Undead Origins

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Monster Focus: Liches

Monster Focus: Liches
Pathfinder 1e
Apprentice Lich: Some liches do not gain the full powers of their kind, either as the result of a failed transformation or due to the soul vessel spell. In either case, the magic of these lesser liches slowly wanes over time and unless they can find a way to stabilize the necromantic power that grants them unlife, they eventually crumble to dust. Known as apprentice liches, they are no less deadly, even if they are slowly falling apart.
A powerful necromancer just recently attempted to become a lich, but his formulas were flawed and although he did not die, he is now an apprentice lich.
Soul Vessel spell.
Blackfrost Lich: ?
Gloom Lich: As the centuries fade away, some liches begin to learn that their corporeal forms are deteriorating. As they crumble, the lich gains even greater control over what remains.

Lich: ?

Soul Vessel
School necromancy; Level cleric 8, sorcerer/wizard 8
Casting Time 1 minute
Components V, S, F (gen encrusted phylactery worth 10,000 gp)
Range personal
Target you
Duration 1 hour/level
This spell hides a portion of your soul away in a specially prepared phylactery. If you are slain at any point during the duration of this spell, and the phylactery is undamaged, it immediately shatters, releasing a black vapor that solidifies over the next hour to form a new body for you. At the end of this time, you are brought back to life with 1 hit point. You do not take any negative levels as a result of this spell, but any gear or magic items that were on your body are not transferred to your new form, unless of course you retrieve them. If the congealing vapor is disturbed at all during the 1 hour required to form your new body, the spell fails and you remain dead. You can only have on instance of this spell in operation at one time. Any subsequent castings fail. If you are slain by a death effect and your body is animated using create greater undead, the black vapor quickly flows to the undead form, causing you to rise as an apprentice lich, free from the control of the creature that cast create greater undead.

 

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Monster Focus: Mummies

Monster Focus: Mummies
Pathfinder 1e
Decrepit Mummy: After centuries spent locked away inside a tomb, the magic that binds some mummies begins to falter.
Mummy Priest: When a high priest is mummified, they sometimes retain some of the powers they had in life, granting them the ability to cast spells and use other foul powers.
These variants can be created using create undead by a 17th level caster.
Shifting Mummy: These variants can be created using create undead by a 17th level caster.

Mummy: Made from a desiccated and preserved corpse, wrapped in sacred bandages, this undead creature is known as a mummy.

 

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Monster Focus: Skeletons

Monster Focus: Skeletons
Pathfinder 1e
Decrepit Skeleton: These skeletons are so ancient that the magic that binds them is beginning to fail. They are often missing parts of their bodies, such as an arm or a number of ribs. Some even lack legs and instead must crawl about. Decrepit skeletons cannot be intentionally created.
Monstrous Skeleton: Skeletons made from the bodies of larger monsters have been known to have a wide variety of abilities and this simple addition allows them to retain some of the abilities they had in life. A monstrous skeleton can be created with animate dead, but it counts as twice the number of Hit Dice for that spell.
Skeletal Lord: A skeletal lord cannot be created without powerful evil rituals.

Skeleton: The creature is a skeleton, an undead abomination created from the bones of a dead creature.
Animate Dead Minor spell.
Call the Dead spell.
Bone Sword magic item.
Zombie: Animate Dead Minor spell.
Bleeding Skeleton: Call the Dead spell.
Burning Skeleton: Call the Dead spell.
Skeletal Champion: ?

Animate Dead, Minor
School necromancy [evil]; Level cleric 1, sorcerer/wizard 2
Target one corpse touched
Duration 1 day
This spell functions as animate dead except that it can create one standard humanoid skeleton or zombie with a maximum number of HD equal to your caster level, to a maximum 5 Hit Dice at 5th level. You cannot have more than one undead creature under your control through this spell. If you cast this spell a second time, the first creature immediately crumbles to dust. This creature counts against your maximum limit of undead creatures you can control.

Call the Dead
School necromancy [evil]; Level cleric 8, sorcerer/wizard 9
Casting Time 4 hours
Components V, S, M (skull of a powerful undead creature, onyx gemstone worth 5,000 gp)
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Targets all corpses in a 100-ft. spread
Duration 1 hour/level (D)
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no
Calling on the grim powers of death, you cause all the corpses in the area to rise up as skeletons under your control. This spell affects corpses buried underground as well, up to a depth of 10 feet, although such undead take 1d4 minutes to claw their way up to the surface. These skeletons can be made into burning or bleeding skeletons at the time of casting by reducing the duration to 10 minutes per level. These undead do not count against your Hit Die limit for the amount of undead you can control. These undead must be commanded as a single group and cannot be split up to perform multiple tasks. If you are slain, these undead immediately crumble to dust.

Bone Sword
Aura moderate necromancy; CL 10th
Slot none; Price 16,315 gp; Weight 4 lbs.
This ancient blade appears to be made from bone, but it is as hard as steel. Once per day, when this +2 longsword is used to deliver the killing blow to a humanoid creature, the bone sword can be used as a swift action to cause the creature’s flesh to melt away and its body to rise up as a skeleton under the wielder’s control, as if using lesser animate dead (Ultimate Magic). The skeleton can have no more than 5 Hit Dice when created in this way. The sword wielder cannot control more than one skeleton in this way at a time. If the sword is used again to create a skeleton, any previous skeleton created by the sword immediately crumbles to dust. This skeleton does not count against the Hit Die limit of undead that the wielder can control, but if the wielder ever loses the bone sword the undead becomes uncontrolled until a creature picks up the sword, gaining control of the skeleton.
Construction Craft Magic Arms and Armor, lesser animate dead; Cost 8,315 gp

 

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Monster Focus: Zombies

Monster Focus: Zombies
Pathfinder 1e
Corpse Field: Even once destroyed, the severed limbs and heads of zombies are not completely dead. Such undead refuse is often left littering the field of battle, although it is sometimes known to erupt from the ground in a cemetery suffused with evil.
Brood Zombie: A brood zombie can be made by casting create undead and summon swarm or insect plague by a 15th level caster.
Swarm of Undead Beetles, Centipedes, and Ants: ?
Relentless Zombie: A relentless can be created with animate dead, but it counts as twice the number of Hit Dice for that spell.
Virulent Zombie: A virulent can be created with animate dead, but it counts as twice the number of Hit Dice for that spell.

Zombie: Flesh Rot spell.
Ash Pendant magic item.
Plague Zombie: Anyone who dies while infected with zombie rot rises as a plague zombie in 2d6 hours.

Flesh Rot
School necromancy [evil]; Level antipaladin 3, cleric 4,
sorcerer/wizard 5
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range touch
Target living creature touched
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw Will partial; Spell Resistance yes
This spell causes a creature’s flesh to rot from its bones and if slain, to rise as a zombie under your control. When you cast this spell, your hand takes on sickly green aura. Using this spell requires a melee touch attack. If the attack hits, the target takes 1d6 points of damage per caster level you possess, to a maximum of 12d6 points of damage. If the target is slain by this attack, it rises as a zombie under your control on the following round (as if using animate dead, maximum 12 Hit Dice). The target is allowed a Will save to reduce the damage to 1 point per caster level. If the save is successful, the target does not rise as an undead, even if the attack kills it. Any bonuses on saving throws against disease apply to this effect. This spell has no effect on targets that are immune to disease.

Zombie Plague
School necromancy [evil]; Level cleric 3, sorcerer/wizard 4
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range touch
Target living creature touched
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw Fortitude negates; Spell Resistance yes
This spell infects the target with zombie rot. The disease is contracted immediately upon a failed Fortitude save (no onset time). If the target dies while under the effects of this disease, this spell does not confer control of the zombie to the spellcaster.
Zombie Rot—spell; save Fort DC as per the spell; onset none; frequency 1 day; effect 1d2 Con damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. Anyone who dies while infected rises as a plague zombie in 2d6 hours.

Ash Pendant
Aura faint necromancy; CL 5th
Slot neck; Price 750 gp; Weight 1 lbs.
This pale white pendant is carved from the heartwood of an ash tree grown in a cemetery. One end of the pendant contains a silver reservoir filled with ashes. These ashes can be spread upon the forehead of a corpse that died within the past day, causing it to animate as a zombie with up to 5 Hit Dice on the following round. This zombie is under the control of the pendant’s wearer and does not count against the total number of Hit Dice of undead that the wearer can control. The pendant can only be used once and it crumbles to dust if the zombie is destroyed.
Construction Craft Wondrous Item, animate dead; Cost 375 gp

 

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Manastorm: World of Shin'ar NPC Codex

Manastorm: World of Shin'ar NPC Codex
5e
Undead Black Dragon Wyrmlings: ?

Pathfinder 1e
Undead Black Dragon Wyrmlings: ?

 

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Monsters of NeoExodus: Scythian

Monsters of NeoExodus: Scythian
Pathfinder 1e
Scythian Cemetery: Scythian cemeteries sometimes form in areas where many Scythians have died (such as the site of a battle where extensive necromantic magic was used).
Skeleton Scythian: Skeletons created with Scythian bones are all burning exploding skeletons, except they inflict piercing damage instead of fire. Their immunity to fire is replaced by immunity to piercing weapons.

 

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Mountains of Madness

Mountains of Madness
Pathfinder 1e
Summiteer: Some individuals that take up mountain climbing find that as they get closer to the summit and face the ever-increasing dangers of continuing become more consumed with reaching their desired goal than surviving the harrowing ordeal. Experienced mountaineers refer to the obsession as “summit fever.” Those suffering from this affliction let mania replace judgment. At these extreme altitudes, there is no room for error. Bone-chilling cold, howling winds, and the lack of oxygen cause mistakes fatal. The brave souls that succeed in this perilous mission tragically pass by the frozen corpses of those that failed on their way to and from the top of the mountain. There are times though, when the harsh elements and even death itself cannot sate the ambitions of determined mountaineers. These driven individuals rise from their icy, trailside graves at the highest elevations to deny others pursuing the prize that eluded them in life.
Though many humanoids races have died in their vain attempts to defeat the mountain, summiteers are exclusively human.
Sphinx Zombie: During the library’s last chaotic days, the cowardly Thanopsis cajoled the library’s most frequent visitors and patrons into fighting against the orcs besieging the surrounding settlement. Most gladly took up arms at the powerful wizard’s behest, but the aloof sphinx, Travvok, refused. The spiteful wizard never forgot Travvok’s betrayal. When she returned to peruse the library’s shelves after Arcady’s demise, the angry Thanopsis momentarily forgot his fear and killed the beast that had abandoned him in his darkest hour. In a deliberately ironic twist, he transformed Travvok into a sphinx zombie that guards the library today.

Skeleton: Xiled clerics then animate their lifeless corpses and compel these skeletons and zombies to serve their new masters for the remainder of their undead existence.
Each morning, the desperate necromancer animates his former tests subjects and other dead humanoids from the grounds around the library and sends them into battle against the dwarven garrison how guarding the Southern Pass.
Zombie: Xiled clerics then animate their lifeless corpses and compel these skeletons and zombies to serve their new masters for the remainder of their undead existence.
Each morning, the desperate necromancer animates his former tests subjects and other dead humanoids from the grounds around the library and sends them into battle against the dwarven garrison how guarding the Southern Pass.
Vampire: ?
Lich: ?
Shadow: The vengeful Ankehaton slew two of his killers, turning them into 2 shadows.
Undead: She tells the PCs that she fears that the individuals plundering the burial mound may be disturbing the final resting place of Gurdkin Feycleaver, an ancient dwarf thane with a reputation for savagery and evil. Myths and legends claim that the covetous royal vowed to defend his earthly treasures even after he departed this world. Naturally, she is very worried that Gurdkin may fulfill his promise and return to the land of the living as an undead horror.
For Thanopsis, the act of dying irreparably corrupts the individual, regardless of whether the soul embarks on an eternal journey into the afterlife or not, or the body or spirit is reanimated by an arcane or divine force.
The building’s current resident transformed some of his former colleagues into his undead servants.
The Kingdom of Arcady’s human subjects never died. Instead, they retreated into a great necropolis, where they were mummified and transformed into a variety of undead monsters. (This is a false rumor.)
The Khemitites, the library’s builders, were obsessed with the afterlife. Those unwilling to pass onto the next world were sometimes transformed into undead monstrosities. Mummification was also a common practice, and it was not uncommon for the dead to arise from their coffins and terrorize the living.
Barrow Wight: At the time of her son’ s death, his mother beseeched her priests to prevent others from animating her son’s corpse as an undead abomination, but they could do nothing to quell the evil that burned within his malevolent soul. The wicked thane underwent the transformation into a barrow wight shortly after being sealed in his coffin.
Any humanoid creature that is slain by a barrow wight becomes a barrow wight itself in only 1d4 rounds.
Lantern Goat: ?
Spellgorged Zombie: If this occurs, the troubled wizard calls upon his two former protégés who now serve him in death. Shortly after the library’s fall, Thanopsis transformed these unfortunate souls into 2 spellgorged zombies. Hoar Spirit: ?
Crypt Thing: Thanopsis and a visiting priest combined forces to create the crypt thing that protects the ossuary and Thanopsis’ tomb from defilement.
Greater Shadow: At first glance, it appears that the skeleton resting atop the larger slab was an unfortunate soul who died at an inopportune time. However, further inspection reveals that the person was in fact alive for at least part of the procedure. A successful DC 20 Perception check reveals portions of his fingernails embedded into the stone surface and deep scratches on the bones corresponding with the fingertips. The skeleton belongs to Ankehaton, the only priest who refused to turn his back on Aten and worship Ahriman, the wicked lord of the divs. Atumshutsep and four other clerics horrifically murdered their fellow priest, but the ghastly act and the presence of a dark entity infused Ankehaton’s soul with evil and rage. His spirit survived and transformed into a greater shadow.
Huecuva: The nihilistic Ahriman gave his greatest gift to his newfound converts — complete and utter destruction. The wicked being betrayed them even as their former patron Aten condemned them as well. The Khemitian god transformed the heretics into 5 huecuvas.

 

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NeoExodus Campaign Setting

NeoExodus Campaign Setting
Pathfinder 1e
Mercy of Nyssa: The necromancer Xon had fallen madly in love with the empress of the Caneus Empire. When he learned of her death, he snatched her body in the night and brought her back to Unthara, where he used his darkest, most powerful magic to turn her into a unique undead creature.
Xon: Xon was a necromancer in service to the Confederacy during the Twilight War, who bolstered Confederate forces by raising entire legion of undead horrors. But his methods revolted even the brutal Confederates, and in 69 BU the generals turned on him, destroying his army and killing him. After the fight, though, Xon’s undead followers took his body away and raised him as a lich.
Advanced Undead: Creating undead with all three chapters from the Black Notebook of Xon.
Haru Anon: Haru Anon is a bizarre form of undead. It was forged of the souls of every person killed by Makesh’s death touch, as none of them could travel to the afterlife.

BLACK NOTEBOOK OF XON
Aura strong necromancy; CL 15th
Slot —; Price 5,000 gp (per chapter; a full book costs 15,000 gp)
DESCRIPTION
These black notebooks are considered holy to the Xonists. A notebook has three chapters, which give magical and alchemical formulas for creating more powerful undead. Having multiple chapters increases the potency of the created undead. The book benefits any method of creation, be it alchemical, arcane, or divine magic.
When creating an undead with one chapter, the user doubles the number of undead he can control.
When creating an undead with two chapters, the user may also add a +2 bonus to one ability score. The undead’s channel resistance increases by the user’s spellcasting ability—or by his Intelligence modifier, if the undead are not created by magic.
When creating an undead with all three chapters, the resulting creature becomes advanced. The book also provide many tricks and substitutes, reducing the cost of any undead creation spell requiring material components to 20% of its original cost.
CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, Scribe Scroll, creator must be Xon or a Xonist priest

 

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Obsidian Apocalypse

Obsidian Apocalypse
Pathfinder 1e
Shambling Zombie: A new kind of undead rose soon after the meteor strike, when the Nightwall fell.
Shambling zombie is a template that can be applied to any corporeal fey, humanoid, or monstrous humanoid.
Any corporeal fey, humanoid, or monstrous humanoid that dies while infected with shambling rot rises as a shambling zombie in 2d6 hours.
Shambling Zombie Goblin: ?
Shambling Zombie Human: ?
Shambling Zombie Ogre: ?
Shambling Zombie Selkie: ?
Shambling Zombie Hill Giant: ?
Shambling Zombie Fire Giant: ?
Asi Magnor, Human Mummy Cleric 10/Fighter 15: When the Cataclysm struck and the great meteor fell from the sky, Asi Magnor—who had once rejected the idea of his own undeath—rose from the grave. With him came also the warrior kings interred elsewhere, along with their servants, their soldiers, their wives and concubines, their horses, and everything once living contained in their tombs. The sacred geometry of the necropoli amplified the energy of the meteor, driving the legions of the dead to pour from their tombs under the command of Asi Magnor.
Calix Sabinus, Human Vampiric Lich Aristocrat 2/Necromancer 20/Eldritch Knight 10: In time, Sabine revealed the reason for her enthusiastic interest in the dark arts. She was a vampire—and she needed him to find a cure for her condition. He was torn: his studies had twisted his mind and he had become obsessed by undeath and immortality, but here was the woman he loved rejecting the very things he sought. Their argument raged and Sabine nearly killed Calix, but the scholar finally relented. Parting company with the woman, he promised to search for a cure.
When his love returned to him two years later, Calix swore that he had found how to restore her mortality, and so they renewed their relationship. However, he soon revealed the steely core of treachery and self-interest that would serve him so well in later years. Once he lured her into his laboratory, he rendered her helpless with magics. Taking her blood, Calix turned himself undead—becoming all that he had ever wished to be—before he destroyed her.
While a cunning and deadly fighter, Calix couldn’t take on Magnor’s armies in a full frontal assault. Realizing this, he turned toward defense to give himself time enough to complete his magical studies. With his forces beaten back almost to his stronghold, Calix reemerged—transformed once again by magic, this time into the first and only vampiric lich.
Dark Cherub: Though they look like infant skeletons with bat-like wings, dark cherubs are made from the bones of many creatures and are akin to homunculi.
Shadow Ripper: When necromantic energy combines with shadow magic, the results can be horrific—the deadly shadow rippers are a leading example. What started as an experiment in creating an undead assassin turned tragic as the first shadow rippers turned on their creators and escaped into the wild, spreading their affliction far and wide.
A shadow ripper can be created with create greater undead by a caster of at least 18th level.

Undead: Undead raise due to the necromantic energy in the meteor.
The new Obsidian Veil bars all divine traffic of souls and prayer, preventing any deity from seeing or hearing a thing, and cutting them off from gaining power from their followers. The souls of the departed do not pass the Obsidian Veil into other worlds; they either dissipate into the ravaged world-aura of the planet or become infused with negative energy and return as the motivating forces for yet more undead.
Abaddon is a world of final destinations, from which even the souls of the dead cannot escape. Those who fall are doomed to rise and join the ever-swelling ranks of the undead.
Skeleton: Animation by Touch feat.
Zombie: Animation by Touch feat.
Vampire: Calix can create spawn out of those he slays with blood drain or energy drain, provided that the slain creature is humanoid. The victim rises from death as a vampire in 1d4 days.

Animation by Touch [Necromantic]
You may now animate corpses into skeletons or zombies merely by touching them—such is the power you hold in manipulating negative energy.
Prerequisites: Ability to cast the animate dead spell, Death Touch.
Benefit: This necromantic feat works in all respects as the animate dead spell, except that you need only touch a corpse and no material component is needed. Only one undead creature may be animated every time this feat is used, though you may still control multiple creatures. The maximum number of undead created in this way that you may control is equal to 2 HD per caster level, and count toward your limit for animate dead, regardless of other sources.

Shambling Rot (Ex): slam; save Fort DC 10 + shambling zombie’s Charisma modifier + 3 per shambling zombie within 5 feet; onset 1d4 hours; frequency 1/day; effect 1d4 Con, this damage cannot be healed while the creature is infected; cure 2 consecutive saves. Any corporeal fey, humanoid, or monstrous humanoid that dies while infected rises as a shambling zombie in 2d6 hours.

 

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Obsidian Apocalypse: Sinful & Vile Feats

Obsidian Apocalypse: Sinful & Vile Feats
Pathfinder 1e
Mob of Gold-Clad Skeletal Champions: ?