Aegis of Empires Adventure Path (5E)
5e
Allip: Those who fall prey to madness and take their own lives sometimes find themselves lost on the path to the afterlife, trapped in a state between life and death.
Baykok: When hunters become utterly obsessed with the chase and indulge excessively in the savagery of the kill, their souls become progressively tainted. When such remorseless hunters perish before they can capture and kill their quarry, they sometimes rise from death as baykoks—flying undead horrors that kill purely for the ecstasy that only murder can bring them.
PCs witnessing the attacking baykoks can make a DC 10 Intelligence (History) check to recognize their ragged trappings and equipment as belonging to Shattered Folk of the distant past. It doesn’t take much insight to guess that these creatures are the remains of steppe-dwelling tribesmen who were slain by the impact blast when the Burning Star struck almost 2,000 years ago.
Blast Shadow, Tenebrous Blast Shadow: Blast shadows usually spawn as the result of a magical catastrophe, as those in the Haunted Steppes were spawned by the cataclysmic impact of the Burning Star. They also can be artificially created, and pyromaniac magic users, worshipers of evil fire deities, and the servants of powers that crave burnt offerings favor these undead horrors. Blast shadows created in this way are loyal to their creator, but those created by a natural cataclysm or the death burst of another blast shadow are beholden to no one.
Cinder Ghoul: Slain by the actual impact of the Burning Star long ago, these creatures burn in perpetual torment, their charred flesh and bone still wreathed in the fires that killed them.
Fire Phantom: When a creature dies on the Elemental Planes of Fire, its soul often melds with part of the fiery plane and reforms as a fire phantom; a humanoid creature composed of rotted and burned flesh and elemental fire.
Huecuva, Risen Corpses of Heretical Clerics Who Blasphemed and Renounced Their Deities Before Meeting Death: Huecuvas are the risen corpses of heretical clerics who blasphemed and renounced their deities before meeting death.
Nightwalker: ?
Radioactive Combusted: If a creature is reduced to 0 hit points in this way [from a radioactive combusted's slam attack], it is immediately slain, and rises as a combusted within 1d4 hours.
Shadow Wolf: ?
Lunar Wight, Typical Lunar Wight, Full-Fledged Free-Willed Lunar Wight: Lunar wights are humanoids who rise as undead after being brutally slain and their corpse abandoned under the light of a full moon. Lunar wights arise when a dark spirit from beyond this world possesses the corpse and permanently enters the dead body.
Spawn are under the command of the lunar wight that created them and remain enslaved
until its death, at which point they lose their spawn penalties and become full-fledged and free-willed lunar wights.
Lunar Wight Spawn: Any humanoid creature slain by a lunar wight under the light of the moon becomes a lunar wight itself in 1d4 rounds. If the corpse is kept from direct exposure to moonlight, then this transformation is delayed until the rise of the next full moon.
Sinew Cadaver: ?
Ancient Void Disciple: ?
Eldest Ghost: ?
Groaning Spirit: ?
The Sagging Man, Keeper of the Yellow Sign, Dread Creature, Hideous Undead Thing: The Sagging Man was one of the first Hundaei chiefs to dare to trod upon the Nam-i-BudhaniFB-106 — the forbidden Lost Mountains at Lake Hali — and to discover and walk upon the ruined streets of ancient Carcosa, and he paid with his sanity, his life, and ultimately his soul.
Gravebound: As a result of their torturous deaths and the curses laid upon their burials, the Shattered Folk interred in the ground transformed into 12 gravebound that lie beneath the restless soil.
It is important to note that the gravebound are made from animated grave dirt rather than the victims’ actual bodies, hence their rising does not in any way disturb the actual interred corpses or the skeletal remains protruding above.
Bhuta: ?
Gashadokuro: The gashadaokuro is an undead that spawns from mass starvation events.
Harionago: ?
Luckless Watcher: To further guard against tampering with the device, Colonel Conroi ordered the execution of a Shattered Folk prisoner that the expedition had been interrogating for several weeks to try and glean any useful information it might have regarding the terrain ahead. Having depleted the prisoner’s store of useful knowledge, Conroi had the expedition’s wizard, Manx, kill the bound unfortunate with a phantasmal killer and then curse the body in hopes of creating an undead guardian for their landmark. Manx’s cruel ministration worked all too well, and the cursed soul of the murdered tribesman arose as the Luckless Watcher shortly after the expedition continued on its way.
Azmerius Thade, Powerful Undead: The PCs do not have long to ponder this strange conundrum, however, because like his fellows in K2, Azmerius’s own soul has not remained untainted and rested easy.
Fuagruun, Red Dragon Ravener: However, even the dragon’s formidable defenses were not immune to the effects of the metallurgic amber infusing the entire area, and the antimagic field effects likewise muted his resistances until finally Fuagruun succumbed to the baleful radiations and underwent the unholy transformation into a red dragon ravener.
Talethqueh-Gun’Ta, Unique Mohrg Chdaezu, Dread Mohrg, Horrific Undead, Guardian, Undead Chydaezu, Undead Monstrosity: Like its sister meteor in the Red Waste, which carried at its core the Pit-Worm of YhathAK:M-74-79, the meteor of the Haunted Steppe held more than just the coveted Holocaust Stone. It too held a sleeping passenger encapsulated at its heart, the chyzaedu traveler Talethqueh-Gun’Ta, who had been selected by his people prior to the destruction of their homeworld to serve as chief attendant to the Holocaust Stone. Talethqueh was killed in the impact of the meteorite, but the proximity of the powerful Holocaust Stone caused his body to be infused by necromantic energies and arise as a horrific undead known as a dread mohrg.
Mohrg, Common Mohrg: ?
Prince Cale, Grand Duke of Reme and Prince of Foere, The Lost Prince of Foere, Nemhain, Corpselike Figure, Regal-Looking Man With Aquiline Features Marred Only by Hollow Cheeks and Sunken Eyes, Apparition, Powerful Undead Remains, Undead Master, Undead Overlord, Undead Prince: ?
Sir Eregor Dantalus of Apothasaolos, Gallowdead, Horrific Gallowdead, Undead Horror, Knight, Horrifying Undead Creature: He then murdered the helpless Sir Eregor, impaling him upon the cursed hook used murderously for centuries by the Underguild before sealing the chamber with a newly mortared wall to hide the deed from any other survivors of his expedition. The nature of Sir Eregor’s ignoble death and the long history of malice and pain associated with the bailing hook caused Sir Eregor to arise as an undead horror that the PCs have now unwittingly unleashed.
Lord Cellichos, Worm That Walks: Lord Cellichos was a Hyperborean nobleman with a fondness for the theater and was the director of the opera’s final performance. Obsessed with the bizarre opera The King in Yellow, Cellichos bankrupted himself and several partners in his quest to see it performed. Broke but triumphant, Cellichos watched the performance from his private box, and went mad along with the rest of the audience at the arrival of an avatar of Hastur. Moments later, before the horrific avatar could spread its madness to the rest of the city and from there the entire world, the Tower of Oerson exploded, shattering the theater and trapping Cellichos in the rubble, where he lingered in agony for hours until the raging fires reached him. Cellichos did not fully die that night, and his tormented psyche was reborn as the worm that walks which still haunts the old opera house.
Worm: ?
Spawn of Kyuss: A worm-infested target dies if it drops to 0 hit points, then rises 10 minutes later as a spawn of Kyuss. If a worm-infested creature is targeted by an effect that cures disease or removes a curse, all the worms infesting it wither away.
Bodak: ?
Yurei: The chamber’s current occupant is a yurei, the undead remains of a scholar who was killed when the tower’s explosion caused a small cave-in in which he was crushed.
Unseelie Banshee: Given its significance, this book is protected by an unseelie banshee, the spirit of a captured wild elf woman who was ritually slain in the tower specifically to serve as a guardian for the book.
Sir Ernest Branaak, Fext, Powerful Undead Fext: ?
Ecorche: ?
Lady Sanchessa, Sayona: ?
Barivoren Wallix, Graveknight, Skeletal Humanoid Figure Clad in Flame-Scarred Black Plate Armor, Armoured Creature, Undead Horror: ?
Allip, Unfortunate, Spirit of Madness: ?
Myram Abshire, Allip, Tormented Spirit, Insane Spirit: Poor Myram’s spirit has become a tormented spirit called an allip from the shocking circumstances of his demise, and the insane spirit now seeks release from its torment or company in death.
Baykok, Howling Corpse, Flying Undead Horror: ?
Baykok, Distorted Corpse: ?
Radioactive Blast Shadow: The cinder ghouls and radioactive combusted have the same appearance as those earlier, but the radioactive blast shadows bear the crude remnants of hide clothing, bone pectorals, and crude stone weapons identifiable with a DC 25 Intelligence (History) check as belonging to Shattered Folk tribesmen of more than a thousand years ago. This observation makes it quickly apparent that these creatures were created from Shattered Folk killed by the actual meteor impact in 1522 I.R.
Cinder Ghoul, Strange Ghoul: ?
Fire Phantom, Humannoid, Humanoid Creature Composed of Rotted and Burned Flesh and Elemental Fire: ?
Huecuva, Walking Corpse: ?
Nightwalker, Towering Night-Black Giant: ?
Radioactive Combusted, Abomination, Cursed Walking Dead, Creature Infused With Metallurgic Amber: ?
Shadow Wolf, Inky Shadow in the Shape of a Wolf, Nocturnal Hunter: ?
Abbot Quilm, Lunar Wight: The brutal nature of his death, combined with dark etheric energies from the awakening moon bridge above have animated Quilm’s corpse, transfiguring it into a lunar wight.
Sinew Cadaver, Skinless Boneless Thing, Sagging Roughly Humanoid Shape: ?
Brother Fagen, Sinew Cadaver, Fairly Fresh Corpse, Undead Corpse: ?
Sinew Cadaver, Animate Fleshy Abomination, Undead Abomination: ?
Ancient Void Disciple, Guardian, Eternal Protector: ?
Eldest Ghost, Wizened Elf, Restless Spirit of an Elf Who Fought the Lunite Invaders Millenia Ago, Restless Elven Ghost, Unexpected Ghost: ?
Groaning Spirit. Translucent Figure: ?
Gravebound, Undead Monstrosity: ?
Bhuta, Wrathful Spirit, Clawed Wild-Eyed Apparition With Backwards Feet: ?
Gashadokuro, Giant Grimy Skeleton, Mass of Decomposition of Numerous Bodies: ?
Harionago, Young Woman: ?
Bodak, Wizened Figure: ?
Yurei, Undead Remains of a Scholar: ?
Unseelie Banshee, Guardian: ?
Undead, Undead Creature: Any creature charmed by an immortal ichor takes 1d6 points of Wisdom damage per day. When a charmed creature’s Wisdom damage equals its Wisdom score, it becomes completely subservient to the immortal ichor (as dominate monster, except it even obeys self-destructive orders) and loses the Wisdom damage it has taken from this ability. A subservient ally who is killed rises the next round as an undead of the appropriate CR under the immortal ichor’s control.
Anyone killed by the [Holocaust] stone [of Gun'ta artifact] while this [create undead horde] effect is active rises 1 round later as an undead creature as determined by their CR before death. These undead are not controlled and immediately attack any living creatures they can find. Most will be either a ghoul, a skeleton, or a zombie.
Burning Undead: ?
Undead Remains: ?
Restless Undead: ?
Foul Undead: ?
Abomination: ?
Unnatural Creature: ?
Kiwaha, Kwajubinay Undead Lord: ?
Mindless Undead, Mindless Undead Creature: ?
Strangely Burned Undead Attacker, Strange Undead, Eerie Burned Undead: ?
Undead Monstrosity: ?
Undead Attacker: ?
Stinking Walker: ?
Undead Guardian: ?
Undead Creature That Feeds on Blood: ?
Immortal Undead Creature: ?
Undead Created by Spells: Created by spells.
Ghast: This ghoul pack is led by a ghast and is composed of Shattered Folk tribesmen that have fallen to ghoul fever and now hunt their own kind.
With her [Lady Sanchessa] in the room are 12 ghasts, the pathetic remains of past victims.
A target killed by [Lady Sanchessa's claw] attack rises as a ghast (for creatures that have a CR/level greater than 1) or a ghast (if the creature has a CR/Level equal to or less than 1) after the next sunset.
Mold-Covered Ghast: ?
Ghost of a Dwarf Miner: ?
Ghost: ?
Margrave Alhpert Vanderhaven, Ghost: ?
Ghostly Presence: ?
The Thing in the Basement, Ghoulish Mandrill, Poor Creature, Disgusting Creature: This room was originally the servants’ quarters, but Eb used it to house a mandrill he experimented on and infected with ghoul fever.
Ghoul: The sheer magnitude of bloodletting that has occurred over the last 3,000 years ensures that there are always undead wandering about. Likewise, the isolated terrain and distinct possibility of death by starvation for the scattered inhabitants of the plains increases the likelihood of any undead being ghouls. This ghoul pack is led by a ghast and is composed of Shattered Folk tribesmen that have fallen to ghoul fever and now hunt their own kind.
Anyone killed by the [Holocaust] stone [of Gun'ta artifact] while this [create undead horde] effect is active rises 1 round later as an undead creature as determined by their CR before death. These undead are not controlled and immediately attack any living creatures they can find. Most will be either a ghoul, a skeleton, or a zombie.
Osfeldt, Ghoul, Undead Monstrosity: ?
Billij, Ghoul: ?
Ghoul-Stirge: ?
Haunt: ?
Eb Walix, Old Eb, The Old House: The sinister influence of the Codex Ibnathi has
prevented the evil soul of Eb Wallix from reaching the afterlife, and as a result the house is haunted by the trapped spirit of the insane alienist. Eb's supernatural presence in the house, however, does not reflect any consciousness or purpose, or exist as a single haunt or ghost. His spirit is shattered, its most potent shards usually manifesting as harmless, yet distressing, psychological phantasmagoria, but sometimes presenting as more dangerous phenomena.
This room is where, following an epiphany of exquisite insanity, Old Eb’s explorations into forbidden knowledge culminated in his suicide by hanging. At the moment of his demise, the Codex Ibnathi ripped the spirit from his body and trapped his evil soul within the house.
Suicidal Whispers Haunt: This room is where, following an epiphany of exquisite insanity, Old Eb’s explorations into forbidden knowledge culminated in his suicide by hanging. At the moment of his demise, the Codex Ibnathi ripped the spirit from his body and trapped his evil soul within the house, after which Kyssogga undertook the laborious process of removing his body for storage in the cellar below. Nevertheless, a fragment of Old Eb’s psyche manifests here as a haunt.
Virulent Plague Haunt: ?
Deserter's Death Haunt: Unfortunately for the PCs the benign nature of the stone bridge does not extend to its current unintentional occupants. On this spot 78 years ago, with their numbers dwindling under the increasingly deadly attacks of the strange undead of the region, seven members of the Conroi Expedition attempted to desert and follow the river out of the Haunted Steppe. Their attempt to leave in the middle of the night was unsuccessful, and all seven deserters were captured. They were brought before Colonel Conroi for judgment who handed the sentence given to deserters during his long service in the cavalry. At dawn on the day when the expedition was to head out on its final leg of the journey to the Pit the seven were left swinging from nooses affixed to the bridge, their corpses slowly swaying in the steppe winds. The ropes long ago broke and dropped the corpses into the river where they were subsequently taken away by scavengers and floods over the years, but the spirits of the deceased still linger at the site to this day as a haunt that relives their execution any time living creatures seek to once again cross the stone bridge.
Face of Despair Haunt: Manx made it to this tunnel with his magic only to fall to the undead that inhabit it. Not long after, Col. Conroi was able to make it here, sick with radiation poisoning, nearly mad with fear, and fixated upon finding the trail of Gravenfar in hopes of affecting an escape. Here he came upon the corpse of Manx and was also slain shortly thereafter without ever truly realizing that his cause was already lost — Aroldus Gravenfar had never come to the crater. Though the bodies have long since been removed and devoured by the assorted inhabitants of the crater, the spirit of Col. Conroi lingers on in this tunnel as a haunt.
Imperatrix Trystecce, Lich-Queen, Vile Undead Lich: ?
Lich, Unspeakably Powerful Creature: ?
Mummy: ?
Swamp Mummy: ?
Shadow, Undead Shadow: ?
Greater Shadow: ?
Skeleton Champion: These are the desiccated remains of ancient warriors whose restless spirits animate their bones in endless repetition of wars long forgotten.
Skeleton Champion, Desiccated Remains of an Ancient Warrior: ?
Minotaur Skeleton: ?
Skeleton: Anyone killed by the [Holocaust] stone [of Gun'ta artifact] while this [create undead horde] effect is active rises 1 round later as an undead creature as determined by their CR before death. These undead are not controlled and immediately attack any living creatures they can find. Most will be either a ghoul, a skeleton, or a zombie.
Advanced Specter: Not all of these dead rest easily after dying in pain, insanity, and darkness. A few of them have arisen as 3 advanced spectres and still haunt this chamber.
The Singed Man, The Infernal Tyrant, Vampire Lord, Vampire Tyrant: ?
Margravine Cassandra Vanderhaven, Human Vampire, Powerful Psychic Vampire, Controlling Vampire Master, Middle-Aged Human Woman, Fiendish Creature, Nightmare Creature, Deadly Vampire Mistress: When she finally gathered the nerve to proclaim her love for this mysterious individual, he revealed that he was no mortal man but a vampire. Cassandra somehow knew in her soul that she had finally found her true place in the world. She begged him for the kiss of undeath and, after submitting to his embrace, she stormed into her husband’s bedchamber and partook of her first meal as the living dead.
Vampiric Agent: ?
Underguild Vampire: ?
Battle-Duke Ormand of the Rampart, Vampire Spawn: ?
Duke Ormand, Vampire: ?
Yorguio, Vampire: ?
Master Vampire: ?
Vampire Spawn: A humanoid slain in this way [by the Margravine Cassandra's bite attack] and then buried in the ground rises the following night as a vampire spawn under the margravine's control.
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 Dhaderra's bite attack] and then buried in the ground rises the following night as a vampire spawn under Dhaderra's control.
A humanoid slain in this way [by Omanales' bite attack] and then buried in the ground rises the following night as a vampire spawn under the vampire's control.
Enslaved Vampire Servitor, Enslaved Vampire, Enslaved Servitor: ?
Free-Willed Vampire: Of particular note is that the margravine’s enslavement of the PCs is incomplete. Perhaps because of her gluttony in draining and creating so many spawn at one time or because of being forced to abandon them before they completed their transformation and rose from their coffins, her enslavement of them is imperfect. All of the PCs begin as enslaved vampires under the margravine’s control (though she is not currently present to exercise that control so they are essentially free to do what they will for the time being), but immediately upon waking each vampire PC gets a DC 21 Wisdom saving throw to try and break the margravine’s hold over them and become a free-willed vampire. PCs that fail the initial save can make a new save each hour (with a +1 bonus to the saving throw for each one after the first) to try and throw off the slowly unravelling compulsion.
Fledgling Vampire: ?
Vampire, Full Vampire, Normal Vampire: ?
Eudoxia, Vampire, Underguild Agent, Commander, Leader, Head of the Local Chapter of the Underguild, Vampire of Exquisite Beauty and a Furious Temper: ?
Valarit, Vampire: ?
Underguild Vampire, Vampire Rogue Leader: ?
Underguild Vampire, Vampire Warrior: ?
Underguild Vampire, Vampire Spawn: ?
Vampire Rogue: ?
Vampire Warrior: ?
Dhaderra, Vampire Sorceress: ?
Vampire Spawn, Vampire Spawn Scout, Underguild Scout: ?
Vampire Sorcerer: ?
Feral Vampire Spawn Smasher: ?
Vampire, Creature That Feeds on Blood: ?
Vampire, Vampire Guildmember: ?
Feral Vampire Spawn Smasher, Vampire Minion: ?
Vampire, Vampire Guildmember, Vampire Minion: ?
Omanales, Nosferatur Vampire: ?
Wight: ?
Wraith: ?
Dread Wraith: ?
The Mothman, Dread Wraith, Humanoid Winged Scorchmark, Tall Fearsome Shape Night-Black With Red Gleaming Ees, Undead Remains of a Mothman, Mothman Spirit, Undead Mothman: Caught by the catastrophe, the mothman has been transformed into a dread wraith.
Will-o'-Wisp: ?
Common Zombie Human: ?
Common Zombie Orc: ?
Zombie, Common Zombie, Normal Zombie: Anyone killed by the [Holocaust] stone [of Gun'ta artifact] while this [create undead horde] effect is active rises 1 round later as an undead creature as determined by their CR before death. These undead are not controlled and immediately attack any living creatures they can find. Most will be either a ghoul, a skeleton, or a zombie.
Fast Zombie: Talethqueh-Gun'Ta's Create Spawn power.
Fast Zombie, Zombie Minion: ?
Ogre Zombie: ?
Sir Frankus Delerron, Juju Zombie: One of the group, a powerful cleric, used create undead to animate the decapitated corpses as 2 juju zombies.
Lady Margaret Delerron, Juju Zombie: One of the group, a powerful cleric, used create undead to animate the decapitated corpses as 2 juju zombies.
Corpse: Grasping Corpse spell.
Apparition: ?
Apparition, Angry Spirit: ?
Banshee: ?
Create Spawn. Talethqueh-Gun'Ta targets a humanoid within 10 feet of it that has been dead for no longer than 1 minute and died violently. The target’s body rises as a fast zombie in the space of its corpse or in the nearest unoccupied space. The fast zombie is under the chyzaedu's control.
Grasping Corpse
1st-level necromancy
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components V, S, M (pinch of powdered onyx worth 1 gp)
Duration Instantaneous
Class: cleric, sorcerer, warlock, wizard
You can cause one nearby corpse to animate for a brief moment. Choose a creature within 30 feet of the corpse (even if the creature is outside the spell’s range). The corpse shambles toward the creature and then grapples it (Escape DC 12). It otherwise has the statistics of a zombie.
At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the number of corpses you may animate doubles for each slot level above 1st.
