Undead Origins
- Thread starter Voadam
- Start date
Voadam
Legend
Voadam
Legend
Legendary Adventures: Epic 5E
5e
Death, Fourth Harbinger, Final Harbinger, Harbinger of the Apocalypse: ?
Mother of Vampires: The original victim of vampirism, the Mother of Vampire’s sickness began as a magical curse and became more when primitive attempts to alleviate the ailment transformed her—though like everything else from her mortal life, how this came to pass has been lost to time.
Necrolord, The Master of Undeath: The master of undeath is among the oldest creatures in existence and like a stone fixed against the current of time. It fiercely guards its ancient knowledge however and long ago became obsessed with its hunger to know not just more but all, that craving all that remains of the mortal it once was.
Swarm of Death: Battlefields littered with festering corpses and unblessed mass graveyards can spawn a horror that brings about more death than most conflicts manage in the first place.
Swarm of Death, Horror, Shambling Swarm of the Undead: ?
Undead, Undead Creature: ?
Lethal Undead: Wish. The most powerful spell in the game should become as dangerous to use as ever. Basic uses of wish to cast lower-level spells are encouraged, but anything more complicated or reality-altering requires the most complex wording. Also, repeated identical uses of the spell have a balancing effect the GM can utilize with plot. For example, casting wish on a weekly basis to resurrect the dead might lead to an army of lethal undead rising up every full moon, or using the spell to awaken an endless stream of beasts that start their own competing animal kingdom that draws the ire of other countries and rulers.
Undead Servant: ?
Medium Undead: ?
Mummy Lord: ?
Shadow: Soulhoarder Dragon lair action.
Skeleton: Soulhoarder Dragon lair action.
Vampire: Creatures reduced to 0 hit points from [the mother of vampire's bite] effect die and rise the next evening as a vampire under her control.
Vampire Spawn: ?
Soulhoarder Dragon lair action
The dragon wills ambient necromantic energies to spawn 4 skeletons or 1 shadow under its control. These undead act immediately and then again on the dragon’s initiative. Creatures spawned this way last until destroyed.
5e
Death, Fourth Harbinger, Final Harbinger, Harbinger of the Apocalypse: ?
Mother of Vampires: The original victim of vampirism, the Mother of Vampire’s sickness began as a magical curse and became more when primitive attempts to alleviate the ailment transformed her—though like everything else from her mortal life, how this came to pass has been lost to time.
Necrolord, The Master of Undeath: The master of undeath is among the oldest creatures in existence and like a stone fixed against the current of time. It fiercely guards its ancient knowledge however and long ago became obsessed with its hunger to know not just more but all, that craving all that remains of the mortal it once was.
Swarm of Death: Battlefields littered with festering corpses and unblessed mass graveyards can spawn a horror that brings about more death than most conflicts manage in the first place.
Swarm of Death, Horror, Shambling Swarm of the Undead: ?
Undead, Undead Creature: ?
Lethal Undead: Wish. The most powerful spell in the game should become as dangerous to use as ever. Basic uses of wish to cast lower-level spells are encouraged, but anything more complicated or reality-altering requires the most complex wording. Also, repeated identical uses of the spell have a balancing effect the GM can utilize with plot. For example, casting wish on a weekly basis to resurrect the dead might lead to an army of lethal undead rising up every full moon, or using the spell to awaken an endless stream of beasts that start their own competing animal kingdom that draws the ire of other countries and rulers.
Undead Servant: ?
Medium Undead: ?
Mummy Lord: ?
Shadow: Soulhoarder Dragon lair action.
Skeleton: Soulhoarder Dragon lair action.
Vampire: Creatures reduced to 0 hit points from [the mother of vampire's bite] effect die and rise the next evening as a vampire under her control.
Vampire Spawn: ?
Soulhoarder Dragon lair action
The dragon wills ambient necromantic energies to spawn 4 skeletons or 1 shadow under its control. These undead act immediately and then again on the dragon’s initiative. Creatures spawned this way last until destroyed.
Last edited:
Voadam
Legend
Voadam
Legend
Voadam
Legend
Voadam
Legend
Level Up: Adventurer's Guide (A5E)
5e
Undead, Undead Creature: The act of creating or becoming undead is a matter of powerful magic and not something that can be easily undone.
Alter Self spell.
Undead Horror: ?
Mindless Undead Creature: ?
Problematic Undead Creature: ?
Undead Corpse: ?
Ghast: Create Undead spell 8th level or higher spell slot.
Ghost: ?
Ghoul: Create Undead spell.
Lich: ?
Lich, Dreadful Foe: ?
Azkaroth, Archlich, Dark Lord: ?
Evil Lich Overlord: ?
Mummy: Create Undead spell 9th level spell slot.
Revenant: Revenant feat.
Skeleton Creature: Wicked Youth Warlock invocation.
Skeleton: Animate Dead spell.
Vampire: ?
Vampire Lord: Vampire Lord feat.
Vampire, Intelligent Creature: ?
Wight: Create Undead spell 8th level or higher spell slot.
Zombie Creature: Wicked Youth Warlock invocation.
Zombie: Animate Dead spell.
Roav's Reanimating Circle of Death spell.
Finger of Death spell.
Alter Self
2nd-level (transmutation; arcane, movement, shapechanging, weaponry)
Classes: Sorcerer, wizard
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration (1 hour)
You use magic to mold yourself into a new form. Choose one of the options below. Until the spell ends, you can use an action to choose a different option.
Amphibian: Your body takes on aquatic adaptations. You can breathe underwater normally and gain a swimming speed equal to your base Speed.
Altered State: You decide what you look like. None of your gameplay statistics change but you can alter anything about your body’s appearance, including but not limited to: your heritage, 1 foot of height, weight, clothing, tattoos, piercings, facial features, sound of your voice, hair style and length, skin and eye coloration, sex, and any other distinguishing features. You cannot become a creature of a different size category, and your limb structure remains the same; for example if you’re bipedal, you can’t use this spell to become a quadruped. Until the spell ends, you can use an action to change your appearance.
Red in Tooth and Claw: You grow magical natural weapons of your choice with a +1 bonus to attack and damage. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage of a type determined by the natural weapon you chose; for example a tentacle deals bludgeoning, a horn deals piercing, and claws deal slashing.
Cast at Higher Levels. When using a spell slot of 5th-level, add the following to the list of forms you can adopt.
Greater Natural Weapons. The damage dealt by your natural weapon increases to 2d6, and you gain a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls with your natural weapons.
Mask of the Grave. You adopt the appearance of a skeleton or zombie (your choice). Your type changes to undead, and mindless undead creatures ignore your presence, treating you as one of their own. You don’t need to breathe and you become immune to poison.
Wings. A pair of wings sprouts from your back. The wings can appear bird-like, leathery like a bat or dragon’s wings, or like the wings of an insect. You gain a fly speed equal to your base Speed.
Animate Dead
3rd-level (necromancy; necrotic, summoning, undead)
Classes: Cleric, wizard
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Target: Corpse or pile of bones of a Medium or Small creature
Components: V, S, M (two copper coins)
Duration: Instantaneous
You animate a mortal’s remains to become your undead servant.
If the spell is cast upon bones you create a skeleton, and if cast upon a corpse you choose to create a skeleton or a zombie. The Narrator has the undead’s statistics.
While it is within 60 feet you can use a bonus action to mentally command the undead. When you command multiple undead using this spell, you must give them all the same command. You may decide the action the undead takes and where it moves during its next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as guarding an area. If not given a command, the undead only defends itself. The undead continues to follow a command until its task is complete.
The undead is under your control for 24 hours, after which it stops obeying any commands. You must cast this spell on the undead before the spell ends to maintain control of it for another 24 hours. Casting the spell in this way reasserts control over up to 4 of your previously-animated undead instead of animating a new one.
Cast at Higher Levels. You create or reassert control over 2 additional undead for each slot level above 3rd. When commanding more than 3 undead they make group attack rolls.
Rare: Komanov’s Chilling Animate Dead. Natural weapon attacks by undead created using this spell deal cold damage instead of bludgeoning damage.
Circle of Death
6th-level (necromancy; necrotic)
Classes: Sorcerer, warlock, wizard
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Long (120 feet)
Area: 60-foot radius sphere
Components: V, S, M (shards of a black pearl worth at least 500 gold)
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Constitution halves
A sphere of negative energy sucks life from the area. Creatures in the area take 9d6 necrotic damage.
Cast at Higher Levels. The damage increases by 2d6 for each slot level above 6th.
Rare: Roav’s Reanimating Circle of Death. Creatures killed by this spell rise as zombies at the start of your next turn. These zombies have 1 hit point, they are not under your control, and they attack the nearest living creature.
Create Undead
6th-level (necromancy; arcane, divine, undead)
Classes: Cleric, warlock, wizard
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Short (30 feet)
Target: Up to three corpses of Medium or Small humanoids
Components: V, S, M (each corpse requires a clay pot filled with grave dirt, a clay pot filled with brackish water, and a black onyx stone worth 150 gold)
Duration: Instantaneous
This spell cannot be cast in sunlight. You reanimate the targets as undead and transform them into ghouls under your control.
While it is within 120 feet you can use a bonus action to mentally command the undead. When you command multiple undead using this spell, you must give them all the same command. You may decide the action the undead takes and where it moves during its next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as guarding an area. If not given a command, the undead only defends itself. The undead continues to follow a command until its task is complete.
The undead is under your control for 24 hours, after which it stops obeying any commands. You must cast this spell on the undead before the spell ends to maintain control of it for another 24 hours. Casting the spell in this way reasserts control over up to 3 undead you have animated with this spell, rather than animating a new one.
Cast at Higher Levels. You create or reassert control over one additional ghoul for each slot level above 6th. Alternatively, when using an 8th-level spell slot you create or reassert control over 2 ghasts or wights, or when using a 9th-level spell slot you create or reassert control over 3 ghasts or wights, or 2 mummies. When commanding more than 3 undead they make group attack rolls.
Finger of Death
7th-level (necromancy; arcane, necrotic, undead)
Classes: Sorcerer, warlock, wizard
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Medium (60 feet)
Target: One creature
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Constitution halves
Negative energy wracks the target and deals 7d8 + 30 necrotic damage. A humanoid killed by this spell turns into a zombie at the start of your next turn. It is permanently under your control and follows your spoken commands.
Cast at Higher Levels. The damage increases by 2d8 for each slot level above 7th.
Rare: Cyneburg’s Shadowed Finger of Death. This spell’s duration is 1 hour. You can store the spell harmlessly on a willing creature, causing an inky stain to appear on its finger. That creature can touch or make an unarmed melee attack to deliver the spell to a target, triggering the damage on a hit. The spell ends on a hit or miss.
Revenant
Prerequisites: Vendetta, one other feat or previous Ability Score Improvement, dead
You may choose to select this feat when you die, replacing your most recently chosen feat other than Vendetta or reducing your ability scores to reverse your last Ability Score Improvement. The next midnight your corpse rises and your soul returns to it. You gain the undead type in addition to being a humanoid, as well as the following benefits:
• Your destiny changes to Revenge.
• You gain resistance to necrotic and psychic damage.
• You gain darkvision to a range of 60 feet (or if you already have it, its range increases by 30 feet).
• You become immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition.
• If your vendetta has not ended, you regain all of your hit points when you finish a short rest or 1 hour after you are reduced to 0 hit points.
• You gain an expertise die on saving throws made against spells and other magical effects, and on saving throws made to resist being charmed, fatigued, frightened, paralyzed, or stunned.
• You gain an expertise die on ability checks made to find or track a creature that is part of your vendetta.
Vampire Lord
Prerequisites: Vampire Spawn
It is uncertain where the darkness ends and you begin as you fully embrace vampirism—everything it offers and all that it takes away. You gain the following benefits.
• Your Speed increases by 10 feet.
• You gain an expertise die on Stealth checks.
• The range of your darkvision increases to 120 feet.
• Your bite damage increases to 1d10.
• You can use Charming Gaze twice between rests.
• When using Charming Gaze, a target with at least one level of strife makes its saving throw with disadvantage.
You also gain the Vampiric Shapechange feature.
Vampiric Shapechange. You can use an action to transform into the shape of a Medium or smaller beast of CR 3 or less, a mist, or back into your true form.
While transformed into a beast, you have the beast’s size and movement modes. You can’t use reactions or speak. Otherwise, you use your statistics. Any items you are carrying transform with you.
While transformed into a mist, you have a flying speed of 30 feet, can’t speak, can’t take actions or manipulate objects, are immune to nonmagical damage from weapons, and have advantage on saving throws and Stealth checks. You can pass through a space as narrow as 1 inch without squeezing but can’t pass through water. Any items you are carrying transform with you.
All of these changes to your body have utterly deprived you of your mortality. You gain the undead type in addition to being a humanoid, and you take 20 radiant damage when you end your turn in contact with sunlight.
Wicked Youth
Prerequisite: 15th level, Diabolist archetype
You are immune to necrotic damage, you are immune to disease, and you cannot be magically aged. When you kill a creature, you can either reduce your apparent age or extend your life span by a number of years equal to the creature’s CR. When you would die of old age, you instead become undead, gaining the skeleton or zombie template with no changes to your ability scores.
5e
Undead, Undead Creature: The act of creating or becoming undead is a matter of powerful magic and not something that can be easily undone.
Alter Self spell.
Undead Horror: ?
Mindless Undead Creature: ?
Problematic Undead Creature: ?
Undead Corpse: ?
Ghast: Create Undead spell 8th level or higher spell slot.
Ghost: ?
Ghoul: Create Undead spell.
Lich: ?
Lich, Dreadful Foe: ?
Azkaroth, Archlich, Dark Lord: ?
Evil Lich Overlord: ?
Mummy: Create Undead spell 9th level spell slot.
Revenant: Revenant feat.
Skeleton Creature: Wicked Youth Warlock invocation.
Skeleton: Animate Dead spell.
Vampire: ?
Vampire Lord: Vampire Lord feat.
Vampire, Intelligent Creature: ?
Wight: Create Undead spell 8th level or higher spell slot.
Zombie Creature: Wicked Youth Warlock invocation.
Zombie: Animate Dead spell.
Roav's Reanimating Circle of Death spell.
Finger of Death spell.
Alter Self
2nd-level (transmutation; arcane, movement, shapechanging, weaponry)
Classes: Sorcerer, wizard
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration (1 hour)
You use magic to mold yourself into a new form. Choose one of the options below. Until the spell ends, you can use an action to choose a different option.
Amphibian: Your body takes on aquatic adaptations. You can breathe underwater normally and gain a swimming speed equal to your base Speed.
Altered State: You decide what you look like. None of your gameplay statistics change but you can alter anything about your body’s appearance, including but not limited to: your heritage, 1 foot of height, weight, clothing, tattoos, piercings, facial features, sound of your voice, hair style and length, skin and eye coloration, sex, and any other distinguishing features. You cannot become a creature of a different size category, and your limb structure remains the same; for example if you’re bipedal, you can’t use this spell to become a quadruped. Until the spell ends, you can use an action to change your appearance.
Red in Tooth and Claw: You grow magical natural weapons of your choice with a +1 bonus to attack and damage. Your unarmed strikes deal 1d6 bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage of a type determined by the natural weapon you chose; for example a tentacle deals bludgeoning, a horn deals piercing, and claws deal slashing.
Cast at Higher Levels. When using a spell slot of 5th-level, add the following to the list of forms you can adopt.
Greater Natural Weapons. The damage dealt by your natural weapon increases to 2d6, and you gain a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls with your natural weapons.
Mask of the Grave. You adopt the appearance of a skeleton or zombie (your choice). Your type changes to undead, and mindless undead creatures ignore your presence, treating you as one of their own. You don’t need to breathe and you become immune to poison.
Wings. A pair of wings sprouts from your back. The wings can appear bird-like, leathery like a bat or dragon’s wings, or like the wings of an insect. You gain a fly speed equal to your base Speed.
Animate Dead
3rd-level (necromancy; necrotic, summoning, undead)
Classes: Cleric, wizard
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Target: Corpse or pile of bones of a Medium or Small creature
Components: V, S, M (two copper coins)
Duration: Instantaneous
You animate a mortal’s remains to become your undead servant.
If the spell is cast upon bones you create a skeleton, and if cast upon a corpse you choose to create a skeleton or a zombie. The Narrator has the undead’s statistics.
While it is within 60 feet you can use a bonus action to mentally command the undead. When you command multiple undead using this spell, you must give them all the same command. You may decide the action the undead takes and where it moves during its next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as guarding an area. If not given a command, the undead only defends itself. The undead continues to follow a command until its task is complete.
The undead is under your control for 24 hours, after which it stops obeying any commands. You must cast this spell on the undead before the spell ends to maintain control of it for another 24 hours. Casting the spell in this way reasserts control over up to 4 of your previously-animated undead instead of animating a new one.
Cast at Higher Levels. You create or reassert control over 2 additional undead for each slot level above 3rd. When commanding more than 3 undead they make group attack rolls.
Rare: Komanov’s Chilling Animate Dead. Natural weapon attacks by undead created using this spell deal cold damage instead of bludgeoning damage.
Circle of Death
6th-level (necromancy; necrotic)
Classes: Sorcerer, warlock, wizard
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Long (120 feet)
Area: 60-foot radius sphere
Components: V, S, M (shards of a black pearl worth at least 500 gold)
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Constitution halves
A sphere of negative energy sucks life from the area. Creatures in the area take 9d6 necrotic damage.
Cast at Higher Levels. The damage increases by 2d6 for each slot level above 6th.
Rare: Roav’s Reanimating Circle of Death. Creatures killed by this spell rise as zombies at the start of your next turn. These zombies have 1 hit point, they are not under your control, and they attack the nearest living creature.
Create Undead
6th-level (necromancy; arcane, divine, undead)
Classes: Cleric, warlock, wizard
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Short (30 feet)
Target: Up to three corpses of Medium or Small humanoids
Components: V, S, M (each corpse requires a clay pot filled with grave dirt, a clay pot filled with brackish water, and a black onyx stone worth 150 gold)
Duration: Instantaneous
This spell cannot be cast in sunlight. You reanimate the targets as undead and transform them into ghouls under your control.
While it is within 120 feet you can use a bonus action to mentally command the undead. When you command multiple undead using this spell, you must give them all the same command. You may decide the action the undead takes and where it moves during its next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as guarding an area. If not given a command, the undead only defends itself. The undead continues to follow a command until its task is complete.
The undead is under your control for 24 hours, after which it stops obeying any commands. You must cast this spell on the undead before the spell ends to maintain control of it for another 24 hours. Casting the spell in this way reasserts control over up to 3 undead you have animated with this spell, rather than animating a new one.
Cast at Higher Levels. You create or reassert control over one additional ghoul for each slot level above 6th. Alternatively, when using an 8th-level spell slot you create or reassert control over 2 ghasts or wights, or when using a 9th-level spell slot you create or reassert control over 3 ghasts or wights, or 2 mummies. When commanding more than 3 undead they make group attack rolls.
Finger of Death
7th-level (necromancy; arcane, necrotic, undead)
Classes: Sorcerer, warlock, wizard
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Medium (60 feet)
Target: One creature
Components: V, S
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Constitution halves
Negative energy wracks the target and deals 7d8 + 30 necrotic damage. A humanoid killed by this spell turns into a zombie at the start of your next turn. It is permanently under your control and follows your spoken commands.
Cast at Higher Levels. The damage increases by 2d8 for each slot level above 7th.
Rare: Cyneburg’s Shadowed Finger of Death. This spell’s duration is 1 hour. You can store the spell harmlessly on a willing creature, causing an inky stain to appear on its finger. That creature can touch or make an unarmed melee attack to deliver the spell to a target, triggering the damage on a hit. The spell ends on a hit or miss.
Revenant
Prerequisites: Vendetta, one other feat or previous Ability Score Improvement, dead
You may choose to select this feat when you die, replacing your most recently chosen feat other than Vendetta or reducing your ability scores to reverse your last Ability Score Improvement. The next midnight your corpse rises and your soul returns to it. You gain the undead type in addition to being a humanoid, as well as the following benefits:
• Your destiny changes to Revenge.
• You gain resistance to necrotic and psychic damage.
• You gain darkvision to a range of 60 feet (or if you already have it, its range increases by 30 feet).
• You become immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition.
• If your vendetta has not ended, you regain all of your hit points when you finish a short rest or 1 hour after you are reduced to 0 hit points.
• You gain an expertise die on saving throws made against spells and other magical effects, and on saving throws made to resist being charmed, fatigued, frightened, paralyzed, or stunned.
• You gain an expertise die on ability checks made to find or track a creature that is part of your vendetta.
Vampire Lord
Prerequisites: Vampire Spawn
It is uncertain where the darkness ends and you begin as you fully embrace vampirism—everything it offers and all that it takes away. You gain the following benefits.
• Your Speed increases by 10 feet.
• You gain an expertise die on Stealth checks.
• The range of your darkvision increases to 120 feet.
• Your bite damage increases to 1d10.
• You can use Charming Gaze twice between rests.
• When using Charming Gaze, a target with at least one level of strife makes its saving throw with disadvantage.
You also gain the Vampiric Shapechange feature.
Vampiric Shapechange. You can use an action to transform into the shape of a Medium or smaller beast of CR 3 or less, a mist, or back into your true form.
While transformed into a beast, you have the beast’s size and movement modes. You can’t use reactions or speak. Otherwise, you use your statistics. Any items you are carrying transform with you.
While transformed into a mist, you have a flying speed of 30 feet, can’t speak, can’t take actions or manipulate objects, are immune to nonmagical damage from weapons, and have advantage on saving throws and Stealth checks. You can pass through a space as narrow as 1 inch without squeezing but can’t pass through water. Any items you are carrying transform with you.
All of these changes to your body have utterly deprived you of your mortality. You gain the undead type in addition to being a humanoid, and you take 20 radiant damage when you end your turn in contact with sunlight.
Wicked Youth
Prerequisite: 15th level, Diabolist archetype
You are immune to necrotic damage, you are immune to disease, and you cannot be magically aged. When you kill a creature, you can either reduce your apparent age or extend your life span by a number of years equal to the creature’s CR. When you would die of old age, you instead become undead, gaining the skeleton or zombie template with no changes to your ability scores.
Last edited:
Voadam
Legend
Level Up: Memories of Holdenshire (A5E)
5e
Undead Spirit: ?
Undead: ?
Mindless Undead: ?
Ghoul: Legends say the first ghoul was an elf who practiced depraved, cannibalistic rituals to curry favor with the demon lord of undeath. When this elf repented, the gods decreed that he and his kind would be forever immune to the ghouls' paralytic touch. Still, the demon lord continues to reward feasters of flesh by transforming them into ghouls. Even those who turn to cannibalism out of desperation might unwillingly receive the lord's dark blessing. Aboleths, hags, and necromancers know rites to create ghouls, as well.
Anyone who practices cannibalism may transform into an undead creature known as a ghoul.
Ghoul, Undead Cursed With an Eternal Hunger for Humanoid Flesh: ?
Ghoul, Ravening Monster: ?
Ghoul Whose Appetites Are Routinely Satisfied: ?
Noble Ghoul: ?
Ghast: ?
Lacedon Ghoul: ?
Scarecrow, Magical Scarecrow: A scarecrow is animated by the echo of a malign spirit.
Spellcasters create scarecrows to guard the entrances to their homes. Made of rags and straw, scarecrows are particularly susceptible to fire.
Though terrifying, scarecrows fall to pieces if the magic that animates them is dispelled. The spirit of a dead humanoid inhabits each scarecrow; banishing this spirit also destroys the scarecrow.
Scarecrows are usually created by spellcasters in temperate environments.
Scarecrow, Construct, Eerie Effigy, Short-Lived Sentinel, Uncanny Copy: ?
Snowman: ?
Sandling: ?
Skeleton: Skeletons are fleshless corpses imbued by necromantic energies with a mockery of life. Most often, spellcasters create skeletons to act as guards and servants, but it's not unheard of for skeletons to arise from cursed grounds where the living are outnumbered by the unburied dead.
Necromancy imbues skeletons with a semblance of life, although some skeletons rise spontaneously on cursed battlefields or in cities ravaged by plague.
Nearly anything with bones can be reanimated as a skeleton.
Skeleton, Reanimated Skeleton: ?
Skeleton, Mindless Undead: ?
Gingerbread Man: ?
Skeleton, Fleshless Corpse: ?
Humanoid Skeleton: ?
Vampire: ?
Zombie, Mindless Undead: ?
Zombie: ?
5e
Undead Spirit: ?
Undead: ?
Mindless Undead: ?
Ghoul: Legends say the first ghoul was an elf who practiced depraved, cannibalistic rituals to curry favor with the demon lord of undeath. When this elf repented, the gods decreed that he and his kind would be forever immune to the ghouls' paralytic touch. Still, the demon lord continues to reward feasters of flesh by transforming them into ghouls. Even those who turn to cannibalism out of desperation might unwillingly receive the lord's dark blessing. Aboleths, hags, and necromancers know rites to create ghouls, as well.
Anyone who practices cannibalism may transform into an undead creature known as a ghoul.
Ghoul, Undead Cursed With an Eternal Hunger for Humanoid Flesh: ?
Ghoul, Ravening Monster: ?
Ghoul Whose Appetites Are Routinely Satisfied: ?
Noble Ghoul: ?
Ghast: ?
Lacedon Ghoul: ?
Scarecrow, Magical Scarecrow: A scarecrow is animated by the echo of a malign spirit.
Spellcasters create scarecrows to guard the entrances to their homes. Made of rags and straw, scarecrows are particularly susceptible to fire.
Though terrifying, scarecrows fall to pieces if the magic that animates them is dispelled. The spirit of a dead humanoid inhabits each scarecrow; banishing this spirit also destroys the scarecrow.
Scarecrows are usually created by spellcasters in temperate environments.
Scarecrow, Construct, Eerie Effigy, Short-Lived Sentinel, Uncanny Copy: ?
Snowman: ?
Sandling: ?
Skeleton: Skeletons are fleshless corpses imbued by necromantic energies with a mockery of life. Most often, spellcasters create skeletons to act as guards and servants, but it's not unheard of for skeletons to arise from cursed grounds where the living are outnumbered by the unburied dead.
Necromancy imbues skeletons with a semblance of life, although some skeletons rise spontaneously on cursed battlefields or in cities ravaged by plague.
Nearly anything with bones can be reanimated as a skeleton.
Skeleton, Reanimated Skeleton: ?
Skeleton, Mindless Undead: ?
Gingerbread Man: ?
Skeleton, Fleshless Corpse: ?
Humanoid Skeleton: ?
Vampire: ?
Zombie, Mindless Undead: ?
Zombie: ?
Voadam
Legend
Level Up: Monstrous Menagerie (A5E)
5e
Banshee: Banshees are created when a humanoid is killed in an act of horrific violence, or when a mourner of such a violent death dies of grief.
A banshee is the spirit of a creature that was a victim of violence.
Banshee, Wispy Spirit With a Faint Glow That Resembles Moonlight, Ghostly Spirit, Spirit of a Creature That Was a Victim of Violence: ?
Banshee Variant Warlord's Ghost: ?
Banshee Variant Warlord's Ghost, Armored Warrior Wielding a Sword and a Bugle: ?
Banshee, Lesser Undead Follower: ?
Demilich, Normal Demilich: While a lich’s unnatural semblance of life can last for millennia, the passing centuries blunt its ambitions and crumble its bones to dust. A demilich is what remains when a lich’s body and spirit have all but decomposed, leaving behind only a gem-encrusted skull and perhaps a few bone shards.
An ancient lich can extend its unnatural lifespan by binding its soul to one or two flawless gems set in its skull, usually in its eye sockets. When a jeweled lich’s bones finally molder past recognition, these soul gems preserve its skull and prevent its soul from passing on.
Demilich, Inanimate Gemmed Skull Lying Amidst Bone Powder, Wraithlike Form: ?
Demilich Variant Demilich Mastermind: ?
Medon, Skull of Medon, Powerful Demilich: ?
Dragon Lich, Undead Dragon Lich: In order to become a dragon lich, a dragon must imbue its spirit into a soul vessel. The vessel is usually some treasured item from the dragon’s hoard, such as a particularly valuable gem or piece of jewelry.
Any adult or older dragon with spellcasting ability may become a dragon lich. Chromatic dragons most often become dragon liches.
Obsessed with death, black dragons sometimes extend their existences through an arcane ritual that turns them into liches.
In the midst of a ritual to turn [the black dragon] to a dragon lich.
Dragon Lich, Dragon Variant: ?
Adult Black Dragon Lich, Sample Dragon Lich: ?
Dread Knight, Doom Knight, Death Knight: Infernal powers and evil gods can transform paragons of knightly virtue into malevolent undead creatures of hate and loathing—dread knights, also called doom knights or death knights. These fallen knights are cursed to exist forever as brooding mockeries of their former selves: armored skeletal warriors with fearsome martial and magical powers.
Tragic figures, dread knights were once honorable warriors who suffered a fall from grace.
Dread Knight, Malevolent Undead Creature of Hate and Loathing, Fallen Knight, Brooding Mockery, Armored Skeletal Warrior With Fearsome Martial and Magical Powers, Dark Commander, Honorable Warrior, Tragic Figure, Gifted Leader: ?
Dread Knight Champion: ?
Queen Cir, Dread Knight Champion: Queen Cir was a beloved monarch and holy knight dedicated to the sun god. When invasion imperiled her nation, she accepted a gift from a mysterious stranger: a magical sword named Legion. Anyone slain by this sword rose as a zombie under Cir's control. With Legion's help, Queen Cir slaughtered invaders and transformed them into undead defenders, winning a grisly victory. Not yet content, she then massacred a surrendering army to swell her zombie horde.
Cir's religious order turned against her. In a mighty battle, she was slain by her former knightly peers. With her dying breath, she vowed revenge from beyond the grave—a promise she fulfilled when she rose from the dead as a dread knight.
Ghost: A ghost is the soul of a deceased humanoid tied to a specific location, item, or creature, doomed to haunt them until their spirit is laid to rest. The focus of a ghost’s haunting is almost always something or someone that was significant to them in life.
Emotionally Bound. A ghost might be tied to the place where they lived or died, a ring from their betrothed, or the person who betrayed them. Whatever form it takes, the bond represents the ghost’s grief or anger regarding their death, and the ghost can’t find peace until those emotions are resolved. The ghost may need to see that their house is cared for, their beloved’s ring returned, or their killer brought to justice before they can move on. The ghost may not even be aware they are dead and might lash out at anyone who forces them to face the reality of their situation.
Ghosts are the spirits of humanoids who died under tragic circumstances. They can’t find rest until their unfinished business is resolved.
Vengeful Ghost: ?
Ghoul: Legends say the first ghoul was an elf who practiced depraved, cannibalistic rituals to curry favor with the demon lord of undeath. When this elf repented, the gods decreed that he and his kind would be forever immune to the ghouls’ paralytic touch. Still, the demon lord continues to reward feasters of flesh by transforming them into ghouls. Even those who turn to cannibalism out of desperation might unwillingly receive the lord’s dark blessing. Aboleths, hags, and necromancers know rites to create ghouls, as well.
Anyone who practices cannibalism may transform into an undead creature known as a ghoul.
Ghoul, Undead Cursed With an Eternal Hunger for Humanoid Flesh: ?
Noble Ghoul: ?
Ghast: ?
Lacedon Ghoul: Many were once sailors who turned to cannibalism to avoid starvation at sea or after being shipwrecked. Others are the handiwork of evil underwater creatures such as sahuagins and aboleths, who use magic rituals to create them.
Lacedon Ghast: Many were once sailors who turned to cannibalism to avoid starvation at sea or after being shipwrecked. Others are the handiwork of evil underwater creatures such as sahuagins and aboleths, who use magic rituals to create them.
Lacedon Ghoul, Aquatic Undead: ?
Lacedon Ghast, Aquatic Undead: ?
Lich: A spellcaster who seeks knowledge above all else may turn to fell rituals to transcend the limitations of mortality, becoming a lich, an undead being of immense power.
Nameless Horrors. The foul rituals that fuel a lich’s transformation are all but forgotten in this age. Dabblers in necromancy know that becoming a lich requires the sacrifice of one’s life, but the true cost is greater still. To become a lich, the caster abandons their mortal identity. They must renounce their true name without claiming another, casting their past into howling astral winds or the infinite abyss. Their names fade from history books, and their mortal accomplishments disappear from memory or are ascribed to others. Liches shun names, referring to themselves with honorifics like “The Drowned King” or “The Speaker of Oblivion.”
Soul Vessels. A lich binds its soul within a specially prepared object inscribed with magical sigils of power, warding, and binding. This soul vessel maintains the lich’s existence and ensures its survival.
Only the most powerful mortal spellcasters can perform the ritual to become a lich. The process requires the spellcaster to sacrifice their life and erases all evidence of their former existence.
A lich stores its soul in a specially prepared object called a soul vessel. Soul vessels can take many forms and are usually protected by powerful magical wards.
Lich, Undead Being of Immense Power, Nameless Horror, Master of Magic: ?
Ancient Lich: ?
Jewelled Lich: An ancient lich can extend its unnatural lifespan by binding its soul to one or two flawless gems set in its skull, usually in its eye sockets.
Azkaroth, Lich, Archlich, Dark Lord: ?
Mummy, Ordinary Mummy: Cloth wrappings and preservative ointments protect a mummy’s body from rot, even as mystic rituals ensure its spirit remains bound to the mortal realm for all eternity.
Prepared for Unlife. A mummy is purposefully prepared for undeath from the moment it dies. A mummy is intended to rise again centuries after it was laid to rest inside its sarcophagus.
Mummies are the remains of mortals specifically prepared to rise as undead after their death. They guard tombs or sites of religious significance.
The wrappings and chemicals used to preserve their bodies make mummies particularly flammable.
Most mummies lie inert for centuries, oblivious to the passage of time until their rest is disturbed. Some are created to protect the burial chambers of more powerful mummy lords from tomb robbers. Others stand guard at the border of the Bleak Gate, fighting the malign spirits that seek to return to the realm of the living. Still others act as custodians of ancient, arcane secrets—knowledge they might share with those they deem worthy.
Mummy Lord: Some ancient priest-monarchs were mummified using powerful necromantic techniques that preserved not only their bodies, but their souls as well. When their eternal slumber is disturbed, these mummy lords return to the material world with all the wisdom, arrogance, and might they possessed in life.
Shortly after death, each mummy lord has its heart removed and hidden somewhere in its burial chamber. Until this still-beating heart is silenced, a mummy lord can’t truly be defeated.
Mummy Lord, Sleeping Monarch: ?
Revenant: Sometimes a person’s will is so strong it endures beyond death. A person unjustly killed may find their soul transformed into a revenant, a vengeful spirit that seeks to punish its murderers.
Revenant, Vengeful Spirit, Merciless Hunter, Unquiet Spirit: ?
Scarecrow: A scarecrow is animated by the echo of a malign spirit.
Scarecrows are easier to create than other constructs but are far less durable, falling to pieces no more than a year after their creation.
Spellcasters create scarecrows to guard the entrances to their homes. Made of rags and straw, scarecrows are particularly susceptible to fire.
The spirit of a dead humanoid inhabits each scarecrow. Though terrifying, scarecrows fall to pieces if the magic that animates them is dispelled.
A rare version of the animate dead spell allows a spellcaster to create a scarecrow, snowman, or sandling. If the spell is cast on the same effigy 30 days in a row, the construct animates and takes on a rudimentary intelligence. Like any creation of animate dead, it can be commanded as a bonus action, but it serves its creator for the duration of its existence (one year) instead of for 24 hours.
Scarecrow, Magical Scarecrow, Eerie Effigy, Short-Lived Sentinel, Uncanny Copy: ?
Scarecrow Variant Sandling: A rare version of the animate dead spell allows a spellcaster to create a scarecrow, snowman, or sandling. If the spell is cast on the same effigy 30 days in a row, the construct animates and takes on a rudimentary intelligence. Like any creation of animate dead, it can be commanded as a bonus action, but it serves its creator for the duration of its existence (one year) instead of for 24 hours.
Scarecrow Variant Snowman: A rare version of the animate dead spell allows a spellcaster to create a scarecrow, snowman, or sandling. If the spell is cast on the same effigy 30 days in a row, the construct animates and takes on a rudimentary intelligence. Like any creation of animate dead, it can be commanded as a bonus action, but it serves its creator for the duration of its existence (one year) instead of for 24 hours.
Scarecrow Harvester: A rare version of the animate dead spell allows a spellcaster to create a scarecrow, snowman, or sandling. If the spell is cast on the same effigy 30 days in a row, the construct animates and takes on a rudimentary intelligence. Like any creation of animate dead, it can be commanded as a bonus action, but it serves its creator for the duration of its existence (one year) instead of for 24 hours.
Similarly, a rare version of the create undead spell cast 30 days in a row creates a single scarecrow harvester. If a spellcaster creates a second scarecrow harvester, the first is destroyed.
Shadow, Undead Shadow: Darkness given form and will, imbued with a hunger for light and the warmth of the living, shadows are dreadful undead born from those who die in the dark. As they slake their terrible hunger, more shadows arise.
The bodies of those slain by this draining touch cast no shadow, for their shadows have left, becoming new undead shadows with wills of their own.
Shadows are created by powerful undead. Vampires and liches that have journeyed beyond the Bleak Gate know the secrets of tearing away a living being’s shade to create an unliving shadow.
When a person dies in the dark, their spirit may rise again as a shadow. Necromancers and undead (including other shadows) can create shadows, as well.
If the target dies while cursed [by a shadow's claw attack], a new undead shadow rises from the corpse in 1d4 hours, the corpse no longer casts a natural shadow, and the target can’t be raised from the dead until the new shadow is destroyed.
Shadow, Darkness Given Form and Will, Dreadful Undead, Hungering Dark: ?
Skeleton: Skeletons are fleshless corpses imbued by necromantic energies with a mockery of life. Most often, spellcasters create skeletons to act as guards and servants, but it’s not unheard of for skeletons to arise from cursed grounds where the living are outnumbered by the unburied dead.
Necromancy imbues skeletons with a semblance of life, although some skeletons rise spontaneously on cursed battlefields or in cities ravaged by plague.
Undead are supernatural creatures or spirits that are no longer alive but are still animate. Some have been reanimated by magic spells, such as skeletons.
When the [skeleton] horde is reduced to 0 hit points, it turns into 2 (1d4) skeletons with 6 hit points each.
Skeletal Creature: Nearly anything with bones can be reanimated as a skeleton.
Any beast, giant, humanoid, or monstrosity that has bones can be animated as a skeleton.
When the [skeletal] horde is reduced to 0 hit points, it turns into 2 (1d4) skeletons with 6 hit points each.
Instead of preparing clairvoyance, the necromancer prepares animate dead. The necromancer can turn the intact corpses of creatures up to CR 5 into skeletons and zombies (applying the skeleton or zombie template to the base creature).
Skeleton, Fleshless Corpse: ?
Skeleton, Guard: ?
Skeleton, Servant: ?
Skeletal Warhorse: ?
Skeletal Champion: ?
Skeletal Tyrannosaurus Rex: ?
Humanoid Skeleton: ?
Beast Skeleton: ?
Skeleton Horde, Skeletal Horde, Hordes of Skeletons: ?
Skeleton Bear, Horror: ?
Skeleton Berserker, Horror: ?
Skeleton Bullete, Horror: ?
Moldering Skeleton, Undead Servant: ?
Skeleton, Lesser Undead Follower: ?
Skeleton, Mindless Undead: ?
Skeletal Griffin: ?
Gingerbread Man: [Hag b]aking gingerbread men.
Pet Skeleton: ?
Specter: A specter is an angry, undead spirit that has been prevented from moving on to the afterlife. Its emotional connection to its former life has been severed, yet it is doomed to remain on the Material Plane by dark magic, a vengeful god, or an unremembered tragedy.
Supernatural Origin. Some specters are created by evil creatures: a wraith’s victims rise as specters, and a living spellcaster can raise a specter from the dead. Other specters arise naturally. Over centuries, a ghost may forget its connections to the world, remembering only its anger. Such a spirit gradually transforms into a specter.
A specter is the angry spirit of a mortal that has entirely forgotten its former self.
Sire of Specters. A wraith can create a specter from the spirit of a humanoid creature that has recently died by violence.
A humanoid killed by a wraith may rise again as a specter under the wraith’s control.
Wraith Create Specter power.
Specter, Angry Undead Spirit That Has Been Prevented From Moving on to the Afterlife, Angry Spirit of a Mortal That Has Entirely Forgotten Its Former Self: ?
Patrolling Specter: ?
Vampire, True Vampire: It’s said that the first vampires were nobles cursed for their cruelty to their subjects, and indeed vampirism is often an affliction of the upper class.
Vampire spawn become true vampires only when their master dies or voluntarily releases them.
Undead are supernatural creatures or spirits that are no longer alive but are still animate. Some have been reanimated by magic spells, such as skeletons. Others, like vampires, are the products of an evil ritual or curse.
Vampire, Intelligent Nocturnal Undead, Twisted Hunter, Nocturnal Undead That Drinks Blood, Shapechanger, More Powerful Undead: ?
Vampire, Stern Protector: ?
Vampire Spellcaster: ?
Vampire Spawn Scout: ?
Vampiric Protector: ?
Vampire, Master: ?
Vampire, Apprentice: ?
Vampire, Lover: ?
Vampire, Ambassador: ?
Elder Vampire: ?
Immensely Powerful Elder Vampire: ?
Vampire Assassin: ?
Vampire Mage: ?
Vampire Warrior: Noble knights and bloodthirsty warlords that rise as vampires maintain the habit of discipline, marshaling minions under their command.
Vampire Spawn: If the target is reduced to 0 hit points by this attack, it dies and rises the following night as a vampire spawn in the vampire’s thrall. Before the target first rises as a vampire spawn, a bless, gentle repose, or similar spell cast on the body prevents this transformation.
Many of a vampire’s victims rise as vampire spawn that serve their creators’ every whim.
Elder Vampire Create Spawn power.
Vampire, More Powerful Undead Creature: ?
Wight, Person: Long ago, the word “wight” meant “person” in the language of an ancient culture. But then those who used the word were cursed with undeath for seeking immortality.
Wight, Essence Eater, Former Humanoid Cursed With Undeath: ?
Enormous Wight: ?
Will-o'-Wisp, Corpse Light: ?
Will-o'-Wisp, Glowing Ball of Light, Marker of Hidden Treasure, Undead Spirit of a Miser Who Couldn't Bear to Leave Their Worldly Wealth Behind As They Passed On to the Afterlife, Malevolent Spirit, Undead Spirit, Cunning Undead Creature: ?
Will-o'-Wisp, Undead Shade of a Greedy Pirate: ?
Wraith: Vile Transformation. A wraith is formed when a humanoid with an evil alignment dies. The humanoid’s spirit, dedicated to cosmic evil and warped by depravity, becomes so suffused with negative energy that it is transformed at the moment of death into a font of cold, nullifying force.
Wraiths are the spirits of mortals so evil their malevolence endures into undeath.
Wraith, Incorporeal Spirit of Pure Hatred and Malice, Font of Cold Nullifying Force, Spirit of a Mortal So Evil Their Malevolence Endures Into Undeath: ?
Wraith Lord: Mortal champions of evil, such as high priests and sorcerer kings, can rise from death as wraith lords.
Wraith Lord Create Wraith power.
Wraith Lord, Mighty Agent of Evil: ?
Wraith, More Powerful Undead Creature: ?
Zombie: Most often, zombies are created by necromancers or other evil spellcasters, although it’s not unheard of for zombies to arise spontaneously in areas marked by profound evil or unholy energy.
Although the necromantic energies involved in animating a zombie greatly slow further decay, all zombies eventually molder away.
Zombies are the mindless husks of formerly living creatures re-animated by foul necrotic energies.
When the [zombie] horde is reduced to 0 hit points, it turns into 2 (1d4) zombies with 7 hit points each.
Queen Cir was a beloved monarch and holy knight dedicated to the sun god. When invasion imperiled her nation, she accepted a gift from a mysterious stranger: a magical sword named Legion. Anyone slain by this sword rose as a zombie under Cir's control. With Legion's help, Queen Cir slaughtered invaders and transformed them into undead defenders, winning a grisly victory. Not yet content, she then massacred a surrendering army to swell her zombie horde.
A humanoid killed by damage from this sword [Legion] rises the next dusk as a zombie.
Wights desperately hunt living things in an effort to regain the spark of life they’ve lost. Their cold touch drains the living, and those they kill rise again as zombies.
A creature killed by a wight might rise again the following night as a zombie.
A humanoid or beast reduced to 0 hit points by [a wight's life drain] attack dies. Its corpse rises 24 hours later as a zombie under the wight’s control.
Finger of Death spell.
Zombie, Animated Corpse Stripped of Any Spirit or Intelligence it Possessed in Life, Mindless Husk of a Formerly Living Creature Re-Animated by Foul Necrotic Energy: ?
Zombified Creature: Any beast, dragon, giant, humanoid, or monstrosity can be raised as a zombie.
Instead of preparing clairvoyance, the necromancer prepares animate dead. The necromancer can turn the intact corpses of creatures up to CR 5 into skeletons and zombies (applying the skeleton or zombie template to the base creature).
Zombie Variant Infectious Bite power.
Ogre Zombie: ?
Ogre Zombie Variant Ogre Flesh Heap: An ogre’s dense, resilient bones allow its frame to support a surprising amount of weight. For this reason, some necromancers integrate flesh from other bodies into their ogre zombies, creating an ogre zombie made from a patchwork of other creatures.
Young Red Dragon Zombie: ?
Zombie Knight: ?
Zombie Horde: ?
Zombie, Shambling Undead: ?
Zombie, Mindless Undead: ?
Enormous Zombie: ?
Oversized Zombie: ?
Desiccated Zombie: ?
Well-Preserved Zombie: ?
Zombie Minion: ?
Undead, Undead Creature: Undead are supernatural creatures or spirits that are no longer alive but are still animate. Some have been reanimated by magic spells, such as skeletons. Others, like vampires, are the products of an evil ritual or curse.
Supernatural Creature: ?
Spirit: ?
Undead Guard: ?
Lesser Undead Follower: ?
Restless Dead: ?
Mindless Undead: ?
Undead Keeper: ?
Intelligent Undead: ?
More Powerful Undead Creature, More Powerful Undead: ?
Finger of Death (7th-Level; S). A creature within 60 feet makes a DC 20 Constitution saving throw, taking 61 (7d8 + 30) necrotic damage on a failed saving throw or half damage on a success. A humanoid killed by this spell turns into a zombie under the lich’s control at the start of the lich’s next turn.
Create Spawn (1/Day). The vampire magically raises a dead humanoid as a vampire spawn under the vampire’s control.
Create Specter. The wraith touches a humanoid corpse it killed less than 1 day ago. The creature’s spirit rises as a specter under the wraith’s control.
Create Wraith. The wraith lord touches a humanoid corpse it killed up to 1 day ago. The creature’s spirit rises as a wraith under the wraith lord’s control.
Infectious Bite. A creature bitten by the zombie takes 2 (1d4) ongoing necrotic damage until it regains hit points or a creature makes a DC 15 Medicine check to treat the wound. If a beast, dragon, giant, humanoid, or monstrosity dies while suffering from this effect, it becomes a zombie after 1 minute, gaining the zombie template.
5e
Banshee: Banshees are created when a humanoid is killed in an act of horrific violence, or when a mourner of such a violent death dies of grief.
A banshee is the spirit of a creature that was a victim of violence.
Banshee, Wispy Spirit With a Faint Glow That Resembles Moonlight, Ghostly Spirit, Spirit of a Creature That Was a Victim of Violence: ?
Banshee Variant Warlord's Ghost: ?
Banshee Variant Warlord's Ghost, Armored Warrior Wielding a Sword and a Bugle: ?
Banshee, Lesser Undead Follower: ?
Demilich, Normal Demilich: While a lich’s unnatural semblance of life can last for millennia, the passing centuries blunt its ambitions and crumble its bones to dust. A demilich is what remains when a lich’s body and spirit have all but decomposed, leaving behind only a gem-encrusted skull and perhaps a few bone shards.
An ancient lich can extend its unnatural lifespan by binding its soul to one or two flawless gems set in its skull, usually in its eye sockets. When a jeweled lich’s bones finally molder past recognition, these soul gems preserve its skull and prevent its soul from passing on.
Demilich, Inanimate Gemmed Skull Lying Amidst Bone Powder, Wraithlike Form: ?
Demilich Variant Demilich Mastermind: ?
Medon, Skull of Medon, Powerful Demilich: ?
Dragon Lich, Undead Dragon Lich: In order to become a dragon lich, a dragon must imbue its spirit into a soul vessel. The vessel is usually some treasured item from the dragon’s hoard, such as a particularly valuable gem or piece of jewelry.
Any adult or older dragon with spellcasting ability may become a dragon lich. Chromatic dragons most often become dragon liches.
Obsessed with death, black dragons sometimes extend their existences through an arcane ritual that turns them into liches.
In the midst of a ritual to turn [the black dragon] to a dragon lich.
Dragon Lich, Dragon Variant: ?
Adult Black Dragon Lich, Sample Dragon Lich: ?
Dread Knight, Doom Knight, Death Knight: Infernal powers and evil gods can transform paragons of knightly virtue into malevolent undead creatures of hate and loathing—dread knights, also called doom knights or death knights. These fallen knights are cursed to exist forever as brooding mockeries of their former selves: armored skeletal warriors with fearsome martial and magical powers.
Tragic figures, dread knights were once honorable warriors who suffered a fall from grace.
Dread Knight, Malevolent Undead Creature of Hate and Loathing, Fallen Knight, Brooding Mockery, Armored Skeletal Warrior With Fearsome Martial and Magical Powers, Dark Commander, Honorable Warrior, Tragic Figure, Gifted Leader: ?
Dread Knight Champion: ?
Queen Cir, Dread Knight Champion: Queen Cir was a beloved monarch and holy knight dedicated to the sun god. When invasion imperiled her nation, she accepted a gift from a mysterious stranger: a magical sword named Legion. Anyone slain by this sword rose as a zombie under Cir's control. With Legion's help, Queen Cir slaughtered invaders and transformed them into undead defenders, winning a grisly victory. Not yet content, she then massacred a surrendering army to swell her zombie horde.
Cir's religious order turned against her. In a mighty battle, she was slain by her former knightly peers. With her dying breath, she vowed revenge from beyond the grave—a promise she fulfilled when she rose from the dead as a dread knight.
Ghost: A ghost is the soul of a deceased humanoid tied to a specific location, item, or creature, doomed to haunt them until their spirit is laid to rest. The focus of a ghost’s haunting is almost always something or someone that was significant to them in life.
Emotionally Bound. A ghost might be tied to the place where they lived or died, a ring from their betrothed, or the person who betrayed them. Whatever form it takes, the bond represents the ghost’s grief or anger regarding their death, and the ghost can’t find peace until those emotions are resolved. The ghost may need to see that their house is cared for, their beloved’s ring returned, or their killer brought to justice before they can move on. The ghost may not even be aware they are dead and might lash out at anyone who forces them to face the reality of their situation.
Ghosts are the spirits of humanoids who died under tragic circumstances. They can’t find rest until their unfinished business is resolved.
Vengeful Ghost: ?
Ghoul: Legends say the first ghoul was an elf who practiced depraved, cannibalistic rituals to curry favor with the demon lord of undeath. When this elf repented, the gods decreed that he and his kind would be forever immune to the ghouls’ paralytic touch. Still, the demon lord continues to reward feasters of flesh by transforming them into ghouls. Even those who turn to cannibalism out of desperation might unwillingly receive the lord’s dark blessing. Aboleths, hags, and necromancers know rites to create ghouls, as well.
Anyone who practices cannibalism may transform into an undead creature known as a ghoul.
Ghoul, Undead Cursed With an Eternal Hunger for Humanoid Flesh: ?
Noble Ghoul: ?
Ghast: ?
Lacedon Ghoul: Many were once sailors who turned to cannibalism to avoid starvation at sea or after being shipwrecked. Others are the handiwork of evil underwater creatures such as sahuagins and aboleths, who use magic rituals to create them.
Lacedon Ghast: Many were once sailors who turned to cannibalism to avoid starvation at sea or after being shipwrecked. Others are the handiwork of evil underwater creatures such as sahuagins and aboleths, who use magic rituals to create them.
Lacedon Ghoul, Aquatic Undead: ?
Lacedon Ghast, Aquatic Undead: ?
Lich: A spellcaster who seeks knowledge above all else may turn to fell rituals to transcend the limitations of mortality, becoming a lich, an undead being of immense power.
Nameless Horrors. The foul rituals that fuel a lich’s transformation are all but forgotten in this age. Dabblers in necromancy know that becoming a lich requires the sacrifice of one’s life, but the true cost is greater still. To become a lich, the caster abandons their mortal identity. They must renounce their true name without claiming another, casting their past into howling astral winds or the infinite abyss. Their names fade from history books, and their mortal accomplishments disappear from memory or are ascribed to others. Liches shun names, referring to themselves with honorifics like “The Drowned King” or “The Speaker of Oblivion.”
Soul Vessels. A lich binds its soul within a specially prepared object inscribed with magical sigils of power, warding, and binding. This soul vessel maintains the lich’s existence and ensures its survival.
Only the most powerful mortal spellcasters can perform the ritual to become a lich. The process requires the spellcaster to sacrifice their life and erases all evidence of their former existence.
A lich stores its soul in a specially prepared object called a soul vessel. Soul vessels can take many forms and are usually protected by powerful magical wards.
Lich, Undead Being of Immense Power, Nameless Horror, Master of Magic: ?
Ancient Lich: ?
Jewelled Lich: An ancient lich can extend its unnatural lifespan by binding its soul to one or two flawless gems set in its skull, usually in its eye sockets.
Azkaroth, Lich, Archlich, Dark Lord: ?
Mummy, Ordinary Mummy: Cloth wrappings and preservative ointments protect a mummy’s body from rot, even as mystic rituals ensure its spirit remains bound to the mortal realm for all eternity.
Prepared for Unlife. A mummy is purposefully prepared for undeath from the moment it dies. A mummy is intended to rise again centuries after it was laid to rest inside its sarcophagus.
Mummies are the remains of mortals specifically prepared to rise as undead after their death. They guard tombs or sites of religious significance.
The wrappings and chemicals used to preserve their bodies make mummies particularly flammable.
Most mummies lie inert for centuries, oblivious to the passage of time until their rest is disturbed. Some are created to protect the burial chambers of more powerful mummy lords from tomb robbers. Others stand guard at the border of the Bleak Gate, fighting the malign spirits that seek to return to the realm of the living. Still others act as custodians of ancient, arcane secrets—knowledge they might share with those they deem worthy.
Mummy Lord: Some ancient priest-monarchs were mummified using powerful necromantic techniques that preserved not only their bodies, but their souls as well. When their eternal slumber is disturbed, these mummy lords return to the material world with all the wisdom, arrogance, and might they possessed in life.
Shortly after death, each mummy lord has its heart removed and hidden somewhere in its burial chamber. Until this still-beating heart is silenced, a mummy lord can’t truly be defeated.
Mummy Lord, Sleeping Monarch: ?
Revenant: Sometimes a person’s will is so strong it endures beyond death. A person unjustly killed may find their soul transformed into a revenant, a vengeful spirit that seeks to punish its murderers.
Revenant, Vengeful Spirit, Merciless Hunter, Unquiet Spirit: ?
Scarecrow: A scarecrow is animated by the echo of a malign spirit.
Scarecrows are easier to create than other constructs but are far less durable, falling to pieces no more than a year after their creation.
Spellcasters create scarecrows to guard the entrances to their homes. Made of rags and straw, scarecrows are particularly susceptible to fire.
The spirit of a dead humanoid inhabits each scarecrow. Though terrifying, scarecrows fall to pieces if the magic that animates them is dispelled.
A rare version of the animate dead spell allows a spellcaster to create a scarecrow, snowman, or sandling. If the spell is cast on the same effigy 30 days in a row, the construct animates and takes on a rudimentary intelligence. Like any creation of animate dead, it can be commanded as a bonus action, but it serves its creator for the duration of its existence (one year) instead of for 24 hours.
Scarecrow, Magical Scarecrow, Eerie Effigy, Short-Lived Sentinel, Uncanny Copy: ?
Scarecrow Variant Sandling: A rare version of the animate dead spell allows a spellcaster to create a scarecrow, snowman, or sandling. If the spell is cast on the same effigy 30 days in a row, the construct animates and takes on a rudimentary intelligence. Like any creation of animate dead, it can be commanded as a bonus action, but it serves its creator for the duration of its existence (one year) instead of for 24 hours.
Scarecrow Variant Snowman: A rare version of the animate dead spell allows a spellcaster to create a scarecrow, snowman, or sandling. If the spell is cast on the same effigy 30 days in a row, the construct animates and takes on a rudimentary intelligence. Like any creation of animate dead, it can be commanded as a bonus action, but it serves its creator for the duration of its existence (one year) instead of for 24 hours.
Scarecrow Harvester: A rare version of the animate dead spell allows a spellcaster to create a scarecrow, snowman, or sandling. If the spell is cast on the same effigy 30 days in a row, the construct animates and takes on a rudimentary intelligence. Like any creation of animate dead, it can be commanded as a bonus action, but it serves its creator for the duration of its existence (one year) instead of for 24 hours.
Similarly, a rare version of the create undead spell cast 30 days in a row creates a single scarecrow harvester. If a spellcaster creates a second scarecrow harvester, the first is destroyed.
Shadow, Undead Shadow: Darkness given form and will, imbued with a hunger for light and the warmth of the living, shadows are dreadful undead born from those who die in the dark. As they slake their terrible hunger, more shadows arise.
The bodies of those slain by this draining touch cast no shadow, for their shadows have left, becoming new undead shadows with wills of their own.
Shadows are created by powerful undead. Vampires and liches that have journeyed beyond the Bleak Gate know the secrets of tearing away a living being’s shade to create an unliving shadow.
When a person dies in the dark, their spirit may rise again as a shadow. Necromancers and undead (including other shadows) can create shadows, as well.
If the target dies while cursed [by a shadow's claw attack], a new undead shadow rises from the corpse in 1d4 hours, the corpse no longer casts a natural shadow, and the target can’t be raised from the dead until the new shadow is destroyed.
Shadow, Darkness Given Form and Will, Dreadful Undead, Hungering Dark: ?
Skeleton: Skeletons are fleshless corpses imbued by necromantic energies with a mockery of life. Most often, spellcasters create skeletons to act as guards and servants, but it’s not unheard of for skeletons to arise from cursed grounds where the living are outnumbered by the unburied dead.
Necromancy imbues skeletons with a semblance of life, although some skeletons rise spontaneously on cursed battlefields or in cities ravaged by plague.
Undead are supernatural creatures or spirits that are no longer alive but are still animate. Some have been reanimated by magic spells, such as skeletons.
When the [skeleton] horde is reduced to 0 hit points, it turns into 2 (1d4) skeletons with 6 hit points each.
Skeletal Creature: Nearly anything with bones can be reanimated as a skeleton.
Any beast, giant, humanoid, or monstrosity that has bones can be animated as a skeleton.
When the [skeletal] horde is reduced to 0 hit points, it turns into 2 (1d4) skeletons with 6 hit points each.
Instead of preparing clairvoyance, the necromancer prepares animate dead. The necromancer can turn the intact corpses of creatures up to CR 5 into skeletons and zombies (applying the skeleton or zombie template to the base creature).
Skeleton, Fleshless Corpse: ?
Skeleton, Guard: ?
Skeleton, Servant: ?
Skeletal Warhorse: ?
Skeletal Champion: ?
Skeletal Tyrannosaurus Rex: ?
Humanoid Skeleton: ?
Beast Skeleton: ?
Skeleton Horde, Skeletal Horde, Hordes of Skeletons: ?
Skeleton Bear, Horror: ?
Skeleton Berserker, Horror: ?
Skeleton Bullete, Horror: ?
Moldering Skeleton, Undead Servant: ?
Skeleton, Lesser Undead Follower: ?
Skeleton, Mindless Undead: ?
Skeletal Griffin: ?
Gingerbread Man: [Hag b]aking gingerbread men.
Pet Skeleton: ?
Specter: A specter is an angry, undead spirit that has been prevented from moving on to the afterlife. Its emotional connection to its former life has been severed, yet it is doomed to remain on the Material Plane by dark magic, a vengeful god, or an unremembered tragedy.
Supernatural Origin. Some specters are created by evil creatures: a wraith’s victims rise as specters, and a living spellcaster can raise a specter from the dead. Other specters arise naturally. Over centuries, a ghost may forget its connections to the world, remembering only its anger. Such a spirit gradually transforms into a specter.
A specter is the angry spirit of a mortal that has entirely forgotten its former self.
Sire of Specters. A wraith can create a specter from the spirit of a humanoid creature that has recently died by violence.
A humanoid killed by a wraith may rise again as a specter under the wraith’s control.
Wraith Create Specter power.
Specter, Angry Undead Spirit That Has Been Prevented From Moving on to the Afterlife, Angry Spirit of a Mortal That Has Entirely Forgotten Its Former Self: ?
Patrolling Specter: ?
Vampire, True Vampire: It’s said that the first vampires were nobles cursed for their cruelty to their subjects, and indeed vampirism is often an affliction of the upper class.
Vampire spawn become true vampires only when their master dies or voluntarily releases them.
Undead are supernatural creatures or spirits that are no longer alive but are still animate. Some have been reanimated by magic spells, such as skeletons. Others, like vampires, are the products of an evil ritual or curse.
Vampire, Intelligent Nocturnal Undead, Twisted Hunter, Nocturnal Undead That Drinks Blood, Shapechanger, More Powerful Undead: ?
Vampire, Stern Protector: ?
Vampire Spellcaster: ?
Vampire Spawn Scout: ?
Vampiric Protector: ?
Vampire, Master: ?
Vampire, Apprentice: ?
Vampire, Lover: ?
Vampire, Ambassador: ?
Elder Vampire: ?
Immensely Powerful Elder Vampire: ?
Vampire Assassin: ?
Vampire Mage: ?
Vampire Warrior: Noble knights and bloodthirsty warlords that rise as vampires maintain the habit of discipline, marshaling minions under their command.
Vampire Spawn: If the target is reduced to 0 hit points by this attack, it dies and rises the following night as a vampire spawn in the vampire’s thrall. Before the target first rises as a vampire spawn, a bless, gentle repose, or similar spell cast on the body prevents this transformation.
Many of a vampire’s victims rise as vampire spawn that serve their creators’ every whim.
Elder Vampire Create Spawn power.
Vampire, More Powerful Undead Creature: ?
Wight, Person: Long ago, the word “wight” meant “person” in the language of an ancient culture. But then those who used the word were cursed with undeath for seeking immortality.
Wight, Essence Eater, Former Humanoid Cursed With Undeath: ?
Enormous Wight: ?
Will-o'-Wisp, Corpse Light: ?
Will-o'-Wisp, Glowing Ball of Light, Marker of Hidden Treasure, Undead Spirit of a Miser Who Couldn't Bear to Leave Their Worldly Wealth Behind As They Passed On to the Afterlife, Malevolent Spirit, Undead Spirit, Cunning Undead Creature: ?
Will-o'-Wisp, Undead Shade of a Greedy Pirate: ?
Wraith: Vile Transformation. A wraith is formed when a humanoid with an evil alignment dies. The humanoid’s spirit, dedicated to cosmic evil and warped by depravity, becomes so suffused with negative energy that it is transformed at the moment of death into a font of cold, nullifying force.
Wraiths are the spirits of mortals so evil their malevolence endures into undeath.
Wraith, Incorporeal Spirit of Pure Hatred and Malice, Font of Cold Nullifying Force, Spirit of a Mortal So Evil Their Malevolence Endures Into Undeath: ?
Wraith Lord: Mortal champions of evil, such as high priests and sorcerer kings, can rise from death as wraith lords.
Wraith Lord Create Wraith power.
Wraith Lord, Mighty Agent of Evil: ?
Wraith, More Powerful Undead Creature: ?
Zombie: Most often, zombies are created by necromancers or other evil spellcasters, although it’s not unheard of for zombies to arise spontaneously in areas marked by profound evil or unholy energy.
Although the necromantic energies involved in animating a zombie greatly slow further decay, all zombies eventually molder away.
Zombies are the mindless husks of formerly living creatures re-animated by foul necrotic energies.
When the [zombie] horde is reduced to 0 hit points, it turns into 2 (1d4) zombies with 7 hit points each.
Queen Cir was a beloved monarch and holy knight dedicated to the sun god. When invasion imperiled her nation, she accepted a gift from a mysterious stranger: a magical sword named Legion. Anyone slain by this sword rose as a zombie under Cir's control. With Legion's help, Queen Cir slaughtered invaders and transformed them into undead defenders, winning a grisly victory. Not yet content, she then massacred a surrendering army to swell her zombie horde.
A humanoid killed by damage from this sword [Legion] rises the next dusk as a zombie.
Wights desperately hunt living things in an effort to regain the spark of life they’ve lost. Their cold touch drains the living, and those they kill rise again as zombies.
A creature killed by a wight might rise again the following night as a zombie.
A humanoid or beast reduced to 0 hit points by [a wight's life drain] attack dies. Its corpse rises 24 hours later as a zombie under the wight’s control.
Finger of Death spell.
Zombie, Animated Corpse Stripped of Any Spirit or Intelligence it Possessed in Life, Mindless Husk of a Formerly Living Creature Re-Animated by Foul Necrotic Energy: ?
Zombified Creature: Any beast, dragon, giant, humanoid, or monstrosity can be raised as a zombie.
Instead of preparing clairvoyance, the necromancer prepares animate dead. The necromancer can turn the intact corpses of creatures up to CR 5 into skeletons and zombies (applying the skeleton or zombie template to the base creature).
Zombie Variant Infectious Bite power.
Ogre Zombie: ?
Ogre Zombie Variant Ogre Flesh Heap: An ogre’s dense, resilient bones allow its frame to support a surprising amount of weight. For this reason, some necromancers integrate flesh from other bodies into their ogre zombies, creating an ogre zombie made from a patchwork of other creatures.
Young Red Dragon Zombie: ?
Zombie Knight: ?
Zombie Horde: ?
Zombie, Shambling Undead: ?
Zombie, Mindless Undead: ?
Enormous Zombie: ?
Oversized Zombie: ?
Desiccated Zombie: ?
Well-Preserved Zombie: ?
Zombie Minion: ?
Undead, Undead Creature: Undead are supernatural creatures or spirits that are no longer alive but are still animate. Some have been reanimated by magic spells, such as skeletons. Others, like vampires, are the products of an evil ritual or curse.
Supernatural Creature: ?
Spirit: ?
Undead Guard: ?
Lesser Undead Follower: ?
Restless Dead: ?
Mindless Undead: ?
Undead Keeper: ?
Intelligent Undead: ?
More Powerful Undead Creature, More Powerful Undead: ?
Finger of Death (7th-Level; S). A creature within 60 feet makes a DC 20 Constitution saving throw, taking 61 (7d8 + 30) necrotic damage on a failed saving throw or half damage on a success. A humanoid killed by this spell turns into a zombie under the lich’s control at the start of the lich’s next turn.
Create Spawn (1/Day). The vampire magically raises a dead humanoid as a vampire spawn under the vampire’s control.
Create Specter. The wraith touches a humanoid corpse it killed less than 1 day ago. The creature’s spirit rises as a specter under the wraith’s control.
Create Wraith. The wraith lord touches a humanoid corpse it killed up to 1 day ago. The creature’s spirit rises as a wraith under the wraith lord’s control.
Infectious Bite. A creature bitten by the zombie takes 2 (1d4) ongoing necrotic damage until it regains hit points or a creature makes a DC 15 Medicine check to treat the wound. If a beast, dragon, giant, humanoid, or monstrosity dies while suffering from this effect, it becomes a zombie after 1 minute, gaining the zombie template.
Last edited:
Voadam
Legend
Level Up: Trials & Treasures (A5E)
5e
Harbinger of Death: ?
Skeleton Creature: Dread Cadeucus artifact.
Zombie Creature: Dread Cadeucus artifact.
Rotter Zombie: Some zombies are creations of magic but others are the spawn of an affliction known as rotter plague. Whether this disease developed naturally or is the result of some mad necromancer’s experiment is unknown.
A living creature infected with rotter plague suffers no negative effects from the disease and cannot transmit it unless it dies. An infected creature that dies rises as a rotter zombie after 1 minute. Sprinkling the creature’s corpse with holy water or dealing it at least 1 damage prevents this transformation. A gentle repose spell cast on the body also prevents it from rising as a rotter zombie for the spell’s duration.
Lesser restoration cures rotter plague. Casting lesser restoration on an infected zombie removes its ability to transmit rotter plague but has no other effect.
Undead, Undead Creature: The Plane of Death has dark grottos, vacuous expanses of drifting asteroids, and rivers of negative energies that awaken undead.
Any corpse that is not completely destroyed [in a lifeless desolation] rises as an undead 24 hours later. The type of undead is at the Narrator’s discretion.
Netherblight malady.
Necrocrat, Powerful Undead: ?
Undead Spirit: ?
Powerful Undead Being: ?
Mindless Undead: ?
Incorporeal Undead: ?
Undead Spellcaster: ?
Banshee: ?
Dread Knight: ?
Ghast: ?
Lacedon Ghast: ?
Ghost: ?
Vengeful Ghost: ?
Ghostly Spirit: ?
Ghost of a Fallen Traveller: ?
Ghost From Another Plane: ?
Ghoul: ?
Lacedon Ghoul: ?
Ghoul Native to the Infernal Realms: ?
Demilich: ?
Skull of Medon, Elite Demilich: ?
Lich: ?
Adult Black Dragon Lich: ?
Lich, Powerful Creature: ?
Lich From Another Plane: ?
Azkaroth, Lich, Archlich: ?
Mummy: ?
Mummy Lord: ?
Revenant: ?
Scarecrow: ?
Scarecrow Harvester: ?
Snowman: ?
Animated Scarecrow: ?
Shadow: ?
Skeleton: ?
Skeletal Champion: ?
Skeleton Horde: ?
Skeletal Tyrannosaurus Rex: ?
Skeletal Warhorse: ?
Skeleton, Mindless Undead: ?
Specter: ?
Invisible Undead Spirit, Friendly Specter: ?
Vampire That Turns to Mist: ?
Vampire: ?
Vampire Spawn: ?
Sinister Vampire: ?
Elder Vampire: ?
Wight: ?
Will-o'-Wisp: ?
Wraith: ?
Wraith Lord: ?
Zombie: Some zombies are creations of magic but others are the spawn of an affliction known as rotter plague.
Unliving Rune magic item.
Ogre Zombie: ?
Zombie Horde: ?
Zombie Knight: ?
Zombie Dragon: ?
Zombie, Mindless Undead: ?
Unliving Rune
Wondrous item, common (cost 75 gp)
Crafting Components: Gilded manuscript ruined by giant octopus ink
Found in desecrated holy texts, an unliving rune is a Tiny construct of negative energy resembling a splotch of darkly glowing ink. The rune can be applied to your skin much like a temporary tattoo, and while attached you can channel negative energy into an attack. On a successful hit with a melee weapon attack you can use your reaction to activate the rune, dealing an additional 1d4 necrotic damage and preventing the target from regaining hit points until the start of your next turn. You can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
The rune feeds on your vitality while attached to your skin. You gain a slightly sickly appearance, and the rune consumes one use of your Hit Dice each dawn. During a short rest, you can peel the rune off your skin, taking 1d6 necrotic damage. The rune can be stored in a book instead of your skin but offers no benefit unless attached to you. When exposed to direct sunlight for a minute or more, the rune is destroyed.
As an action you can place the rune on a humanoid corpse that has died within the last 8 hours. The rune is destroyed as its magic is absorbed by the corpse, animating it as a zombie. When placing the rune, you can feed it a portion of your life force by spending hit points. The zombie obeys your spoken commands and is friendly to you and your companions for 1 round per hit point you spent when placing the rune. At the end of this duration it becomes hostile to all living creatures.
Curse. The unliving rune is cursed and while it is attached to you any senses or divinations that can detect undead incorrectly detect you as undead. If you die while the rune is attached to you, you are reanimated as a zombie after 1d4 rounds.
Dread Caduceus
Wondrous item, artifact (requires attunement)
Crafting Components: Unique (uncraftable)
When wizards go to war their desperation reveals the bleak depths and miraculous heights of magic. Long ago it was a desire to both bolster and renew their forces that led a mage to create a relic many would consider unthinkable: a scepter that twists the essence of life itself. With it the dead are remade into unrecognizable tangles of flesh that despite their deformity do the wielder of the scepter’s bidding, all as their allies are healed and empowered with vigor far beyond mortal bounds.
This heavy silver scepter has two heads, both cast in metal and staring out of glassy onyx eyes. One head is a skull, its jaw thrown open and its teeth unnaturally elongated. At the other end of the scepter is a cherubic human face that is turned upwards as though determined not to look at its sibling.
No one is certain whether it was the creator’s shame that led them to hide the scepter, or if their enemies cast it out of memory for fear of its power. What is known is that the legend of the Dread Caduceus has endured and that whispers of its whereabouts have not been silenced by time.
While you are attuned to the Dread Caduceus you may use either end of the scepter to activate its powers.
Legends and Lore
Success on an Arcana or History check reveals the following:
DC 15 This is the Dread Caduceus, a holy scepter with the power to raise the dead.
DC 18 The cherub and skull heads cause healing and necromantic effects, respectively.
DC 21 Those who use the scepter risk having their very flesh corrupted and their souls devoured.
Artifact Properties
The Dread Caduceus has one lesser artifact benefit, one greater artifact benefit, one lesser artifact detriment, and one greater artifact detriment.
The Dread Caduceus warps your life energy, twisting your flesh as it corrupts that of others. While you are attuned to the scepter, your organs shift and twist, sticking to one another within you. Take 1d6 necrotic damage each dawn from this effect. This damage can only be healed by a long or short rest. You also have disadvantage on initiative rolls as you are distracted by this tangible shifting within.
The Dread Caduceus has 2d10 charges and regains 1d10 charges each dawn. When you reduce the Dread Caduceus to 0 charges, you take 10d10 necrotic damage. If this damage reduces you to 0 hit points, you instantly die and cannot be resurrected (even by a wish spell).
Cherub
You can use an action and expend charges from the Dread Caduceus to cause one of the following effects to extend from the cherub head of the scepter, targeting yourself or a creature within 30 feet:
Heal. The creature regains 1d8+1 hit points for each expended charge.
Healing Nimbus (3 Charges). A nimbus of healing appears around the creature for 1d6 rounds. For the duration, whenever the creature takes damage from an attack it regains 1 hit point, and when an attack misses the creature it regains 1d4 hit points.
Invulnerability (3 Charges). The creature becomes immune to damage from nonmagical attacks for 1d4 rounds.
Exhaustless (5 Charges). The creature becomes immune to fatigue for 1d6 days.
Resistance (5 Charges). The creature becomes resistant to one type of damage of your choice for 1d6 rounds. This property has no effect if the creature already has resistance to that damage type.
Cure (10 Charges). The creature is healed of any curses, diseases, poisons, or other negative effects, even if a wish spell has previously been unsuccessful.
Invigorate (10 Charges). The creature permanently increases its maximum hit points by 1d8+1. A creature can only benefit from this property once.
Skull
You can use an action and expend charges from the Dread Caduceus to cause one of the following effects to extend from the skull head of the scepter, targeting yourself or a creature within 100 feet:
Animate Skeleton (1 Charge). You return a dead creature to a semblance of life, animating the skeleton of its body to serve at your whim. The creature gains the skeleton template and remains under your control until you die or are no longer attuned to the Dread Caduceus.
Animate Zombie (2 Charges). You return a dead creature to a semblance of life, animating it as a zombie to serve at your whim. The creature gains the zombie template and remains under your control until you die or are no longer attuned to the Dread Caduceus.
Empower Undead (2 Charges). Choose 1d6 undead that you can see within range. Whenever one of the chosen undead makes a weapon attack it deals an extra 1d4 necrotic damage. Even on a miss, the undead deals 1d4 necrotic damage.
Animate Legion (6 Charges). You return 3d10 dead humanoids to a semblance of life, transforming their corpses into zombies.
You can use a bonus action to mentally command the undead you create using the Dread Caduceus. When you command multiple undead, you must give them all the same command. You may decide the action the undead takes and where it moves during its next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as guarding an area. If not given a command, the undead only defends itself. The undead continues to follow a command until its task is complete.
In addition, any creature you animate in this fashion retains injuries or disfigurements that were upon its corpse, and it continues to decompose.
TABLE: NETHERBLIGHT
1D6
MALADY
1
The creature’s voice becomes flat and lifeless, and it has disadvantage on Deception and Persuasion checks made to influence living creatures.
2
The creature’s zest for life fades, and it becomes unable to gain inspiration or benefit from Bardic Inspiration.
3
The creature’s type changes to undead. At the Narrator’s discretion, mindless undead (such as skeletons or zombies) may ignore the creature’s presence.
4
The gods themselves shun the creature. Whenever a spell or magical effect would restore the creature’s hit points, the creature regains only half the hit points it would have normally regained.
5
The creature’s grip on life becomes tenuous and it has disadvantage on death saving throws.
6
Death calls for the creature’s return. The creature gains the doomed condition, dying at a time determined by the Narrator. A spell of 7th-level or higher (such as resurrection) can remove the doomed condition but does not cure the disease.
5e
Harbinger of Death: ?
Skeleton Creature: Dread Cadeucus artifact.
Zombie Creature: Dread Cadeucus artifact.
Rotter Zombie: Some zombies are creations of magic but others are the spawn of an affliction known as rotter plague. Whether this disease developed naturally or is the result of some mad necromancer’s experiment is unknown.
A living creature infected with rotter plague suffers no negative effects from the disease and cannot transmit it unless it dies. An infected creature that dies rises as a rotter zombie after 1 minute. Sprinkling the creature’s corpse with holy water or dealing it at least 1 damage prevents this transformation. A gentle repose spell cast on the body also prevents it from rising as a rotter zombie for the spell’s duration.
Lesser restoration cures rotter plague. Casting lesser restoration on an infected zombie removes its ability to transmit rotter plague but has no other effect.
Undead, Undead Creature: The Plane of Death has dark grottos, vacuous expanses of drifting asteroids, and rivers of negative energies that awaken undead.
Any corpse that is not completely destroyed [in a lifeless desolation] rises as an undead 24 hours later. The type of undead is at the Narrator’s discretion.
Netherblight malady.
Necrocrat, Powerful Undead: ?
Undead Spirit: ?
Powerful Undead Being: ?
Mindless Undead: ?
Incorporeal Undead: ?
Undead Spellcaster: ?
Banshee: ?
Dread Knight: ?
Ghast: ?
Lacedon Ghast: ?
Ghost: ?
Vengeful Ghost: ?
Ghostly Spirit: ?
Ghost of a Fallen Traveller: ?
Ghost From Another Plane: ?
Ghoul: ?
Lacedon Ghoul: ?
Ghoul Native to the Infernal Realms: ?
Demilich: ?
Skull of Medon, Elite Demilich: ?
Lich: ?
Adult Black Dragon Lich: ?
Lich, Powerful Creature: ?
Lich From Another Plane: ?
Azkaroth, Lich, Archlich: ?
Mummy: ?
Mummy Lord: ?
Revenant: ?
Scarecrow: ?
Scarecrow Harvester: ?
Snowman: ?
Animated Scarecrow: ?
Shadow: ?
Skeleton: ?
Skeletal Champion: ?
Skeleton Horde: ?
Skeletal Tyrannosaurus Rex: ?
Skeletal Warhorse: ?
Skeleton, Mindless Undead: ?
Specter: ?
Invisible Undead Spirit, Friendly Specter: ?
Vampire That Turns to Mist: ?
Vampire: ?
Vampire Spawn: ?
Sinister Vampire: ?
Elder Vampire: ?
Wight: ?
Will-o'-Wisp: ?
Wraith: ?
Wraith Lord: ?
Zombie: Some zombies are creations of magic but others are the spawn of an affliction known as rotter plague.
Unliving Rune magic item.
Ogre Zombie: ?
Zombie Horde: ?
Zombie Knight: ?
Zombie Dragon: ?
Zombie, Mindless Undead: ?
Unliving Rune
Wondrous item, common (cost 75 gp)
Crafting Components: Gilded manuscript ruined by giant octopus ink
Found in desecrated holy texts, an unliving rune is a Tiny construct of negative energy resembling a splotch of darkly glowing ink. The rune can be applied to your skin much like a temporary tattoo, and while attached you can channel negative energy into an attack. On a successful hit with a melee weapon attack you can use your reaction to activate the rune, dealing an additional 1d4 necrotic damage and preventing the target from regaining hit points until the start of your next turn. You can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
The rune feeds on your vitality while attached to your skin. You gain a slightly sickly appearance, and the rune consumes one use of your Hit Dice each dawn. During a short rest, you can peel the rune off your skin, taking 1d6 necrotic damage. The rune can be stored in a book instead of your skin but offers no benefit unless attached to you. When exposed to direct sunlight for a minute or more, the rune is destroyed.
As an action you can place the rune on a humanoid corpse that has died within the last 8 hours. The rune is destroyed as its magic is absorbed by the corpse, animating it as a zombie. When placing the rune, you can feed it a portion of your life force by spending hit points. The zombie obeys your spoken commands and is friendly to you and your companions for 1 round per hit point you spent when placing the rune. At the end of this duration it becomes hostile to all living creatures.
Curse. The unliving rune is cursed and while it is attached to you any senses or divinations that can detect undead incorrectly detect you as undead. If you die while the rune is attached to you, you are reanimated as a zombie after 1d4 rounds.
Dread Caduceus
Wondrous item, artifact (requires attunement)
Crafting Components: Unique (uncraftable)
When wizards go to war their desperation reveals the bleak depths and miraculous heights of magic. Long ago it was a desire to both bolster and renew their forces that led a mage to create a relic many would consider unthinkable: a scepter that twists the essence of life itself. With it the dead are remade into unrecognizable tangles of flesh that despite their deformity do the wielder of the scepter’s bidding, all as their allies are healed and empowered with vigor far beyond mortal bounds.
This heavy silver scepter has two heads, both cast in metal and staring out of glassy onyx eyes. One head is a skull, its jaw thrown open and its teeth unnaturally elongated. At the other end of the scepter is a cherubic human face that is turned upwards as though determined not to look at its sibling.
No one is certain whether it was the creator’s shame that led them to hide the scepter, or if their enemies cast it out of memory for fear of its power. What is known is that the legend of the Dread Caduceus has endured and that whispers of its whereabouts have not been silenced by time.
While you are attuned to the Dread Caduceus you may use either end of the scepter to activate its powers.
Legends and Lore
Success on an Arcana or History check reveals the following:
DC 15 This is the Dread Caduceus, a holy scepter with the power to raise the dead.
DC 18 The cherub and skull heads cause healing and necromantic effects, respectively.
DC 21 Those who use the scepter risk having their very flesh corrupted and their souls devoured.
Artifact Properties
The Dread Caduceus has one lesser artifact benefit, one greater artifact benefit, one lesser artifact detriment, and one greater artifact detriment.
The Dread Caduceus warps your life energy, twisting your flesh as it corrupts that of others. While you are attuned to the scepter, your organs shift and twist, sticking to one another within you. Take 1d6 necrotic damage each dawn from this effect. This damage can only be healed by a long or short rest. You also have disadvantage on initiative rolls as you are distracted by this tangible shifting within.
The Dread Caduceus has 2d10 charges and regains 1d10 charges each dawn. When you reduce the Dread Caduceus to 0 charges, you take 10d10 necrotic damage. If this damage reduces you to 0 hit points, you instantly die and cannot be resurrected (even by a wish spell).
Cherub
You can use an action and expend charges from the Dread Caduceus to cause one of the following effects to extend from the cherub head of the scepter, targeting yourself or a creature within 30 feet:
Heal. The creature regains 1d8+1 hit points for each expended charge.
Healing Nimbus (3 Charges). A nimbus of healing appears around the creature for 1d6 rounds. For the duration, whenever the creature takes damage from an attack it regains 1 hit point, and when an attack misses the creature it regains 1d4 hit points.
Invulnerability (3 Charges). The creature becomes immune to damage from nonmagical attacks for 1d4 rounds.
Exhaustless (5 Charges). The creature becomes immune to fatigue for 1d6 days.
Resistance (5 Charges). The creature becomes resistant to one type of damage of your choice for 1d6 rounds. This property has no effect if the creature already has resistance to that damage type.
Cure (10 Charges). The creature is healed of any curses, diseases, poisons, or other negative effects, even if a wish spell has previously been unsuccessful.
Invigorate (10 Charges). The creature permanently increases its maximum hit points by 1d8+1. A creature can only benefit from this property once.
Skull
You can use an action and expend charges from the Dread Caduceus to cause one of the following effects to extend from the skull head of the scepter, targeting yourself or a creature within 100 feet:
Animate Skeleton (1 Charge). You return a dead creature to a semblance of life, animating the skeleton of its body to serve at your whim. The creature gains the skeleton template and remains under your control until you die or are no longer attuned to the Dread Caduceus.
Animate Zombie (2 Charges). You return a dead creature to a semblance of life, animating it as a zombie to serve at your whim. The creature gains the zombie template and remains under your control until you die or are no longer attuned to the Dread Caduceus.
Empower Undead (2 Charges). Choose 1d6 undead that you can see within range. Whenever one of the chosen undead makes a weapon attack it deals an extra 1d4 necrotic damage. Even on a miss, the undead deals 1d4 necrotic damage.
Animate Legion (6 Charges). You return 3d10 dead humanoids to a semblance of life, transforming their corpses into zombies.
You can use a bonus action to mentally command the undead you create using the Dread Caduceus. When you command multiple undead, you must give them all the same command. You may decide the action the undead takes and where it moves during its next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as guarding an area. If not given a command, the undead only defends itself. The undead continues to follow a command until its task is complete.
In addition, any creature you animate in this fashion retains injuries or disfigurements that were upon its corpse, and it continues to decompose.
TABLE: NETHERBLIGHT
1D6
MALADY
1
The creature’s voice becomes flat and lifeless, and it has disadvantage on Deception and Persuasion checks made to influence living creatures.
2
The creature’s zest for life fades, and it becomes unable to gain inspiration or benefit from Bardic Inspiration.
3
The creature’s type changes to undead. At the Narrator’s discretion, mindless undead (such as skeletons or zombies) may ignore the creature’s presence.
4
The gods themselves shun the creature. Whenever a spell or magical effect would restore the creature’s hit points, the creature regains only half the hit points it would have normally regained.
5
The creature’s grip on life becomes tenuous and it has disadvantage on death saving throws.
6
Death calls for the creature’s return. The creature gains the doomed condition, dying at a time determined by the Narrator. A spell of 7th-level or higher (such as resurrection) can remove the doomed condition but does not cure the disease.
Similar Threads
