Undead Origins

[Voadam]

Eberron Sharn: City of Towers
3.5
Feral Spirit: The legends say that these are the spirits of the warriors who fought for Lord Tarkanan in the War of the Mark. The death curse of the Lady of the Plague bound them to the hordes of vermin called up from below. However, feral spirits can be found beyond Sharn. Any region with a link to Mabar—such as the Gloaming in the Eldeen Reaches—could produce these unnatural swarms.
Forgewraith: The incorporeal spirit of a powerful humanoid consigned to death in the lava furnaces below Sharn, a forgewraith is one of the most fearsome undead creatures found in the city. Some forgewraiths are actually formed from multiple weaker spirits rather than a single powerful soul.
Any humanoid slain by a forgewraith becomes a forgewraith in 1d4 rounds. Its body dissolves into ash, while its spirit is torn free from its corpse and transformed.
Rancid Beetle Zombie: Rancid beetle zombies are the animated forms of humanoids who died from beetle rot or the swarm attack of a rancid beetle swarm. The growth of a rancid beetle swarm inside the corpse has caused its skin to harden like chitin, and the body is incredibly resilient.
A creature killed by a rancid beetle zombie rises as a rancid beetle zombie in 1d4+1 rounds. A creature that dies of beetle rot becomes a rancid beetle zombie in 1d4+1 days.
A rancid beetle zombie is animated by the rancid beetle swarm inside it, though they are separate creatures.
A creature that is killed by a rancid beetle swarm immediately becomes a rancid beetle zombie. A creature who dies of beetle rot becomes a rancid beetle zombie in 1d4+1 days.
Lady Jesel Tarra'az, Human Vampire Monk 6: ?
Gath, Human Lich Cleric 14: ?
Calderus, Psionic Vampire: ?

Undead: ?
Lich: ?
Vampire: ?
Nightshade: ?
Death Knight: ?
Ghoul: ?
Ghast: ?
Mohrg: ?
Mummy: ?
Spectre: ?
Vampire Spawn: ?
Wight: ?
Wraith: ?
Effigy: ?
Famine Spirit: ?
Gravecaller: ?
Jahi: ?
Spawn of Kyuss: ?
Spellstitched: ?
Huecuva: ?
Bonedrinker: ?
Plague Spewer: ?
Vol: ?

 

[Voadam]

Dragon 274
3.0
Lich: ?
Ghost: ?
Zombie: ?
Undead: ?

 

[Voadam]

Dragon 275
3.0
Azzathor the Lichlord: ?
Jalastra Bluenthar, Phantom: When the door of a certain empty cellar is opened, the apparition of a young women appears floating upright with eyes closed, her bare feet well clear of the floor. She then opens her eyes, screams piercingly, and rushes forward to fade away.
This is nothing to do with Analeithla, who ignores it, and I believe it to be the last remnant of another student, Jalastra Bluenthar, who was in a magical trance when the battle erupted. She no doubt perished just as her phantom records.
Analeithla: Their origins and purposes are unknown.
Unknown to Volo, that is. I can reveal that all of these manifestations have a single source: a now-insane shred of sentience belonging to one of Ybrithe’s students, the would-be sorceress Analeithla.
A bad-tempered and graspingly ambitious lass Analeithla habitually defied Ybrithe’s rulings and teachings, boldly and rashly experimenting on her own and plotting to someday seize all of Ybrithe’s power for herself. She’d just put some of her own flesh (the smallest joint of her left little finger) into the pommel-stone of a blade and created a magical link between her body and its amputated part (enabling her to see and speak out of the pommel-crystal), when the spell-battle that destroyed her occurred. Somehow her sentience was hurled through or drawn along the collapsing link into the pommel, where she remained, able to see and speak, but do nothing else.
Trapped in the cellar with the shattered, buried blade, Analeithla went mad. The blade’s twisted magics power her ghostly manifestations (the beautiful elf is how she sees herself, though in life she was a human of rather homely and sullen appearance), and she seizes on all intruders as entertainment, luring them and exulting in their misfortunes.

Undead: ?
Vampire: ?
Lich: Sir Michael Pellingrove had compassion for those unfortunates who had entered such a state unwillingly; for those like the lich, who meticulously planned and orchestrated their own undeath, he had nothing but the edge of his blade and the burning power of his god’s fury.
Ghost: Contact with this phantom, which is the fading remnant of some mage of the Fallen Kingdom altered by his own over-reaching spells (the “true ghost” also seen here is someone else linked to the Stair by other deeds), awakens in some persons the power to receive, henceforth in their lives, visions of things past.
Haunt: ?

 

[Voadam]

Dragon 276
3.0
Dead Dwarf Skeleton: ?
Sheet Phantom: A sheet phantom is the undead manifestation of an evil person who died in bed, embodied in the bedsheet that covered the corpse.
Sheet phantoms are created when a thoroughly evil person dies in bed. The death need not be natural, as with Lord Scaumble’s sickness; being slain in bed can do the trick as well. What matters most is that the person is evil and desperately does not wish to die, usually because there are matters to which he wishes to attend. Thoughts of vengeance often trigger the transformation into a sheet phantom, especially among those slain in bed.
Some sages have speculated that the sheet phantom might be an undead form of a lurker above (a D&D monster from previous editions of the game). This is nonsense: Not only is the lurker above much larger than a sheet phantom, but it is found almost exclusively in subterranean environments. Sheet phantoms, on the other hand, begin their “unlife” inside a dwelling, usually a bedroom.
Many sages speculate that the bed linen acts as a resonator of psychic emanations, that during the hours spent in slumber the sheet becomes “imprinted” with the individual’s life essence. This could be especially true if the person dies violently, as psychic phenomena have been traced to sudden violence.
Sheet Ghoul: A sheet phantom can merge with the body of any humanoid it slays. The process takes about 12 hours, after which time the victim and sheet phantom transform into a sheet ghoul.
A sheet ghoul is the result of a sheet phantom merging with its humanoid victim.
The transformation from sheet phantom to sheet ghoul takes about 12 hours, during which time the life essence trapped in the sheet is transferred into the slain victim. As part of the transformation process, the fibers of the sheet break down and merge into the body, so the sheet ghoul often looks like it’s covered in cobwebs. The change is completely optional on the part of the sheet phantom; it can release itself from its slain prey and remain a sheet phantom for as long as it desires or merge with its victim and become a sheet ghoul.
Lord Scaumble, Sheet Phantom: ?
Lord Scaumble, Sheet Ghoul: ?
Hounds of Kyuss: ?

Szass Tamm: ?
Undead: Undead are once-living creatures animated by spiritual or supernatural forces.
It’s rumored that the Wormcrawl was once the seat of power of Kyuss himself, a master in the art of creating undead, who vanished without a trace centuries ago.
Avolakia tend to keep to their own in the depths of the Fissure. They delight in creating and modifying undead, and they sometimes raid bandits and goblins in the Heights, and underdark races below, for fresh stock.
Lich: ?
Vampire: ?
Zombie: ?
Ghost: ?
Ghoul: ?
Ghast: ?
Wight: ?
Mummy: ?
Sons of Kyuss: ?
Ulgurstasta, Beast of Kyuss: The first ulgurstasta was created ages ago by Kyuss.
Vague notes surviving from Kyuss’s time indicate that the process of creating an ulgurstasta is long and dangerous. The creator first digs a mass grave 100 feet square and 20 feet deep. The grave is filled with dead animal matter, all of which must be infested with various kinds of carnivorous worms. This charnal pit ripens for several days until the putrescence has reached the consistency of soup. The creator then waits for the next new moon, at which time he commands no fewer than twenty undead with the capability to inflict negative levels to enter the pit. A gateway to some unspecified plane of great evil is opened and used to infuse the grave with energy, which instantly causes the undead in the pit to liquefy into the morass. Finally, the creator casts a series of unspecified (and likely forgotten) spells on the contents of the pit; these spells are the key to giving the ulgurstatsta its form and abilities, and certainly require dozens of rare spell components.
As they were created through powerful necromantic magic, these creatures cannot reproduce, nor do they need to breathe or eat.
Dubbed the “beasts of Kyuss” by the few who have survived encounters with the massive undead, the ulgurstasta represent one of Kyuss’ greatest necromantic achievements.
Skeleton: The newly formed ulgurstasta beast has an Intelligence of 1 and is immediately able to create new skeletons.
As a full round action, an ulgurstasta can regurgitate the dormant skeletons in its gut.

Dead and Breakfast
Ghost: ?

 

[Voadam]

Dragon 277
3.0
Dracula: ?
Queen Victoria, Vampire: ?

Undead: The Pool of Radiance, once thought inactive, now emanates a force making all it touches undead.
Dracolich: ?
Vampire: ?

 

[Voadam]

Dragon 278
3.0
Lich-Lord Azalin of Darkon: ?
Vampire: ?
Banelich: ?
Undead: ?

 

[Voadam]

Dragon 279
3.0
Jaggedra Thul, Vampiric Drow Half-Dragon Cleric 17: Born the daughter of a powerful priestess and a black dragon in drow form, Jaggedra served her goddess for many years, rising quickly through the ranks and eventually assassinating her own mother to attain the position of high priestess in a major Underdark temple. She found a powerful and like-minded mate in a drow vampire named Zachean. Zachean eventually betrayed and slew Jaggedra to get at a powerful magic item, but direct intervention by the Queen of the Spiders allowed Jaggedra to rise as a vampire herself (normally, a half-dragon cannot be afflicted with vampirism).
Zachean, Drow Vampire: ?

Vampire: A humanoid or monstrous humanoid slain by a vampire’s energy drain attack rises as a vampire spawn 1d4 days after burial.
If the vampire instead drains the victim’s Constitution to 0 or less, the victim returns as a spawn if it had 4 or fewer HD and as a vampire if it had 5 or more HD.
Vampire Spawn: A humanoid or monstrous humanoid slain by a vampire’s energy drain attack rises as a vampire spawn 1d4 days after burial.
If the vampire instead drains the victim’s Constitution to 0 or less, the victim returns as a spawn if it had 4 or fewer HD and as a vampire if it had 5 or more HD.
Undead: ?
Szass Tam: ?

 

[Voadam]

Dragon 280
3.0
Undead Familiar: Undead Familiar feat.
Blackstone Ghost: ?

Tyrantfog Zombie: ?
Curst: ?
Crawling Claw: ?
Huge Skeleton: ?
Evil Cloud Giant Skeleton: ?
Ghoul: ?
Undead: ?

UNDEAD FAMILIAR
General
Your familiar is an undead creature.
Benefit: Rather than a living creature, your familiar is an undead version of a normal animal. See page 6 in the Monster Manual for undead special qualities. Note that you cannot convert an existing non-undead familiar to an undead familiar by taking this feat, although if your familiar is slain and you have this feat, you can reanimate your dead familiar with a raise dead spell. Undead familiars tend to be associated with characters of evil alignment, particularly necromancers.
Undead familiars can be turned or rebuked. Use the familiar’s effective Hit Dice (see the Player’s Handbook, page 51) for the purposes of turning or rebuking. A familiar fleeing or cowering as the result of a successful turn can’t obey commands from the master (any more than it could while fear-struck or paralyzed). Raising a destroyed undead familiar brings it back as a living creature.

 

[Voadam]

Dragon 281
3.0
Undead Beholder: ?
Spirit of a Famous Bard: A famous bard was murdered and his body was tossed into the river Hebrus. The spirit of the bard now haunts that river, singing sad songs on moonless nights.

Dracolich: ?
Ghost: ?
Vampire: ?
Curst: Each time someone puts on Ynaerv's Mask, the wearer must make a Fortitude save (DC 20) or be instantly transformed into a curst.
Shadow: Like a shadow, the wearer of the mask Shade's veil has a supernatural ability to drain Strength from living opponents. A touch from the wearer can deal 1d6 points of temporary Strength damage. The wearer can invoke this power as a free action three times a day plus the character’s Charisma bonus. Any humanoid reduced to 0 Strength by this attack becomes a shadow under control of the wearer of the mask.
Each time the Mask of Shum is removed, there is a 20% chance that the wearer suffers 1d6 negative levels. After 24 hours have passed the character must make a Fortitude save (DC 20) for each negative level. Each failed save indicates a lost level. A character killed by this attack becomes a shadow within 1d4 rounds.
Strahd: ?
Azalin: ?

 

[Voadam]

Dragon 282
3.0
Noor Ghalagar: ?

Lich: If this undead thing had indeed been her grandmother, why could it speak? How could it remember? Her grandmother had been an imposing matriarch but not much of a wizard. The spells that transformed a dying wizard into an undead lich were far beyond her meager skills.
Ghost: ?
Zombie: ?
Human Skeleton: ?