Undead Origins

[Voadam]

Zeitgeist 9 The Last Starry Sky

Zeitgeist 9 The Last Starry Sky
4e
Voice of Rot: ?
Ettercap Skeletal Gang: ?
Rotted Archer: ?
Blackwood Treant: ?
Undead Tree: Blackwood Treant's Rotted Sprout power.
Senior Ghost Councilor: ?
Ghost Council Detachment: ?
Skeletal Dragon Tyrant: A dragon skeleton kept as a trophy is animated in the entrance foyer and heads for the king.
The dragon was animated by a famous necromancy instructor, who sweeps in with wights and a massive flayed jaguar, targeting the guards and others who are fighting back.
A gargantuan dragon skeleton, animated by Professor Bugge detaches from its wire mountings in the Entry Foyer and goes on a rampage.
Dread Wight: Professor Jon Bugge, formerly a necromancy instructor at Pardwight University in Flint, has been working in a remote laboratory for the Obscurati for decades. Now the withered old man hobbles through battle, his thick brogue voice ordering about wights that were once his most promising students.
Wight: Dread Wight Draining Claws power.
Lya, The Lost Jierre Scion: ?
Amielle Latimer: ?

Rotted Sprout (summoning) * At-Will, 1/round

Minor Actions
The husk of a tree sprouts from the web wall beside you, and bog-soaked roots burble up and try to entangle you.
Effect: An undead tree grows from a spot on either the web wall or the staircase, and lasts until the end of the encounter. Attacks against the tree deal their damage to the blackwood treant (but conditions are not transferred). The sprouted trees are destroyed only when the treant is destroyed.
Spaces adjacent to the tree are difficult terrain, and a creature that enters or ends its turn there takes 10 necrotic damage. When the tree first appears, it makes the following attack.
Attack: Melee 3 (one creatures); +25 vs. AC
Hit: 35 damage, and the target is grabbed (Escape DC 25).

m Draining Claws * At-Will, Basic
Standard Actions
Its touch causes your heart to seize.
Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +25 vs. AC
Hit: 14 damage, and the target is stunned until the end of the wight’s next turn. If the target dies while stunned this way, it animates as a wight three rounds later.

 

[Voadam]

Zeitgeist 11 Gorged on Ruins

Zeitgeist 11 Gorged on Ruins
4e
Voice of Rot: She made contact with the Voice of Rot, a primordial entity who exists to witness the world’s death.
Shuman Larkins, Empowered Councilor: ?
Vsadni, Lost Rider: After vanishing into the far north thousands of years ago, the Lost Riders known locally as the Vsadni were given new titanic undead bodies by the magic of the Voice of Rot. The frozen corpses of the long-dead dwarven warlords are held in the ribcages of massive skeletons crafted of the bones and stones of dead worlds.
Nebo, The Leader: After vanishing into the far north thousands of years ago, the Lost Riders known locally as the Vsadni were given new titanic undead bodies by the magic of the Voice of Rot. The frozen corpses of the long-dead dwarven warlords are held in the ribcages of massive skeletons crafted of the bones and stones of dead worlds.
Betel, The Vain Axeman: After vanishing into the far north thousands of years ago, the Lost Riders known locally as the Vsadni were given new titanic undead bodies by the magic of the Voice of Rot. The frozen corpses of the long-dead dwarven warlords are held in the ribcages of massive skeletons crafted of the bones and stones of dead worlds.
Yarost, The Naive Axeman: After vanishing into the far north thousands of years ago, the Lost Riders known locally as the Vsadni were given new titanic undead bodies by the magic of the Voice of Rot. The frozen corpses of the long-dead dwarven warlords are held in the ribcages of massive skeletons crafted of the bones and stones of dead worlds.
Tzertze, The Upbeat Wardrummer: After vanishing into the far north thousands of years ago, the Lost Riders known locally as the Vsadni were given new titanic undead bodies by the magic of the Voice of Rot. The frozen corpses of the long-dead dwarven warlords are held in the ribcages of massive skeletons crafted of the bones and stones of dead worlds.
Hamul, The Hateful Scum: After vanishing into the far north thousands of years ago, the Lost Riders known locally as the Vsadni were given new titanic undead bodies by the magic of the Voice of Rot. The frozen corpses of the long-dead dwarven warlords are held in the ribcages of massive skeletons crafted of the bones and stones of dead worlds.
Dread Wraith: ?
Bibliogeist: The main doors are watched by a pair of towering basalt statues of scholars, which each contain bound dread wraiths. Compelled by divine magic, their only duty is to subdue would-be thieves. Additionally, as honored employees of the library near a death by old age, many volunteer to have the wraiths extract their souls so they can be bound to the building as Bibliogeists.
Soul Sliver: Similarly, slivers of the souls of scribes who died as children have been woven into threads and placed in the binding of many of the more valuable books in the collection, so the bibliogeists can sense their movements as well.
Skeletal Phalanx: ?

 

[Voadam]

Zeitgeist 12 The Grinding Gears of Heaven

Zeitgeist 12 The Grinding Gears of Heaven
4e
Undead: The mysterious group operated out of Cauldron Hill, a cursed mountain that loomed over the city – or more accurately the mountain’s analogue in the Bleak Gate, that dark reflection of the world from which undead horrors are born.
Undead Turtle Bhoior: Long ago another, greater turtle bore several continents upon its back, and when it neared its proscribed death it traveled for the spawning ground of its mighty species where it could transfer the people who lived on its shell to another. Alas, the great turtle died before it could reach its destination, and so died an entire world.
Centuries later a new turtle awoke from the huge dead body, and it could hear the mournful memories of those it never had a chance to save.
A hollow world formed from the husk of a colossal petrified turtle, encircled by strong bands of wind. The turtle still moves, ever so slowly.
Doverspike, The Vampiric Dragon: ?
Zombie: When Doverspike used an epic spell to slay the emperor and everyone in his bloodline, the effect cascaded through most of the population of the world. The dead animated as zombies and inexorably wiped out all the other survivors.
Nicodemus: A PC might be able to reason out (Religion DC 20) that normally ghosts are tied to the location where they died, and linger on if they have unfinished business; but Nicodemus can roam, which could be because (as discovered in Adventure Eight) his death occurred at the moment of the Great Malice, which affected the whole world. He’s certainly more cogent than a typical ghost, and there are clearly some parallels in his rejuvenation and the reincarnation of devas, so perhaps his power is tied to the death of Srasama.
Nicodemus was present at the events that caused the Great Malice, and was fleeing through a dimensional portal right as the eladrin goddess Srasama died. The explosion of energy fractured him. In the real world he survived as a ghost and went on to pose as a philosopher, using his birth name William Miller.
“That prison was supposed to be punishment and torture. And there were horrors there, definitely. But the most dangerous thing locked away in there was my own pride. I found a ritual, a way to end the war, a way to summon a god. My plan was to trick the Clergy into summoning its own god of war, which the eladrin would kill. The ritual warned that all the followers of the god would suffer the same fate as the one they worshipped. If my plan had worked it would have killed thousands of people. People who worshipped the same way I did. I didn’t care. I had been thwarted once, and I needed to succeed.
“I was blind to the fact that I was a puppet. The Clergy had used Kasvarina and me to get the ritual – there was a demon, she wouldn’t tell them; it’s complicated. The hierarchs I hated so much summoned an eladrin goddess, killed her. When I figured it out I tried to escape, and I was caught in the middle of the backlash, right as I was straddling two sides of a portal. In the same moment that every eladrin woman died, I was torn in two.
“So here I am, a ghost in a place of ghosts.”
Catahoula: ?
Voice of Rot: This world’s manifestation of the very concept of death, he is something like a god.
Undead Attacker: These are just corpses conjured by the Voice of Rot, without the actual souls of the deceased.
Vaknids of Urim: ?
Vaknid Vortexweaver: ?
Vaknid Webmaster: ?
Ystis, The Maddening Cat: ?

 

[Voadam]

Zeitgeist 13 Avatar of Revolution

Zeitgeist 13 Avatar of Revolution
4e
Nicodemus, Mastermind: ?
Ghost Council Swarm: ?
Lya, The Ghost Scion: ?

 

[Voadam]

Zeitgeist Act One The Investigation Begins

Zeitgeist Act One The Investigation Begins
4e
Undead: Nicodemus learned how to recreate the magic that let him survive after his body was destroyed. In the following centuries, on rare occasions he has used this power to let loyal allies endure as spirits, forming a council of ghostly philosophers, scientists, and other wise men.
Cackling Crawler: ?
Hag Wraith: ?
Vestige of Death: ?
Disguised Skeleton: ?
Ancient Mummy Warrior: An additional threat, however, comes from the mummies throughout the tomb and any other dead bodies scattered about. When the trap of Nem activates, those bodies animate and wait to block the PCs’ escape.
Zombie Shambler: An additional threat, however, comes from the mummies throughout the tomb and any other dead bodies scattered about. When the trap of Nem activates, those bodies animate and wait to block the PCs’ escape.
Mummy Harrier: An additional threat, however, comes from the mummies throughout the tomb and any other dead bodies scattered about. When the trap of Nem activates, those bodies animate and wait to block the PCs’ escape.
Ancient Mummy Spellcaster: An additional threat, however, comes from the mummies throughout the tomb and any other dead bodies scattered about. When the trap of Nem activates, those bodies animate and wait to block the PCs’ escape.
Ancient Mummy Brawler: An additional threat, however, comes from the mummies throughout the tomb and any other dead bodies scattered about. When the trap of Nem activates, those bodies animate and wait to block the PCs’ escape.
Voice of Rot: ?
Ghoul: Nikolai the Necromancer's Flock to Me power.
Ghost: Ghosts of the four people Boone has killed since boarding the train fade in and out around him, causing him to panic. If he’s not with the party, he crosses their path while fleeing. He begs for help even as the ghosts point at him and moan that he murdered them. The ghosts’ spirits are trapped in his pistol and cannot cross over to the afterlife until the gun is destroyed, but are harmless save for the fact that they spoil Boone’s secret.
Ruin Wraith: ?
Drowned Dead of Odiem: The blood of the ancient demon Ashima-Shimtu has dripped into the sea for centuries, and now she is bound to the island. She is aware vaguely of everything happening on the surface of the island, and can occasionally extend her influence. Though her blood powers the undead, she does not control them.
Ghoulish Crow Swarm: ?
Long-Dead Skeleton: ?
Tamed Serpent-Maned Lion: ?
Tamed Cackling Crawler: ?
Witchoil Monstrosity: Whenever Borne strikes a ship, it leaves behind a witchoil residue that transforms into a witchoil horror at each location struck by the attack. If chop causes a wave to crash over the ship, that deposits a witchoil monstrosity.
Witchoil Horror: Whenever Borne strikes a ship, it leaves behind a witchoil residue that transforms into a witchoil horror at each location struck by the attack. If chop causes a wave to crash over the ship, that deposits a witchoil monstrosity.
Sacred Skeleton: Throughout the vault, whenever blood spills on the ground (a living creature first becomes bloodied in an encounter, or someone intentionally spills blood), a sacred skeleton animates within 30 feet, rising up from the bone dust on the floor, and acts immediately.

Flock To Me, Ghouls * Aura 20

Whenever a natural, non-undead creature dies in the aura, if Nikolai commands fewer
than five ghouls, the creature’s body reanimates as a ghoul. It is undead, has 1 HP, and
has its original stats and powers, but can only make basic attacks.

 

[Voadam]

Zeitgeist Act Two The Grand Design

Zeitgeist Act Two The Grand Design
4e
Vsadni: ?
Undead: Cheshimox conquered the lizardfolk servants of another dragon and transformed them into undead so they could resist the unearthly chill.
Priest of Chesimox: Cheshimox conquered the lizardfolk servants of another dragon and transformed them into undead so they could resist the unearthly chill.
Chesimox Terrormask: Cheshimox conquered the lizardfolk servants of another dragon and transformed them into undead so they could resist the unearthly chill.
Lizardfolk Ghoul: Cheshimox conquered the lizardfolk servants of another dragon and transformed them into undead so they could resist the unearthly chill.
If they manage to scatter the workers and defeat any defenders, they take any lizardfolk who were slain—such as Liss—and transform them into ghouls, refilling their ranks.
Reed Macbannin: ?
Robert the Black: ?
Frost Giant Lich: ?
Tragedy: ?
Zombie Horde: Additionally, two hordes of simple zombies—animated eladrin dead bodies that were drawn into the realm of the dead—stands among them, ready to swarm the party.
Ettercap Exoskeletal Gang: ?
Rotted Archer: ?
Blackwood Treant: ?
Voice of Rot: ?
Senior Ghost Councilor: ?
Ghost Council Detachment: ?
Skeletal Dragon Tyrant: Animated by Professor Bugge.
Dread Wight: ?
Wight: If the target dies while stunned from a dread wight's draining claws, it animates as a wight three rounds later.
Lya, The Lost Jierre Scion: ?
Vicemi Terio, Spectral Archmage: ?
Ghost Council Swarm: ?
Undying Spirit: ?
Burnt Zombie Cluster: ?

 

[Voadam]

Zeitgeist Act Three The Age of Reason

Zeitgeist Act Three The Age of Reason
4e
Shuman Larkins, Empowered Councilor: ?
Dread Wraith: ?
Bibliogeist: The main doors are watched by a pair of towering basalt statues of scholars, which each contain bound dread wraiths. Compelled by divine magic, their only duty is to subdue would-be thieves. Additionally, as honored employees of the library near a death by old age, many volunteer to have the wraiths extract their souls so they can be bound to the building as Bibliogeists.
Soul Sliver: Similarly, slivers of the souls of scribes who died as children have been woven into threads and placed in the binding of many of the more valuable books in the collection, so the bibliogeists can sense their movements as well.
Vortex Ghost Horde: ?
Undead: The mysterious group operated out of Cauldron Hill, a cursed mountain that loomed over the city – or more accurately the mountain’s analogue in the Bleak Gate, that dark reflection of the world from which undead horrors are born.
Vaknid Vortexweaver: ?
Vaknid Webmaster: ?
Undead Tortoise, Bhoior: Long ago another, greater turtle bore several continents upon its back, and when it neared its proscribed death it traveled for the spawning ground of its mighty species where it could transfer the people who lived on its shell to another. Alas, the great turtle died before it could reach its destination, and so died an entire world.
Centuries later a new turtle awoke from the huge dead body, and it could hear the mournful memories of those it never had a chance to save.
A hollow world formed from the husk of a colossal petrified turtle, encircled by strong bands of wind. The turtle still moves, ever so slowly.
Catahoula: ?
Doverspike, Vampire Dragon: ?
Zombie: When Doverspike used an epic spell to slay the emperor and everyone in his bloodline, the effect cascaded through most of the population of the world. The dead animated as zombies and inexorably wiped out all the other survivors.
Undead Attacker: These are just corpses conjured by the Voice of Rot, without the actual souls of the deceased.
Voice of Rot: A primordial manifestation of death.
She made contact with the Voice of Rot, a primordial entity who exists to witness the world’s death.
This world’s manifestation of the very concept of death, he is something like a god.
Skeletal Phalanx: ?
Vsadni Lost Rider: After vanishing into the far north thousands of years ago, the Lost Riders known locally as the Vsadni were given new titanic undead bodies by the magic of the Voice of Rot. The frozen corpses of the long-dead dwarven warlords are held in the ribcages of massive skeletons crafted of the bones and stones of dead worlds.
Nebo, The Leader: ?
Batel, The Vain Axeman: ?
Yarost, The Naive Axeman: ?
Tzertze, The Upbeat Wardrummer: ?
Hamul, The Hateful Scum: ?
Vaknids of Urim: ?
Ystis, The Maddening Cat: ?
Nicodemus, Mastermind: A PC might be able to reason out (Religion DC 20) that normally ghosts are tied to the location where they died, and linger on if they have unfinished business; but Nicodemus can roam, which could be because (as discovered in Adventure Eight) his death occurred at the moment of the Great Malice, which affected the whole world. He’s certainly more cogent than a typical ghost, and there are clearly some parallels in his rejuvenation and the reincarnation of devas, so perhaps his power is tied to the death of Srasama.
Nicodemus was present at the events that caused the Great Malice, and was fleeing through a dimensional portal right as the eladrin goddess Srasama died. The explosion of energy fractured him. In the real world he survived as a ghost and went on to pose as a philosopher, using his birth name William Miller.
“That prison was supposed to be punishment and torture. And there were horrors there, definitely. But the most dangerous thing locked away in there was my own pride. I found a ritual, a way to end the war, a way to summon a god. My plan was to trick the Clergy into summoning its own god of war, which the eladrin would kill. The ritual warned that all the followers of the god would suffer the same fate as the one they worshipped. If my plan had worked it would have killed thousands of people. People who worshipped the same way I did. I didn’t care. I had been thwarted once, and I needed to succeed.
“I was blind to the fact that I was a puppet. The Clergy had used Kasvarina and me to get the ritual – there was a demon, she wouldn’t tell them; it’s complicated. The hierarchs I hated so much summoned an eladrin goddess, killed her. When I figured it out I tried to escape, and I was caught in the middle of the backlash, right as I was straddling two sides of a portal. In the same moment that every eladrin woman died, I was torn in two.
“So here I am, a ghost in a place of ghosts.”
Ghost Council Swarm: ?
Lya, The Ghost Scion: ?
Wraith: When fully connected to the Voice of Rot, the cyclopean revelation further causes any creature slain by it to rise as a wraith loyal to the wielder.

 

[Voadam]

Zeitgeist Add-On Crypta Hereticarum

Zeitgeist Add-On Crypta Hereticarum
4e
Undead: After the Great Malice, the Clergy fell into disarray for years, and those responsible for maintaining the vault had more pressing issues. They sealed it, tried to erase knowledge of it, and used their divine power to compel all those who had drowned in the rocky seas nearby to rise up and slay any intruders.
Sacred Skeleton: Throughout the vault, whenever blood spills on the ground (a living creature first becomes bloodied in an encounter, or someone intentionally spills blood), a sacred skeleton animates within 30 feet, rising up from the bone dust on the floor, and acts immediately.

 

[Voadam]

Zeitgeist Adventure Path Extended Campaign Guide

Zeitgeist Adventure Path Extended Campaign Guide
4e
Undead: Nicodemus learned how to recreate the magic that let him survive after his body was destroyed. In the following centuries, on rare occasions he has used this power to let loyal allies endure as spirits, forming a council of ghostly philosophers, scientists, and other wise men.

 

[Voadam]

Zeitgeist Campaign Guide

Zeitgeist Campaign Guide
4e
Specter: Nicodemus learned how to recreate the magic that let him survive after his body was destroyed. In the following centuries, on rare occasions he has used this power to let loyal allies endure as specters, forming a ghost council of philosophers, scientists, and other wise men.