Undead Origins

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Adventures in Middle-Earth – The Road Goes Ever On
5e
Undead: One or more undead beings dwell in this place. They may be the sorrowful spirits of those who were cursed here long ago, or they may be of an altogether darker sort, wraiths using borrowed flesh to terrorise the living.
Sorrowful Spirit: ?
Wraith: ?

 

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Adventures in Middle Earth: Wilderland Adventures
5e
Night-Wight: The Night-Wight is a thing of shadow, haunting the remains of a warrior who once fell into corruption.
Undead Warrior: The Alderman of Haycombe was a victim of the Necromancer, who reclaimed Dol Guldur around the year 2460. When he travelled south with his retinue he was captured by the Necromancer and driven insane. His guards were tormented and murdered, and then raised again as undead warriors.
Once young and valorous men, the guards of the Alderman have been stripped of their lives and will by the Necromancer’s dark arts. Their shrivelled bodies are all that is left of them.
The Gibbet King: ?

 

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Adventures in the Borderland Provinces 5E
5e
Ghost Hound: Ghost hounds are the spectral shades of hunting dogs or guard dogs that have accompanied their masters to undeath.
Though dogs are the most common manifestation of these undead, the ghost hound stat block can be used to represent a spectral undead version of any similarly sized trained guard creature or hunting creature.
Spectral Trained Guard Creature: ?
Spectral Trained Hunting Creature: ?
Soulstealer: These foul undead are created by dark and secret rituals, and remain forever under the control of their creator. The process of creating a soulstealer requires the skeletal remains of a minimum of ten Medium or five Large sentient creatures, and destroys the souls of those creatures to fuel the soulstealer’s dark purpose. The bones of a soulstealer are marked with glowing runes that bind it to its creator.
On two occasions, the Dread Master was able to seek out and claim the life force of sentient creatures visiting the island, restoring him to minimal power. With that power, he used his mental essence to create the foul undead soulstealers from the bones and spirits of sailors drowned on the shoals around the Black Spire.
Spectral Warden, Spectral Warrior, Variant Good-Aligned Ghost: A spectral warden is a variant good-aligned ghost whose actions are driven by its failure to fulfill some oath of bond or protection, and whose spirit cannot pass on until it has completed its task or atoned.
Ghost Ride Spectral Warden, Ghost, Ghostly Knight, Ghostly Rider, Ghostly Warrior, Spectral Rider: Ectarlin’s fight to keep his claimed lands safe was successful for a time, with estates and protected villages built over a period of twenty years. (The ruins on which Ilthan is built are the site of one such estate.) In the end, though, the evil that prowls the Sinnar coast was too much to fight against. In response to word of undead attacking fishing villages along the coast, Ectarlin and his best riders rode forth to deal with the threat. They were never seen again.
Lord Ectarlin, Spectral Warden, Beleaguered Ghost, Broken Ghost, Ghostly Lord, Half-Mad Ghost, Mad Ghost, Spectral Lord, The Ghost Lord: Ectarlin’s fight to keep his claimed lands safe was successful for a time, with estates and protected villages built over a period of twenty years. (The ruins on which Ilthan is built are the site of one such estate.) In the end, though, the evil that prowls the Sinnar coast was too much to fight against. In response to word of undead attacking fishing villages along the coast, Ectarlin and his best riders rode forth to deal with the threat. They were never seen again.
The ghostly lord has been drawn back to the mortal realm by a resurgence of the power of the Dread Master — the lich who slew the freelord a century ago and doomed his soul to endless sorrow.
Ghoul: ?
Ghast: ?
Specter: 9 specters that have risen in response to the Dread Lord’s servants moving farther afield.
Dread Master, Dread Lord, Ancient Undead Power, Dread Lich, Diminished Lich, Lich, Undead Lord, Once-Powerful Lich: ?
Fierce Undead Dragon: ?
Ravenous Undead: ?
Phantasmal Undead: ?
Undead Horror: ?
Spectral Undead: ?
Foul Undead: ?
Purpose-Driven Undead: ?
Undead: While within 100 feet of a soulstealer, its creator can draw a soul from it with a successful DC 20 Int (Arcana) check. On a failed check, the soul is freed. On a successful check, the soul can be used by the creator (consumed, channeled into a dark ritual, used to create an undead creature, and so on).
Spectral Servant: ?
Spectral Shade: ?
Spectral Creature: ?
Ghostly Steed, Spectral Horse, Spectral Steed: ?
Spirit: ?
Ghost: ?
Ghost of Ancient Resident: ?
Flesh-Eating Ghoul: ?
Lich: ?
Vampire: ?
Wight: ?

 

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Aedrenar: After the War (5e)
5e
Undead: In this great war, two advanced, unnamed empires ruled over by powerful sorcerers, unleashed hellish, arcane energies upon one another. The resulting destruction toppled both nations, and create vast magical instabilities that raised whole armies of the dead, mutated animals into eldritch monstrosities, cracked the earth itself and left vast planes of lava and ash in the wake of the war.
Even worse, powerful curses and magical weapons unleashed permanent effects that forever changed the nature of life in some places. There might be a 50 mile stretch where anything that dies automatically rises as undead and seeks out the living.
Varja: Varja served Iskarl during the great war against the Othyrr, as a Solar fighting the most dreaded foes that the Othyrr could produce. She lost this battle, and was resurrected by it's fell magics. Having been brought back, the essence of her otherworldly self was corrupted, and she became the first being ever afflicted with undeath; and in her case a rare case of an outsider being resurrected.
Ghoul: ?
Lich: ?
Vampire: ?
Vampire Kijlmar: ?
Vampire Noseira: ?
Elder Vampire: ?
Duke Rezcik Vekar, Ancient Vampire: ?
Powerful Zombie: ?

 

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Aethera Field Guide I (5E)
5e
Aetherwarped Undead: Aetherleeches store corrosive digestive fluids inside small sacs just behind their rows of tiny mandibles, mixed with undigested aetherite, creating a toxic slurry. Aetherleeches spew the turquoise substance as a means of self-defense, or to create entryways small enough to crawl through piping, or stowaway on aetherships. In urban environments an aetherleech’s presence is typically marked by small, rusted holes on metal walls and surfaces. By the time they’re discovered, they’ve already drained mass amounts of aetherite from the vessel.
These troublesome pests are a danger even in small numbers as infestations can quickly deplete a ship’s reserve of aetheric units and expose creatures to aetherite poisoning. These infestations have drained entire ships of power, leaving them adrift in the blackness of space with no means of rescue as their passengers suffocated and perished, rising later as aetherwarped undead.
Aetherite radiation functions like normal radiation except that it inflicts aetherite poisoning instead of radiation poisoning and a creature it kills is likely to rise as an undead creature.
Incorporeal Undead: ?
Bodiless Undead: ?
Paragon Suembaro: Interior cabinet members within the Ascendancy whisper that Suembaro has transformed herself into an undead creature.
Ghast: ?
Ghost: ?
Shadow, Shade: Crew members slain by the shadow soon rose as shades themselves, and the containment breach quickly compounded into an infestation.
Skeleton: Nethercrabs are occasionally followed by undead creatures that were corpses spontaneously reanimated by their shell’s embedded netherite. Any corpse of Medium size or smaller within 30 ft. of a nethercrab has a cumulative 10% chance per hour of reanimating as a skeleton or zombie. The nethercrab can animate a maximum number of hit dice worth of undead creatures equal to twice the nethercrab’s hit dice.
Caverns filled with deadlight fungus are charnel houses filled with the undigestible skeletal remains of their former victims. Oftentimes these skeletal remains will reanimate, typically forming skeletons or bloody bones.
Bloody Bones: Caverns filled with deadlight fungus are charnel houses filled with the undigestible skeletal remains of their former victims. Oftentimes these skeletal remains will reanimate, typically forming skeletons or bloody bones.
Specter: ?
Wraith: ?
Zombie: Creatures who die from exposure to necrotic energy within an area of blackstar mold rise 1 round later as a zombie.
Nethercrabs are occasionally followed by undead creatures that are were corpses spontaneously reanimated by their shell’s embedded netherite. Any corpse of Medium size or smaller within 30 ft. of a nethercrab has a cumulative 10% chance per hour of reanimating as a skeleton or zombie. The nethercrab can animate a maximum number of hit dice worth of undead creatures equal to twice the nethercrab’s hit dice.

 

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Age of Worms Adventure Path 3.5 to 5e
5e
Undead: ?
Ghoul: ?
Skeleton: ?
Zombie, Normal Zombie: When the [Kyuss] worm reaches the victims brain, it does 1d2 temporary Intelligence damage per round until it is destroyed or the victim reaches 0 Intelligence, at which point the victim dies and rises as a Spawn of Kyuss 7 (1d6 + 4) rounds later if it was a Small, Medium, or Large creature. Tiny creatures putrefy rather than becoming spawn. Larger creatures become normal zombies.
Any target killed by a swarm [of Kyuss worms] or Kyuss Worms from a swarm rises as a Sword of Kyuss 7 (1d6 + 4) rounds later if it was a Small, Medium, or Large creature. Tiny creatures putrefy rather than becoming spawn. Larger creatures become normal zombies.
Specter: ?
Ghast: ?
Kyuss Spawnling: ?
Bone Naga: ?
Undead Servant of Kyuss: ?

Spawn of Kyuss: When the [Kyuss] worm reaches the victims brain, it does 1d2 temporary Intelligence damage per round until it is destroyed or the victim reaches 0 Intelligence, at which point the victim dies and rises as a Spawn of Kyuss 7 (1d6 + 4) rounds later if it was a Small, Medium, or Large creature. Tiny creatures putrefy rather than becoming spawn. Larger creatures become normal zombies.
A humanoid slain by this effect [its hit point maximum being reduced to 0 while swallowed by an ulgurstata] rises as a spawn of Kyuss.
A humanoid slain by this [ulgurstata's necromantic breath] effect [reducing the target's hit point maximum to 0] rises as a spawn of Kyuss.
Mohrg: ?
Ulgurstata: ?
Wraith: ?
Blood Amniote: ?
Moretto, Ghast Gladiator: ?
Kyuss Knight: If the target dies from this [Kyuss knight's] Kyuss Worm and would normally turn into a Spawn of Kyuss, it turns into a Kyuss Knight instead.
Eviscerator Beetle: ?
Kelvos the Wormtouched: ?
Sword of Kyuss: Any target killed by a swarm [of Kyuss worms] or Kyuss Worms from a swarm rises as a Sword of Kyuss 7 (1d6 + 4) rounds later if it was a Small, Medium, or Large creature. Tiny creatures putrefy rather than becoming spawn. Larger creatures become normal zombies.
Revenant: ?
Sruggut: ?
Mak'ar: ?
Rhorsk: ?
Gazzilfek: ?
Favored Spawn of Kyuss: Many different creatures can be a favored Spawn of Kyuss.
A victim slain by one of these Kyuss worms [from Gazzilfek] rises as a favored spawn of Kyuss.
Any appropriate creature that dies within the Tabernacle of Worms rises 1d4 rounds later as a favored spawn of Kyuss.
A humanoid slain by this effect [its hit point maximum being reduced to 0 while swallowed by N'vesh-N'kar] rises in 1d4 rounds as a Favored Spawn of Kyuss.
A humanoid slain by this effect [its hit point maximum being reduced to 0 from N'vesh-N'kar's necromantic breath] rises 1d4 rounds later as a Favored Spawn of Kyuss.
Any living creature that dies [in Alhaster's Spire] returns the next round as a favored spawn of Kyuss.
A creature can be infested by up to 5 of these Empowered Kyuss Worms at a time, and any creature brought to 0 hp by this [Empowered Kyuss Worm] damage rises as a Favored Spawn of Kyuss in 1d10 rounds.
Kyuss Chimera, Chimera Favored Spawn of Kyuss: ?
Earthcancer Centipede: ?
Mindkiller Scorpion: ?
Thessalar the Lich: ?
Vampire Spellcaster: ?
Wormdrake: ?
Nightcrawler: ?
Dragotha, Ancient Red Dragon Dracolich: ?
N'vesh-N'kar, Ulgurstata: ?
Undead Mage: ?
Vampire Spawn: ?
Avolakia Priest: ?
Crimson Death: ?
Vulra: ?
Vampire Warrior: ?
Lashonna, Ancient Silver Dragon Vampire: ?
Maralee, Kyuss Knight: ?

 

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After the Crash
5e
Undead: ?
Exo-Skeleton: An exoskeleton suit was a device meant to augment a humanoid’s strength, agility and combat prowess. It was implanted to the outside of a humanoid’s body, and connected to their nervous system and anchored to their skeletal system.
Science Gone Wrong. Exo-Skeletons are equipped with AI. These Artificial Intelligences were programmed to get the soldier wearing the unit to safety should that soldier be rendered unconscious, and to defend the soldier should an enemy attempt to stop that mission. During the Crash many soldiers with exoskeletons died before being able to find shelter or give the Exo-Skeleton’s AI any different orders. The devices continue to move their dead humanoid bones about, and their simple software sought to complete their programming.

 

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Aigyptos: A Gazetteer for 5th Edition
5e
Skeleton Canine Animal: ?
Lich: ?
Ghast: ?
Mummy: ?
Skeleton: ?
Zombie: ?
Ghoul: ?

 

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Akhamet Campaign Setting
5e
Ghoul Akhameti: ?
Ghast Akhameti: ?
Pejka, Ghast Akhameti: ?
Mummy Guard: A mummy guard is a devoted of Anubis who underwent mummification to perform duties to the church forever.
Mummies created by the church can be represented by the mummy guards or lesser mummies in the new monsters section.
Mummy Lesser: Lesser mummies are created by the church of Anubis as a way to gift immortality to favored servants. The ritual is a shortened version that creates mummies and mummy guards.
Mummies created by the church can be represented by the mummy guards or lesser mummies in the new monsters section.
Djelest the Sage, Mummy Lesser: ?
Salt Skeleton: The Salt Desert is one of the most inhospitable in Akhamet. Any dead rises up as a salt skeleton, unlike elsewhere where they animate as zombies.
The area [the Salt Desert] is home to salt mephits and armies of salt skeletons. The dead here re-animate into salt skeletons rather than zombies.
Sand Wraith: ?
Vampire Sekhmeti: A female killed by the bite of the sekhmeti rises as a sekhmeti.
Neferkah, Sekhmeti Vampire: ?
Queen Hatshepdjet, Sekhmeti Vampire: ?
Undead: ?
Mindless Undead, Mindless Dead: ?
Incorporeal Undead: ?
Ghost: ?
Ghoul: A female killed by the bite of the sekhmeti rises as a sekhmeti. Males turn into ghouls, under the control of the sekhmeti.
Dead bodies of humanoids and giants left without proper funerary rites arise as undead creatures: ghasts, ghouls, skeletons, or zombies.
Ghast: Dead bodies of humanoids and giants left without proper funerary rites arise as undead creatures: ghasts, ghouls, skeletons, or zombies.
Mummy: Although mummification is part of the funerary rites, few are made into mummies. Only volunteers chosen by Pharaoh, Anubis, or who their clergy decide to reward with such gift become mummies.
The Great Necropolis is dominated by a large stone pyramid that holds the mummified remains of over a hundred generation of the richest and most deserving of the city’s former inhabitants. Guards, both living and mummified, patrol the halls, to prevent tomb robbing. Many of its inhabitants are undead creatures granted eternal life through mummification.
The bearer of the Book of Thoth cannot find rest even in death, he always returns to life as a mummy 2d6 days later (or longer if the person undergoes the mummification rituals).
Mummy Lord: ?
Shadow: ?
Skeleton: Skeletons are the dead who are stuck or entombed with former masters or spouses. Isolated from the outside world, their flesh dries and turns to dust before they animate.
Dead bodies of humanoids and giants left without proper funerary rites arise as undead creatures: ghasts, ghouls, skeletons, or zombies.
Wight: ?
Wraith: ?
Zombie, Rising Dead: The second century was dominated by the Great Plague. Originating in the tombs of pre-history, this plague affected anyone who died, reanimating them into zombies. The Great Plague, as it became known, ran rampant until it was finally eradicated. It changed society forever because the dead did not rest easy from that day forth.
Today, a few places are still affected by it, typically in lost settlements in the desert. Such areas are overrun by shambling zombies.
Dead bodies of humanoids and giants left without proper funerary rites arise as undead creatures: ghasts, ghouls, skeletons, or zombies.
Zombies are created when a body is left to rot out in the open air. All humanoid and giants suffer from this curse, only the occasional beast and monstrosity rise again after their deaths. Reanimation happens within a few hours up to a full day, though it is often precipitated by the approach of potential living.
The Salt Desert is one of the most inhospitable in Akhamet. Any dead rises up as a salt skeleton, unlike elsewhere where they animate as zombies.
Ogre Zombie: ?

 

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Along the Twisting Way: The Faerie Ring Campaign Guide (5E)
5e
Undead: Korapira’s obsession with death and her gruesome experiments leave a veritable torrent of dead and undead in their wake. However, she cares no more for undead than she does for the living—it is the act, the transition from life to death, the release of the soul that she cares about. Any undead side-products of her experiments are typically left to her ravenous children.
Submerged Undead: ?
Incorporeal Undead: ?
Undead Animal: One of Salmigar River’s tributaries cuts through a dead section of the Greenwood and skirts the Silent Forest. The river had become the grave site of many wounded prey animals fleeing from a particularly large hunt. The forest accepted the terrified animals and allowed them a final moment of respite before they succumbed to their wounds and fell into the river.
As negative energy built up around the animals’ death, the river turned blood red. During the day, the area surrounding the river only has an eerie stillness to mark the place as haunted. No animals come near the river, and no birds fly above it. During the full moon, the moon turns crimson and undead animals drag themselves out of the river to wreak vengeance.
Undead Ally: ?
Banshee: ?
Ghost: ?
Ghoul: The Bones of Annwn is a dead, spiritless place, and no life survives long within it. Living creatures in the Bones of Annwn take 1d6 damage per minute. A creature killed by this damage rises as an undead—either a skeleton, zombie, ghoul, ghast, shadow, wraith, or specter, at the GM’s determination.
Ghast: The Bones of Annwn is a dead, spiritless place, and no life survives long within it. Living creatures in the Bones of Annwn take 1d6 damage per minute. A creature killed by this damage rises as an undead—either a skeleton, zombie, ghoul, ghast, shadow, wraith, or specter, at the GM’s determination.
Shadow: The Bones of Annwn is a dead, spiritless place, and no life survives long within it. Living creatures in the Bones of Annwn take 1d6 damage per minute. A creature killed by this damage rises as an undead—either a skeleton, zombie, ghoul, ghast, shadow, wraith, or specter, at the GM’s determination.
Shadows are powerful creatures native to the Shadow Plane or otherwise touched by ancient primordial darkness.
Animated Skeletal Horse: ?
Skeleton: The Bones of Annwn is a dead, spiritless place, and no life survives long within it. Living creatures in the Bones of Annwn take 1d6 damage per minute. A creature killed by this damage rises as an undead—either a skeleton, zombie, ghoul, ghast, shadow, wraith, or specter, at the GM’s determination.
Specter: The Bones of Annwn is a dead, spiritless place, and no life survives long within it. Living creatures in the Bones of Annwn take 1d6 damage per minute. A creature killed by this damage rises as an undead—either a skeleton, zombie, ghoul, ghast, shadow, wraith, or specter, at the GM’s determination.
Will-o'-Wisp: ?
Wraith: The Bones of Annwn is a dead, spiritless place, and no life survives long within it. Living creatures in the Bones of Annwn take 1d6 damage per minute. A creature killed by this damage rises as an undead—either a skeleton, zombie, ghoul, ghast, shadow, wraith, or specter, at the GM’s determination.
Zombie: The Bones of Annwn is a dead, spiritless place, and no life survives long within it. Living creatures in the Bones of Annwn take 1d6 damage per minute. A creature killed by this damage rises as an undead—either a skeleton, zombie, ghoul, ghast, shadow, wraith, or specter, at the GM’s determination.
The Bodie Politik can inhabit a corpse and animate it.
Ogre Zombie: The Bodie Politik can inhabit a corpse and animate it.