Undead Origins

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Tales of the Old Margreve for 5th Edition
5e
Wraith Bear: Bear spirits are believed to be the spirits of ancestral warriors and guardians that take on the form of a bear to aid their descendants. Necromancers and dark shamans know magic that twists the mind of these spirits, causing them to feel anger and malice toward the family they once protected.
Corrupted Spirit: ?
Bear Spirit: ?
Black Spectral Form of an Enormous Bear With Burning Red Eyes: ?
Forest Haunter: ?
Undead, Undead Creature: ?
Intelligent Undead: ?
Undead Ally: ?
Undead Traveller: ?
Prince Lucan, King Lucan: ?
Emperor Nicoforus: ?
Undead Prince: ?
Infected Intelligent Undead: ?
Mindless Undead: ?
Briar Man, Vampire Briar Man: Each of these rooms is used to harvest blood to create briar men and is important in a ritual that keeps the Palace of Briars hidden from would-be interlopers.
Unless stopped, Catchweed forges a new kingdom that soon clashes with the other powers of the forest. He eventually perfects his method for creating spawn, and a new breed of vampire briar men become the enforcers of his regime.
Catchweed, King of Thorns, Adventurous Child of the Briar, Cunning Opponent: ?
Dame Valanora, Vampire, Unwilling Ally: ?
Karayan, Deathwisp: ?
Darakhul: ?
Ghost Knight: ?
Ghoulish Ghost Knight of Doresh: ?
Ghost Knight of Doresh: ?
Ghost Knight of Doresh, Ghoulish Warrior: ?
Mounted Warrior: ?
Captain Thoulos, Iron Ghoul: ?
Lieutenant Hass, Imperial Ghoul: ?
Lieutenant Bordchak, Darakhul Ghoul: ?
Junior Ghost Knight: ?
Lich Hound, Flying Skeletal Dog, Skeletal Creature, Flying Skeletal Hound: ?
Mavka: ?
Myling: ?
Rusalka: ?
Elena, Rusalka: Once, there was a werewolf named Dmitri who loved a village girl named Elena. Knowing Elena’s family would never accept his curse, Dmitri met Elena as a woodcutter and concealed his true nature. They fell in love, continuing to meet secretly in the woods until Dmitri could “find the right moment” to talk to Elena’s family.
A jealous vodyanoi watched their trysts from the river and coveted the beautiful girl. After learning the werewolf ’s secret, the creature kidnapped Elena, drowned her, and turned her into its rusalka wife. Despite the werewolf ’s pleas, the vodyanoi refused to release the girl’s spirit.
“A cruel and jealous vodyanoi drowned my Elena, and now it wants to keep her as its rusalka bride.”
Avigna, Rusalka: Many years ago, the Kariv girl Avigna sang sweet songs to a zmey for many days—and helped herself to some coins from the dragon’s hoard, which caused the creature to become enraged and pursue her. Although Avigna’s kinfolk hid the girl from the dragon for weeks, her beloved nonetheless denounced Avigna as cursed, and the distraught girl eventually threw herself into the Rushfens. Days later she rose as a rusalka.
Wolf Spirit Form: ?
Banshee: ?
Stross Shadow Fey Half-Breed Ghost: ?
Ghost: Or perhaps the veil to the Astral Plane thins here, and unbidden dreams carry folk to its timeless expanse. This last conjecture would also explain the numerous sightings of ghosts, as spirits of loved ones pass through the Astral Plane on their way to the afterlife.
Ghost of Bent-Backed Man: ?
Weeping Ghost: ?
Ghoul: ?
Hungry Ghoul: ?
Escaped Ghoul Soldier: ?
Ghoul Soldier: ?
Mummified Sage: Covered in lichen and gripped by ivy, the Crumbling Tomb rests in the eternal darkness of the forest canopy. Behind its mithral-barred doors lies a mummified sage, guarded by a pair of sorcerous assassin vines. A unicorn is the only recurring visitor. Shadow fey legends say that when the time comes, the corpse will gain unlife and take sides in a pivotal conflict in the Old Margreve.
Shadow: ?
Skeleton: ?
Vampire: ?
Elder Vampire: ?
Veiled Stag, Fallen Alseid Vampire: Tale-spinners claim it is a fallen alseid, one who has succumbed to the curse of vampirism.
Vampire Lord: ?
Starving Vampire Spawn: They are newly created and most can’t remember how they got this way (they were abducted by the King of Thorns’ minions and spawned by Valanora).
Vampire Prince: ?

 

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Tasslefhoff's Pouches of Everything
5e
Spectral Minion: Spectral minions are the lingering souls of individuals who died before fulfilling a vow they had sworn a sacred oath to in life, cursed to relive their last days over and over until their vow is fulfilled.
Guardian Spectral Minion, Guardian Minion: Guardian minions failed in their sworn duty to protect an item from theft or to prevent entry into or the desecration of a significant location.
Philosopher Spectral Minion, Philosopher Minion: Philosopher minions died before they could solve a puzzle, riddle, or some other intellectual problem.
Spook: ?
Incorporeal Undead: ?
Intelligent Spirit: ?
Mindless Corpse: ?
Undead: ?
Corporeal Undead: ?
Normal Undead: ?
Undead Soldier: ?
Banshee: ?
Lord Soth, Death Knight, Undead Patron: ?
Undead Patron: ?
Shadow Wight: ?
Ogre Skeleton: ?
Elf Skeleton: ?

 

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TB1: The Crooked Nail (5e)
5e
Undead Ningyo: A slain ningyo rises as undead each night an hour after sunset.
Slain ningyo can return as undead, vengefully seeking out their killers.
[Sl]ain ningyo rises as undead each night.
Pickled Punk: ?
Wandering Damned: The Wandering Damned are human corpses animated by the recently released mummified quasits from the display cases (C4). The employees’ corpses now appear desiccated and drained of all life, though each has a now-bloated quasit corpse riding on its back, its tiny claws deeply embedded through the corpses’ flesh and into its spinal cord, manipulating it like a puppet. Despite how this bizarre form of physical possession may appear, each strange symbiotic pairing is a single fiendish undead with the quasits providing a simple animating force without intelligence.
Mattie, Wandering Damned, Fiendish Zombie: The Wandering Damned are human corpses animated by the recently released mummified quasits from the display cases (C4). The employees’ corpses now appear desiccated and drained of all life, though each has a now-bloated quasit corpse riding on its back, its tiny claws deeply embedded through the corpses’ flesh and into its spinal cord, manipulating it like a puppet. Despite how this bizarre form of physical possession may appear, each strange symbiotic pairing is a single fiendish undead with the quasits providing a simple animating force without intelligence.
Luther, Wandering Damned, Fiendish Zombie: The Wandering Damned are human corpses animated by the recently released mummified quasits from the display cases (C4). The employees’ corpses now appear desiccated and drained of all life, though each has a now-bloated quasit corpse riding on its back, its tiny claws deeply embedded through the corpses’ flesh and into its spinal cord, manipulating it like a puppet. Despite how this bizarre form of physical possession may appear, each strange symbiotic pairing is a single fiendish undead with the quasits providing a simple animating force without intelligence.
Brarl, Wandering Damned, Zombie: The Wandering Damned are human corpses animated by the recently released mummified quasits from the display cases (C4). The employees’ corpses now appear desiccated and drained of all life, though each has a now-bloated quasit corpse riding on its back, its tiny claws deeply embedded through the corpses’ flesh and into its spinal cord, manipulating it like a puppet. Despite how this bizarre form of physical possession may appear, each strange symbiotic pairing is a single fiendish undead with the quasits providing a simple animating force without intelligence.
Cynthia, Wandering Damned, Zombie: The Wandering Damned are human corpses animated by the recently released mummified quasits from the display cases (C4). The employees’ corpses now appear desiccated and drained of all life, though each has a now-bloated quasit corpse riding on its back, its tiny claws deeply embedded through the corpses’ flesh and into its spinal cord, manipulating it like a puppet. Despite how this bizarre form of physical possession may appear, each strange symbiotic pairing is a single fiendish undead with the quasits providing a simple animating force without intelligence.
Vampire: ?
Zombie: ?
Fiendish Undead: ?
Grotesque Deformed Humanoid Fetus: ?
Hostile Creature: ?

 

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TB2: The Horror in the Sinks (5e)
5e
Undead: ?
Murn Hobley, Ghost, Phantom, Lustful Phantom, Spirit of Deep Gold: ?
Ghoul: ?
Vampire: ?
Zombie Draft Animal, Zombie Creature: ?
Human Zombie: ?
Juju Zombie: ?
Zombie, Zombie Vessel: ?
Zombie Mount, Beast, Quadrupedal Patchwork of Embalmed Animal Parts: ?
Zombie, Animated Embalmed Corpse: ?

 

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TB3: Bloody Jack (5e)
5e
Attic Whisperer, Hidden Benefactor: The attic whisperer was formed from the essences of the many innocent children murdered over the years by Bloody Jack and The Spiteful, all bound together by the tiny conscience of the infant Adelaide Muncy.
Carcass, Mound of Corpulent Undead Flesh, Chef: Buried at the bottom of this mound is the former chef of The Seaside Larder, now a carcass. A massively obese man, the Larder was closed more than three decades ago when its chef suddenly went missing. He in fact ran afoul of Old Scratch one night who tortured and murdered him as sort of a parlour prank before animating the corpse and hiding it back here without anyone knowing.
Lamprey Zombie, Crawling Horror: ?
Ghoul Hound, Stiff-Legged Hound: ?
Fetch, Houndmaster: ?
Ghoul Hound, Hunting Ghoul Hound, Undead Horror: ?
Ghoul Hound, Mangy Dog, Emaciated Hound: ?
Undead Spirit of Killed Children: ?

 

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TB4: The Crucible (5e)
5e
Lacedon: ?
Ankhetaur: Currently, the Grinder is amusing himself most of the time with his latest creation — a collage of body parts from a minotaur and an ankheg that he, unimaginatively, calls an ankhetaur.
Ankhetaur, Collage of Body Parts From a Minotaur and an Ankheg: ?
Skeletal Minotaur: ?
The Dead: ?
Walking Dead: ?
Walking Corpse: ?
Animated Dead: ?
Alchemical Zombie: ?
Necrocraft: ?

 

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TB5: The Children of the Harvest (5e)
5e
Blood Wight: When a living creature bleeds to death on unholy ground, its corpse sometimes returns to life as a blood wight. Evil priests of Orcus, Jubilex, Lucifer and various other demon princes and devil lords often hold dark rituals where they bleed a living creature to death in order to create a blood wight. Blood wights generally detest living creatures, but if created by a clerical or necromantic ritual, the created blood wight will not harm its creator (unless attacked first). Blood wights are solitary creatures though occasionally more than one of these creatures is encountered (particularly when they have been created by an evil cleric or necromancer).
If the cult priest is reduced to fewer than 12 hp, he draws a dagger across his palm and spills his blood upon the altar and stone statue. In doing so, the last of his hit points are drained from his body as his blood is suddenly drawn forth in a torrent upon the altar. This auto-sacrifice acts as a summon spell, and 1 round later his body swells to immense proportions and rises as a blood wight and begins to viciously attack any party members that remain in the room.
Bog Burgyn: Bog burgyns are wholly unnatural creations of the followers of the foul primordial deity Chernobog. They are formed in a powerful, enchanted mud pool called the Cauldron of Chernobog from the corpses of humanoids dumped into its boiling depths as the proper incantation is recited over it.
Bog burgyns possess a strong connection to the Cauldron of Chernobog where they were created; it is the source of both their unlife and their extreme ruggedness.
In truth, the corpse is an unfortunate Blighter who fell victim to Maregeth and his cronies. He was slain and thrown into the pool in area 3 as Maregeth’s first bog burgyn.
Drawing inspiration from the Cauldron of Rebirth from the tales of the Old Way gods that he grew up with on Ynys Cymragh, Maregeth used the proximity of Chernobog’s presence to call forth this cauldron in a natural mud pool here in the caverns. He has begun using the pool to reanimate the bodies of folk of Castorhage that his cultists have murdered and has 3 bog burgyns standing guard in this room as a result.
Cauldron of Chernobog artifact.
Undead, Undead Creature: ?
Ghoul: ?
Solitary Creature: ?
Dripping Mud-Stained Corpse of a Man: ?
Mud-Stained Sometimes Waterlogged Corpse Animated By a Relentless Drive: ?
Undead Creation: ?
Unnatural Creation: ?

New Artifact: Cauldron of Chernobog
This is not a true cauldron, but rather a foul mud pool infused with the power of the dark god Chernobog. As such, it is immobile and found only in locations where Chernobog’s connection to the Material Plane is strong. The Cauldron of Chernobog appears to be a boiling pit of black mud constantly streaked crimson with the blood of the sacrifices frequently fed to it. The cauldron continually gives off a foul brume of noxious fumes, but it does not radiate any heat nor have any apparent heat source. Actually touching the boiling mud reveals that it is nearly freezing to the touch and deals 4d6 cold damage per round of exposure to any living creature that comes in contact with it. A living creature submerged in its freezing embrace is immediately subjected to a disintegrate spell (9th level, 19d6+40 damage, save DC 18) and is wholly consumed if slain (as the spell).
The Cauldron of Chernobog was either created in imitation of the legendary Cauldron of Rebirth of the Tuatha Dé Danann or vice versa; the followers of the Old Way and those who still revere Chernobog hotly contest the matter. The cauldron can be created with the proper ritual by a follower of Chernobog at some swampy location with a close connection to the god, though it is believed that no more than one Cauldron of Chernobog can exist at a time.
If the creator of the cauldron places the corpse of a humanoid within the cauldron, it rises under the next moon as a bog burgyn (see Monster Appendix) under the control of the cauldron’s creator and is forever connected to the cauldron of its creation. A bog burgyn that travels more than 10 miles from the cauldron where it was created temporarily loses its connection until it returns within that range. A bog burgyn cannot be healed of any damage it receives through negative energy spells or abilities, but if it submerges in the cauldron for 1 minute, any lost hit points are restored.
The cauldron can support a number of active bog burgyns equal to the HD of the cauldron’s creator. If a bog burgyn is destroyed, a replacement can be made, but no more than the creator’s number of HD can exist at any one time, including bog burgyns that have traveled beyond the 10-mile connection range.
The Cauldron of Chernobog is a foul artifact that manifests its presence even when not compelled by a user. Each day, there is a 25% chance that the cauldron spontaneously produces 1d3 centipede swarms from its vile muck. These behave as a normal swarm once they emerge and usually soon wander off in search of sustenance, but they do not attack followers of Chernobog.
Destroying the Cauldron: The Cauldron of Chernobog can be permanently destroyed if a living humanoid willing submerges himself in it with the intent to give up his life in order to destroy it. This act causes the sacrificial individual to immediately be affected by a disintegrate spell (no save) and if the humanoid is slain, the cauldron itself is instantly destroyed, its contents drying to dust and blowing away, leaving only a shallow stone basin in the ground.
The cauldron can be made temporarily quiescent (which still counts as destroying it in regards to any bog burgyns it has created) if the entire surface of its pool is covered in the consecrated blood of a willing sacrifice. This requires 100 points of damage to living creatures who willingly bleed themselves into the cauldron (this damage can be divided between multiple individuals), powered by the positive energy of a spell from good-aligned casters who are of at least 5th level. For every 5 points of damage the spells deal to the cauldron, the blood requirement is reduced by 1 point of Constitution. When the cauldron is suspended in this way, it becomes an ordinary mud pit but can be reactivated at any time by a follower of Chernobog with the blood sacrifice of at least 100 points of damage from unwilling victims. A reactivated cauldron does not automatically restore any destroyed bog burgyns; new ones have to be created as normal.

 

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Tegel Manor: Bestiary (5e)
5e
Bloody Bones: ?
Coffer Corpse: ?
Flying Skull: Flying skulls are often created by spellcasters for use as spies or guardians.
Spy: ?
Guardian: ?
Greater Ghost of Tegel Manor: ?
Powerful Ghost: ?
Greater Ghost: ?
Variant Greater Ghost: ?
Ghost: A humanoid slain by [a greater ghost's life drain] attack rises 24 hours later as a ghost under the greater ghost’s control, unless the humanoid is restored to life or its body is destroyed.
Cold-Blooded Greater Ghost: This theme applies to creatures that were killed in cold blood or suddenly without warning or provocation.
Corrupt Greater Ghost: This theme applies to creatures that were despicable individuals in life, and their deaths were caused by their own deplorable actions. Such a greater ghost died with wickedness lodged like a stone in its heart.
Fearful Greater Ghost: This theme applies to creatures who died while experiencing something truly terrifying.
Iniquitous Greater Ghost: This theme applies to creatures who died armed and armored but who were killed in an unfair combat, such as overwhelming odds or the secret use of poison in an honorable duel.
Repulsive Greater Ghost: This theme applies to creatures who died in a gruesome or grisly way. Such a greater ghost is permanently marred or disfigured by its killing blow, vexing the ghost’s fragile vanity.
Ruthless Greater Ghost: This theme applies to creatures who were killed surreptitiously by someone they trusted or held dear.
Withered Greater Ghost: This theme applies to creatures who died from extreme exposure to necrotic damage or from an effect that drains the life out of its target. This theme can also apply to a greater ghost that has existed for a considerable period of time.
Undead: ?
Pennagalen: A humanoid slain by [a pennagalen's draining bite] attack rises 24 hours later as a pennagalen under this pennagalen’s control, unless the humanoid is restored to life, its body is destroyed, or the pennagalen uses the body as a host body.
Severed Hand: ?
Severed Head: ?
Giant Lizard Skeleton: ?
Noble Skeleton: ?
Skeleton: ?
Vampiric Warrior: ?
Zombie, Average Zombie: ?
Vampiric Wizard: ?
Cauldron-Born Zombie: A cauldron-born zombie is created through a complex, magical process that involves injecting the corpse with a variety of alchemical substances. By some quirk of its creation, a cauldron-born zombie is more connected to its creator than the average zombie.
Giant Octopus Zombie: ?
Pyre Zombie: ?
Strangling Zombie: ?

 

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Tehuatl Fifth Edition Bestiary
5e
Shadow Greater: They are typically found amid the huge undead maizefields that surround settlements of lost souls that become trapped and forgotten on their journey to Miquito (the Realm of the Dead). The maizefields and shadows share an inseparable, almost symbiotic bond. They are the physical manifestations born from the fear of the departed who cannot find sustenance. In turn, the shadows created by their internal terror ultimately devour their life essence.
Spawn of Tlatoani: The origin of these foul, undead abominations remain shrouded in mystery, though religious scholars believe the former lord of Tehuatl and the whole of Notos crafted these undying horrors from pythons. The ritual used to make these creatures has been lost to time, as the only known specimens are found in places closely associated with the southern continent’s former master. Measuring roughly 10 feet in length from snout to tail, the monster attacks with its fearsome bite and its surprisingly supple tongue that somehow survived the mummification ritual largely intact.
Unrequited: An unrequited only forms from the enduring essence of an adolescent humanoid. It takes at least a year for the creature’s consciousness to take on a life of its own. Therefore, the brain must remain well-preserved and intact during this strange metamorphosis. Most of these vaporous undead coalesce from an adolescent who died suddenly and violently at another’s hands. Shortly after the being’s demise, the creature’s unfulfilled aspirations take physical form as wispy clouds of crimson vapor. When the disparate parts merge to create a singularity, the unrequited’s formation is complete and its desires become reality. Despite being created from the thoughts of a sentient being, the spiteful undead has no memory of its former existence.
Unressurected Wraith: These woeful beings remain bound to the mortal world, trapped for all eternity in the perfectly mummified corpses of their former bodies, only to be awakened and transformed into incorporeal horrors under specific circumstances. They cannot voluntarily transform into their incorporeal form and thus remain bound forever to the pacts and magics of their creators. Many of these creatures willingly enter bargains to serve as the guardian of a sacred place only to learn in death that the fate bestowed to them is not an honor but a cruel curse.
Undead: ?
Hateful Creature: ?
Incorporeal Figure: ?
Shadow: If a non-evil humanoid dies from [a greater shadow's strength drain] attack, a new shadow rises from the corpse 1d4 hours later.
Foul Undead Abomination: ?
Undying Horror: ?
Huge Mummified Serpent: ?
Vaporous Undead: ?
Spiteful Undead: ?
Woeful Being: ?
Incorporeal Horror: ?
Sinister Incorporeal Figure With Malevolent Red Eyes: ?

 

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Tehuatl Fifth Edition Players' Guide (5e)
5e
Undead: ?
Ghost, Spirit: ?
Cunning Skeleton: ?
Cihuateteo: The people of Tehuatl view those who perish in childbirth as equally heroic as those who fall in combat. The courageous women who die in the act of bringing an infant into an unforgiving world ascend into the netherworld as cihuateteo.
Cihuateteo, Malevolent Spirit: ?