell to maintain control.

Ninth-Level Spells
Create Death Tyrant (Necromancy)
Range: 2 Yards
Components: v, s, M
Duration: Special
Casting Time: 3 Turns
Area Of Effect: Special (1 dead beholder)
Saving Throw: None
This spell imbues a dead beholder with energy from the negative material plane, transforming it into a death tyrant. In addition, the spell allows the wizard to instruct the death tyrant as to how it will receive orders in the future. The death tyrant will obey the spellcaster for Id6 rounds plus 1 round for every level of the caster. After that amount of time, the spellcaster must use the control death tyrant spell in order to maintain control of the undead creature.
Most wizards eschew the use of this spell, as creating a death tyrant is a purely evil action. Good aligned wizards who cast this spell should be severely punished.
A 7th level clerical version of this spell exists. The spell falls under the necromantic sphere and is identical to the wizard spell. Again, creation of a death tyrant is an offensive and evil action. Good aligned priests should suffer great punishment for using this spell. At the very least, the cleric's deity will withold all spells and granted abilities until the cleric atones for his actions.
The creation of a death tyrant requires an elaborate ritual. The cost of the material components of this ritual averages about 3,000 gp.

 

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Player's Handbook 2e

Player's Handbook
2e
Undead: If the character is energy drained to less than 0 levels by an undead's energy drain (thereby slain by the undead), he returns as an undead of the same type as his slayer in 2d4 days. The newly risen undead has the same character class abilities it had in normal life, but with only half the experience it had at the beginning of its encounter with the undead who slew it.
Skeleton: Animate Dead spell.
Zombie: Animate Dead spell.
Gnoll Zombie: Animate Dead spell.
Fire Giant Zombie: Animate Dead spell.
Dwarven Zombie: Animate Dead spell.
Juju Zombie: Finger of Death spell.
Energy Drain spell.
Spectre: ?
Vampire: ?
Ghost: ?
Ghoul: ?
Mummy: ?
Lich: ?
Shadow: ?
Wight: ?
Ghast: ?
Wraith: ?

Animate Dead
Fifth-Level Wizard (Necromancy)
Range: 10 yds. Components: V, S, M
Duration: Permanent Casting Time: 5 rds.
Area of Effect: Special Saving Throw: None
This spell creates the lowest of the undead monsters--skeletons or zombies--usually from the bones or bodies of dead humans, demihumans, or humanoids. The spell causes existing remains to become animated and obey the simple verbal commands of the caster. The skeletons or zombies can follow the caster, remain in an area and attack any creature (or just a specific type of creature) entering the place, etc. The undead remain animated until they are destroyed in combat or are turned; the magic cannot be dispelled. The following types of dead creatures can be animated:
A) Humans, demihumans, and humanoids with 1 Hit Die. The wizard can animate one skeleton for each experience level he has attained, or one zombie for every two levels. The experience levels, if any, of the slain are ignored; the body of a newly dead 9th-level fighter is animated as a zombie with 2 Hit Dice, without special class or racial abilities.
B) Creatures with more than 1 Hit Die. The number of undead animated is determined by the monster Hit Dice (the total Hit Dice cannot exceed the wizard's level). Skeletal forms have the Hit Dice of the original creature, while zombie forms have one more Hit Die. Thus, a 12th-level wizard could animate four zombie gnolls (4 x [2+1 Hit Dice] = 12), or a single fire giant skeleton. Such undead have none of the special abilities they had in life.
C) Creatures with less than 1 Hit Die. The caster can animate two skeletons per level or one zombie per level. The creatures have their normal Hit Dice as skeletons and an additional Hit Die as zombies. Clerics receive a +1 bonus when trying to turn these.
This spell assumes that the bodies or bones are available and are reasonably intact (those of skeletons or zombies destroyed in combat won't be!).
It requires a drop of blood and a pinch of bone powder or a bone shard to complete the spell. The casting of this spell is not a good act, and only evil wizards use it frequently.

Animate Dead
Third-Level Priest (Necromancy)
Sphere: Necromantic
Range: 10 yds. Components: V, S, M
Duration: Permanent Casting Time: 1 rd.
Area of Effect: Special Saving Throw: None
This spell creates the lowest of the undead monsters, skeletons or zombies, usually from the bones or bodies of dead humans, demihumans, or humanoids. The spell causes these remains to become animated and obey the simple verbal commands of the caster, regardless of how they communicated in life. The skeletons or zombies can follow the caster, remain in an area and attack any creature (or just a specific type of creature) entering the place, etc. The undead remain animated until they are destroyed in combat or are turned; the magic cannot be dispelled.
The priest can animate one skeleton or one zombie for each experience level he has attained. If creatures with more than 1+ Hit Dice are animated, the number is determined by the monster Hit Dice. Skeletal forms have the Hit Dice of the original creature, while zombie forms have 1 more Hit Die. Thus, a 12th-level priest could animate 12 dwarven skeletons (or six zombies), four zombie gnolls, or a single zombie fire giant. Note that this is based on the standard racial Hit Die norm; thus, a high-level adventurer would be animated as a skeleton or zombie of 1 or 2 Hit Dice, and without special class or racial abilities. The caster can, alternatively, animate two small animal skeletons (1-1 Hit Die or less) for every level of experience he has achieved.
The spell requires a drop of blood, a piece of flesh of the type of creature being animated, and a pinch of bone powder or a bone shard to complete the spell. Casting this spell is not a good act, and only evil priests use it frequently.

Finger of Death
Seventh-Level Wizard (Necromancy)
Range: 60 yds. Components: V, S
Duration: Permanent Casting Time: 5
Area of Effect: 1 creature Saving Throw: Neg.
The finger of death spell snuffs out the victim's life force. If successful, the victim can be neither raised nor resurrected. In addition, in human subjects the spell initiates changes to the body such that after three days the caster can, by means of a special ceremony costing not less than 1,000 gp plus 500 gp per body, animate the corpse as a juju zombie under the control of the caster. The changes can be reversed before animation by a limited wish or similar spell cast directly upon the body, and a full wish restores the subject to life.
The caster utters the finger of death spell incantation, points his index finger at the creature to be slain, and unless the victim succeeds in a saving throw vs. spell, death occurs. A creature successfully saving still receives 2d8+1 points of damage. If the subject dies of damage, no internal changes occur and the victim can then be revived normally.

Energy Drain
Ninth-Level Wizard (Evocation, Necromancy)
Range: Touch Components: V, S, M
Duration: Permanent Casting Time: 3
Area of Effect: 1 creature Saving Throw: None
By casting this spell, the wizard opens a channel between the plane he is in and the Negative Energy plane, becoming the conductor between the two planes. As soon as he touches (equal to a hit if melee is involved) any living creature, the victim loses two levels (as if struck by a spectre). A monster loses 2 Hit Dice permanently, both for hit points and attack ability. A character loses levels, Hit Dice, hit points, and abilities permanently (until regained through adventuring, if applicable).
The material component of this spell is essence of spectre or vampire dust. Preparation requires mere moments; the material component is then cast forth, and, upon touching the victim, the wizard speaks the triggering word, causing the spell to take effect instantly.
The spell remains effective for only a single round. Humans or humanoids brought below zero energy levels by this spell can be animated as juju zombies under the control of the caster.
The caster always has a 5% (1 in 20) chance to be affected by the dust, losing one point of Constitution at the same time as the victim is drained. When the number of Constitution points lost equals the caster's original Constitution ability score, the caster dies and becomes a shade.

 

[Voadam]

Tome of Magic 2e

Tome of Magic
2e
Skeleton: Undead Plague spell.

Undead Plague (Necromancy)
Quest Spell
Sphere: Necromantic
Range: 1 mile
Duration: Special
Casting Time: 2 rounds
Area of Effect: 100-yard square/level
Saving Throw: None
By means of this potent spell, the priest summons many ranks of skeletons to do his bidding. The skeletons are formed from any and all humanoid bones within the area of effect. The number of skeletons depends on the terrain in the area of effect; a battlesite or graveyard will yield 10 skeletons per 100 square yards; a long-inhabited area will yield three skeletons per 100 square yards; and wilderness will yield one skeleton per 100 square yards.
The spell's maximum area of effect is 10,000 square yards. Thus, no more than 1,000 skeletons can be summoned by this spell.
The skeletons created by this spell are turned as zombies and remain in existence until destroyed or willed out of existence by the priest who created them.

 

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DM's Option High Level Campaigns

Dungeon Master's Options: High-Level Campaigns
2e
Skeleton: Kolin's Undead Legion spell.
Zombie: Kolin's Undead Legion spell.

Kolin’s Undead Legion
True Dweomer (Necromancy)
Type: Animate
Range: Plane
Duration: Instantaneous
Difficulty: 325
Final Difficulty: 45
Preparation Time: 1 Month
Casting Time: 1 Hour
Area of Effect: 5,000‑foot square, 5 feet high
Saving Throw: None
This spell animates 200 Hit Dice of skeletons or zombies from intact remains in an area up to 5,000 feet square anywhere on the same plane as the caster. The caster can give the legion one brief, simple command when the spell is cast, but he must be present to give detailed orders. The wizard Kolin typically dispatched an undead lieutenant to the scene to take command of the troops.
The material components are an unbroken bone (common), dust from an undead spellcaster’s lair, a horn that has been played over a warrior’s grave, a copper dagger that has been bloodied in battle (rare), mold from a general’s shroud, and a battle standard carried into an ambush (exotic).

 

[Voadam]

Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One

Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One
2e
Baelnorn: Baelnorn are elves who have sought undeath to serve their families, communities, or other purposes (usually to see a wrong righted, or to achieve a certain magical discovery or deed).
The process by which elves become baelnorn is old, secret, and complicated.
Baneguard: Baneguards are skeletons, usually but not always human, which are animated by clerical spells to serve as guardian creatures. The create baneguard spell was originally researched by priests of Bane (of the Forgotten Realms setting), but in the years since the demise of that deity, the secret of the spell has been spread such that many other evil (and not-so-evil) deities allow their priests to use it.
Create Baneguard spell.
Direguard: The create direguard spell is as the create baneguard, but is a 7th-level spell and has a casting time of one round.
Create Direguard spell.
Blazing Bones: Blazing bones are undead accidentally created when a priest or wizard who has prepared or partially prepared contingency magic to prevent death is killed by fiery damage. The casted magic twists the contingency provisions so the unfortunate victim passes into undeath in the heart of a roaring column of flame. Tormented by the endless agony of fire, the priest’s or wizard’s nature (including alignment, Hit Dice, and thoughts) changes.
There have been cases where evil archmages or high priests have deliberately created blazing bones as guardians, by slaying underling wizards or priests after laying control magic on them.
Crypt Servant: Though it is possible to create a crypt servant from any dead body, volunteers are usually preferred. Many ancient crypt servants actually volunteered for their posts, wishing to serve their masters in death as in life.
Because of their similar purpose and method of creation, crypt servants are sometimes associated with the crypt thing. The spells to create each are similar and probably have the same roots.
Create Crypt Servant spell.
Dread: These undead are created by wizards and priests to serve as guardians. The enchantment involves a set of instructions (similar to the specific triggering conditions for a magic mouth spell), in which the creator of the dread specifies where they are to operate; and under what circumstances they will and won’t attack. The spells also allow the bone to regenerate damage done to it, and to resist aging effects.
Vampiric Dread: ?
Flameskull: These magically powered flying skulls are fashioned from human heads soon after their owners’ deaths.
They are studied by alchemists, priests, and wizards whenever possible in an effort to duplicate their powers or the means of their making (so far without reported success), or to find special properties that their flames might possess.
Lich Psionic: Psionic liches are powerful espers who have left behind the physical demands of life in pursuit of ultimate mental powers.
Although the power that transformed them is natural (not supernatural, as it is with other liches), the extent to which psionic liches have pursued their goals is not natural.
By far the most important aspect of the existence of the psionic lich is the creation of its phylactery. To understand this mystical device, it is important to understand the process by which a psionicist becomes a lich. Before a psionicist can cross over into the darkness that is undeath, he must attain at least 18th level. In addition, he must be possessed of a great array of powers that can be bent and focused in ways new to the character.The first step in the creation of a phylactery is the crafting of the physical object that will become the creature’s spiritual resting place. Phylacteries come in all shapes, from rings to crowns, and from swords to idols. They are made from only the finest materials and must be fashioned by master craftsmen. Generally, a phylactery is fashioned in a shape that reflects the personality of the psionicist. The cost of creating a phylactery is 5,000 gp per level of the character. Thus, a 20th level psionicist must spend 100,000 gp on his artifact.
Once the phylactery is fashioned, it must be readied to receive the psionicist’s life force. This is generally done by means of the metapsionic empower ability, with some subtle changes in the way the psionicist uses the power that alters its outcome. In order to complete the phylactery, the psionicist must empower it with each and every psionic ability that he possesses.
Although an object cannot normally be empowered with psychic abilities in more than one discipline, the unusual nature of the phylactery allows this rule to be broken. However, before “opening” a new discipline within the object, the would-be lich must transfer all of his powers from the first discipline into it. For exampie, if a character has telepathic and metapsionic abilities, he must complete the empowering of all of his telepathic powers before he begins to infuse the object with his metapsionic ones. Once a discipline is closed it cannot be reopened.
During the creation of the phylactery, the psionicist is very vulnerable to attack. Each time that he gives his phylactery a new power, he loses it himself. Thus, the process strips away the powers of the psionicist as it continues. Obviously, the last power that is transferred into the phylactery is the empower ability. The effort of placing this ability within the phylactery drains the last essences of the psionicist’s life from him and completes his transformation into a psionic lich. At the moment that the transformation takes place the character must make a system shock survival roll. Failure indicates that his willpower was not strong enough to survive the trauma of becoming undead; his spirit breaks up and dissipates, making him forever dead. Only the powers of a deity are strong enough to revive a character who has died in this way; even a wish will not suffice.
Naga Bone: Bone nagas are created undead.
Created by dark nagas and a few evil mages to serve as guardians, these spellcasting worms serve their master with absolute loyalty. Their creation is an exacting process, hence their rarity.
Bone nagas are usually created by the nagara (evil nagakind, or dark nagas) to be guardians, especially of young nagas and nonmagical treasure.
Spectral Wizard: They are created by a unique spell that functions on human and elf wizards and gnome illusionists, taking hold only on those whose bodies once channeled wizard magic.
Spectral wizards are created artificially and have no ecological niche.
Create Spectral Wizard spell.
Tuyewera: The tuyewera is a horrible type of undead monster created by evil clerics in remote jungle villages. The cleric takes the corpse of a man slain by death magic spells and ritually removes the legs at the knees. The tongue is also severed. The cleric then enchants the corpse, bringing the ancestral spirit of a wizard or priest into it, which gives the corpse a horrid animation.
The spells and counterspells used for creating tuyeweras are granted only by the deities of evil witch doctors in tropical lands.
As created undead, tuyewera have nothing to contribute to the ecology.
Undead Dwarf: Undead dwarves are created by residual essence on the part of dwarves who are concerned, just before they die, that their final resting places will in some way be disturbed. It is this essence that allows the bodies of the dwarves to transform into protectors.
There is no known understanding of how undead dwarves are formed or why they exist except to protect their sacred tombs.
Undead Lake Monster: ?
Wolf Dread: These creatures were originally created by a renegade mage, but word of how to create these horrid creatures seems to have spread across the Prime Material Plane.
As magically animated undead, dread wolves have no natural place in any ecosystem. To create these servants, a mage must be evil and at least 9th level, and he must have 3d4 wolves that have been dead for no more than a day. The spellcaster begins an incantation over the dead wolves that combines modified versions of animate dead, summon shadow, and dismissal. By doing this, the mage summons a shadow from the Negative Energy Plane and breaks it into parts which are infused into the wolves, creating the dread wolves.
The spellcasting takes an hour. If the spell is interrupted, the energies of the shadow’s separate parts are unleashed. When this happens, the mage suffers 3d10 points of damage (no save) from the other-worldly energy blast.
At the end of the hour, the mage will have 3d4 servants that can travel up to 50 miles away and enable him to see and hear everything they see and hear. The wolves are directly under the control of the mage’s mind within this distance.
The wolves can venture outside the 50-mile limit, but they lose contact with the controlling mage. Unless previous commands prevent this, the wolves will immediately try to get back within the limit to regain contact. The dread wolves can be given a command of up to three short sentences (a total of 30 words), which they will cover any distance to fulfill. This command will always be fulfilled unless the dread wolves are destroyed first.
For some unknown reason, the spell that makes dread wolves will not work on dogs. A mage who attempts this on dogs suffers 3d10 points of damage as described earlier.
Wolf Vampiric: These foul undead creatures are the result of corrupting ceremonies used on normal wolf pups by evil clerics.
In order to create these foul corruptions, a cleric must be evil and at least 9th level. He can use 3d6 pups from one or more wolf dens. The pups must be very close to being weaned, but cannot have tasted meat or they will be useless.
The cleric first performs a ceremony using what amounts to the opposite of an atonement spell. Then, every day he must hand-feed the pups. The food can be no more than one day old and it must be infused with one or two drops of blood from a living human, or dust from a vampire and cursed using a reversed bless spell. This must continue every day for three months or the pups die. At the end of the three-month period, the pups are fully grown and must then be slain by poisoning; they then arise as vampiric wolves. If they are not slain at this time, the wolves must each make a saving throw vs. death magic or become greatly weakened (1 hp per Hit Die), living on as bloodthirsty but otherwise normal wolves.
It is impossible to create vampiric dogs.
Wolf Zombie: Zombie wolves are not created by a wizard or a priest, but rise when wolves starve or freeze to death near areas frequented by undead such as graveyards and necroplises.
It is generally thought that the creatures gain this strange form of existence from incidental contact with the Negative Material Plane. Some sages speculate that the anguish of starvation and freezing provides just enough impetus to animate the simple animals when negative energy touches them. Others figure that another undead creature must consciously seek the dead wolves and give them unlife.

 

[Voadam]

Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two

Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Two
2e
Amiq Rasol: Amiq Rasol, also called Deep Men or Dark Men, are undead corsairs who were lost at sea, murdered, or marooned. Corsairs who refused to acknowledge or turned away from the gods may also become amiq rasol.
Arch-Shadow: As evil wizards and priests grow older and see their deaths before them, some decide to take their chances with becoming a lich. Most fail and die. The unlucky few who survive the process but fail to achieve lichdom become arch-shadows.
There are no recorded instances of a high-level priest or wizard striving to become an arch-shadow – misfortune leads to their existence.
During the process of achieving lichdom, the wizard or priest creates a special phylactery in which to store his or her life force. If this item fails during the process, there is a tremendous explosion and a 5% chance that the wizard or priest becomes an arch-shadow instead of being utterly destroyed. More often than not, faulty construction or some slight error in an incantation causes the delicate process to break down.
Once the lich-creation priocess has failed and the caster has successfully made the crossover to arch-shadow status, survival is not guaranteed. A system shock roll must be made, with failure indicating that the arch-shadow is drawn into the Plane of Negative Energy. If the roll is successful the arch-shadow is teleported to the location of an item of moderate to great power (a staff of curing, a +3 or better weapon, a ring of wizardry, or another item with an experience point value greater than 1,500), into which it can place its life force. An artifact is unsuitable, nor can the item be one owned by the arch-shadow or any former henchman; no item that was within 10 miles at the time of the failed attempt to become a lich is suitable.
The decision of which magical item to use is not made by the arch-shadow. The arch-shadow is teleported to a location where a suitable item exists.
Arch-Shadow Demi-Shade: To become a demi-shade, the arch-shadow must drain life energy from creatures that have touched its receptacle within the last 24 hours. It usually takes eight life levels gathered within two hours for the change to occur, but an arch-shadow can gamble in order to gain more Hit Dice in the process of transforming. It typically accomplishes this by draining high level characters or powerful creatures. For each additional level over eight that the arch shadow drains, one extra Hit Die is gained. If the draining takes place in a particularly unhallowed place, the arch-shadow gains an additional Hit Die. The arch-shadow cannot exceed a total of 30 Hit Dice.
Crypt Cat: Crypt cats are domestic cats that have been mummified.
Crypt cats are created by coating the corpse of a cat with a thin layer of clay that contains magical salves and oils. When dry, it is painted with brilliant colors in the pattern of the cat’s fur. Often, copious amounts of gilt paint are used.
The composition of the clay that animates a crypt cat is unknown, although it is assumed that high level necromantic spells are involved.
Crypt Cat Large: Sometimes the bodies of larger felines are made into crypt cats.
Curst: Curst are undead humans, trapped by an evil curse that will not let them die. They are created by a rare process: The victim’s skin pales to an unearthly white pallor, and his or her eyes turn black while the iris color deepens, becoming small pools of glinting dark color. Curst lose their sense of smell, often lose Intelligence, and develop erratic behaviour as their alignment changes to chaotic neutral.
In the process of becoming curst, humans lose their sense of smell, any magical abilities, and often their minds (but not their cunning); only 11% of the curst retain their full, former ability score, while most have a lowered Intelligence of 8.
Curst are created by the bestow curse spell (the reverse of the remove curse spell), and within four rounds adding a properly worded wish spell. Creating them is an evil act.
About 2% of curst are humanoid.
Ekimmu: An ekimmu is an angry undead spirit that was once human. It is created when a human dies far from home and is not given proper burial rites.
Ghost Casurua: The casurua is an undead manifestation that results from a group suffering traumatic death. It is most likely to form where a massacre has taken place, but could be found anywhere a group has suffered violent death, such as a burned-out building.
A casurua can form anywhere violent death occurs, especially unexpected or wrongful death. It is rarely found on a battlefield, because violent death there is expected and accepted. A casurua most often forms on a battlefield when the slain died by treachery. Casurua are most likely found on the sites of disaster, natural or otherwise. Ruins are prime habitats for casurua, especially places that were razed and looted.
Ghost Ker: Popular tradition identifies keres with evil spirits of the dead.
Ghul Great: The great ghuls are undead elemental cousins of the genies, the most wicked members of an inferior order of jann.
Ghul-Kin The ghul-kin are related to the great ghuls, and like them are undead jann.
Ghul-Kin Soultaker: ?
Ghul-Kin Witherer: ?
Lich Suel: These powerful wizards endure the centuries by transferring their life forces from one human host to the next.
Mummy Creature: Creature mummies are undead whose bodies are preserved, then animated by their restless spirits.
Creature mummies may be created in a variety of ways. Their reanimation may result from intense death throes coupled by a will to live, invocation from dark priestly rituals, or creation by a necromancer or some powerful undead creature.
Mummy Creature Animal: ?
Mummy Creature Monster: ?
Wraith-Spider: Victims drained of all Constitution points by a wraith-spider die and have a 25% chance of becoming wraith-spiders themselves.
Wraith-spiders were originally created as guardians of treasure or as guards for a particular area of a drow stronghold.
It is rumored that a wizard named Muiral created them; however, it is more likely that the wraith-spiders were created years before by the drow for their wars against the duergar.

Wraith: Amiq rasol that do not feed for several years will fade away until they become wraiths.

 

[Voadam]

Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three

Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three
2e
Alhoon: Their bodies adapt only imperfectly to lich state; many magical steps of most lichdom processes used by others fail on a strongly-magic resistant mind flayer body.
Banedead: Created from fanatical human worshipers.
Banedead derive their power from the Negative Energy Plane and from the clerical power of the ritual that created them.
Banedead are created by a special ritual that requires at least 12 worshipers (to be turned into Banedead), at least 24 living additional worshipers (to offer prayers), and a priest of Bane or Xvim of at least 12th level (to preside over the ritual). The ritual must be held in a place that is consecrated to either Bane or Xvim. People who are to become Banedead (also called the Promised Ones) must come forward voluntarily. Rumors of innocent folks captured by cultists and forcibly transformed into Banedead are patently false. At the end of the ritual, the new Banedead are placed under the control of their new master, the presiding priest.
Some scholars are still trying to discern how a new breed of undead could be formed by a deity who is supposed to have been destroyed. A few sages believe that it is not Bane at all, but rather Xvim, who has introduced this new horror to the Realms. These sages speculate that the spirits of the Promised Ones are in fact shunted into Xvim somehow to nourish him, building his power so that he can eventually fill the void left by his father’s death.
Banelich: Tired of his faithful becoming victims, every 50-60 years Bane chose the most powerful priest within the ranks of his clerics and revealed to him or her a foul rite that would transform the caster, through force of faith, strength of will, and Bane’s divine hand, into a powerful, immortal form – a lich of Bane, or Banelich.
Baneliches were at least 17th-level clerics before they were transformed, and several were 20th level or higher.
Bat Bonebat: Bonebats are not thought to occur naturally, but the secrets of their making have been known in the Realms for a very long time, and many have gone feral.
Bonebats are usually constructed by evil priests and wizards working together. An intact giant bat skeleton, or a skeleton assembled from the bones of several bats, is required. A spell known as Nulathoe’s ninemen is cast on the skeleton. In the case of a bonebat, this spell links the skeletal wing bones with an invisible membrane of force to allow flight. Fly, detect invisibility, infravision, and animate dead spells complete the process. Further spells may be necessary to train the bonebat to serve as an obedient aide, but the spells listed here must be cast within two rounds of each other, and in the order given, or the process will fail.
Bat Bonebat Battlebat: ?
Coffer Corpse: The coffer corpse is an undead creature seeking its final rest. It is always encountered on the scene of an incomplete death ritual: a stranded funeral barge, unburnt pyre, or so on.
Dragon Ghost Dragon: A ghost dragon is created when an ancient dragon is slain and its hoard looted.
Only ancient dragons can become ghost dragons.
Dread Warrior: Dread warriors are enhanced undead created by Szass Tam, Zulkir of Necromancy for the Red Wizards of Thay. Dread warriors are created immediately after a warrior’s death so that they retain at least minimal intelligence. They must be created from the bodies of fighters of at least 4th level who have been dead for less than a day.
Zulkir Szass Tam created the dread warriors over 20 years ago, intending them for an invasion of Rashemen.
Son of Kyuss: Sons of Kyuss are horrible undead beings that convert living humans and demihumans into cursed undead like themselves.
In addition to flailing fists, one worm per round attempts to jump from a son’s head to a character the son is meleeing. The worm needs only to roll a successful attack roll (same THAC0 as the son) to land on the victim. The worm burrows into the victim on the next round unless killed by the touch of cold iron, holy water, or a blessed object. After penetrating the victim's skin, the worm burrows toward the victim’s brain, taking 1d4 rounds to reach it. During this time a remove curse or cure disease spell will kill the worm, and neutralize poison or dispel evil will delay the worm for 1d6 turns. If the worm reaches the brain, the victim dies immediately and becomes a son of Kyuss.
Kyuss was an evil high priest who created the first of these creatures, via a special curse, under instruction from an evil deity.
The worms are tied to the curse of the sons but exactly how remains a mystery. It is known that the worms cannot survive apart from a victim or on a son. Worms that fail to burrow into a victim die as soon as they touch the ground. Any worm removed from a son dies within one round of separation from the son who carried it. When a son is killed permanently, the worms die with him. Some sages have proposed that the worms might not be living creatures per se, but incarnations of the curse.
Undead Dragon Slayer: An undead dragon slayer is a horrifying creature returned from death to destroy dragons.
Most undead dragon slayers are called back from the grave by necromantic magic. Though it retains its own mind and agenda, it must obey the commands of the summoner – at least until its task is complete or it somehow wins its freedom. A small number af dragon slayers actually will themselves back from the dead. These individuals have the utmost faith in their cause, an undying hatred of dragons, and a supernatural strength of will.
In the Council of Wyrms setting, undead dragon slayers were members of the vast army of human warriors who invaded the Io’s Blood isles in ages past. Any slayer of 9th level or greater who died before his holy task was finished can rise as an undead warrior.
Zhentarim Spirit: A Zhentarim spirit is the essence of a Zhentarim wizard who met with a horrible death at the hands of his or her enemies or treacherous comrades. The spirit of the wizard is extremely vengeful, and by sheer force of will is remaining on the Prime Material Plane until a task is complete or until it takes revenge on those who slew it. Zhentarim spirits are extremely rare, and only the death of a wizard who is greater than 14th level can bring about the creation of one of these spiteful spirits.
The determination of Zhentarim spirits to annihilate their killers is exceptional, and these creatures defy final judgment for indefinite and extended periods to exact their revenge. This is done through these spirits’ force of will (minimum Wisdom of 16), aided by their connection with the magical arts (minimum of 14th-level wizard).
These spirits have so far only been linked with wizards of the Zhentarim, and many think the tendency of Zhentarim wizards to form these spirits is attributable to magical means that they use to extend their lives. A vengeful Zhentarim spirit is formed one to two days after the death of an appropriate Zhentarim wizard, and it immediately sets about planning its revenge.

Zombie: A cure disease or remove curse spell will transform a son of Kyuss into a zombie, but both spells require that the priest touch the son.

 

[Voadam]

Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Four

Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Four
2e
Inquisitor: Created by evil wizards centuries ago, inquisitors are a shambling, rotting, undead abomination, living on sheer terror.
Inquisitors are biologically immortal, cursed hundreds or thousands of years ago to forever cause pain and extract information.
Mummy Bog: Bog mummies are formed when a corpse comes to rest in a marsh or swamp and is naturally mummified by being coated in a layer of mud. Eventually the body takes on the dark coloration of the earth and becomes as tough as tanned leather. The clothing is partially preserved and sticks to the corpse in patches, as does hair. The facial features are distorted in a permanent grimace and the hands are stiffened into clawlike hooks. When the corpse at last rises as an undead creature, it walks with an uneven gait, due to the stiffness of its limbs.
A bog mummy rises as an undead creature when a powerful burst of positive energy causes the dead person’s spirit to rejoin with the preserved body. Bog mummies may be created by a priest or another mummy from the raw material of a corpse or may be the result of powerful emotional forces. In the domain of Necropolis, however, bog mummies are an accidental creation.
It is theorized that, when the doomsday device was activated, the resulting shock wave of negative energy that it sent out pushed before it a wave of positive energy. When this wave struck Stagnus Lake and the Great Salt Swamp, it also sent a positive wave through the large number of bodies that lay beneath the mud. The swamps were, after all, a favorite place to dispose of murder victims and contained a great many corpses that were already charged with strong emotional energy. Bog mummies began to climb out of the mud and stalk the living of Necropolis.
Shadowrath: Shadowraths are created by a fell artifact, the Crown of Horns.
Shadowrath Lesser: They are created by the ray of undeath power of the artifact, Crown of Horns. Those killed by this ray arise as lesser shadowraths, also known as blackbones.
Lesser shadowraths are created by the Crown of Horns.
Shadowrath Greater: These powerful undead are also created by the Crown of Horns. Those slain by Myrkul’s hand, the other major power of the artifact, arise as greater shadowraths.
Siren Ravenloft: It is thought that the sirens are merfolk who were transformed by the burst of negative energy that was released when the doomsday device was activated.
Skeleton Dust: Bones useed to create dust skeletons must be specially dried to the point of crumbling, then coated with a special resin containing a paralyzing venom. Tansmute water to dust is used in conjunction with animate dead to complete the process.
Skeleton Spike: Each spike must be specially carved from bones taken from the same type of creature that is to be animated (for example, human bones for a human skeleton). A glyph is carved into each spike before it is attached to the skeleton. During animation, a shatter spell is cast in conjunction with the animate dead spell. After animation, the 6th-level necromancy spell imbue undead with spell ability is cast, along with Beltyn’s burning blood; these spells are also used to recharge a spike skeleton with this ability.
Skeleton Obsidian: An obsidian jewel, inscribed with a special glyph, must be implanted in the skeleton’s forehead. A second animate dead spell must be cast in conjunction with the first, along with vampiric touch.
Spectral Scion: A spectral scion is the spirit of a bloodtheft victim who was killed with a tighmaevril weapon (which allows the slayer to steal powers associated with the victim’s bloodline). Not all those with a special bloodline killed in this way become spectral scions, but those who do daily relive the horror of losing their bloodlines, and are doomed to spend eternity seeking peace.
Vampire Cerebral: Only the lord of Dominia, Daclaud Heinfroth, knows the secret behind their creation.
Any human or humanoid creature whose Intelligence or Wisdom score is reduced to 0 by the drain of cerebral vampires is doomed to become an undead creature himself. Unlike other vampires, however, these creatures do not breed true. The secret of creating cerebral of vampires is known only to Daclaud Heinfroth himself.
Zombie Mud: Mud zombies are mindless, animated corpses that consist of a thick layer of slimy mud over a framework of bones. They are the unique creations of Azalin, the lich lord of Darkon.
Mud zombies are made from whole or partial skeletons, usually human.
Mud zombies are typically created wherever the raw materials to make them (bones and mud) are found. Battlefields and graveyards situated near a source of water (a river, bog, or lake) are the usual places where they are encountered. Climatic conditions must be just right. If there has been a prolonged drought, the earth will be dry and hard-packed and it will be impossible for a mud zombie to rise from its burial place.

Undead: Any human or humanoid creature whose Intelligence or Wisdom score is reduced to 0 by the drain of cerebral vampires is doomed to become an undead creature himself. Unlike other vampires, however, these creatures do not breed true.