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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Faolyn" data-source="post: 9453575" data-attributes="member: 6915329">Back to issue #300 and an article that gave us four undead templates. These templates are credited to “Wizards of the Coast R&D.” Was it a group effort, or did they find these templates somewhere without a name attached? Weird. The first is the mummy.Mummy (Template)The Risen Dead, Dragon Magazine #300Creature by Wizards of the Coast R&D“Mummy” is a template that can be added on any aberration, beast, dragon, giant, humanoid, or monstrosity. It regains all of the statistics of the base creature except as noted below.Type. The mummy becomes undead.Attributes. The mummy’s Strength increases by 4 and its Dexterity is reduced by 4.Armor Class. The mummy’s AC is recalculated to account for its lowered Dexterity.Saving Throws. The mummy is proficient in Wisdom saving throws.Resistances. The mummy is resistant to damage from nonmagical weapons.Immunities. The mummy is immune to necrotic and poison damage and to the charmed, fatigue, frightened, paralyzed, and poisoned conditions.Senses. If the base creature didn’t have darkvision, then it gains darkvision to 60 feet.Flammable. After taking fire damage, the mummy catches fire and takes 5 (1d10) fire damage if it isn’t already suffering ongoing fire damage. A creature can use an action to extinguish this fire.Undead Nature. The mummy doesn’t require air, sleep, or sustenance.Action: Rotting Fists. The mummy’s unarmed weapon attacks inflict additional necrotic damage depending on the base creature’s CR:CR 4 or lower: 10 (3d6) necrotic damageCR 5 – 16: 17 (5d6) necrotic damageCR 17 – 22: 24 (7d6) necrotic damageCR 23 or higher: 31 (9d6) necrotic damageAdditionally, the target must make a Constitution saving throw (save DC = 8 + the creature’s PB + the creature’s Constitution modifier) or be cursed with mummy rot (detailed on Monstrous Menagerie, page 336).If the base creature doesn’t have an unarmed weapon attack, it gains one that inflicts bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing, whichever is most appropriate, as follows:Tiny: 1d6 damageSmall or Medium: 2d6 damageLarge: 2d8 damageHuge: 4d8 damageGargantuan: 4d10 damageAction: Multiattack. The mummy gains an additional action, which it can only use for its Dreadful Gaze.Action: Dreadful Glare (Gaze). The mummy targets a creature within 60 feet. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC = 8 + the mummy’s PB + the mummy’s Charisma modifier). On a failure, it is magically frightened until the end of the mummy’s next turn. If the target fails by 5 or more, it is paralyzed for the same duration. A target that succeeds on the saving throw is immune to the Dreadful Glare of mummies (but not mummy lords) for 24 hours.Variant: Mummy LordThis template can be placed on any creature that has the Mummy template on it and has the Spellcasting (not Innate Spellcasting) trait. It regains all of the statistics of the base mummy except as noted below.Legendary Resistance (1/Day). If the mummy lord fails a saving throw while wearing its scarab amulet, it can choose to succeed instead. When it does so, the scarab amulet shatters. The mummy lord can create a new amulet when it finishes a long rest.Magic Resistance. The mummy lord has advantage on saving throws against spells and magical effects.Rejuvenation. If its heart is intact, a destroyed mummy lord gains a new body in 1d4 days, regaining all its hit points. The new body forms within 10 feet of the heart.Action: Guardian of Faith (2/day). A Large, indistinct spectral guardian appears within an unoccupied space within 30 feet and remains for 8 hours. Creatures of the mummy lord’s choice that move to a space within 10 feet of the guardian for the first time on a turn make a Dexterity saving throw (save DC = the mummy lord’s maneuver save DC), taking 20 radiant or necrotic damage (mummy lord’s choice) on a failed save or half damage on a success. The spell ends when the guardian has dealt 60 total damage.Reaction Blasphemous Counterspell. When the mummy lord is targeted by a spell using a 4th-level or lower spell slot, the attacker makes a Constitution saving throw (save DC = 8 + the mummy lord’s PB + the mummy lord’s Charisma modifier). On a failure, the spell is wasted, and the caster takes 3 (1d6) necrotic damage per level of the spell slot.Legendary Actions. The mummy lord can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. It regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.Channel Negative Energy. A 60-foot-radius aura of magical negative energy surrounds the mummy lord until the end of its next turn, spreading around corners. Creatures in the aura can’t regain hit points.Whirlwind of Sand. The mummy lord, along with its equipment, magically transforms into a whirlwind of sand and moves up to 60 feet without provoking opportunity attacks, and then reverts to its normal form.Attack (Costs 2 Actions). The mummy lord uses Dreadful Glare or attacks with its rotting fist.Blasphemous Word (Costs 2 Actions). Each non-undead creature within 10 feet of the mummy lord that can hear its magical imprecation makes a DC 16 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, a creature is stunned until the end of the mummy lord’s next turn.Variant: Salient PowersAs y’all know, I’m a big fan of Ravenloft, and I loved the Van Richten guides, in part because they added different abilities—salient powers—that the various monsters could have, so they wouldn’t all be identical. In the book on mummies, Van Richten’s Guide to the Ancient Dead, they made sure to include mummies from non-Egyptian cultures (including accidentally-created mummies, like those found in peat bogs), so here’s some options to switch your mummified dead up a bit.Anyway, a good idea is to give a mummy maybe one salient power, but only if they’re a major antagonist rather than a run-of-the-mill monster; and a mummy lord no more than two or three. Optionally, you can remove one of its existing abilities and give it a salient ability in exchange, just to confuse your players a bit.• Animal-Headed. The mummy's head was replaced with that of an animal. It gains an additional action it can use to make a bite attack; this attack inflicts piercing damage depending on the base creature's size, as per Rotting Fists, and can spread Mummy Rot.• Bonus Action: Appearance of Life. The mummy covers itself in an illusion, making it appear as it did while it was alive. It requires an Insight or Perception check (DC = the mummy’s passive Deception) to recognize it as an illusion or to determine that the mummy isn't alive. The mummy can choose to end the illusion as a bonus action. • Bonus Action: Command Undead. The mummy can use a bonus action to command an undead creature which can hear it whose CR is lower than its. Undead with an Intelligence score of 7 or higher may (and all undead PCs, regardless of Intelligence) may make a Wisdom saving throw to resist throw to resist (save DC = 8 + the mummy’s PB + the mummy’s Charisma modifier). On a success, the undead is immune to that mummy’s Command Undead for 24 hours.• Elemental Command. The mummy gains control over one of the natural elements: air, earth, fire, water. It has resistance to damage from spells from that school of magic, and can innately cast the following spells, using Charisma as its spellcasting ability:Air:3/day each: air wave, gust of wind, levitate1/day each: conjure elemental (air only), wind walkEarth3/day each: earth barrier, grease, stonesense1/day each: conjure elemental (earth only), passwallFire3/day each: fire shield, flame blade, scorching ray1/day each: conjure elemental (fire only), flame strikeWater3/day each: create or destroy water, control water, water walk1/day each: conjure elemental (water only), freedom of movement• Action: Illusion of Splendor. Calling upon the memories of its life, the mummy can cause its surroundings to appear as it remembers them to be. As an action, the mummy can cast mirage arcane 1/day, using Charisma as its spellcasting attribute.• Action: Malleable Form. The mummy can cast alter self 3/day, requiring no components, using Charisma as its spellcasting ability. If the base creature’s CR was 5 or higher, it can cast alter self as if with a 5th-level slot. Instead of the Mask of the Grave option, the mummy can appear alive.• Mummify. If a creature dies while infected by mummy rot, and the creature’s CR (or level, for PCs) is lower than the mummy’s, the mummy can perform a ritual to turn the corpse into a new mummy that is completely under its creator’s control. The ritual takes 24 hours.• Nonflammable. The mummy loses the Flammable trait and gains resistance to fire damage. However, it becomes vulnerable to another damage type in the process.• Action: Place Curse. A number of times each day equal to the mummy’s Charisma modifier (minimum 1), the mummy can place a terrible curse on a target it can see. That target must make a Wisdom saving throw (save DC = 8 + the mummy’s PB + the mummy’s Charisma modifier) or suffer one of the following effects for 24 hours:- One ability score is reduced to 5 (-3).-The target makes all attack rolls and saving throws at disadvantage.-Each turn, the target must make a Wisdom saving throw or lose its action.-The target critically fails when it rolls a 1-5, instead of just a 1.-The target is blinded or deafened.While the target is still cursed, the mummy can use its action to expend one use of this ability to extend the curse for an additional 24 hours. The curse can be removed with a bestow curse cast with a 5th-level or higher spell slot. The curse also ends when the mummy is killed.Swarm Call. The mummy's body or wrappings are infested with 1d4+1 <a href="https://a5e.tools/node/1999" target="_blank">swarms of insects</a>. When the mummy is first bloodied, these insects emerge from the mummy's body and begin attacking all creatures other than the mummy.• Symbiosis. The mummy's body or wrappings are infested with <a href="https://a5e.tools/node/2072" target="_blank">rot grubs</a>, <a href="https://a5e.tools/rules/encounter-elements" target="_blank">brown mold, green slime, or yellow mold</a>, or <a href="https://a5e.tools/node/3205" target="_blank">soporific spores</a>. When the mummy is first bloodied, a creature that touches it, hits it with a melee weapon while within 5 feet or it, or ends its turn within 5 feet of it must make a Constitution saving throw (DC = 8 + the mummy’s PB + the mummy’s Constitution modifier) or become infested as well.--The following uses a lizardfolk chosen one as the base creature:Mummified Lizardfolk Chosen OneMedium undead (fiend); Challenge 4 1,100 (XP)AC 12 (natural armor)HP 75 (10d8+30; bloodied 37)Speed 30 ft., swim 30 ft.STR 20 (+5) DEX 8 (-1) CON 16 (+3)INT 10 (+0) WIS 12 (+1) CHA 14 (+2)Proficiency +2; Maneuver DC 15Saving Throws Con +5,Wis +3Skills Perception +3 (+1d4), Stealth +3 (+1d4), Survival +3Damage Resistances damage from nonmagical weaponsDamage Immunities necrotic, poisonCondition Immunities charmed, fatigue, frightened, paralyzed, poisonedSenses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 15Languages DraconicEvil. The mummified lizardfolk radiates an Evil aura.Flammable. After taking fire damage, the mummified lizardfolk catches fire and takes 5 (1d10) fire damage if it isn’t already suffering ongoing fire damage. A creature can use an action to extinguish this fire.Undead Nature. The mummified lizardfolk doesn’t require air, sleep, or sustenance.ActionsMultiattack. The mummified lizardfolk makes four attacks: once with its shield, twice with its trident, and once with either its Rotting Bite or Dreadful Glare.Shield. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4+3) bludgeoning damage, and the target makes a DC 13 Strength check. On a failure, it is knocked prone.Trident. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6+3) piercing damage, and the lizardfolk gains temporary hit points equal to half the damage dealt.Rotting Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d6+5) piercing damage plus 10 (3d6) necrotic damage, and the target must make a DC 13 or be cursed with mummy rot.Dreadful Glare (Gaze). The mummified lizardfolk targets a creature within 60 feet. The target must make a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or be magically frightened until the end of the mummified lizardfolk’s next turn. If the target fails by 5 or more, it is paralyzed for the same duration. A target that succeeds on the saving throw is immune to the Dreadful Glare of mummies (but not mummy lords) for 24 hours.ReactionsSupernatural Rebuke (1/Day). When the lizardfolk is dealt damage by a creature it can see within 60 feet, its attacker must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, the attacker takes 11 (2d10) fire or radiant damage (the mummified lizardfolk’s choice).</blockquote>

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