Undead Origins

[Voadam]

Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos - Pathfinder

Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu Mythos - Pathfinder
Pathfinder 1e
Mythos Undead: “Mythos undead” is an acquired template that can be added to any living, corporeal creature.
Evil creature drinking gorgondy.
Dying from constitution drain from Hastur's possession.
In rare cases, when certain alchemical techniques are applied to an exceptionally fresh corpse (or even to whole parts of fresh corpses) who, in life, possessed a singularly powerful and focused mind, the result is in an undead creature that retains its intellect; in such a case, create the creature as a Mythos undead.
Zyngaya spell.
Ghost of Ib Cleric 10: ?
Undead: Where the King in Yellow walks, the dead rise and follow. Whenever the King in Yellow comes within 20 feet of a dead body, that body rises as an undead creature of the King’s choosing. The undead created can be of any type, so long as its CR is equal to or less than the King in Yellow’s CR-6 (minimum of 1). Living creatures who die within 20 feet of the King in Yellow arise as undead one round later.
The King in Yellow’s footstep brings the dead to life. They can return as a wide variety of undead—from simple zombies or ghosts to more powerful vampires. His horde always accompanies him.
Deathless Sorcerer, Old Human Mythos Undead Sorcerer 12: ?
Insane Dead: Certain alchemical techniques can reanimate recently slain bodies, but while these methods restore the semblance of life to the victim, the passage of death to life always results in insanity.
Risen Witch, Mythos Undead Human Witch 20: ?
Leng Ghoul: Leng Ghoul Fever and 12+ Hit Dice.
Ghoul: Leng Ghoul Fever and less than 12 Hit Dice.

ZYNGAYA
School necromancy [evil]; Level cleric 7, shaman 7, sorcerer/wizard 7
Casting Time 1 hour
Components V, S, M (a clay pot filled with grave dirt and an onyx gem worth 50 gp per HD of the undead to be created)
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target one corpse
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
You turn the corpse into a Mythos undead if the creature had fewer Hit Dice than your caster level. It is loyal to the King in Yellow. Although it recognizes you as its creator, it works with you only insofar as you serve the purposes of the King in Yellow. If you are capable of commanding undead, you may attempt to command the undead creature as it forms.

GORGONDY
Weight 2 lbs. Price 7,500 gp; Craft (alchemy) DC 35
This dark, evil liquor must be kept in strong, heavily armored iron bottles to retain its potency. When drunk, it changes the drinker's alignment one step closer to evil. Class abilities based on alignment change to match (unless the new alignment results in losing the ability altogether due to incompatible alignment). If the drinker is evil before drinking it, the drinker's soul will be destroyed upon death and the drinker's corpse will arise as a Mythos undead. The drinker can negate all these effects with a successful DC 15 Will save upon drinking.

Disease (Ex) Leng Ghoul Fever: Bite—injury; save Fort DC 22; onset immediate; effect 1d3 Con and 1d4 Dex damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. The save DC is Charisma-based. A humanoid that succumbs to Leng ghoul fever becomes a normal ghoul unless in life it had 12 or more Hit Dice, in which case it rises from death as a Leng ghoul.

 

[Voadam]

RQ2 Thoughts of Darkness

RQ2 Thoughts of Darkness
2e
Lyssa Von Zarovich: Ironically, Lyssa shares some of Strahd's own fate: In order to better oppose him, she struck her own dark pact and murdered her fiance to honor it.
Vampire Mind Flayer: “Those monsters are the spawn of Von Zarovich.”
Vampire illithids are the result of evil experiments that were meant to be terminated. They were first created by Lyssa Von Zarovich and the High Master Illithid of Bluetspur in an attempt to create a creature that could successfully convert the High Master into a vampire (conventional methods were not viable). When the hatchlings proved insane and completely uncontrollable, they were destroyed and thrown into the common water dump, where all victims of mind flayers are thrown after they expire. The vampire illithids regenerated, however, and were washed out of the mind flayer complex. Now they run free across the surface of the realm.
Remnant: The mind flayers throw the remains of their slaves into a watery pit when they die of exhaustion and abuse. The lack of a proper burial traps the remnants in these waters.
Remnants are the spirits of humans and humanoids whose former bodies have been thrown into an unconsecrated, watery grave after they have died of acute stress and exhaustion. The callous way in which they have been disposed of after a torturous and miserable life leaves them in a state of such sorrow that they cannot completely leave the Prime Material plane behind, and they lurk in the pools and rivers where their bodies were abandoned.
Vampire: ?
Strahd Von Zarovich: ?

 

[Voadam]

The Little Book of Adventuring Classes Vol. 1

The Little Book of Adventuring Classes Vol. 1
Swords & Wizardry
Dead Dog Spirit: ?
Undead: Raise Greater Undead spell.
Wight: Raise Greater Undead spell.
Wraith: Raise Greater Undead spell.
Skeleton: Raise Lesser Undead spell.
Zombie: Raise Lesser Undead spell.
Ghoul: Raise Lesser Undead spell.
Unliving: Unliving are created by dying and being resurrected by a necromancer, in much the same way a zombie is.

RAISE GREATER UNDEAD
Spell Level: Deathwitch 5th level, Magic-User 7th level
Range: 240 feet
Duration: Permanent
Greater undead such as wights or wraiths can be created from dead bodies, 1d4 for each level of the caster. They remain under the command of the caster, and will remain until slain.

RAISE LESSER UNDEAD
Spell Level: Deathwitch 3rd level, Magic-User 5th level
Range: 240 feet
Duration: Permanent
Lesser undead such as skeletons (1d8), zombies (1d6), or ghouls (1d4) can be created from dead bodies for each level of the caster. They remain under the command of the caster, and will remain until slain.

 

[Voadam]

WWII Operation White Box

WWII Operation White Box
Swords & Wizardry
Ghost: A ghost is an undead spirit that is doomed to wander the earth. Ghosts are bound to the place where they died or to a particular object that had special meaning to them in life (locket, diary, etc.).
The touch of an attacking ghost drains one (1) Experience Level unless a Saving Throw is made. If a character is reduced to 0-level by these attacks, he becomes a HD 1 ghost and joins his slayer.
Vampire: ?
Vampire Minion: Anyone drained of blood by a vampire becomes a HD 3 vampire minion unless the corpse is cremated before the next full moon.

 

[Voadam]

Monster Manual 4e

Monster Manual
4e
Atropal: Atropals are unfinished godlings that had enough of a divine spark to rise as undead.
Bodak: When a nightwalker slays a humanoid, that nightwalker can ritually transform the slain creature’s body and spirit into a bodak.
A nightwalker can turn a humanoid it has killed into a bodak using an arcane ritual that only works when cast in the Shadowfell, and only when cast by a nightwalker. Nightwalkers alone can warp the void energies of the Shadowfell to create such horrors.
Bodak Skulk: ?
Bodak Reaver: ?
Boneclaw: BONECLAWS ARE MAGICALLY CONSTRUCTED UNDEAD built to hunt and slay the living.
One creates a boneclaw by means of a dark ritual that binds a powerful evil soul to a specially prepared amalgamation of undead flesh and bone. The exact ritual is a closely guarded secret known only to a handful of liches and necromancers. Cabals that wish to possess the knowledge of boneclaw creation have resorted to diplomacy, theft, and clandestine warfare to acquire the ritual.
Although rumor holds that the first boneclaws were created by a powerful lich in the service of Vecna, the truth is that a coven of hags led by a powerful night hag named Grigwartha created the first boneclaw over a century ago. They invented a ritual that combines the flesh and bones from ogres along with the trapped soul of an oni. Although the materials can vary, the ritual is the same among those who know it.
Death Knight: DEATH KNIGHTS WERE POWERFUL WARRIORS who accepted eternal undeath rather than face the end of their mortal existence. With their souls bound to the weapons they wield, death knights command necrotic power in addition to their undiminished martial prowess.
“Death knight” is a monster template that can be applied to nonplayer characters.
The ritual to become a death knight is said to have originated with Orcus, Demon Prince of the Undead. Many death knights gained access to the ritual by contacting Orcus or his servants directly, but some discovered the ritual through other means.
The ritual of becoming a death knight requires its caster to bind his immortal essence into the weapon used in the ritual.
Death Knight Human Fighter: ?
Death Knight Dragonborn Paladin: ?
Demon Immolith: THE SPIRITS OF DECEASED DEMONS sometimes fuse together as they fall back into the Abyss that spawned them. The event is unpredictable, and the result is a horrid demonic entity called an immolith.
Devourer: WHEN A RAVING MURDERER DIES, his soul passes into the Shadowfell. There it might gather flesh again to continue its lethal ways, becoming a devourer.
Devourers are created from the souls of murderers lost in the Shadowfell.
Devourer Spirit Devourer: ?
Devourer Viscera Devourer: ?
Devourer Soulspike Devourer: ?
Dracolich: WHEN A POWERFUL DRAGON FORSAKES LIFE and undergoes an evil ritual to become undead, the result is a dracolich.
Dracolichs are unnatural creatures created by an evil ritual that requires a still-living dragon to serve as the ritual’s focus. When the ritual is complete, the dragon is transformed into a skeletal thing of pure malevolence. Some evil dragons willingly undergo this ritual.
A handful of evil cults possess a ritual for turning a dragon into a dracolich against its will. These cults do what they must to keep knowledge of that ritual from others. When a dragon is transformed into a dracolich with such a ritual, a linkage between the cult and the dragon is formed, and the cult gains influence over the dragon’s behavior.
Dracolich Blackfire Dracolich: ?
Dracolich Runescribed Dracolich: ?
Flameskull: CREATED FROM THE SKULLS OF WIZARDS and other spellcasters, flameskulls serve as intelligent undead guardians.
Rituals for creating flameskulls are ancient, so flameskulls exist in places lost to history.
Flameskull Great Flameskull: ?
Ghost: GHOSTS HAUNT FORLORN PLACES, bound to their fate until they are finally put to rest. Sometimes they exist for a purpose, and other times they defy death through sheer will.
A ghost is the spirit of a dead creature, often a Medium humanoid killed in some traumatic fashion.
Ghost Phantom Warrior: ?
Ghost Trap Haunt: ?
Ghost Wailing Ghost, Banshee: ?
Ghost Tormenting Ghost: ?
Ghoul: Humanoids that indulge in or resort to cannibalism become ghouls when they die. Ghouls are also created through rituals.
Humanoids that indulge in or resort to cannibalism become ghouls when they die. Ghouls are also created through rituals.
Ghoul Horde Ghoul: ?
Ghoul Abyssal Ghoul: Sometimes ghouls are graced by Doresain with power greater than their fellows. These so-called abyssal ghouls are the Ghoul King’s favorites and make up a goodly portion of the king’s Court of Teeth.
Ghoul Abyssal Ghoul Hungerer: ?
Ghoul Abyssal Ghoul Myrmidon: ?
Larva Mage: WHEN A POWERFUL EVIL SPELLCASTER DIES, his spirit sometimes takes control of the wriggling mass of worms and maggots devouring his corpse. This mass of vermin rises as a larva mage to continue the spellcaster’s dark schemes or to seek revenge against those who slew him.
Only the most evil spellcasters return to unlife as larva mages.
An elder evil being called Kyuss created the first larva mages to guard vaults of forbidden lore.
Lich: A LICH IS AN UNDEAD SPELLCASTER created by means of an ancient ritual. Wizards and other arcane spellcasters who choose this path to immortality escape death by becoming undead, but prolonged existence in this state often drives them mad.
“Lich” is a monster template that can be applied to nonplayer characters.
A mortal becomes a lich by performing a dark and terrible ritual. In this ritual the mortal dies, but rises again as an undead creature. Most liches are wizards or warlocks, but a few multiclassed clerics follow this dark path.
A lich’s life force is bound up in a magic phylactery, which typically takes the form of a fist-sized metal box containing strips of parchment on which magical phrases have been written.
Lich Human Wizard: ?
Lich Eladrin Wizard: ?
Lich Vestige: A LICH VESTIGE IS THE ARCANE REMNANT OF A DESTROYED LICH.
Mummy: Soulless beings animated by necromantic magic.
Mummy Guardian: Mummy guardians are created to protect important tombs against robbers.
Mummy Lord: “Mummy lord” is a monster template that can be applied to nonplayer characters.
A mummy lord is usually created from the remains of an important evil cleric or priest. A mummy lord might guard an important tomb or lead a cult. Yuan-ti often create mummy lords to guard temples of Zehir.
Mummy Lord Human Cleric: ?
Mummy Giant Mummy: ?
Naga Bone Naga: ?
Nightwalker: Nightwalkers are the shades of extremely strong-willed and evil mortals who died and refused to pass from the Shadowfell to their eternal reward. Only the ancient, unyielding will and malice of the long-dead spirit holds a nightwalker in its corporeal shape.
Doresain Exarch of Orcus, Doresain the Ghoul King: ?
Rot Harbinger: Long ago, the gods tried to slay the demon lord Orcus while he was traveling outside of the Abyss. They sent a host of angels to slay the demon lord, but Orcus ultimately prevailed, killing every last one of them. When he returned to the Abyss, the demon lord of undeath created the first rot harbingers and rot slingers as mockeries of those he’d slain and sent them to the natural world to wreak havoc on the gods’ creation.
Rot Harbinger Rot Slinger: Long ago, the gods tried to slay the demon lord Orcus while he was traveling outside of the Abyss. They sent a host of angels to slay the demon lord, but Orcus ultimately prevailed, killing every last one of them. When he returned to the Abyss, the demon lord of undeath created the first rot harbingers and rot slingers as mockeries of those he’d slain and sent them to the natural world to wreak havoc on the gods’ creation.
Skeleton: ANIMATED BY DARK MAGIC and composed entirely of bones, a skeleton is emotionless and soulless, desiring nothing but to serve its creator.
Skeletons are created by means of necromantic rituals. Locations with strong ties to the Shadowfell can also cause skeletons to arise spontaneously.
Skeleton Decrepit Skeleton: ?
Skeleton Blazing Skeleton: ?
Skeleton Boneshard Skeleton: ?
Skeleton Skeletal Tomb Guardian: ?
Skull Lord: The first skull lords arose from the ashes of the Black Tower of Vumerion. None can say whether they were created intentionally by the legendary human necromancer Vumerion or came forth spontaneously from the foul energies of his fallen sanctum. The ritual for creating new skull lords also survived Vumerion’s fall, eventually finding its way into the hands of Vumerion’s rivals and various powerful undead creatures.
Specter: In life, specters were murderous and vile humanoids, although they remember nothing of their past.
Specter Voidsoul Specter: ?
Treant Blackroot Treant: ?
Vampire: SUSTAINED BY A TERRIBLE CURSE AND A THIRST FOR MORTAL BLOOD, vampires dream of a world in which they live in decadence and luxury, ruling over kingdoms of mortals who exist only to sate their darkest appetites.
Vampire Lord: A vampire lord can make others of its kind by performing a dark ritual (see the Dark Gift of the Undying sidebar). Performing the ritual leaves the caster weakened, so a vampire lord does not perform the ritual often.
Vampire lord is a monster template that can be applied to nonplayer characters.
Vampire Spawn: LIVING HUMANOIDS SLAIN BY A VAMPIRE LORD’S BLOOD DRAIN are condemned to rise again as vampire spawn—relatively weak vampires under the dominion of the vampire lord that created them.
A living humanoid slain by a vampire lord’s blood drain power rises as a vampire spawn of its level at sunset on the following day. This rise can be prevented by burning the body or severing its head.
A living humanoid reduced to 0 hit points or fewer—but not killed—by a vampire lord can’t be healed and remains in a deep, deathlike coma. He or she dies at sunset of the next day, rising as a vampire spawn. A Remove Affliction ritual cast before the afflicted creature dies prevents death and makes normal healing possible.
Vampire Spawn Bloodhunter: ?
Wight: ?
Wight Deathlock Wight: ?
Wight Battle Wight: ?
Wight Battle Wight Commander: ?
Wight Slaughter Wight: ?
Wraith: THIS RESTLESS APPARITION LURKS IN THE SHADOWS, thirsting for souls. Those it slays become free-willed wraiths as hateful as their creator.
When a wraith slays a humanoid, that creature’s spirit rises as a free-willed wraith of the same kind. With the aid of magic or ritual, and with the proper components, a necromancer can summon or even create a wraith. Other wraiths are born on the Shadowfell, and many remain there or enter the natural world through planar rifts and gates.
Common wraiths can also evolve into larger, more malevolent wraiths over time.
Any humanoid killed by a wraith rises as a free-willed wraith at the start of its creator’s next turn, appearing in the space where it died (or in the nearest unoccupied space). Raising the slain creature (using the Raise Dead ritual) does not destroy the spawned wraith.
Wraith Mad Wraith: Any humanoid killed by a mad wraith rises as a free-willed mad wraith at the start of its creator’s next turn, appearing in the space where it died (or in the nearest unoccupied space). Raising the slain creature (using the Raise Dead ritual) does not destroy the spawned wraith.
Wraith Sword Wraith: Any humanoid killed by a sword wraith rises as a free-willed sword wraith at the start of its creator’s next turn, appearing in the space where it died (or in the nearest unoccupied space). Raising the slain creature (using the Raise Dead ritual) does not destroy the spawned wraith.
Wraith Dread Wraith: When many people die abruptly, a dread wraith can coalesce from their collected spirits.
Any humanoid killed by a dread wraith rises as a free-willed dread wraith at the start of its creator’s next turn, appearing in the space where it died (or in the nearest unoccupied space). Raising the slain creature (using the Raise Dead ritual) does not destroy the spawned wraith.
At the start of Orcus’s turn, any creature killed by the Wand of Orcus that is still dead rises as a dread wraith under Orcus’s command.
Zombie: A ZOMBIE IS THE ANIMATED CORPSE of a living creature. Imbued with the barest semblance of life, this shambling horror obeys the commands of its creator, heedless of its own well-being.
A typical zombie is made of the corpse of a Medium or Large creature.
Most zombies are created using a foul ritual.
Corpses left in places corrupted by supernatural energy from the Shadowfell sometimes rise as zombies on their own.
Zombie Zombie Rotter: ?
Zombie Gravehound: ?
Zombie Corruption Corpse: ?
Zombie Rotwing Zombie: ?
Zombie Chillborn Zombie: ?
Zombie Zombie Hulk: ?

LICH TRANSFORMATION
You call upon Orcus, Demon Prince of the Undead, to transform your body into a skeletal thing, undead and immortal, and bind your life force within a specially prepared receptacle called a phylactery.
Level: 14 (caster must be humanoid)
Category: Creation
Time: 1 hour; see text
Duration: Permanent; see text
Component Cost: 100,000 gp
Market Price: 250,000 gp
Key Skill: Arcana or Religion
At the conclusion of this ritual, you die, transform into a lich, and gain the lich template.
An integral part of becoming a lich is creating a phylactery, a magical receptacle containing your life force.
When you are reduced to 0 hit points or fewer, you and your possessions crumble to dust. Unless your phylactery is located and destroyed, your reappear in a space adjacent to the phylactery after 1d10 days.
You must construct your phylactery before the ritual can be performed. The phylactery, which takes 10 days to create, usually takes the form of a sealed metal box containing strips of parchment on which magical phrases have been transcribed in your blood. The box measures 6 inches on a side and has 40 hit points and resist 20 to all damage. Other kinds of phylacteries include rings and amulets, which are just as durable.
If your phylactery is destroyed, you can build a new one; the process takes 10 days and costs 50,000 gp.

DARK GIFT OF THE UNDYING
In the unholy name of Orcus, the Blood Lord, you transform another being into a vampiric creature of the night.
Level: 11 (caster must be a vampire lord)
Category: Creation
Time: 6 hours; see text
Duration: Permanent
Component Cost: 5,000 gp per level of the subject
Market Price: 75,000 gp
Key Skill: Religion
This ritual can be performed only between sunset and sunrise. As part of the ritual, you and the ritual’s subject must drink a small amount of each other’s blood, after which the subject dies and is ritually buried in unhallowed ground. After the interment, you invoke a prayer to Orcus and ask him to bestow the Dark Gift upon the subject. At the conclusion of the ritual, the subject remains buried, rising up out of its shallow grave as a vampire lord at sunset on the following day. This ritual is ruined if a Raise Dead ritual is cast on the subject or if the subject is beheaded before rising as a vampire lord.
Performing the ritual leaves you weakened for 1d10 days (no save).

 

[Voadam]

Monster Manual 2

Monster Manual 2
4e
Demon Abyssal Rotfiend: Abyssal rotfiends are demonic undead contained by demon and devil flesh. The spirit within a rotfiend is often a demon soul, although it can come from any evil creature.
Deva Fallen Star, Undead: Deva Fallen Star Vile Rebirth power.
Vile Rebirth (when the deva fallen star is reduced to 0 hit points by non-necrotic damage) • Healing
The fallen star does not die and instead remains at 0 hit points until the start of its next turn, when it regains 25 hit points, loses resistance to radiant damage, and gains the undead key word. This power recharges, and the triggering damage type changes to nonradiant damage.
The life cycle of the deva parallels that of the rakshasa—a spirit constantly reincarnating to mortal form. When a deva gives in to iniquity to become a fallen star, its soul is corrupted. If it dies in that state, it returns to combat as an undead; if finally slain by radiant damage, it carries its wickedness into its next life and becomes a rakshasa-a fate that even evil devas revile.
Devil Infernal Armor Animus: THROUGH AN EVIL RITUAL, a devil can invest a suit of armor with a mortal soul.
Infernal armor animuses are mortal souls bound to suits of armor to serve as caches of life energy for devils.
Direguard: A direguard is a skeletal undead imbued with powerful magic. Foul rituals transform willing warriors into direguards, but at a price. I f a direguard does not meet a specific quota of killing, it is destroyed by the dark pact that grants its power.
Liches and death knights perform the ritual that turns a living ally into a direguard tied to their wills.
Direguard Deathbringer: ?
Direguard Assassin: ?
Fey Lingerer: THE PASSIONS AND OBSESSIONS of some strong-willed eladrin can drive them even after death. When their physical forms are ruined, their spirits lash out at their slayers.
Fey lingerers are eladrin knights and wizards who refuse to die. They are not the gracious and mannered eladrin of the fey court, but are twisted and depraved, withdrawn from elven grace.
When they are destroyed, fey lingerers transform into vengeful incorporeal spirits.
Fey Lingerer Lingerer Knight: ?
Fey Lingerer Fey-Knight Vestige: Fey Lingerer Lingerer Knight Vestige Transformation power.
Fey Lingerer Lingerer Fell Incanter: ?
Fey Lingerer Fey-Encanter Vestige: Fey Lingerer Lingerer Fell Incanter Vestige Transformation power.
Fomorian Fomorian Totemist: ?
Ghost Legionnaire: SLAIN IN LONG-AGO BATTLES, these soldiers' fight for forgotten causes, distant memories, or a fierce loyalty to each other. Although they appear as separate soldiers, their spirits have fused into a single entity that lives and dies as a single soul.
Skeleton: SKELETONS RARELY EXIST WITHOUT PURPOSE. Whether crafted through necromantic ritual or raised from a tomb, they relentlessly attack when compelled to kill.
Skeleton Bonecrusher Skeleton: Bonecrusher skeletons arise from the bones of ogres, minotaurs, oni, giants, and other large creatures.
Skeleton Skeletal Steed: Skeletal steeds rarely arise alone; they awaken from death with their riders or are created by rituals as mounts.
Mummy: THESE VORACIOUS KILLERS, tomb spiders, are true creatures of the Shadowfell insofar as they create undead as a part of their life cycle.
A tomb spider lays its eggs in a humanoid corpse, creating an animate mummy in which hundreds of tiny tomb spiders reside until the creature splits open.
Witherling: WlTHERLINGS ARE UNDEAD CREATURES Created by gnolls to serve as shock troops and raiders. Gnoll priests ofYeenoghu use a ritual to fuse the essence of a demon with the body of a foe slain in battle. The result is a shrunken, emaciated creature that has a ghoul's paralyzing touch and a demon's relentless frenzy.
A WlTHERLING IS THE ANIMATED CORPSE of a Small humanoid with the head of a hyena.
Yeenoghu recently imparted to the gnolls the knowledge of the blasphemous process used to create witherlings. A war between Yeenoghu and Orcus is brewing, and the witherlings are but one of several new weapons that the Prince of Gnolls has given to his children.
Witherling Death Shrieker: A DEATH SHRIEKER IS A LARGER, MORE FEROCIOUS form of witherling.
Witherling Horned Terror: A HORNED TERROR is AN UNDEAD abomination created from the specially preserved corpse of a minotaur.
Witherling Rabble: WHEN GNOLLS OR NECROMANCERS create witherlings, the process sometimes goes awry. The magic instead &
creates witherling rabble, inferior forms of the creatures.

Vestige Transformation (when the lingerer knight drops to 0 hit points) The knight becomes a fey-knight vestige. All effects and conditions on the knight end. The vestige acts on the knight's initiative count.

Vestige Transformation (when the lingerer fell incanter drops to 0 hit points)
The fell incanter becomes a fey-incanter vestige. All effects and conditions on the fell incanter end. The vestige acts on the fell incanter's initiative count.

 

[Voadam]

Monster Manual 3

Monster Manual 3
4e
Arcanian: TO GAIN THEIR ARCANE POWERS, warlocks traffic with otherworldly entities, and sorcerers draw on the power of ancient bloodlines. Wizards, in contrast, must endure years of apprenticeship and toil, because their arcane knowledge is the reward of diligence. Yet not every inexperienced wizard is willing to wait.
Experiments that require arcane energy beyond a spellcaster’s ability typically end with an impotent sputter. At rare times, a spell surges with wild energy and obliterates its caster, leaving a messy warning to other wizards.
Once in a great while, though, something truly horrid comes to pass. In a vain attempt to master power beyond his or her control, a wizard absorbs too much raw energy, which warps the caster’s personality and memory and kills his or her body. A spark of life remains, though, and the spell, or at least its essence, animates the caster’s corpse and gives it new purpose as an arcanian.
When raw arcane energy kills a
wizard, the power sometimes animates the corpse and gives birth to an arcanian. Empowered with a will and a vessel, an arcanian is driven along a path etched by the dying impulses of the wizard. Red arcanians entertain impassioned fiery desires, blue arcanians try to preserve life in frozen perfection, and green arcanians despise physical beauty. Other arcanians might also exist, the warped products of failed spells using lightning, thunder, or necrotic energy.
Arcanian Green Arcanian: ?
Arcanian Blue Arcanian: ?
Arcanian Red Arcanian: ?
Beholder Ghost Beholder: Death need not be an end to avarice and ambition. As living creatures, beholders must eventually fall from the air to rot on the hated earth. Yet some have the willpower and anger to float again, returning as ghost beholders.
Dread Warrior: UNHOLY RITUALS THAT CALL FORTH UNDEAD HULKS usually raise shambling, mindless creatures. Dread warriors, on the other hand, rise to unlife possessed of enough martial skill to serve as formidable guardians. Each dread warrior is created with an unbreakable connection to its master that makes it utterly loyal.
Legend holds that the priests of Bane were the first to craft these warriors, creating them from the corpses of potent enemies.
Dread Warrior Dread Protector: Stories tell of powerful necromancers creating a dozen dread protectors to scatter about their bedrooms and workstations.
Dread Warrior Dread Marauder: ?
Dread Warrior Dread Archer: A necromancer creates dread archers to shoot anyone who attempts to approach the spellcaster or his or her fortification.
Dread Warrior Dread Guardian: ?
Ghoul: As the progeny of cannibalism and other less than savory practices, ghouls are creatures of pure evil.
Ghoul Flesh Seeker: The sage had warned of these creatures—mortal followers of Orcus that had undergone a horrific, cannibalistic initiation into the demon lord’s cult.
Ghoul Adept of Orcus: In the dark shrine, they spoke in whispers of the fallen priest who had died with a prayer to Orcus on his lips. He might have remained dead, his soul to become a plaything of Orcus, except that he had killed and consumed a priest of Bahamut when he was alive. After his death, he underwent a horrid and unholy transformation.
Ghoul Ghast: The rogue thought herself clever when she opened the leaden doors to the lost tomb, saw a dozen slavering ghouls in the antechamber, and quickly sealed the sepulcher. Ten years later—long enough for the ghouls to starve to death, according to her research—she returned to the place. True, the ghouls had met their end. However, their transformation into ghasts was something she hadn’t accounted for.
When ghouls go too long without humanoid f lesh, they rot away from the inside out. The insatiable hunger that accompanies this transformation grants ghasts a desperate strength and ferocity.
Gnoll Hyena Spirit: A hyena spirit is the undead vestige of a prized gnoll war beast. Bound to a tribe by dark magic, it continues to fight on after death.
Rot Grub Zombie: Long after a victim has died from a rot grub infestation, the creatures continue to eat away at the rotting flesh. From time to time, the corpse reanimates into a dark parody of life, creating a zombie that acts as a carrier for a swarm of rot grubs.
Slaad Putrid Slaad: Necromancers sometimes transform living slaads into undead slaads called putrid slaads. They preserve the slaads’ essential chaotic nature, making these creatures deadly but difficult to control. The slaad retains its hunger for wanton destruction, consuming life around it, which is then putrefied and later regurgitated upon foes.
Mages and necromancers create most putrid slaads, but some come into being on their own. Slaads destroyed in the Abyss can rise spontaneously. Such putrid slaads are often forced to submit to the wills of demon lords.
Elemental creatures are not immune to necromantic magic. Unlike other natives to the Elemental Chaos, slaads are formed from chaos, so when life flees one’s corpse, decay consumes the remains in a matter of hours. Thus, to create a putrid slaad, a necromancer must capture a slaad and infuse it with shadow magic while it’s still alive. The process is lethal, but the undead creature retains its shape and is as resilient as any other kind of slaad.
Spawn of Kyuss: LIKE A CANCER IN THE EARTH, spawn of Kyuss rise from the depths to spread suffering and anguish across the land. Driven by their maker’s obscene will, they infect the living and the dead with bright green worms that bend creatures to the will of Kyuss, the Worm that Walks. In frightened whispers, seers prophesize the presence of the spawn as heralding the Age of Worms, the world’s apocalyptic end.
Spawn of Kyuss come from the insane fools who heeded Kyuss’s diseased vision when he was mortal. After Kyuss slew them to fuel his apotheosis, the worms of his new body spread to their bloated corpses, awakening the creatures to undeath. These grim messengers then became carriers of Kyuss’s dark desires and added new victims to their numbers.
Spawn of Kyuss Sone of Kyuss: Even when a host is destroyed, Kyuss’s worms tend to escape by burrowing into the earth or clinging to their enemies’ clothing. When the worms find a new carcass, they plunge into the corpse and infuse it with terrible power. After a few moments, a new son of Kyuss is born.
Touch of Kyuss disease.
Spawn of Kyuss Wretch of Kyuss: Legends persist of ancient kingdoms of the walking dead, where an outbreak of the touch of Kyuss spawned thousands upon thousands of these wretches.
Spawn of Kyuss Burrowing Worm power.
Spawn of Kyuss Herald of Kyuss Writhing Pronouncement Power
Spawn of Kyuss Herald of Kyuss: Kyuss created heralds from the legion angels dispatched by the gods to slay him. He infused each one with a profane worm plucked from his squirming body.

Touch of Kyuss Level 16 Disease Endurance improve DC 25, maintain DC 20, worsen DC 19 or lower
The target is cured.
! Initial Effect: The target regains only half the normal hit points when it spends a healing surge. If it dies, it rises immediately as a wretch of Kyuss.
!" The target loses two healing surges.
If it drops to 0 or fewer healing surges, it dies and rises immediately as a son of Kyuss.
" Final State: The target dies and immediately becomes a son of Kyuss.

Burrowing Worm (disease, necrotic) ✦ Recharge 􀀞 􀀟
Attack: Close burst 1 (one living enemy in burst); +16 vs. Fortitude
Hit: The target takes ongoing 10 necrotic damage (save ends). In addition, the target is exposed to touch of Kyuss.
First Failed Saving Throw: The ongoing damage increases to 15.
Second Failed Saving Throw: The target is stunned, and the ongoing damage increases to 20 (save ends both).
Special: The corpse of any humanoid killed by this attack becomes a wretch of Kyuss at the start of the son of Kyuss’s next turn. The wretch must be destroyed before the creature can be raised.

Writhing Pronouncement (disease, necrotic) ✦ At-Will
Attack: Ranged 20 (one creature); +21 vs. Fortitude
Hit: 2d6 + 10 necrotic damage, and ongoing 5 necrotic damage (save ends). In addition, the target is exposed to touch of Kyuss.
First Failed Saving Throw: The ongoing damage increases to 10, and the target is dazed (save ends both).
Second Failed Saving Throw: The ongoing damage increases to 15, and the target is stunned instead of dazed (save ends both).
Special: The corpse of any humanoid killed by this attack becomes a wretch of Kyuss at the start of the herald of Kyuss’s next turn. The wretch must be destroyed before the creature can be raised.

 

[Voadam]

Monster Vault

Monster Vault
4e
Death Knight: Among the most powerful of undead humanoids, death knights are warriors who chose to embrace undeath rather than pass on to the afterlife. They bind their souls into their weapons, fueling their necrotic powers as they marshal armies of undead.
Gifted with undeath as a result of a ritual, a death knight is like the martial equivalent of a lich.
A humanoid becomes a death knight through a profane ritual that strips away the emotional bond of one’s life, replacing them with cruelty and a perverse sense of honor. This ritual is often bestowed as a gift from high-ranking followers of Orcus, the Demon Prince of the Undead. When a warrior reaches a certain state of notoriety, Orcus’s adherents approach the individual and try to tempt him or her with the promise of immortality. A warrior who accepts the offer turns into a dark reflection in the shattered mirror of undeath. Its armor becomes blackened and scarred, and its flesh becomes as withered and twisted as the person’s corrupted soul.
The ritual that transforms a warrior into a death knight binds part of the subject’s soul to one of his or her weapons. This weapon is not only a symbol of an individual’s transformation, it is also the source of a death knight’s power.
Death Knight Blackguard: ?
Dragon Deathbringer Dracolich: ?
Ghoul: They were once cannibalistic humanoids, but their actions caused them to be cursed in death with ravenous appetites that cannot be sated.
When an intelligent humanoid resorts to cannibalism or lives a life of gluttony and greed, it can be cursed to transform into a ghoul upon its death. Unlike a zombie or a skeleton, a ghoul retains sentience and many of the memories of its life. The creature’s perspective is twisted by its death, though, and as a result, it recalls with torment a time when it was not driven by a gnawing hunger for living flesh.
Ghoul Ravenous Ghoul: ?
Ghoul Abyssal Ghoul: The so-called Ghoul King commands his servants to empower some ghouls with additional strength, speed, and durability. The ghouls that receive these abyssal blessings are more powerful and are beholden to Doresain and his demonic master.
Ghoul Abyssal Ghoul Devourer: The so-called Ghoul King commands his servants to empower some ghouls with additional strength, speed, and durability. The ghouls that receive these abyssal blessings are more powerful and are beholden to Doresain and his demonic master.
Ghoul Abyssal Ghoul Hungerer: The so-called Ghoul King commands his servants to empower some ghouls with additional strength, speed, and durability. The ghouls that receive these abyssal blessings are more powerful and are beholden to Doresain and his demonic master.
Lich: A dark spellcaster who covets immortality and spend his or her life in pursuit of necromantic power might gain the ability to become a lich. A lich ties its life force to a phylactery, ensuring that its body will coalesce in a hidden location even if some creature were to slay it.
To become a lich, a spellcaster must be devoted to evil and adept at performing unspeakable acts of violence. Few spellcasters have a shred of morality remaining after their transformations into liches. The process of attaining lichdom bends the mortal mind in unnatural and crippling ways. Many liches rise up insane, but even they enact cunning plans; they just do so for incomprehensible reasons.
A spellcaster must travel far—even across the planes—to collect the scraps of lore and esoteric components needed to enact the ritual to transform into a lich.
The act of becoming a lich encases a mortal’s life force in a specially prepared item called a phylactery. The most common type is a metal box that contains strips of parchment with arcane writing. Any small item, such as a gemstone, a ring, or a statue, can be a phylactery.
Lich Necromancer: ?
Lich Remnant: ?
Lich Soulreaver: ?
Mummy: Whether created in the dry desert heat, the sucking moisture of a desolate bog, or the frozen heights of a lofty mountain, a mummy exists for vengeance. A number of sins can awaken a mummy, from disturbing its tomb, despoiling a place sacred to it in life, or the theft of a prized object. Some mummies seek to avenge less material offenses, such as a loved one marrying someone the mummy loathes or an unwelcome alliance of the mummy’s enemies in life. Sometimes, a dead master’s servants awaken it to continue its life’s frustrated ambitions. Great kings and queens of malign power have returned as mummies to extend their reigns in undeath.
Albeit rare, some mummies arise spontaneously from dry corpses when a particularly provocative transgression touches their souls in the afterlife. Most mummies, however, possess the power to act after death because someone wanted them to have it. The long rituals of burial that accompany a mummy’s entombment help protect its body from rot. Soft organs are removed and placed in special jars, and the corpse is created with preserving oils, herbs, and wrappings. Less common means of preservation include freezing a body, baking it in dry heat, or using magic.
Mummy Shambling Mummy: ?
Mummy Moldering Mummy: ?
Mummy Tomb Guardian: ?
Mummy Royal Mummy: ?
Skeleton: Necromancy grants violent motion to these fleshless bones, letting them defy death and deliver it to others.
“ Nothing holds them together but magic, a necromantic binding that knits bone with scraps of soul and the merest hint of will.”—Kalarel, scion of Orcus
A skeleton’s creation is considered a vile act, though, for it requires disturbing a creature’s bones in the most profane way. A skeleton raised into undeath moves through the power of a soul’s discarded animus; it is a primal force that binds the soul and body to make life possible. Without an animus, a skeleton cannot exist.
Many powers can cause a skeleton to rise from the grave: holy power, necrotic energy, a dark ritual, a necromantic spell or hex, a curse from the lips of a dying person.
Skeleton Decrepit Skeleton: ?
Skeleton Blazing Skeleton: ?
Skeleton Skeletal Legionary: ?
Skeleton Skeletal Tomb Guardian: ?
Stirge Death Husk Stirge: Necromancers trap stirges in the cavernous bodies of giant undead. When the undead opens its maw, famished stirges come pouring out to attack the nearest warm-blooded creature.
Treant Blackroot Treant: ?
Troll Ghost Troll Render: ?
Vampire: Anyone who survives an attack from a vampire might fall prey to the vampire’s curse, entering into a deep, deathlike sleep. A person under this curse is often assumed dead and ushered through funeral rites. When that person awakes at the next sunset, he or she is a vampire. If confined within a coffin, this vampire might already be buried or could be awaiting burial in a temple or a family member’s home. Most vampires awaken as slavering spawn, but a few retain enough of themselves to emerge from death as true vampires.
Vampire Elder Vampire Spawn: ?
Vampire Night Witch: ?
Vampire Master Vampire: ?
Wraith: When a person dies and his or her spirit departs, the animus can remain, clinging to a vestige of life. The animus can become a wraith, an insubstantial creature that emerges amid the vanishing memories of a person’s life; it becomes trapped in an endless afterlife, tortured by remembered sensations and driven mad by a hunger to reclaim the life it once had.
Life consists of three parts: body, spirit, and will. Without will, the body ceases to function and the spirit leaves. Sages call the will the animus, and they regard it as the shadow of the soul. When a body dies or a spirit departs, sometimes the animus remains in the world. Without the spirit, though, the animus has no purpose, and it runs amok. Like many undead, a wraith is the result of an unfettered animus.
When the wraith kills a humanoid, that humanoid becomes a wraith figment at the start of this wraith’s next turn. The new wraith appears in the space where the humanoid died or in the nearest unoccupied square, and it rolls a new initiative check.
When a wraith slays a living humanoid, another wraith emerges from that person’s body within a few minutes, or within a few seconds in areas of intense necrotic energy. Even when powerful magic returns a person to life, his or her wraith remains. A restored cadaver regains its soul and heals fatal wounds, but rather than it regaining its former animus, a new one forms to close the gap between body and spirit.
When a mad wraith slays a living humanoid, another wraith emerges from that person’s body within a few minutes, or within a few seconds in areas of intense necrotic energy. Even when powerful magic returns a person to life, his or her wraith remains. A restored cadaver regains its soul and heals fatal wounds, but rather than it regaining its former animus, a new one forms to close the gap between body and spirit.
Wraith Mad Wraith: ?
Wraith Wraith Figment: When the sovereign wraith kills a humanoid, that humanoid becomes a wraith figment at the start of this wraith’s next turn. The new wraith appears in the space where the humanoid died or in the nearest unoccupied square, and it rolls a new initiative check. The new wraith acts under the Dungeon Master’s control.
Wraith Sovereign Wraith: ?
Zombie: Fueled by dark magic, malevolent forces, dire curses, or angry spirits, zombies are animate corpses. Any corpse with flesh suffices to make a zombie. It might be a dead warrior from a battlefield, distended from days in the sun, guts trailing from a mortal wound. It might be a muddy cadaver of a woman recently buried and risen again, leaving maggots and worms in her wake. A zombie could wash ashore or rise from a marsh, swollen and reeking from weeks in the water. A zombie could instead appear alive, crafted from a recently deceased corpse.
A zombie need not be the size of a normal humanoid, or even humanoid in form. When a necromancer or a natural phenomenon causes a corpse to rise, the corpse could belong to the smallest beast or the largest giant. When a zombie plague infects a city, any size or kind of creature can be affected—horses, dogs, children, cats—anything that has a pulse.
For a zombie to be animated, a body’s soul must have departed. What remains in the corpse is an animus, a vital spark that drives the body without thought or conscience. Without a soul or memories, a zombie has no more humanity or intelligence than a simple animal.
In most cases, a zombie serves its creator or rises in response to the defilement of a sacred location. At rare times, zombies arise in the hundreds. These zombie plagues are provoked by cosmic, magical, or divine events. A zombie plague might be the result of an angry god, a magical experiment gone wrong, a powerful ritual, or a falling star. When the event occurs, the bodies of the dead claw out of their graves and attack the living. Anyone who dies as a result of such an assault soon becomes a zombie after acquiring the disease or curse that the zombies carry. These terrifying plagues can consume an entire civilization if left unchecked.
Zombie Grasping Zombie: ?
Zombie Hulking Zombie: ?
Zombie Flesh-Crazed Zombie: ?
Zombie Zombie Shambler: ?

 

[Voadam]

Monster Vault Threats to the Nentir Vale

Monster Vault Threats to the Nentir Vale
4e
Barrowhaunts: The Barrowhaunts are a group of five former adventurers bound to the lands surrounding the Sword Barrow. Their deeds in life are seldom recollected, and no one is truly sure why their spirits have never been laid to rest. Now they savagely attack any who enter the lands of their trust. Many rumors exist about the exact nature of their curse; one common legend suggests that they sought to plunder the Sword Barrow and evoked the wrath of a warlord entombed within. The warlord’s spirit called to the native hill folk in the area, who marched to the Sword Barrow to confront the adventurers and reclaim the warlord’s treasures. The adventurers, rather than relinquish their trove, slaughtered the hill folk. A dying elder placed a curse on the adventurers’ souls, binding them to the land for all of eternity.
At first, the elder’s curse seemed empty and hollow, but every time the adventurers left the Gray Downs to sell their hard-won loot, they could not help but return to the hills in search of even greater treasures. Eventually, their greed surpassed their skill. Descending deeper into the Sword Barrow than they’d ever gone before, the adventurers fell prey, one by one, to horrid monsters and insidious traps. Though cursed to haunt the Gray Downs and guard “their” barrows from other would-be pillagers, they still seek out treasures and relics for themselves. The spoils of their exploits are stashed in an ancient crypt deep within the Sword Barrow. Their motive for collecting such worldly possessions isn’t clear, but some believe they are forced to sate their everlasting yearning for adventure and exploration.
Barrowhaunt Uthelyn the Mad: ?
Barrowhaunt Lingering Spirit Warrior: Traveling and fighting alongside the Barrowhaunts are the spirits of the creatures they have slain—intelligent monsters, slaughtered tomb robbers, and ancient hill folk.
Barrowhaunt Adrian Icehaunt Reginold: ?
Barrowhaunt Joplin the Sly: ?
Barrowhaunt Baldos Grimehammer: ?
Barrowhaunt Cassian d’Cherevan: ?
Gray Company Fallen Hero: ?
Hound of Ill Omen: Once the loyal companions of the hill clans, who now rest beneath the barrows of the Gray Downs, the hounds of ill omen howl to awaken and avenge their long-dead masters.
Ghosts of Long Ago: The Gray Downs were once inhabited by indigenous hill clan people reputed far and wide for their fierce hunting hounds. But when the empire of Nerath began to bloom, greedy generals sought to expand the empire into the Nentir Vale and across the hill clans’ territory. The clans resisted.
Hopelessly outnumbered, they stood with their faithful hounds against the mighty armies of Nerath, even as the Tigerclaw barbarians and other native tribes abandoned the vale and retreated far into the northern wilderness. Although the hill clans fought bravely, they were annihilated in a final desperate battle upon the downs.
Long after the battle, the hounds of the hill clans prowled the battlefields, howling over the corpses of their masters and refusing to leave their sides. The Nerathans built a great barrow in honor of the warriors that fought and died—and after the last of their bodies was interred, the hounds vanished.
But on dark nights when the fog rises, it is said that the hounds can still be seen coursing across the downs, their ghostly forms pining for their lost masters. The common folk call them the “hounds of ill omen,” because calamity and misfortune follow in the wake of their fearsome howls.
Harbingers of Death: As legend would have it, on nights when the skull-white moon hangs low and the downs are silent as a corpse’s dream, the ghost hounds come forth to hunt mortals. Who sends the hounds and for what purpose, none can tell.
Hound of Ill Omen Bregga: It’s said that Bregga was the first hound, having lived on the downs since before the hill clans arrived.
Hound of Ill Omen Hill Clan Apparition: When Bregga’s hounds sound their lonely howls for the hill clans, the spectral apparitions of their dead masters—cold and black as the grave—rise again from their barrows.
Penanggalan: According to legend, the first penanggalan was a young baroness of Harkenwold, plain of face and scant of suitors. But what she lacked in beauty she made up for in wit, and the maiden discovered arcane texts of Bael Turath in the vaults of her father’s estate. She invoked the rituals therein and conjured a devil, which promised her matchless beauty and eternal life if only she would serve it forever.
The devil’s bargain was not so glorious as it had appeared, for such was the maiden’s beauty that armies clashed for her hand, and her father was forced to lock her away in a tower to protect her. Alone in her wretched beauty, the maiden begged the gods to forgive her vain folly, and she swore to do penance before them.
But the devil had other plans. It whispered the secret of the maiden’s unlikely beauty into the ear of the high priest, and before she could do her penance, the maiden was seized from her tower and hanged as a devil worshiper.
The maiden’s body dangled from the gallows until midnight, at which time it slid to the ground, leaving her head behind in the noose, gory intestines dangling beneath. Then the maiden opened her eyes and saw what her vanity had created.
Each penanggalan’s origin involves a female who bargains with devils for immortal beauty and tries to renege, but perishes before she can complete her penance.
Penanggalan Head Swarm: ?
Penanggalan Bodiless Head: Unless her maiden’s body has been destroyed (causing the creature to become a bodiless head permanently), a penanggalan’s monstrous form does not manifest by light of day.
Phantom Brigade: Many of the knights of this order died during the chaotic time of the collapse of the empire. Some perished trying to defend the empire and prevent the onrushing disaster. Others met a more ignoble end. Of those who died in the pursuit of duty, a significant number found that death was not the end. Some mysterious magical effect or unknown curse turned the dead and dying Imperial Knights into undead guardians. They were suspended in an existence that tied them to the empire forever.
Phantom Brigade Knight-Commader: ?
Phantom Brigade Squire: ?
Phantom Brigade Armiger: ?
Phantom Brigade Justiciar: ?
Phantom Brigade Banneret: ?
Phantom Brigade Templar: ?
Ragewind: Also called sword spirits, ragewinds are the embodied wrath of dead warriors who perished in battle.
The Nentir Vale is strewn with ancient battlefields where the armies of Nerath once clashed with orcs, primitive hill folk, and barbarian tribes, and where the tieflings of Bael Turath fought the dragonborn legions of Arkhosia. Among the ruins of these bygone conflicts lurk creatures of lingering malice—the spirits of despondent soldiers whose lives were thrown away for no satisfying purpose. These spirits can muster enough will to animate their ancient weapons and strike back at the living, whom they both envy and despise.
Vampiric Mist: These sanguine mists, the remains of a secret coven of vampires, prowl the Witchlight Fens in search of blood.
Long ago, a coven of vampires claimed the marshy expanse known as the Witchlight Fens as their secluded demesne, wherein was hidden the phylactery of their dark liege—a powerful lich whose name has been forgotten. If the old stories are true, the phylactery still lies somewhere in the swamp, well removed from more traveled areas of the region. The lich’s whereabouts are unknown, and its presence has not been felt for generations. As for the vampires in the lich’s employ, their corporeal bodies were consumed long ago, yet they linger still as deadly clouds of mist that turn crimson when flush with the blood of their victims.
One of the lich’s many enemies, a powerful hag, came to the Witchlight Fens in search of the phylactery and performed a ritual to destroy the vampire coven. The ritual did not yield the expected results. The vampires’ bodies were destroyed, but their evil essence lingered. The nine vampire lords who led the coven transformed into a single force of pure hatred and malice called a crimson deathmist. The lesser vampires of the coven were reduced to roaming clouds of mist having an insatiable hunger for life.
Any vampire that becomes trapped in gaseous form (usually as a result of losing its sacred resting place) can transform into a vampiric mist by sheer force of will.
Vampiric Mist Corruptor: ?
Vampiric Mist Crimson Deathmist: One of the lich’s many enemies, a powerful hag, came to the Witchlight Fens in search of the phylactery and performed a ritual to destroy the vampire coven. The ritual did not yield the expected results. The vampires’ bodies were destroyed, but their evil essence lingered. The nine vampire lords who led the coven transformed into a single force of pure hatred and malice called a crimson deathmist. The lesser vampires of the coven were reduced to roaming clouds of mist having an insatiable hunger for life.
Vampiric Mist Chillborn Vampiric Mist: ?

 

[Voadam]

Dark Sun Creature Catalog

Dark Sun Creature Catalog
4e
Lord Vizier: ?
Vizier's Skeleton: Lord Vizier's Plume of Death power.
Ghost Raaig: IN AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE VIOLENT DEATH is so common, ghosts frequently haunt sites of great significance or terrible slaughter. Among them are an array of spirits bound to the service of long-forgotten gods. Called raaigs, these ghosts defend ancient shrines, temples, relics, and secrets.
In life, raaigs were devout priests or holy warriors charged with protecting sacred sites or relics. In death they still keep watch, though their charges have crumbled into ruin or vanished. They have been twisted by their ancient oaths into merciless, hateful apparitions that swiftly slay any living intruder.
Ghost Raaig Tomb Spirit: ?
Ghost Raaig Crypt Lord: ?
Ghost Raaig Soulflame: A few guardians were so favored by their gods in life that they were granted a tiny spark of divine essence. Called soulflames, these raaigs still embody their gods’ will.
Giant Shadow Giant: Shadow giants are remnants of giants killed by the sorcerer-kings in ancient wars. Their hate-filled spirits have found a home in the deathly substance of the Gray.
Thrax: According to legend, Gerot’s people were great warriors, haughty and proud. They impressed Grand Vizier Abalach-Re, who offered the mountain community an alliance if its fighters would join Raam’s legions. In their arrogance, the Gerotians declined, and they killed Abalach-Re’s envoys.
Enraged, the sorcerer-queen unleashed a vicious curse against Gerot’s populace. The townsfolk were struck with an unquenchable thirst. The twisted brilliance behind her curse was that life-sustaining, pure water would bring death to any Gerotian. Within days, the entire town had died. What Abalach-Re hadn’t expected was that every cursed Gerotian would rise in undeath, becoming the first thraxes.
Wight: SOLDIERS SLAUGHTER AN ELF TRIBE after a messenger fails to bring warning. A poisoned blade cuts down a dwarf before he achieves his life’s goal. Both die, but their intense yearnings resurrect soulless bodies, driving the corpses to endlessly pursue what likely can never be accomplished.
As a soul passes into the Gray, its deepest unmet desire can splinter off to animate the physical form that its soul abandoned. The splinter accesses the memories, needs, and desires of the body’s former occupant. Those passions are married to an overwhelming hunger for life force, and a wight is born.
Wight Thrall: A charismatic ruler or commander is brought down, and the servants and trusted advisors who perished at her side rise up as wight thralls. These creatures’ devotion spills over into death.
Wight Dune Runner Wight: ?
Wight Oath Wright: Ruins pock the wastelands of Athas. Devastating attacks leveled cities and buried inhabitants where they stood, heedless of whether the victims were scoundrels or scholars, wastrels or artisans. The slain seldom rest easy, especially those who were on the brink of success, a historic discovery, or birthing a child. Oath wights crawl from the rubble. The creatures vibrate with rage and disappointment, throbbing with the futility of their former souls’ pursuits and passions.
Zombie: WHEREVER THE GRAY CARESSES THE NATURAL WORLD, an indelible stain spreads. Darkness bleeds into the land, the sun dims, and the dead rise. Much of Athas has shuddered now and again under the Gray’s touch, and the land sprouts a bountiful harvest of zombies.
Defiling magic and the Gray are Athas’s primary zombie producers. Whether a templar is raising an undead army for personal gain or the Gray randomly spawns a new pack, the result is much the same.
Zombie Salt Zombie: ?
Zombie Black Reaver Zombie: ?
Zombie Feasting Zombie: Among cannibalistic halflings, inhabitants who fall ill with wasting diseases are not eaten. Instead, the people open the earth and place sick clan members inside. The diseased are covered with sod and left to die respectably—in the embrace of nature, the giver of life that offers succor in death. But even the far reaches of Athas are not spared from the undead plague. On certain nights, undead halflings walk again in the Forest Ridge.
Zombie Cinder Zombie: Zombies stir in burned-out husks of torched settlements and along the cracked slopes of the volcanic Sea of Silt islands. The kiss of fire preserved these scorched bodies from the elements.
Dregoth, Sorcerer-King: He burns for vengeance against the other sorcerer-kings, who slew him centuries ago but neglected to prevent his fell rebirth.
Abalach-Re warned the other city-states’ overlords, and they partnered to destroy Giustenal and its defiler dragon monarch. The shattering of Giustenal scattered the surviving dragonborn inhabitants and flooded the spirit world with the trapped souls of those who died in the titanic arcane battle. Giustenal became a literal city of ghosts. The sorcerer-kings ultimately failed in their task, though. Dregoth returned to Athas as a monstrous and powerful undead being.
Absalom: Absalom was born human. He was selected as Dregoth’s new high priest after Giustenal’s fall. He was among the first survivors the undead sorcerer-king transformed into dray. After transfiguring Absalom, Dregoth slew his high priest and raised him as an undead servitor.

􀀪 Plume of Death (acid, necrotic)􀀃􀀩􀀃Recharge 􀀞 􀀟
Attack: Area burst 2 within 10 (creatures in burst); +31 vs.
Fortitude
Hit: 4d10 + 12 acid and necrotic damage.
Effect: A vizier’s skeleton appears in one unoccupied square within the burst. It acts immediately after the Lord Vizier’s turn.