Based on a character from my favorite anime, One Piece:
Created by an unusual necromantic process, Animus Zombies are rare among zombies in that they are intelligent and have strong personalities, but they are still completely under their master's control.
Religion DC 10: The essence of life is divided up between the body, soul, and animus. The animus is the animating force that drives a being and keeps the body alive. Most zombies are created by simply restoring the animus already existing in a rotting corpse, or by pulling in stray bits of Animus from the Shadowfell to provide the necessary motile force.
Religion DC 15: Animus Zombies are unique in that they are animated not by the original owner's animus or scraps from the Shadowfell, but by the entire animus of another living creature. The zombie's body is carefully preserved, and a living donor's animus is stolen to power the zombie. With a full living animus, it is intelligent, agile, and takes on aspects of the original owner's personality and fighting style. However, without a soul it has no will of its own and is totally subservient to its master.
Animus zombie servitors are normally created from lithe, attractive, athletic people like dancers or acrobats. They are used to perform domestic tasks, or act as companions for particularly vile necromancers. If pressed into combat they are surprisingly capable, weaponizing serving items like plates to hurl at their foes.
Religion DC 20: The most horrifying aspect of the animus zombie process is that the animus donor must remain alive. Upon having their animus stripped from them, they fall into a coma lasting three days (or until roused with a Heal check, Hard DC). After that, enough animus regenerates to rouse them, but they are cursed to a half-life, only able to take a standard action when in direct sunlight and taking their healing surge value in damage each turn until they return to shadow. The only way to cure this affliction is to destroy the zombie that holds their animus and the necromancer that stole it. In turn, the zombie is destroyed if the animus donor is killed.
Created using the Monster Builder, I didn't feel like doing the format conversion from rtf, so I saved as an image file. I think there's still some formatting issues, this is the first creature I've made with the Monster Builder.


Created by an unusual necromantic process, Animus Zombies are rare among zombies in that they are intelligent and have strong personalities, but they are still completely under their master's control.
Religion DC 10: The essence of life is divided up between the body, soul, and animus. The animus is the animating force that drives a being and keeps the body alive. Most zombies are created by simply restoring the animus already existing in a rotting corpse, or by pulling in stray bits of Animus from the Shadowfell to provide the necessary motile force.
Religion DC 15: Animus Zombies are unique in that they are animated not by the original owner's animus or scraps from the Shadowfell, but by the entire animus of another living creature. The zombie's body is carefully preserved, and a living donor's animus is stolen to power the zombie. With a full living animus, it is intelligent, agile, and takes on aspects of the original owner's personality and fighting style. However, without a soul it has no will of its own and is totally subservient to its master.
Animus zombie servitors are normally created from lithe, attractive, athletic people like dancers or acrobats. They are used to perform domestic tasks, or act as companions for particularly vile necromancers. If pressed into combat they are surprisingly capable, weaponizing serving items like plates to hurl at their foes.
Religion DC 20: The most horrifying aspect of the animus zombie process is that the animus donor must remain alive. Upon having their animus stripped from them, they fall into a coma lasting three days (or until roused with a Heal check, Hard DC). After that, enough animus regenerates to rouse them, but they are cursed to a half-life, only able to take a standard action when in direct sunlight and taking their healing surge value in damage each turn until they return to shadow. The only way to cure this affliction is to destroy the zombie that holds their animus and the necromancer that stole it. In turn, the zombie is destroyed if the animus donor is killed.
Created using the Monster Builder, I didn't feel like doing the format conversion from rtf, so I saved as an image file. I think there's still some formatting issues, this is the first creature I've made with the Monster Builder.
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