Manastorm: World of Shin'ar (5e)
5e
Mana Zombie, Mindless Mana Zombie: Created from the remains of a creature suffering from mana psychosis, mana zombies are raised through the excess mana accumulated through the overuse of, or overexposure to, raw mana. Those caught in manastorms are at risk of overexposure to mana and the saturation of the body and mind from it. Only the sickest of the poisoned have enough mana accumulated to become mana zombies after death. It has been theorized by Calvoid researchers that the Manasphere itself raises these poor souls as conduits to vent excess radiation and thus avoid catastrophic and chaotic fits due to too much pressure in the Manasphere.
Mana Psychosis is a disease creatures of Shin'ar suffer from with repeated, long-term exposure to large concentrations of mana.
If they die from mana psychosis, the player will rise as a Mana Zombie within 1d3 hours unless their body is completely destroyed via a disintegrate spell or ability or is otherwise completely burned to ash.
People who die from mana psychosis can be resurrected normally, but the spell must be cast within the first hour after death or the soul is lost, dispersed into the Manasphere and forever unreachable, as it is not transferred to their deities domain.
[Mana Poisoning] Points Effects
1 Disadvantage on All saving throws.
2 -1 hp, 5% spell failure.
3 Decrease all ability scores by 2. (Cannot be healed with anti-poison spells or potions, now suffering from Mana Psychosis)
4 Decrease all ability scores by 3, 1d4 permanent hp loss
5 Decrease all ability scores by 5, 50% chance of spell failure
6 75% chance of spell failure
7 1d4 Negative Levels
8 90% chance of spell failure
9 Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma reduced to 1.
10 Death and Rising as a Mana Zombie in 1d3 hours
Anytime a death from Mana Poisoning or Mana Psychosis occurs, either from Constitution loss, HP loss, or accumulating 10 points, eventual rising as a Mana Zombie is imminent unless proper steps are taken.
The use of ManaBoost before the 8 hour cool down period gives the character double the side effect damage and mana poisoning each time it is used this way, (2 mana poisoning points and -4 hp, 4 mana poisoning points and -8 hp, etc.) up to eventual death and rising as a Mana Zombie.
When a creature dies from mana psychosis, there is a very small chance the Manasphere resurrects it as Manaborn, instead of it coming back as a Mana Zombie.
They [manaborn] can die a number of times equal to their HD when they were first reborn. Once that number is depleted, they rise one last time, but as a Mana Zombie. When a Manaborn is brought to 0 HP, they dissolve into dust and vapor and reform somewhere within 100 feet of where they first became Manaborn 1d3 days later. This process is infallible unless there is a Lunar Quickening happening. When the Manasphere is in flux and a Manaborn dies, there is a 10% chance each new death that the Manaborn stays permanently dead and does not reform or rise as a Mana Zombie.
Manaborn begin with 10 mana poisoning points. They lose 1 mana poisoning point every 120 hours. If they are brought to 0 mana poisoning points, they die and reform with 10 points 1d3 days later, if they have another resurrection. If they are out of resurrections, they reform as a mindless Mana Zombie.
Manaborn, Terrifyingly Deadly Manaborn: When a creature dies from mana psychosis, there is a very small chance the Manasphere resurrects it as Manaborn, instead of it coming back as a Mana Zombie. Any time someone or something dies from the deadly accumulation of mana in their bodies, a roll of 1d100 is made. If the roll comes up 100, the creature is turned into Manaborn.
Undead, Undead Creature, Undead Being: Some time later, the ruler of the kingdom, King Alcor, became infected by the whispers of the Archdevil Garloch and was persuaded to sacrifice the life essence of his own people in a selfish bid to gain power. Rather than giving this power to the Archdevil, Alcor took it into himself, transforming the entire kingdom into undead or twisted monstrosity. While those in the noble class remained sentient in their undeath, most peasants became lesser undead, mindless and otherwise, and easy to control. Few of the citizenry survived this betrayal, but among them, those who worshiped Parlam were saved, as the God of the Harvest and Trade sacrificed himself for his followers, transforming them into the bird-like Aravork and, shortly thereafter, experiencing his own rebirth into Phoenix.
2,000 years ago, the humans of Eltra were transformed into undead creatures when King Alcor cast a forbidden spell at the behest of the Archdevil Garloch and transferred the life essence of his subjects into himself, elevating him to godly status. The majority of the nation were transformed into all manner of undead, but the aristocratic ruling class were transformed into powerful vampires.
The Archdevil Garloch, upon finding the growing kingdom, with their cruel and selfish solutions, began to speak to King Alcor, whispering of unlimited power from a single source: souls. Although Garloch intended to take this power for himself, when King Alcor began casting the spell and drew the souls of his citizens out, he instead took them into himself, becoming a god and, in turn, snubbing the Archdevil. While the common people were transformed into all manner of undead, the noble houses were gifted with immortality in the form of a magical vampirism.
The Eltrabi let loose hundreds of aberrations and mutated minions against the Frode and Meek'ah, in addition to countless undead fodder, and a cabal of Drampyr went so far as to curse the area, making it so that anything succumbing to death would return as undead.
This area [the city of Thrace] was the first Baka settlement on the coast, founded over a thousand years ago. The ruins of the original settlement can be found north of the city's wall, and until recently, it was the home of a large resistance cell determined to rid the area of Imperial presence. The cell was responsible for the death of two legion commanders and countless Imperial citizens. The Alterian governor chose to take direct action following the cell’s bold attack on his palace, killing half of his servants and guards before detonating an alchemical bomb that ended up maiming his daughter. He ordered the building of a large gallows and rounded up all suspected resistance members. The hangings took place day and night, a cycle of death until the leader of the cell gave himself up in exchange for the freedom of the remaining prisoners. The man was stripped naked and staked to the ground in the middle of the city while the same alchemical substance that was used in the bomb was poured over his body. Half of the remaining prisoners, including all women and those under the age of sixteen, were set free. The rest were killed and raised as undead, set to wander in the ruins to deter any future use of the site.
The Illumnarus lasted for nearly two weeks under siege, but the might of the Atlanteans combined with their use of the substance known as Alterian Fire eventually left the remaining inhabitants without homes to return to. The few survivors were shackled and shipped back to Atlantis, and a small group of Atlanteans sent by the Boule raised a large crystal monolith at the center of the island, ultimately sacrificing a dozen Meek'ah and Illumnarus to infuse the monolith with their blood, causing the entire island to radiate a[n] unholy presence.
Nothing will ever grow here, and any who perish on its shores are doomed to rise as the undead.
The very ground is cursed, as anything that dies in the Umbral not only rises as an undead being, but is empowered by demonic energy, making it all the more difficult to destroy.
Each member of the cult must ingest small amounts of snake venom every day to build up tolerances to the poison, and one in ten cultists die from the venom. Those weak few are raised as undead to forever serve Vesh.
The Ezeru of Eltra are another unfortunate byproduct of the soul stealing spell cast by King Alcor. While the human population transformed into all manner of undead beings, the monstrous inhabitants of the kingdom were warped and twisted; fused together in a jumble of miss-matched limbs and body parts.
Lesser Undead: Some time later, the ruler of the kingdom, King Alcor, became infected by the whispers of the Archdevil Garloch and was persuaded to sacrifice the life essence of his own people in a selfish bid to gain power. Rather than giving this power to the Archdevil, Alcor took it into himself, transforming the entire kingdom into undead or twisted monstrosity. While those in the noble class remained sentient in their undeath, most peasants became lesser undead, mindless and otherwise, and easy to control.
Lesser Undead Mindless: Some time later, the ruler of the kingdom, King Alcor, became infected by the whispers of the Archdevil Garloch and was persuaded to sacrifice the life essence of his own people in a selfish bid to gain power. Rather than giving this power to the Archdevil, Alcor took it into himself, transforming the entire kingdom into undead or twisted monstrosity. While those in the noble class remained sentient in their undeath, most peasants became lesser undead, mindless and otherwise, and easy to control.
Undead Monstrosity: The God of Hatred and Undeath is responsible for the killing spell that transformed the Eltra into undead monstrosities thousands of years ago.
The Crystal Skulls are as much feared for their ferocity as for their tactic of turning their defeated foes into undead monstrosities.
Undead Minion: ?
Mindless Undead: ?
Ethereal Undead: ?
Undead Master: ?
Spiritual Undead: ?
Sentient Undead: ?
Undead Horror: Last Bastion was the scene of an epic battle as thousands of demons and devils assaulted the town. The Army of Light was easily decimated, its survivors carried off to Libon. Groups of cultists soon moved into the ruins, raising thousands of undead horrors to stalk the streets.
The small group of white-necromancers left Eltra around the time Alcor's ascension to the throne, fleeing the kingdom before the killing spell that would plunge the area into darkness was cast, creating tens of thousands of undead horrors overnight.
The southern ruins are infested with undead horrors and deadly aberrations, results of experimentation by the former humans who dwelt there.
Undead Guard: ?
Frightening Undead Horror: The dominating vampire aristocracy have, for the most part, lived well over two millennia in their undead state. Their vampirism was caused not by an outside source, but rather, a soul-stealing spell the Archdevil Garloch intended to use in a bid for power. However, Eltra King Alcor instead used the spell to transfer power to himself in a display of trickery the Archdevil had not expected. The entire population of Eltra was transformed, tens of thousands of humans died instantly as their very life essence was drained from their bodies. Men, women, and children rose again as freighting undead horrors, while the nobility of Eltra awoke to new powers and a new thirst. A small percent of the human commoners, fervent worshipers of the god Parlam, were spared this gruesome fate, instead being spirited away from the carnage by a powerful expenditure of mana caused by the sacrifice of their god.
Undead Citizen: ?
Roaming Undead: ?
Mindless Undead Horror: The Drazil are aware of the market for the [poisonous] water [of Jabberwock Lake] but consider every drop sacred to their god; as such, anyone caught around the lake is either fed to the Jabberwock or made to guard the area forever as some form of mindless undead horror.
Undead Fodder: ?
Frode Undead: ?
Meek'ah Undead: ?
Wandering Undead Spirit of a Vengeful Meek'ah: Thousands of Meek'ah prisoners were killed on the islands, unable to escape the mana-charged killing cloud that was dispersed from the Darkfrost Mountains. Since then, no Jute has set foot on the island in fear of the many wandering undead spirits of vengeful Meek'ah who remain.
Powerful Undead: ?
Mindless Form of Undead Servant: New cult members are tasked with bringing two more people into the cult, one known as the Proposed, one known as the Submitted. A secret party is held, where the new cult member and the Proposed encourage the Submitted to overindulge in wine, drugs, sex, anything they desire. The use of spells and magical items that control the mind are not allowed, though spells that amplify emotion are encouraged. The goal is to get the Submitted to willfully drag their life into the gutter by over excess and the loss of self-control. Once they have reached rock-bottom, they are given over to Shizzar. The goddess consumes the soul of the Submitted, and turns the body into a mindless form of undead servant.
Undead Rabble: ?
Horrific Undead: ?
Undead Rusk: The powerful child came across the demon, who was now being attacked by a Rusk war party. She landed amid the battle, and blasted the demon with supernatural frost and ice. The Rusk fell back, in fear and awe. She made short work of the demon, and it begged for mercy from the crystal Rusk child. She ended the demon with a simple touch, his form pulsated and crystallized before exploding into thousands of shards. The Rusk were far enough away that the shards did not endanger them, but those who fell in battle with the demon that were hit by a shard rose up again and surrounded the child. The undead Rusk bent a knee to her and she gave a great Rusk victory cry before swirling snow and ice carried them all away.
Undead Soldier: After news of Vid saving Rusk from demons and other horrors, some Rusk began to make sacrifices to her. They called her the Daughter of Krum, and spoke of her in reverence when a tribe member perished. The tribes began to leave their dead on the battlefield if word of her presence was near. The dead would later be turned into undead soldiers in her army, a fitting tribute to a warrior's life in some eyes, to fight for eternity against one's enemies.
Over time, her worship grew among the tribes, and the dead were no longer left on the battlefield, instead they were cremated in an elaborate ritual that saw their spirit be reborn in her army, which now numbered in the tens of thousands and protected Krum's realm from incursion. Krum made it so his faithful's spirit is split, and the worshiper spends eternity in his frozen paradise as both animal spirit and undead soldier.
Typical Undead: ?
Banshee: ?
Ghast: ?
Ghost: ?
Ghoul: ?
Icyarracick, Some Hideous Form of Lich: However, before he flew away from the shore, a powerful Jute witch cursed him, sacrificing her life to fuel the dark spell. When he finally died, Icyarracick’s soul became trapped in his body as it slowly decomposed. The great dragon became some hideous form of lich, trapped inside his own mind, unable to move the now-skeletal body.
Lich: ?
Savok, Lich: Savok became very powerful and turned slowly into a lich during his time in exile.
Powerful Mummy: ?
Mummy: ?
Shadow, Undead Shadow: The Lluruth who remained after the birth of Brhuaal and the transformation of so many into Drazil were slaughtered en masse, and their spirits live on as undead shadows.
Skeleton: ?
Roaming Skeleton: ?
Specter, Ghost: The Ashmede Devil who ruled the Goblins constructed the room to be a prison, tormenting the angels within for centuries. The Goblins’ society declined over the same centuries, and the angels were eventually rescued by a group of adventurers, two of which perished in the cavern. The souls of those adventurers are being held by the walls and the magic they bare. Any Goblin who enters the cavern is set upon by the specters immediately and killed.
Specter: ?
Spirit Ancestor: ?
Ruling Vampire: ?
Powerful Vampire: 2,000 years ago, the humans of Eltra were transformed into undead creatures when King Alcor cast a forbidden spell at the behest of the Archdevil Garloch and transferred the life essence of his subjects into himself, elevating him to godly status. The majority of the nation were transformed into all manner of undead, but the aristocratic ruling class were transformed into powerful vampires.
Vampire Noble: ?
Vampire Parent: ?
Vampire Progenitor: ?
Vampire Master: ?
Vampire: At the Archdevil Garloch's urging, Alcor, King of Eltra, cast a spell that siphoned the life force from all of his subjects. The power was meant to be transferred to the Archdevil, but the king instead absorbed it into himself, swelling his body and mind to the point where he gained god-like powers. The vampire ruling class was created as a result, as well as the Ezeru, from the backlash of mana expended by the spell and brief deific battle that followed.
The dominating vampire aristocracy have, for the most part, lived well over two millennia in their undead state. Their vampirism was caused not by an outside source, but rather, a soul-stealing spell the Archdevil Garloch intended to use in a bid for power. However, Eltra King Alcor instead used the spell to transfer power to himself in a display of trickery the Archdevil had not expected. The entire population of Eltra was transformed, tens of thousands of humans died instantly as their very life essence was drained from their bodies. Men, women, and children rose again as freighting undead horrors, while the nobility of Eltra awoke to new powers and a new thirst. A small percent of the human commoners, fervent worshipers of the god Parlam, were spared this gruesome fate, instead being spirited away from the carnage by a powerful expenditure of mana caused by the sacrifice of their god.
The Archdevil Garloch, upon finding the growing kingdom, with their cruel and selfish solutions, began to speak to King Alcor, whispering of unlimited power from a single source: souls. Although Garloch intended to take this power for himself, when King Alcor began casting the spell and drew the souls of his citizens out, he instead took them into himself, becoming a god and, in turn, snubbing the Archdevil. While the common people were transformed into all manner of undead, the noble houses were gifted with immortality in the form of a magical vampirism.
Another two decades would pass before Garloch came to take his due from the king. He gave Alcor a scroll that contained a spell that would transfer the essence of his subjects into a carefully prepared vessel. Alcor promised to cast the spell for Garloch, but he needed time to prepare the vessel. Garloch returned exactly one year later and Alcor cast the spell. Instead of the souls entering the vessel Alcor presented to Garloch, they were sucked into Alcor himself. Tens of thousands of souls and the power they hold swelled Alcor's body. Garloch was unable to harm Alcor while he was going through his transformation, and fled before Alcor's body finally exploded in a terrific backlash of raw mana. Alcor's essence descended into the Nine Hells and he wasted no time carving a portion of Garloch's realm in Malbolge for himself. Other devils took the opportunity to assault Garloch as well, and he was hard pressed to defend his holding against the onslaught. A truce was made. Garloch ceded a portion of his vast realm to each surviving devil who assaulted him, and Alcor, in exchange for them halting their attack. The king’s family, and that of every noble in Eltra were turned into vampires, and began to worship Alcor at first out of fear.
Eltrabi Vampire Noble, Eltra Vampire Noble: ?
Eltra Vampire: ?
Eltrabi Vampire Lord, Eltra Vampire Lord, Vampire Lord of Eltra, Vampire Lord: ?
Pure Blood Vampire of Eltra: ?
Vampire Overlord: ?
Vampire-Queen Selene of Eltra, Vampire: ?
Queen Calliope, The Undead Queen, Vampire: ?
Cruel Vampire Lord: ?
Wight: ?
Wraith: ?
Will-o'-Wisp: ?
Zombie: ?
Frode Zombie: The Sorrow Fens: This area of swamp lies on the kingdom’s northeastern border, along the Bitterflow River. This is the site of a climactic battle between kingdom forces and legions of undead and other horrors, the second wave of enemies to besiege the new kingdom from their former masters in the east. The Eltrabi let loose hundreds of aberrations and mutated minions against the Frode and Meek'ah, in addition to countless undead fodder, and a cabal of Drampyr went so far as to curse the area, making it so that anything succumbing to death would return as undead. Hundreds of Frode and Meek'ah zombies wander the area, cursed to un-life as a reward for their bravery.
Meek'ah Zombie: The Sorrow Fens: This area of swamp lies on the kingdom’s northeastern border, along the Bitterflow River. This is the site of a climactic battle between kingdom forces and legions of undead and other horrors, the second wave of enemies to besiege the new kingdom from their former masters in the east. The Eltrabi let loose hundreds of aberrations and mutated minions against the Frode and Meek'ah, in addition to countless undead fodder, and a cabal of Drampyr went so far as to curse the area, making it so that anything succumbing to death would return as undead. Hundreds of Frode and Meek'ah zombies wander the area, cursed to un-life as a reward for their bravery.
Animated Zombie: ?
Animated Zombie Drazil: ?
Animated Zombie Goblin: ?
