For Gold & Glory
For Gold & Glory
Ghoul: Ghouls are undead creatures cursed with a hunger for the flesh of the living and the dead.
Ghoul Ghast: ?
Lich: Among the most powerful of the undead, liches are priests and wizards who have attained immortality through foul necromancy.
The horrible ceremonies used to become a lich require years of lonesome study, and most liches are solitary creatures. They rarely work with others, as they jealously guard their knowledge. Only the most powerful of spell casters can master the necessary rituals, and all liches are wizards or priests of at least 18th level.
Becoming a lich is a long and arduous process, requiring years of study. The needed rituals focus on the creation of a phylactery, an arcane container crafted to keep a lich’s soul in the mortal world after death. A phylactery may be made to look like any object, but crafting it requires at least 1,500 gold pieces per level of the spell caster. It must be imbued with powerful necromantic magics unique to each potential lich, but often such spells as animate dead, death spell, magic jar, and reincarnation. Upon its completion, its crafter commits ritual suicide. If the phylactery is indeed flawless, the crafter rises as a lich, while even a single mistake in its construction utterly destroys the crafter’s soul.
Mummy: Mummies are desiccated corpses animated by dark rituals into horrible unlife. They retain some semblance of their living appearances, but although their desiccation prevents decay, it also twists their features into leathery masks. The most common rituals used to animate a mummy involve wrapping a corpse in strips of linen, and many mummies retain these wrappings.
Shadow: A humanoid victim killed by a shadow is likely to become a shadow himself.
With little to do with each other, shadows are ambivalent towards their own kind. When found together they are likely to be “families”–an elder shadow and its victims, now shadows themselves.
The touch of a shadow drains 1 point of strength from its victim. Humanoids reduced to 0 hp or a strength of 0 by a shadow are doomed to rise as shadows themselves under the command of their killers; all other creatures killed by a shadow remain dead, while all other creatures reduced to a strength of 0 fall unconscious.
Skeleton: Skeletons are the reanimated skeletal remains of humanoid creatures, reinforced with negative energy. They bear no flesh, musculature, or ligaments, and are instead held together through magical force. Skeletons vary in size, depending on the remains of the humanoids they were created from.
As mindless constructs of necromantic magics, skeletons have no interactions with other creatures, save to follow commands from their creators.
Animate Dead spell.
Specter: On rare occasions, several specters come to haunt the same location. These are usually a master and the thralls created from its victims.
Any humanoid drained of all levels or hit dice by a specter dies and rises as a specter himself.
Vampire: Vampires are undead humanoids cursed to live forever as bloodthirsty parasites.
Should a vampire lord be destroyed, his spawn become fully-fledged, independent vampires themselves.
Vampire Spawn: When vampires are found in the company of their own, they are usually lord and spawn–an elder vampire and his victims, now vampires themselves.
When touching a creature with his bare skin, a vampire may drain two levels or hit dice from his victim. Humanoids reduced to zero levels or hit dice, or drained of blood, rise as vampires themselves one night after their death unless their bodies are destroyed in the intervening time.
Wight: Wights are undead creatures spawned by great pain and sorrow.
If their master is slain, fledgling wights become free-willed and gain their full strength.
Fledgling Wight: Only rarely do wights gather together; these are almost always an elder and his children, created from his victims.
Humanoid creatures slain by a wight’s energy drain rise as wights themselves, with half normal hit dice and under the absolute control of the one who slew them.
Wraith: Animated by hatred and spite, wraiths are the undead humanoid spirits of exceptional evil. They often form packs of several wraiths, whether through the death and undeath of several like-minded individuals or through the creation of new wraiths by existing wraiths.
If the master wraith is killed, its minions instantly gain their full strength and free will.
New Wraith: They often form packs of several wraiths, whether through the death and undeath of several like-minded individuals or through the creation of new wraiths by existing wraiths.
Humanoids killed by a wraith rise as wraiths themselves, with half the hit dice of their killers.
Zombie: Zombies are mindless animated corpses. As the magic that animates them does not prevent their decay, zombies are often bloated, rotting, or desiccated, depending on their surrounding environment. Zombies vary in size depending on the kind of corpses they are animated from.
Animate Dead spell.
Juju Zombie: Juju zombies are the undead remains of humanoids killed through the use of energy drain spells.
Energy Drain spell.
Finger of Death spell.
Ghost: ?
Minor Death: ?
Animate Dead (Necromancy)
Caster/Level (Sphere): Priest/3 (Necromantic),Wizard/5
Range: 10 yards
Duration: Permanent
Effective Area: Special
Components: V, S and M
Casting Time: 5 rounds
Saving Throw: None
This spell allows the caster to create the least of the undead creatures, skeletons and zombies, usually from the bones or bodies of dead humans, humanoids, demi-humans, and giants. Optionally, the caster can animate animal corpses. The animated undead remains obey simple commands given to them by the caster. The undead remain animated until destroyed or turned—they are not affected by dispel magic.
The total HD of undead animated by this spell cannot exceed the caster’s level. Humans, demi-humans, and humanoids with only 1 HD in life become 1 HD skeletons or 2 HD zombies, regardless of class levels, experience or HD they once had. Creatures and animals with less than 1 HD can be raised as 1/2 HD skeletons or 1 HD zombies, but clerics receive a +1 bonus to turn checks against these monsters. A creature or animal with 1 HD or more retains its HD when raised as a skeleton and gains one HD when raised as a zombie. Undead have none of the special abilities they had when alive.
While evil spell casters can use this spell whenever and however they wish, the lesser undead created are always neutral in alignment. Neutral spell casters can freely use the spell as long as the body is that of a fallen enemy from a non-PC race. Good spell casters prefer animating animals, and cast speak with dead on a humanoid body to gain express permission. A neutral spell caster may also cast speak with dead to gain permission to animate a PC or a member of a PC race. A neutral or good spell caster would never animate a corpse being prepared for a raise dead spell, because a soul requires it’s original body to be raised. If the body were animated, the victim would then need a full resurrection, reincarnate or similar spell, such as wish, to be brought back to life.
Even though animating undead is not automatically an evil act, undead are perversions of life, and as such their mere presence is disturbing to most creatures (animals avoid them entirely, unless specially trained). The charnel smell, particularly of a zombie, is quite nauseating. Few, if any, hirelings will sign on to a party that is known to travel with undead. Additionally, most civilizations have regulations regarding the creation of undead. Some cultures seek their immediate destruction, and even the most tolerant require undead servants to be tagged and registered. Lawful spell casters must get a permit (if possible) or simply avoid finding bodies in graveyards or battlefields, as local governments claim them and grave robbing is punishable harshly (usually by death).
The spell requires the body or bones of the creature to be animated, and the remains must be reasonably intact. Undead destroyed in combat cannot be re-animated. The spell requires a pinch of bone powder or bone shard.
Energy Drain (Evocation, Necromancy)
Caster/Level: Wizard/9
Range: Touch
Duration: Permanent
Effective Area: 1 creature
Components: V, S and M
Casting Time: 3
Saving Throw: None
This spell allows the caster to channel negative energy for one round, permanently draining 2 levels or HD from a creature on a successful touch attack. Hit points, saving throws, attacks and other level/HD related abilities are permanently lost (until regained by gaining experience or 2 restoration spells are cast on the victim). If the attack fails, the spell ends normally.
Human or humanoid creatures killed by this spell can be animated as juju zombies under the caster’s control. The undead cannot be negatively affected by this spell.
The material component is essence of specter or vampire dust. These are dangerous substances, and there’s a 5% chance that the caster loses one point of constitution while casting this spell, due to contact with either of them. If the caster dies through this loss, he becomes a shade. The caster’s alignment instantly becomes neutral evil, and he is then sucked into the Demiplane of Shadow.
Finger of Death (Necromancy)
Caster/Level: Wizard/7
Range: 60 yards
Duration: Permanent
Effective Area: 1 creature pointed to
Components: V and S
Casting Time: 5
Saving Throw: Negate
This spell attempts to utterly destroy a chosen victim’s life energy and body. The victim must make a successful saving throw or die immediately, unable to be raised, resurrected, or reincarnated. A wish spell can restore most victims to life, if, however, the victims are human, profane magic instantly begins to transform the bodies, and after 3 days, the caster is able to perform a special ritual, requiring materials costing 1,000 gp + 500 gp per body, to animate the dead humans as juju zombies under his control. The profane magic must be reversed with a limited wish spell before the juju animation ritual has begun, and then a wish spell can be used to bring the human back to life.
Creatures who make a successful saving throw only suffer 2d8 + 1 points of damage. If the victim dies due to this damage, they can be brought back to life normally.
