Fateforge - 3 - Monster Compendium : Creatures
5e
Ghost: Some legends speak of ghosts with great compassion, describing them primarily as unfortunate beings who met a premature end, carrying a burden that prevents them from finding eternal rest: an unpunished crime, failure to make amends, an undisclosed secret... Every encounter with a ghost is different, as their strengths and weaknesses are bound to their former lives, their tastes, loves, enmities, passions, shames, and grudges.
The wraith partly controls this release of energy: it can snuff out small sources of light (torches, campfires); it is able to summon ghosts into its service from fresh corpses; its presence can also cause the spontaneous appearance of undead with malicious minds of their own.
Ghoul: When a “living ghoul” dies, it rises within 24 hours, this time as a true undead.
Scholars are divided when it comes to the origins of ghouls. For the most part, their theories are based on second-hand accounts or, at best, on studies of the monsters’ bodies. Prevalent hypotheses include parasitism, curses, and Cankerous contamination through food. In the end, one central question remains: why is cannibalism such a recurring factor in the manifestation and behavior of ghouls? Research is ongoing, with some bodies of scholars willing to study practical cases in the form of living ghouls, despite strong ethical protests.
Parasitism. According to this hypothesis, the parasite responsible for ghouls has a two-cycle existence. During the first cycle, which is widespread, the parasite lays dormant and harmless in the host’s body. To trigger the second stage, the victim must consume a second dormant strain through cannibalism. The synergy between the two parasites leads to physical degeneration, ultimately transforming the host into a ghoul.
Curse. By breaking the taboo of cannibalism, subjects expose themselves to a divine curse inflicted by an unidentified divinity. Perhaps Frostelle, who is so often associated with the torments of winter? Or Eana herself? The curse may also be demonic or diabolical: in this case, the offender might be a single malevolent warlock who chose to inflict this terrible fate on their enemies.
Canker. Ghoul transformation is commonly interpreted as a mark of Canker’s influence. Being a ferocious, voracious, vicious, nefarious, sacrilegious, and irremediably hungry entity, Canker has a near-divine influence that extends to anyone indulging in acts of a similar nature. Thus, someone turning to cannibalism would fall under the control of Canker and turn into a carnivorous, undead creature. However, it should be noted that, despite their inhuman and violent behavior, ghouls are not ravagers. This important detail is a constant source of puzzlement for specialists.
Grimlock shamans and wizards can make ghouls understand them, and even—to a certain extent—obey them. In their eyes, ghouls are chosen beings who were touched by the grace of voracity, a near-divine concept that embodies survival instinct, the ability to fight adversity and overcome extinction at any cost.
Ghast: When a “living ghoul” dies, it rises within 24 hours, this time as a true undead.
Ghasts are more powerful than ghouls, seemingly spawning in similar conditions but from living people with greater will or power.
Haunted Creature: When an encroachment of the Ethereal Plane and its necrotic energies grows too strong or goes on too long, living beings (plants and beasts) turn into undead. Their appearance grows lifeless, sickly, twisted, tormented, or even vaporous, leaving a trail of shadows in the air. In contrast to their painful appearance, the victims are granted extraordinary, ghastly vigor. In the Drakenbergen, the presence of ruins rife with magic and the growing influence of Kentigern have fostered an increase in the number of haunted creatures.
The haunted archetype applies to plants and beasts that have been exposed to the influence of the Ethereal Plane, or to nefarious necrotic magic. This phenomenon may be immediate or the result of slow exposure.
All beasts [within a 10-mile radius of a vampire's lair] are either fearful or aggressive. Many of them, under the vampire’s influence, become vicious and ravenous. The influence is such that some even acquire the haunted archetype.
Haunted Animated Tree, Haunted Tree: A particularly restless dead brought life to this haunted tree. A despicable criminal was hung from its branches, then buried between its roots. Having sworn to take revenge on his executioners, the deceased rose from the grave in the form of a wight. The tree, meanwhile, affected by the deathly energy of the criminal’s resurrection, awoke in this haunted, evil form.
Skeleton: A skeleton is an undead whose existence generally relies on the use of magic.
To animate a skeleton, one must breathe otherworldly energy into it. Such energy is obtained by tapping into the Ethereal Plane and pulling out a wandering soul, which the necromancer binds to their will. The enslavement makes the overall process a corrupt spell. In general, it is achieved with the animate dead spell, but there are ways to create more permanent skeletons, which are used and abused by unscrupulous arcanists.
Necromancy spells used in skeleton animation, refined over centuries of use, ensure that the created servants can fight and carry out precise orders.
Skeleton Creature: In order to create new skeletons, suited to the needs of a campaign, just use a creature with a skeleton, be it an aberration, a beast, a humanoid, a monstrosity, a giant, or even a dragon.
By default, skeletons without instructions will attack all living beings in their vicinity. This destructive impulse comes from the necrotic energy that animates them: they innately feel the need to steal vital energy, and the easiest way to do so is through killing.
Warhorse Skeleton: ?
Minotaur Skeleton: ?
Stone Giant Skeleton: Giants left the Drakenbergen a long time ago, and stone giants were the last to leave, after the flight of the dragons. There are still a few mausoleums of this ancient people. Necromancers eager to design the ultimate weapon have desecrated these tombs to collect the bones that will allow them to raise monstrous skeletons and use them in battle.
Vampire, True Vampire: The dark magic which grants eternity to the vampire inevitably leads it on the path to evil.
Xonim, the witch goddess and mistress of the night, is said to have studied a form of blood magic during her mortal existence. According to arcanists, she theorized on the transformation of radiant energy into necrotic energy through a rune of blood. With it, powerful rites involving sacrifices can be performed. Xonim supposedly compiled the results of her research in a tome called The Book of the Scarlet One which, today, is coveted by many. Most scholars only have access to fragments of the book, but the wildest rumors abound about it. Some are convinced that vampires were created by the “kiss of the lady”, a ritual which is presumably found in the book. Some seek the Scarlet One for a way to thwart the curse, while others crave it.
[A vampire spawn] can only regain its freedom in one of two ways: if its creator is destroyed, or if said creator, by means of a ritual, makes the spawn drink its blood, thus turning it into a true vampire.
Kentigern, Lord of Gleannceo, Vampire Lord, Creature of the Night, Most Famous Dangerous Vampire, Most Fearsome Entity, Most Ambitious Lord: After a life of rule and schemes, Kentigern, feeling old age catching up to him, wanted to prepare his succession; yet, his pride was such that he did not acknowledge any of his children as his equal. Furious and delirious, he murdered them during a bloody banquet. So abominable was his act, so desperate his refusal to die, so consuming his lust for power, that he attracted the dark attention of Xonim, who turned him into a vampire.
Vampire Spawn Creature: A mortal whose blood is drained to the last drop by a vampire becomes one of its spawn, psychically dominated by its creator and unable to express any form of free will.
All humanoids can become vampire spawn. In very rare cases, a giant may also become one.
A humanoid slain in this way [by a vampire's bite attack] and then buried in the ground rises the following night as a vampire spawn under the vampire’s control.
A humanoid slain in this way [by Kentigern's bite attack] and then buried in the ground rises the following night as a vampire spawn under the vampire’s control.
Vampire Spawn Bandit: ?
Vampire Spawn Knight: ?
Wight: Slain violently, left to rot without receiving Death’s sacraments, wights are undead who were brought back to life by deep hatred, and who are ready to act with utmost ferocity.
A particularly restless dead brought life to this haunted tree. A despicable criminal was hung from its branches, then buried between its roots. Having sworn to take revenge on his executioners, the deceased rose from the grave in the form of a wight.
Zombie: There are two kinds: those animated by magic, and those who spontaneously rise from the grave.
The conjured necrotic forces summon the remnants of souls wandering in the Ethereal Plane to animate the corpse.
The legend of Niobe mentions one of Kentigern’s daughters-in-law, whose twelve children (six girls and six boys) were massacred and their corpses left to bathe in their blood for nine days. The mother is said to have succeeded, through a complex ritual, in transforming them into zombies, safe from the ravages of time, repairing their bodies and moving them to a palace where they behaved like flesh automatons, in a grotesque mockery of family life.
Implacable, disproportionate revenge is what drives the wight, and its mission leaves behind a procession of obedient zombies risen from its victims.
A humanoid slain by [a wight's life drain] attack rises 24 hours later as a zombie under the wight’s control, unless the humanoid is restored to life or its body is destroyed.
Zombie Creature: While beasts and giants can become zombies, most zombies are humanoids.
Ogre Zombie: ?
Harro Zombie: ?
Lich: Sagacious corpses animated by an iron will and endless ambition, liches are wizards who have reached the peak of their art and are determined to cheat death indefinitely, preferring the formidable and terrifying reputation of undeath.
Although Xonim herself did not become a lich, she had studied them during her lifetime and left many reports regarding the strengths and weaknesses of these creatures, as well as the methods of their transformation. Some arcanists explore ancient ruins dating back to the time of Tamerakh to learn the secret of becoming a lich. Paradoxically, these ambitious wizards seek to use an evil knowledge that Xonim only acquired after she managed to imprison at least one of these fearsome undead. It would be better for the world if these underground prison-laboratories were never opened.
Bekasi the Advisor, Lich: ?
Specter: Wraith Create Specter power.
Poltergeist: ?
Sunsutaa, Doleful One, Smoke Phantom: They come into existence especially in territories tainted by the use of necromancy.
Wielding spells that can torment the soul and possess creatures, sünsutaa are sometimes believed to be former warlocks. According to one theory, they were cursed and deprived of eternal rest, while others believe their current state is the result of deliberate efforts. In the same way that wizards seek to become liches, ancient arcanists supposedly conducted rituals to transcend into the shadows by becoming sünsutaa.
The older a sünsutaa is, the more it increases in size. At only a few years old, the youngest sünsutaa—called sünsutaajijig—are barely three feet tall, but already they are insidious threats that can endanger a town or a small territory. After a few decades, a sünsutaa reaches “maturity” and its powers as well as its size increase, to the extent that it can now be a threat to an entire region.
Sunsutaa Sunsutaajijig, Youngest Sunsutaa: ?
Sunsutaa Sunsutaaikh: ?
Wraith: Darkness takes form as light and life fade away, and are then snuffed out. All that remains is the gleaming and malevolent gaze of the wraith, a sketch of the silhouette of what was once a living being, now animated by pure hatred.
Gaunt: Gaunts are undead of the far north. Some revive spontaneously, while others are raised by necromancers, particularly clerics from among the ranks of the frost giants.
Frost giant war parties might count among their numbers one or more warriors who carry weapons with the arctic death enchantment. Its effect is horrifying, the victim immediately being raised as a gaunt hungry for the flesh of the living, turning against its previous allies.
White dragons can influence the cycle of life, even preventing spring from returning by plaguing a region with an affliction known as the ice-bound slumber. Plants, beasts, and humanoids can be affected, with the victims drifting off into such a deep sleep that they appear dead and frozen. During this stasis, some succumb while others turn into gaunts.
Nowohtam, Wail of the Wastes: Some say that they are the deceased who haven’t received a proper burial and are doomed to wander the dim shores leading to the afterlife of Frostelle, mistress of these cold lands. According to other traditions, they are the souls of the greedy and selfish departed, damned to await the judgment of the sednaï, the celestial messengers of the Winter Crone.
Wail of the Waste Shiverwail: A humanoid creature slain by the shiverwail becomes a shiverwail 1d4 hours later and cannot be brought back to life without Frostelle’s consent, or that of a celestial in her service.
A humanoid creature slain by the frostwail becomes a shiverwail 1d4 hours later and cannot be brought back to life without Frostelle’s consent, or that of a celestial in her service.
Wail of the Waste Frostwail: ?
Ghost, Tormented Soul, Intangible Undead, Apparition, Bodiless Spirit: ?
Ghoul, Voracious Monster, Carnivorous Undead Creature, Living Image of the Madness to Which Hunger Can Lead, Nocturnal Predator: ?
Ghast, Voracious Monster: ?
Ghast, Leader: ?
Haunted, Victim: ?
Haunted Animated Tree, Haunted Evil Form: ?
Haunted Beast: ?
Haunted Mastiff: ?
Haunted Steed: ?
Skeleton, Undead Whose Existence Generally Relies on the Use of Magic, Wrested Dead, Mindless Skeleton: ?
Skeleton, Favored Servant: ?
Stone Giant Skeleton, Ultimate Weapon, Monstrous Skeleton: ?
Mathilde of Lothrienne, Vampire Servant-Wife: ?
Yevgenia the Arolavian, Vampire Servant-Wife: ?
Niobe the Cyrillan, Vampire Servant-Wife: ?
Vampire, Stone-Cold Magnificent Predator, Prisoner of Time, Lord of the Night, Walking Corpse: ?
Wight, Particularly Restless Dead: ?
Wight, Undead Who Was Brought Back to Life By Deep Hatred: ?
Zombie, Obedient Zombie: ?
Zombie, Animated Stupid Malevolent Corpse, Most Common Undead: ?
Megare of Cyrillane, Famed Archmage, Alleged Lich: ?
Siunniyah the Leper Princess, Lich: ?
Lich, Sagacious Corpse Animated by an Iron Will and Endless Ambition, Wizard Who Has Reached the Peak of their Art and is Determined to Cheat Death, Most Dangerous Being, Fearsome Undead: ?
Specter, Danger: ?
Specter, Scourge: ?
Specter, Bodiless Spirit: ?
Sunsutaa, Intangible Undead, Incorporeal Undead, Dead Soul: ?
Sunsutaajijig, Insidious Threat: ?
Sunsutaa, Threat to an Entire Region: ?
Sunsutaaikh, Undead Calamity: ?
Wraith, Scourge: ?
Wraith, Sketch of the Silhoette of What Once Was a Living Being: ?
Gaunt, Undead of the Far North, Bearer of a Dreadful Curse: ?
Gaunt, Walking Nightmare: ?
Wail of the Wastes, Pale Indistinct Blurry Luminescent Shape, Chilling Haunt, Incorporeal Undead, Protector of Secrets, Ordeal for Heroes: ?
Wail of the Wastes, Deceased Who Has Not Received a Proper Burial: ?
Wail of the Wastes, Soul of a Greedy Selfish Departed: ?
Wail of the Wastes Shiverwail, Mournful Creature: ?
Wail of the Wastes Frostwail, Powerful Wail of the Wastes: ?
Undead, True Undead, Undead Monster: All undead are animated by necrotic energy, but the wraith is distinguished by its ability to act as a vector for it.
The wraith partly controls this release of energy: it can snuff out small sources of light (torches, campfires); it is able to summon ghosts into its service from fresh corpses; its presence can also cause the spontaneous appearance of undead with malicious minds of their own.
In the evening after a battle, survivors anxiously gather in their camps. If priests and druids have failed in their mission to appease the dead, a wraith may appear during the night and bring about the awakening of other undead.
Undead are once-living creatures brought to a horrifying state of undeath through the practice of necromantic magic or some unholy curse.
Intangible Undead: ?
Tormented Soul, Intangible Undead: ?
Incorporeal Undead: ?
Animated Corpse: In the evening after a battle, survivors anxiously gather in their camps. If priests and druids have failed in their mission to appease the dead, a wraith may appear during the night and bring about the awakening of other undead. After the day’s tiring battles against the living, one may still have to defend against animated corpses and ghosts…
Create Specter. The wraith targets a humanoid within 10 feet of it that has been dead for no longer than 1 minute and died violently. The target’s spirit rises as a specter in the space of its corpse or in the nearest unoccupied space. The specter is under the wraith’s control. The wraith can have no more than seven specters under its control at one time.
