Undead Origins

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Gaslight Victorian Fantasy 1e

Gaslight Victorian Fantasy 1e
d20 Modern
Vampire: new vampires are born when an original vampire kills a victim in the usual manner, but the victim’s desire to live is so overpowering that it returns a few nights later.
Skeleton: A skeleton can be created only from a mostly intact corpse or skeleton. The corpse must have bones. If a skeleton is made from a corpse, the flesh falls off the bones.
Animate Dead spell.
Zombie: A zombie can be created only from a mostly intact corpse. The creature must have a true anatomy (so gelatinous cube zombies are not allowed).
Animate Dead spell.

Animate Dead
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Divine 3, Arcane 4; Components: V, S, M; Casting Time: 1 action; Range: Touch; Targets: One or more corpses touched; Duration: Instantaneous; Saving Throw: None; Spell Resistance: No
This spell turns the bones or bodies of dead creatures into undead skeletons or zombies that follow your spoken commands. The skeletons or zombies can follow you, or can remain in an area and attack any creature (or just a specific type of creature) entering the place. The undead remain animated until they are destroyed. (A destroyed skeleton or zombie can’t be animated again.)
Regardless of the type of undead, you can’t create more HD of undead than twice your caster level with a single casting of animate dead.
The undead you create remain under your control indefinitely. No matter how many times you use this spell, however, you can control only 4 HD worth of undead creatures per caster level. If you exceed this number, all the newly created creatures fall under your control, and any excess undead from previous castings become uncontrolled (you choose which creatures are released). If you are an Acolyte, any undead you might command by virtue of your power to command or rebuke undead do not count toward the limit.
Skeletons: A skeleton can be created only from a mostly intact corpse or skeleton. The corpse must have bones. If a skeleton is made from a corpse, the flesh falls off the bones. The statistics for a skeleton depend on its size; they do not depend on what abilities the creature may have had while alive.
Zombies: A zombie can be created only from a mostly intact corpse. The creature must have a true anatomy (so gelatinous cube zombies are not allowed). The statistics for a zombie depend on its size, not on what abilities the creature may have had while alive.
Material Component: You must place a black onyx gem (purchase DC 15 + 1 per 2 HD of the undead) into the mouth or eye socket of each corpse. The magic of the spell turns these gems into worthless, burned-out shells.

 

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Godsend Agenda

Godsend Agenda
d20 Modern
Undead: Animate Dead power.

Animate Dead
Charisma
8 Per Rank
You can animate the dead and make them do your bidding! You can actively control a number of undead up to your Animate Dead levels plus Charisma modifier. The duration of this effect is equal to 1 hour per Animate Dead rank. A control roll must be made every round, or the undead may turn on you! Roll your Charisma versus a DC 12. The undead will obey orders to the letter (think carefully) and fight to the death (or, rather, destruction). This Power can be focused into a single corpse instead of many, and you may add one point to any Attribute, Wounds, Skill or Power for every Animate Dead rank plus Charisma modifier. The statistics for a typical undead are below.
Undead
Undead; Init –2 (Dex), Defense 8, (-2 Dex); Spd 10m; VP 0/10; Atk +0 melee (Claws 1D6+1), -2 ranges; SQ never takes stun; SV Fort +0, Ref –2, Will +5; SZ M; Str 10, Dex 7, Con 10, Wis 8, Cha 8.
Skills: Climb +2, Listen +2, Move Silently +7, Search +4, Spot +7

 

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Modern Maladies

Modern Maladies
d20 Modern
Necroambulant Zombie: Anyone slain by the necroambulism affliction eventually rises again as a zombie.
“Necroambulant Zombie” is a template that can be added to any corporeal creature other than an undead.
Necroambulism disease.

Ghoul: Necrotizing fasciitis can also lead to the ‘natural’ formation of undead creatures known as ghouls.
“Ghoul” is an acquired template that can be added to any living corporeal creature that has flesh.
If a ghoul’s prey contracts advanced necrotizing faciitis from the wounds it has sustained and dies from the disease, it rises 1d3 days later as a ghoul. A remove disease spell cast on the corpse can prevent it from rising.

Necroambulism
Necroambulism refers to the more appropriately named Walking-Dead Disease, since anyone slain by the affliction eventually rises again as a zombie. Early symptoms of necroambulism include a loss of coordination, fatigue, and the slow degradation of physical health. The viral strain that causes necroambulism spreads through direct contact with infected creatures or other objects such as clothing. No known cure exists.
Incubation Period: 1d8 days
Initial Damage: Ability Damage (1d2 Dex), Fatigue
Secondary Damage: Ability Damage (1d2 Con, 1 Dex)
Recovery: 2 (once/day)

 

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Book of Unremitting Horror

Book of Unremitting Horror
d20 Modern
Blood Corpse: When a person dies in the grip of an addiction or need so strong that it overwhelms their thoughts and blots out their personality, the craving can sometimes hold the diseased spirit bound to the body.
The first recorded blood corpses were dead Roman aristocrats, who perished weeping because they would never see the games, or watch slaves butcher an actor in a degenerate performance of The Bacchae. Blood corpses in the Middle Ages were often starving peasants, who died whining for a moldy crust of bread, or flagellant monks addicted to prayer and the pursuit of God. In later years, they arose when men and women addicted to drink or vice died in bedlam, their minds rotted by their insatiable desires. The blood corpses of the modern era (and there are many more than there used to be) are most likely to be the result of death through drug overdose, when an addict just could not cram enough sweet satisfaction into his veins.
A blood corpse can result from any fatally compulsive behavior. There is even one straggle-haired horror, stalking the streets after dark and preying on happy women. Her bulimia killed her, and she now binges on hot blood instead of on chocolate bars.
Blossomer: For this, the demon needs a host, usually a high-ranking male member of the cult who is willing to die for the cause. The ritual only succeeds if the volunteer stays alive until he expires from blood loss; he must thus prepare himself thoroughly, whether by meditation, contemplation and privation, or with self-debasing excesses – drugs, drink, certain sex acts, and violence (traditions vary). Then, when his cult decides that it is time, he gives his life to his patron. The group places him on an altar and begins to eat his body, from the waist down, using only their teeth and fingernails. If the volunteer can survive the pain and shock to stay conscious and willing, his patron sends a demonic agent into the sacrifice’s body at the moment he is exsanguinated. The cult continues its feast until they have gobbled up everything below the ribcage, at which point, the corpse comes to life as a blossomer.
Strap Throat: Mary Beth, who spent her last years locked in a room, sympathizes with the lonely, the awkward and the isolated, and hates bullies so much that she came back from the grave to kill her own father.

 

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13 Occult Templates

13 Occult Templates
d20 Modern
Bloated Undead: Their bodies swollen with disease, rot, and the fell influence of necromantic magic, the bloated are undead, walking time bombs.
“Bloated” is a template that may be added to any undead creature that has a corporeal form. Undead creatures that do not have fleshy bodies, such as skeletons, may not receive this template.
Bloated Skinfeaster: ?
Cloaked Undead: Some necromancers are capable of preserving their subject’s body, granting the undead creature they create a seemingly normal outward appearance.
“Cloaked” is a template that may be added to any Medium-size undead creature with a physical body.
Cloaked Ghoul Human Strong Ordinary 1/Tough Ordinary 1: ?
Relentless Dead: The undead are powered by the unending, baleful influence of necromantic magic. A severed limb may kill a man due to shock and blood loss. A zombie or skeleton merely shrugs off such a blow and continues fighting until it is hacked to pieces. The undead are, in essence, spirits or bundles of magical energy that use a physical body as a vessel or container. Despite massive damage to an undead creature’s physical body, it can continue to pursue its goals so long as its body is relatively intact and the malign influence that powers it is undisturbed. The relentless undead are the embodiment of this principle. Whether through the influence of dark magic or some other process, their bodies continue to fight on after they have been hacked to pieces.
“Relentless” is a template that can be added to any corporeal undead.
A spellcaster who uses magic to produce undead may grant them the relentless template by increasing the purchase DC of his spell’s material components by 10 per undead.
Relentless Human Zombie: ?
Spirit Doom Hag: ?
Undying Creature: The alchemical undeath discovered by the Illuminati is perhaps the premier example of this. Imbibing a potent elixir of rare ingredients and receiving a dose of high-voltage electricity, death can be abated for extended periods of time, provided that additional doses are received on a regular basis.
“Undying” is an acquired template that can be added to any humanoid creature, provided it can employ the required alchemical process described above.
Undying Mothfolk Dedicated Hero 3/Acolyte 3: ?

Undead: The undead are powered by the unending, baleful influence of necromantic magic. A severed limb may kill a man due to shock and blood loss. A zombie or skeleton merely shrugs off such a blow and continues fighting until it is hacked to pieces. The undead are, in essence, spirits or bundles of magical energy that use a physical body as a vessel or container. Despite massive damage to an undead creature’s physical body, it can continue to pursue its goals so long as its body is relatively intact and the malign influence that powers it is undisturbed.

 

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Psi Watch

Psi Watch
d20 Modern
Gravedigger: Project Gravedigger began in the late sixties, using the remains of American soldiers killed in Vietnam and Cambodia as ‘test-beds’ for cybernetics experimentation and surgical re-animation trials. Within a few months, government medics were able to successfully “reactivate” a human corpse, replacing damaged and decayed tissue with cybernetic analogues, producing a humanoid fighting machine for a fraction of the cost of producing a combat android and writing a working AI source code.

 

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Terrors of the Twisted Earth 1e

Terrors of the Twisted Earth 1e
3.0
Screamer: Apparently these are long-dead corpses animated by some unknown phenomenon of radiation.
Screamers were once human beings, horribly mutated and impregnated with massive doses of radiation. Through some unknown process, screamers arise after death to shamble about in the night, in search of living flesh to consume or ravage with their burning, radiated touch.
Zombie Plague: Plague zombies are horrific undead creatures, re-animated with a shadowy semblance of life by the bizarre and unexplainable effects of a virulent super-disease, the cure for which has long been lost.
The “plague” that causes the animation of plague zombies was originally engineered by the Ancients just prior to the Fall. Though little is known of what the original strain was meant to do on unsuspecting civilian populaces, the effects of radiation apparently mutated the disease so that the scientists who originally developed it were helpless to stop its spontaneous spread. Within weeks, the test population (comprised of urban homeless from the escalating world war) first subjected to the disease had spread the plague to others, and an epidemic of ghastly proportions swept across the country.
The “plague” that causes the animation of plague zombies was originally engineered by the Ancients just prior to the Fall. Though little is known of what the original strain was meant to do on unsuspecting civilian populaces, the effects of radiation apparently mutated the disease so that the scientists who originally developed it were helpless to stop its spontaneous spread. Within weeks, the test population (comprised of urban homeless from the escalating world war) first subjected to the disease had spread the plague to others, and an epidemic of ghastly proportions swept across the country.
As if their appearance alone were not horror enough, plague zombies bear one final and chilling curse – the disease itself. A creature badly injured by a plague zombie inevitably contracts the plague, slowly turning him into a mindless, flesh-eating plague zombie in a matter of days...
An opponent struck by a plague zombie bite must succeed at a Fortitude check (DC 20) or contract the plague. The plague remains dormant for 2d6 hours, but after that the victim becomes weak and delirious (and must remain bedridden). After an additional period of 2d6 hours, he becomes a zombie.
Unlike other diseases, the contagion of the plague zombie cannot be cured by any known drug or device of the Ancients or their survivors. Once infected, there is no cure.

 

[Voadam]

Terrors of the Twisted Earth 2e

Terrors of the Twisted Earth 2e
d20 Modern
Screamer: Screamers are said to be the long-dead corpses of the Ancients, animated by some unknown phenomenon of radiation.
Screamers were once people, horribly mutated and impregnated with massive doses of radiation. Through some unknown process, screamers arise after death to shamble about in the night, in search of living flesh to consume or ravage with their burning, radiated touch.
Zombie Plague: Plague zombies are horrific undead creatures, reanimated with a shadowy semblance of life by the bizarre and unexplainable effects of a virulent super-disease, the cure for which has long been lost.
The “plague” that causes the animation of plague zombies was originally engineered by the Ancients just prior to the Fall. Though little is known of what the original strain was meant to do on unsuspecting civilian populaces, the effects of radiation apparently mutated the disease so that the scientists who originally developed it were helpless to stop its spontaneous spread. Within weeks, the test population (comprised of urban homeless from the escalating world war) first subjected to the disease had spread the plague to others, and an epidemic of ghastly proportions swept across the country.
As if their appearance alone were not horror enough, plague zombies bear one final and chilling curse – the disease itself. A creature badly injured by a plague zombie inevitably contracts the plague, slowly turning him into a mindless, flesh-eating plague zombie in a matter of days...
An opponent struck by a plague zombie bite must succeed at a Fortitude check (DC 20) or contract the plague. The plague remains dormant for 2d6 hours, but after that the victim becomes weak and delirious (and must remain bedridden). After an additional period of 2d6 hours, he becomes a zombie.
Unlike other diseases, the contagion of the plague zombie cannot be cured by any known drug or device of the Ancients or their survivors. Once infected, there is no cure.

 

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Blood and Brains: The Zombie Hunters Guide

Blood and Brains: The Zombie Hunters Guide
d20 Modern
Zombie Bloodsucking: Created by the bloodsucking wind.
A humanoid or monstrous humanoid slain by a bloodsucking wind’s energy drain rises as a bloodsucking zombie 1d4 days after burial.
Zombie Blue: Usually, it’s a weird military gas that makes blue zombies.
Mad Scientist Mad Science ability DC 31 1-6 Days
Zombie Brainless: Brainless zombies act at the behest of the hsing-sing that created them, and thus only attack enemies of their master.
Zombie Creep: Creeps immediately head for the brain of any victim and attempt to inhabit it so they can breed. They are also capable of animating corpses in this fashion.
A creep infests its victims in one of two ways: it either attacks and burrows into a target, or is spit into a victim’s mouth by a creep zombie. Regardless of the infestation method, once inside, it begins to burrow. A burrowing creep deals 2d6 points of temporary Constitution damage each round. At Constitution 0, the victim dies and becomes a creep zombie.
Other creeps create creep zombies, which accounts for more kissing than takes place at most make-out sessions in parents’ basements.
Death Kiss Contagion: A zombie that that makes a successful grapple check can attempt to spit a worm into its victim’s mouth. The victim can evade this attempt with a successful Reflex save (DC 15) or have a worm spit into the victim’s mouth. It can spit once per round so long as the grapple is maintained. The zombie has 2d4 worms in it. See the “creep” entry for an example of this contagion.
Explode Contagion: The zombie can cause itself to explode, usually in a populated area. This attack spews worms at every living being within 30 feet. A living target caught within this radius must make a Reflex save (DC 10) to avoid having a particularly well-aimed worm enter an orifice. See the “creep” entry for an example of this contagion.
Zombie Cryonoid: These zombies are the result of cryogenics gone wrong. When lightning strikes, the zombies are animated.
The circumstances required to create cryonoid zombies are rare—the subject must be dead, cryogenically preserved, and then electrocuted with the strength of a lightning bolt.
Zombie Demonic: Zombie Fever Contagion
Zombie Fog: Fog zombies are the victims of a curse. They return to wreak havoc on the ancestors of those who wronged them.
Create Greater Zombie spell, caster level 12th to 14th.
Zombie Formaldehyde: Formaldehyde zombies are the result of patients who died in clinical facilities and were reanimated through a twisted embalming process.
Mad Scientist Mad Science ability DC 32 1-6 Days
Zombie Kyoshi Spawn: An afflicted humanoid that dies of kyoshi fever rises as a kyoshi spawn at the next midnight.
Any living being that is killed by a kyoshi becomes a kyoshi spawn.
Zombie Lord: The zombie lord is a living creature that has taken on the foul powers and abilities of the undead.
Create Greater Zombie spell, caster level 18th or higher.
Zombie Nazi: Mad scientists—mad Nazi scientists, to be precise—created Nazi zombies to be the ultimate soldiers, capable of surviving in any environment (especially U-boats). Unfortunately, they are also all quite psychotic, as only the most violent psychopaths were selected for the experiment.
Nazi zombies were (and are) created using “Gamma Gas.”
Mad Scientist Mad Science ability DC 36 1-6 DaysZombie Okokiyat: Okokiyat zombies are created through voodoo magic by sculpting an effigy (an ouanga) out of wax or some other substance. The ouanga is then placed in a coffin or some other place of confinement, where the bokor uses it to control the okokiyat zombie.
Create Okokiyat Zombie spell.
Bokor's Create Zombi power.
Zombie Radiation: Radiation zombies are a modern phenomenon that is spawned by large doses of radiation. This radiation can spring from government experiments, a meteor, a nuclear meltdown, or eating too many Twinkies.
Zombie Revenant: Revenant zombies reanimated themselves through sheer force of will. They have but one goal: the death of their murderers.
Create Greater Zombie spell, caster level 15th to 17th.
Zombie Templar: The Templars that returned from the Crusades turned out to be as every bit as heretical as the Inquisition accused them of being. They forsook the cross for the ankh and sacrificed victims to a malignant deity. The local villagers eventually retaliated by stringing them up. Crows plucked out their eyes, leaving them blind even in death.
Create Greater Zombie spell, caster level 11th or lower.
Zombie Toxic: Toxic zombies are fond of tossing opponents into the same toxic goo that created them.
Zombie Ultrasonic: Ultrasonic zombies are raised from the dead through… well, ultrasonics
Any victim killed by a Trillian’s gas ray can be animated by the Trillian at will as an ultrasonic zombie.
Mad Scientist Mad Science ability DC 29 1-10 Hours
Zombie Video: Video zombies manifest from televisions that play far too many crappy horror movies.

Zombie: A supernatural power or spell that according to voodoo belief can enter into and reanimate a corpse.
Recently discovered nuclear technology became the new excuse for zombies. Zombies were not contagious, but they were powered by strange and unique power sources: atomic energy, mad scientists, and aliens.
If the subject dies of zombie fever, it rises as a zombie at the next midnight.
An afflicted humanoid that dies of rat-monkey fever rises as a zombie in 1d6 rounds.
“Zombie” is a template that can be added to any corporeal creature other than an undead.
Aliens decide that rather than put themselves at risk, they’ll just use the human leftovers (read: corpses) and take over the Earth that way instead. A few rays of extraplanar energy later and VOILA! Instant zombies.
An ancient curse causes all those on a particular spot of ground to turn into zombies.
For one reason or another, demonic forces decide to escape hell and prance around on earth in the form of bodies nobody’s using… the dead.
Lightning hits at just the right time, inexplicably reanimating the zombie. Nobody knows why this happens.
The zombie comes back because he’s really in love with somebody still alive.
A meteor crashes into the Earth, irradiating the surrounding corpses with strange energy that causes them to rise up as zombies.
An insane necromancer (is there any other kind?) decides to use the undead as cheap labor and begins reanimating people he didn’t like in life to do his bidding.
A strange parasite reanimates corpses as vehicles to find and infect more hosts.
Some kind of plague converts living humans into zombies—it might be spread by food, in the water, or even in the air itself.
Through mental willpower alone, the dead are dragged back into life.
The zombie in question gets really mad and comes back to avenge its killer(s).
Whether it’s experiments gone awry or the creation of a super soldier-program, the zombies are created through man-made science. Nazis are fond of creating undead super-soldiers.
Toxic chemicals dumped into a river overflow into the nearest graveyard, animating the dead.
Too much TV and videogames turns kids into zombies. No really.
A malicious bokor reanimates the dead for his own purposes.
Zombie Fever Contagion: Disease—bite, Fortitude DC 12, incubation period 1 day, damage 1d3 Con and 1d3 Dex. The save DC is Constitution-based. An afflicted humanoid that dies of zombie fever rises as a zombie at the next midnight.
Blood Contagion: A Successful hit on the zombie with a slashing or piercing weapon requires all creatures within a 10-foot radius to succeed at Reflex save (DC 13) or be sprayed with the zombie’s infectious blood. Disease Blood, Fortitude DC 12, incubation period 1 round, damage 1d3 Con and 1d3 Dex. The save DC is Constitution based. An afflicted humanoid that dies of zombie fever rises as a zombie at the next midnight
Radiation Contagion: zombie gives off radiation in a 30-foot radius. Anyone within range must make a Fortitude save (DC 18), incubation period 1 day, damage 1d6 Con. The save DC is Constitution-based. An afflicted humanoid that dies of radiation rises as a zombie at the next midnight.
Awaken the Dead power.
Zombie Fever disease.
Ghost: Awaken the Dead power.
Skeleton: Awaken the Dead power.
Human Zombie: ?
Huge Crocodile Zombie: ?

AWAKEN THE DEAD
Psychokinesis (Con)
Level: Psychokinetic 5
Display: Visual
Manifestation Time: 1 action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target: One dead creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Power Resistance: No
Power Points: 7
This power allows the manifester to animate the dead. The manifester can animate one HD of an undead
corpse per manifester level. If the targeted being has no body, it reanimates as a ghost. If it has only bones, it reanimates as a skeleton. If it has flesh, it reanimates as a zombie.
If an undead being was killed but its corpse is still intact, this power reanimates the undead being and restores it to full strength. Created undead are not automatically under the control of their animator. If the manifester is capable of commanding undead, the manifester may attempt to command the undead creature as it forms.
Using this power requires a Madness Check on the part of the manifester.

CREATE GREATER ZOMBIE
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Arcane 5, Divine 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One corpse
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Much more potent than animate dead, this evil spell allows you to create more powerful sorts of zombies. The type (or types) of undead you can create is based on your caster level, as shown on the table below.
Caster Level
Zombie Created
11th or lower
Templar Zombie
12th–14th
Fog Zombie
15th–17th
Revenant Zombie
18th or higher
Zombie Lord

CREATE OKOKIYAT
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Divine 2
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: Attack action
Range: Touch
Target: One or more corpses touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
This spell turns the bodies of dead creatures into okokiyat zombies that follow the caster’s spoken commands. The okokiyat zombies can follow the caster, or can remain in a specified area and attack any creature (or just a specific type of creature) entering the place. The okokiyat zombies remain animated until they are destroyed. (A destroyed okokiyat zombie can’t be animated again.)
A single casting of create okokiyat can’t create more HD of okokiyat zombies than twice the caster’s level.
The okokiyat zombies created by this spell remain under caster’s control indefinitely. No matter how many times the caster uses this spell, however, he or she can control only 4 HD worth of okokiyat zombies per caster level. If the caster exceeds this number, all the newly created okokiyat zombies fall under his or her control, and any excess okokiyat zombies from previous castings become uncontrolled (the caster chooses which okokiyat zombies are released). Okokiyat zombies the character commands through other means (if the character has the ability to command or rebuke undead) do not count toward the limit.
Casting this spell requires a Madness Check on the part of the caster.
Material Component: Purchase DC 15 + 1 per 2 HD of the undead. This item manifests itself as an ouanga—if it is destroyed, the zombie is destroyed.

ZOMBIE FEVER
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Arcane 4
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Living creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
The subject contracts zombie fever, which strikes immediately (no incubation period). The DC noted is for the subsequent saves (use zombie fever’s normal save DC for the initial saving throw).
An afflicted humanoid must make subsequent Fortitude saves (DC 12) to resist further damage (secondary damage 1d3 Con and 1d3 Dex) per the normal disease rules. If the subject dies of zombie fever, it rises as a zombie at the next midnight. It is not under the control of the caster (unless controlled with a spell or other ability), but it hungers for the brains of the living.

 

[Voadam]

American Paranormal Research 3

American Paranormal Research 3
d20 Modern
Fungi Zombie: Fungi Zombies are normal people that have been infected with fungal spores.