What are the Undead Chains in The Epic Bestiary?
I remember...
Lich to Demilich to Akalich
Vampire to Nosferatu to Welkin
...but what were the ones for Ghosts, Death Knights, and Mummies?
I'm especially curious about ghosts. What do they become?
Okay my memory on such matters is super-dodgy but I vaguely recall:
Skeleton < Wight < Lich < Demilich < Akalich (aka* Shadowlich)
Skeleton < Wight < Death Knight (aka Draugr) < Cimeriel (Wight Emperor) < Murder Mist
Ghoul < Vampire < Vampire Lord < Nosferatu & Varcolac
Zombie < Mummy < Mummy Lord < Hunefer < Welkin
*No pun intended
Flicked through a few old notebooks from 2004 ish.
Its basically 4 chains: Bone (which splits between martial Death Knight and Caster Lich), Blood, Flesh and Spirit.
Each gets a 'King' version for the Epic Tier.
Then there is a 'God' version which is a combination of two chains: ie. Bone + Spirit = Akalich, Blood + Flesh = Welkin (something akin to a Vampire Intelligence).
I also recall triple versions which were known by the absent force (ie. Bloodless Ones = Flesh + Bone + Spirit).
There was also a side chain of Sunshadow, Starshadow and Moonshadow. Plus the likes of Rust Revenant. Also there were Ghost, Zeitgeist, Nervengeist and so on.
At a later point (in around 4e) I had Nosferatu (as Goat-riding disease-ridden Shadowfell Vampires), Varcolac (as Feywild Vampire-Werewolf types who had mutated plant forms), Strigoi as (Abyssal Vampires) and a few others who escape my memory.
5e is a tad different with LOTS of new Liches in every plane/dimension (I created 30 or so), plenty of new Vampires (especially in Barzakh; the new Plane of Fear; where most of the locals are a type of vampire serving the Crimson Lords/Primal Fears) and lots of crazy undead Skeleton types in Byss.
