Undead Origins

Threat Report
Mutants & Masterminds 3e
Abracadver, Mortimer Coffin, Martin Achery, The Nefarious Necromancer, Walking Corpse, Powerful Ally, Villain, Undead Wizard, Magician, Master: As a fledgling magician, Martin Achery, calling himself the Amazing Achery, struggled to make ends meet. Somehow neither his name nor his show won over audiences the way he had hoped. He desperately wanted to become rich and famous, and, more importantly, he wanted to become known as the greatest magician since Harry Houdini. Sadly, it never really worked out for him.
As he descended into depression, his show became increasingly gimmicky, eventually focusing on a death motif that appeared lame and desperate as opposed to hip and edgy. This prompted him to adopt the stage name of Mortimer Coffin, better known as the Magnificent Mortimer. As success continued to elude him, he became increasingly withdrawn and spent an unhealthy amount of time locked behind closed doors perusing old musty tomes in search of something, anything, that would grant him real power. Spending most of his waking hours poring through dusty books in dimly-lit rooms, his health began to fail. Still he searched, consumed by despair and gloom, but determined to find something to improve his act and make him famous.
Then, at last, he found what he was looking for in a black book, ancient and written in a strange mix of utterly alien symbols and glyphs. Neatly tucked into its pages, written in old-fashioned script, he found meticulously scribed notes, as if the previous possessor had attempted to decipher its writings. But the work was incomplete.
Mortimer Coffin studied the book night and day, seeking to unlock its secrets before his failing body finally gave out. It was a spell book of some sort, that much was apparent. It spoke of dark dimensions and the preternatural entities inhabiting them. It also hinted at the power wielded by those able to tap into these dimensions. Finally, the real power that he had long desired was within his reach. He devoted himself to its study, forgoing food and sleep; the end was now in sight. However, he didn’t realize just how true that was until it was too late.
Wracked by terrible fits of coughing and nearly crippled due to his infirmity, he drove himself beyond the point of exhaustion. He was so close, and he felt the grim shadow of death overtaking him. It was a race to the very end... a race he both won and lost. He did indeed achieve his goal of unlocking the dark magicks of the black book. And as his life ebbed away, he realized the dread secret of the black book—only the dead could wield the dark powers it held.
So Mortimer Coffin died, but in dying he gained access to the real power that he hungered for. He is not merely dead—he is undead, effectively immortal, and he has the means to achieve the fame, fortune, and power he’s always wanted, but under a new name—the nefarious necromancer, Abracadaver!
Dracula, Lord of Vampires, Vlad Dracul, Mr. Helsinger, Alucard, Vampire, Most Infamous Monster, Suave and Sophisticated Gentleman With Old World Manners and Style, Virtual Unliving God, Enemy of All That Live, Cloud of Mist, Bat, Wolf, Mysterious Gentleman, Vampire Lord, Blood-Craving Beast, Lord, Master: Gravely wounded in battle, Dracul was found by a gypsy who offered him an opportunity to survive, if he chose to take it. He did and the gypsy, herself a vampire, transformed Dracul into one of her kind.
Undead: ?
Lesser Undead: ?
Ghostly Mongol Warrior: ?
Vampire, Traditional Vampire: ?
Lesser Vampire: ?
Rosa DiAngelo, Vampire: Emerald City has become a dangerous place by night, at least for certain volunteers of a charitable religious group who have become victims of a mysterious killer or killers. The police ask the heroes for help in handling the case when the latest crime scene includes an overturned and dented dumpster (punched by someone with superhuman strength) and the body of Gia Hernandez, drained of most of her blood from a neck wound. She is the third such victim, after David Diamont and Rosa DiAngelo, all of them volunteers at the Saint Sebastian homeless shelter.
Investigating the prior victims reveals Diamont was cremated but DiAngelo was buried in a local cemetery, and her grave was later violated and her body is missing. That is because Rosa DiAngelo has become a vampire and committed the later two killings.
Gia Hernandez, Vampire: Emerald City has become a dangerous place by night, at least for certain volunteers of a charitable religious group who have become victims of a mysterious killer or killers. The police ask the heroes for help in handling the case when the latest crime scene includes an overturned and dented dumpster (punched by someone with superhuman strength) and the body of Gia Hernandez, drained of most of her blood from a neck wound. She is the third such victim, after David Diamont and Rosa DiAngelo, all of them volunteers at the Saint Sebastian homeless shelter.
Lenore von Nacht, Vampire: ?
Victor von Nacht, Vampire: ?
Nightrage, Vampire, Rogue Hero: ?
Vampiric Spawn, Police Officer: ?
Vampiric Spawn, AEGIS Agent: ?
Vampiric Spawn, Judge: ?
Vampiric Spawn, Prominent Businesperson: ?
Vampiric Bride: ?
Minor Vampire: In the process of defeating a few minor vampires created by Dracula, the heroes learn that the Lord of the Vampires has recently just... vanished, his most recent lair ransacked and defiled.
Zombie: When he [Abracadaver] needs a helping hand, he usually just animates a small army of zombies to do his bidding—not only are they tireless workers, but they follow orders without question and never complain about anything!
Magic-Wielding Zombie: The heroes are contacted by the bereaved wife of a deceased occultist because someone has stolen her husband’s body from the graveyard where he was recently laid to rest. Upon investigating, the heroes discover that someone has been robbing cemeteries across the city, specifically targeting graves containing the bodies of ex-occultists, academics, and stage magicians. Soon after, the heroes must stop a crime spree perpetrated by none other than the missing dead men and women who are now magic-wielding zombies controlled by their new master, Abracadaver!
 

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Do Not Approach
Mutants & Masterminds 3e
Mystery Killer, Miriam Archer, Vampire: Later on, she had a run-in with a centuries old vampire, who transformed her.
Centuries Old Vampire, Vampiric Master: ?
Vampire: ?

Capes, Cowls, and Villains Foul
Mystery Killer, Miriam Archer, Vampire: Later on, she had a run-in with a centuries old vampire, who transformed her.
Centuries Old Vampire, Vampiric Master: ?
 

Misfits & Menaces DOOM 3e
Mutants & Masterminds 3e
Deadman, Walking Corpse, Massive Hulking Brute, Walking Corpse, Brute Possessing Incredible Strength, Brute, Guardian, Jailor, Double Agent, Walking Nightmare: Deadman is a massive, hulking brute cobbled together from the parts of various metahumans and demons.
Deadman is a cooperative effort between Death’s power over the dead and Pestilence’s medical and mystical experimentation. He was constructed from the corpses of metahumans DOOM killed and the remains of Barzani demons various heroes had slain.
When not spreading plagues and other corruptions of the flesh, Pestilence enjoys taking captives to perform medical experiments on. He is always looking for new ways to inflict harm, test the limits of pain endurance, and unlock new maladies upon which to inflict mankind. It is primarily due to his experiments that DOOM was able to create the walking nightmare, Deadman.
Switch, Doctor Lemun Mattes, Death Doctor, Spirit, Disembodied Spirit, Amorphous Undead Spirit of a Deceased Person, Glowing Essence of Life, Swirling Bright Flux of Energy, Disembodied Ethereal Spirit, Enslaved and Bodiless Super-Villain, Real Friend, Friend: After more than a decade of massacres and carnage in the pursuit of killing all humanity (“for its own good,” in Mattes’ opinion), Death Doctor ran afoul of DOOM. One of Death Doctor’s massacres resulted in the failure of a mass mind control spell DOOM had slowly been worming into the thoughts of the former’s victims. Doing so disrupted months of planning and left DOOM very displeased. As punishment for interfering with their plot, DOOM’s sorcerers captured Mattes. They stripped him of his soul, burning his corpse to ash in the process. Acolyte then imprisoned Death Doctor’s essence within an enchanted lantern that would force the spirit to work DOOM’s will as the enslaved and bodiless super-villain, Switch.
Animated Skeleton: Animated skeleton is a template that may be applied to any corporeal, formerly alive creature possessing a skeleton.
Whatever animates them, these pseudo-undead are relatively weak compared to their living counterparts.
DOOM has found an artifact that, using the proper ritual, will allow them to raise the dead on a global scale. They plan to do so by invoking a powerful ritual at a nexus of planet-spanning ley lines, using Bone as the prophesized, necessary component. The other Doomsayers have been assigned to protect Bone, who rests incapacitated at the nexus’ center, while Acolyte carries out the long ritual.
All the world’s rotting corpses will rise as zombies if the ritual is not stopped, while those that are nothing more than bones will become animated skeletons.
Animated Skeleton Uhuh: ?
Animated Zombie: Animated zombie is a template that may be applied to any corporeal, formerly alive creature possessing a skeleton. Most of its rotting, maggot-ridden flesh remains on the bones. Whether animated by magic, science, or something else entirely, they are essentially automatons. They are not the sort of zombie that creates others of their kind through its bite or otherwise.
DOOM has found an artifact that, using the proper ritual, will allow them to raise the dead on a global scale. They plan to do so by invoking a powerful ritual at a nexus of planet-spanning ley lines, using Bone as the prophesized, necessary component. The other Doomsayers have been assigned to protect Bone, who rests incapacitated at the nexus’ center, while Acolyte carries out the long ritual.
All the world’s rotting corpses will rise as zombies if the ritual is not stopped, while those that are nothing more than bones will become animated skeletons.
Animated Skeleton, Walking Moving Skeleton Deprived of its Flesh, Unthinking Automaton, Pseudo-Undead, Skeleton, Risen Dead: ?
Animated Zombie, Automaton, Risen Dead: ?
Undead: ?
Mindless Undead: ?
Simple Undead: ?
Undead Creature that Combines Cybernetic Machinery With Animated Flesh: DOOM suspects Death has been secretly experimenting with a new type of undead creature that combines cybernetic machinery with reanimated flesh.
Zombie That Creates Others of Their Kind: [T]he sort of zombie that creates others of their kind through its bite or otherwise.
 


Super Powered Bestiary: Halloween Horrors
Mutants & Masterminds 3e
Crawling Hand: Some hands just don’t know when to stop moving. Even after they have been severed from the arms of their former bodies, these hands continue to move and seek victims to strangle. Some of these hands are animated by necromantic magic. Others are possessed by a demonic influence.
Floating Head: ?
Floating Head Grasping Head: ?
Floating Head Screaming Head: ?
Variant Floating Head: Some floating heads possess additional powers based on their creation.
Headless Horseman, Dullahan: They are the bodies of great soldiers who were slain in battle and cursed with unlife. They hunt the living, cutting off their heads, and collecting them. They do this as they cannot find their own head; it being lost during the horseman’s demise.
Crawling Hand, Severed Hand: ?
Floating Head, Animated Head, Horrific Creature: ?
Floating Head, Undead Guardian: ?
Floating Head, Spy: ?
Floating Head, Assassin: ?
Floating Head Grasping Head, Variant Floating Head: ?
Floating Head Screaming Head, Variant Floating Head: ?
Headless Horseman, Body of a Great Soldier Who Was Slain in Battle and Cursed With Unlife, Terrifying Being: ?
Ghost: ?
Vampire: ?
Undead: ?
 

Super Powered Bestiary: Undead Dinosaurs
Mutants & Masterminds 3e
Allosaurus Zombie: ?
Ankylosaurus Zombie: ?
Pteranodon Zombie: ?
Raptor Zombie: ?
Triceratops Zombie: ?
Tyrannosaurus Rex Zombie: ?
Tyrannosaurus Rex Zombie, Monstrosity From the Prehistoric Era, Horror: ?
Zombie: Running from a horde of zombified humans is one thing... but when the zombie virus – or whatever it is that is bringing the dead back to life – affects the monsters of prehistory, a winning combination of creepy-cool is born!
Undead Dinosaur: ?
Dinosaur Zombie: ?
Humanoid Zombie: ?
Normal Human Zombie: Given the great size and “swallow whole” ability of the Tyrannosaurus Rex Zombie, it is possible that its stomach is literally full of human bodies that have been afflicted by the necromantic curse!
Normal Human Zombie, Zombified Human: ?
 

The Template Tome
Mutants & Masterminds 3e
Ghostly Creature: ?
Ghostly Creature, Being of Undead Energy, Undead Spirit: ?
Specter: ?
Specter, Malevolent Spirit: ?
Donna Morto, Arabella “Mama” Motta, Lady Death, Specter Crime Lord, Mother's Fury Made Manifest, Old Woman: Arabella “Mama” Motta never saw the bullet that ended her life, but knew she died for the sin of birthing her seven sons—collectively the Motta crime family—and raising them as the monsters that ruled the city’s underworld throughout the 1920s and 1930s. She did see the bullet that brought her back, as it pierced the heart of her last living grandchild. Though a horrible human being, Arabella was a deeply family-minded woman, and the gruesome destruction of her bloodline returned the deceased crime lord as a mother’s fury made manifest. Every shred of Arabella’s being now aches for vengeance, driving her to kill the seven and seven men who brought her legacy to an end.
 

DC Adventures Heroes and Villains I
Black Hand, William Hand, Black Lantern, Avatar of Death, Criminal, Necromancer: After several humiliating defeats, including an instance where the Spectre turned one of his hands into coal, Black Hand sank deeper and deeper into madness. While being transported to prison once again, he was taken to the dead world of Ryut, resting place of the Black Power Battery and the source of the mysterious voice that urged and advised him. Returned to Earth, Black Hand continued to hear the voice of death calling to him. He went to the Hand family home outside of Coast City and murdered his parents and brothers, before committing suicide.
The corrupt Guardian Scar appeared at William Hand’s side and produced the first black power ring, which restored Hand’s awareness and mobility, raising him as the first Black Lantern. He learned that he was the avatar of death, just as Parallax, Ion, and the Predator were avatars of different aspects of the emotional spectrum.
Deadman, Boston Brand, Spirit, Acrobat Aerialist, Heroic Adventurer, Ghostly Hero, Spirit Guide, Hero, Mystical Hero, Intangible Spirit: An exceptional aerialist and acrobat, Brand would wear deathly-white makeup and perform under the name “Deadman” as part of his show. His act came to an abrupt end when he was shot from his trapeze during his act. However, Boston Brand’s existence did not end when his body made the long fall to the circus tent floor. Brought back from death by Rama Kushna, a goddess charged with overseeing the universe’s karmic balance is maintained, he was given the responsibility of righting wrongs and acting as Rama’s agent throughout existence. When acting upon the mortal realm, however, Brand found himself reduced to a phantom existence with powers to match.
Ralph Dibny, Ghost Detective: Following the murder of Sue Dibny, a grief-stricken Ralph Dibny undertook a year-long quest to delve into the mysteries of magic and resurrection in hopes of being reunited with his wife. In the end, Ralph was killed by the demon Neron but manipulated events such that he was reunited with Sue. Now the two of them are “ghost detectives” investigating paranormal mysteries from beyond the grave by possessing the bodies of the living.
Sue Dibny, Ghost Detective: Following the murder of Sue Dibny, a grief-stricken Ralph Dibny undertook a year-long quest to delve into the mysteries of magic and resurrection in hopes of being reunited with his wife. In the end, Ralph was killed by the demon Neron but manipulated events such that he was reunited with Sue. Now the two of them are “ghost detectives” investigating paranormal mysteries from beyond the grave by possessing the bodies of the living.
Gentleman Ghost, Jim Craddock, Gentleman Jim, Spirit, Super-Villain, Highwayman, Ghost, Cursed Spirit, Criminal: The abandoned son of a nineteenth-century English gentleman, Jim Craddock became a highwayman and thief so notorious that he fled from England to the United States in the mid-1800s. There he ran afoul of the gunslinger Nighthawk, who lynched Craddock. Cursed to wander the Earth until his killer, too, moved on to the next plane of existence, Craddock discovered that Nighthawk was merely the latest incarnation of an Egyptian prince who had been repeatedly reincarnated for thousands of years.
Craddock continued to haunt his killer through the decades until the twentieth century, when the prince was reincarnated as the hero Hawkman and the ever-polite Craddock became known as the “Gentleman Ghost.” The other half of the curse instilled Craddock with an insatiable greed that led him to cross swords with an even wider number of heroes, until he is now counted among the world’s super-villains.
Undead: ?
Spirit: ?
Animated Corpse: In Hell, Brother Blood discovered Kid Eternity and took control of his powers and returned to Earth to destroy Los Angeles. The Titans moved to stop him, but Blood animated the corpses of several deceased Teen Titans to kill them.
Jacob Finlay, Ghost, Spirit: ?
Spirit of the Dead: ?
Roderick, Vampire: ?
Vampire: ?
Zombie: ?
Black Lantern: Black Hand’s greatest power is not listed among his game traits simply because it is far off the scale measured by DC Adventures. As the avatar of Nekron, he can cause the dead to rise up as Black Lanterns creating thousands of virtually indestructible followers—at an equivalent cost of thousands of power points!
As the Black Lanterns began to appear, animating the long and freshly dead (including their own victims) in their wake, Deadman found himself in the rather unique position of encountering his own revived corpse.
They returned to Oa, only to be attacked by black power rings which reanimated fallen Green Lanterns as Black Lanterns.
Boston Brand, Black Lantern: ?
Doctor Light, Dr. Arthur Light, Black Lantern: ?
Tempest, Joshua Clay, Black Lantern: ?
Firestorm, Ronald “Ronnie” Raymond, Black Lantern: ?
Terra, Tara Markov, Black Lantern: ?
Jade Scott, Black Lantern: ?
Hawk, Hank Hall, Black Lantern: ?
Hawkgirl, Kendra Shiera Saunders, Black Lantern: When the Blackest Night fell, Kendra and Hawkman were ambushed by Black Lanterns. Kendra was impaled and professed her love for Hawkman with her dying breath. After she and Hawkman were butchered, Black Hand raised them as Black Lanterns themselves.
Hawkman, Carter Hall, Black Lantern: When the Blackest Night fell, Kendra and Hawkman were ambushed by Black Lanterns. Kendra was impaled and professed her love for Hawkman with her dying breath. After she and Hawkman were butchered, Black Hand raised them as Black Lanterns themselves.
Jonah Hex, Black Lantern: ?
Osiris, Amon Tomaz, Black Lantern: ?
Jade, Jennifer-Lynn Hayden, Black Lantern: ?
 

Warriors & Warlocks
Mutants & Masterminds 2e
Undead Overlord: It may be an ancient king back from the grave to continue its conquest, or a spirit of vengeance seeking to slay the countrymen and descendants of those who originally ended its life.
The Undead Overlord is an old enemy who was slain by the heroes, but has somehow managed to cheat death.
Skeleton Warrior: Skeleton warriors are the bones of dead soldiers animated by strong necromantic magic.
Lich: “Lich” is a power template that turns any living creature of power level 8 or more with the magic power into an undead sorcerer.
Mummified Creature, Mummy, Undead Mummy: “Mummified Creature” is a power template that turns any living creature into an undead mummy.
Shadow Creature, Shadow: “Shadow Creature” is a power template that can be used to infuse any living thing with the essence of shadow.
Skeletal Creature, Skeleton: “Skeletal Creature” is a power template that may be added to any living creature that has a skeleton (including exoskeletons), thus striping the being of flesh and animating its bones or carapace.
Spectral Creature: “Spectral Creature” is a power template that turns any living creature into a terrifying ghostly apparition.
Vampiric Creature, Vampire: “Vampiric Creature” is a power template that can be added to any living creature to turn them into a bloodsucking creature of the night.
Zombie Creature, Zombie: “Zombie Creature” is a power template that turns any living creature into a mindless walking corpse. These undead creatures are usually created through the magical art of necromancy.
Undead Overlord, Powerful Opponent: ?
Undead Overlord, Ancient King: ?
Undead Overlord, Spirit of Vengeance: ?
Undead Overlord, Powerful Undead Fiend: ?
Undead Overlord, Fallen God: ?
Undead Overlord, Especially Powerful Fallen God: ?
Ghostly Undead Overlord: ?
Undead Overlord, Undead Spirit: ?
Undead Overlord, Old Enemy: ?
Skeletal Warrior Bodyguard: ?
Skeletal Warrior, More Powerful and Intelligent Version of the Skeleton: ?
Lich, Undead Sorcerer: ?
Malador the Undying, Lich: Once an archmage of fabled Idris, Malador managed to survive the destruction of his homeland through foul sorceries that sealed him into an obsidian cyst for centuries to transform into a form of undead known as a lich.
Spectral Creature, Terrifying Ghostly Apparition: ?
Vampiric Creature, Bloodsucking Creature of the Night: ?
Zombie Creature, Mindless Walking Corpse: ?
Undead, Undead Creature, Unliving: The Evil Sorcerer has partially uncovered the secret of immortality or undeath.
Undead Wizard: ?
Undead Minion: ?
Dead Spirit: ?
Intelligent Undead, Unnatural Horror: ?
Unnatural Horror: ?
Shadowy Predator of the Night: ?
Undead Death Knight: ?
Skeleton: Scroll of Animate Undead.
Vampire, Shadowy Predator of the Night: ?
Vampire Lord: ?
Daughter of the Black Moon: A splinter group driven out of the Witchqueen’s midst for unrevealed crimes, the Daughters mastered the descent into undeath thanks to the poor fortune of a vampire they captured and magically dissected.
Zombie: Scroll of Animate Undead.

Scroll of Animate Undead: Summon Minions 2 (Progression 2 [5 minions], Continuous, Fanatical, Heroic, Horde, Type [zombies and skeletons], Limited to available corpses, use destroys scroll); 10 ep
 

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