Undead Origins

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Ultimate Character Concepts
3.5
Undead: ?
Threat: ?
Nasty: ?
Undead Minion: ?
Creature Known to Spread Disease: ?
Ghost, Malevolent Spirit: ?
Malevolent Spirit: ?
Evil Ghost: ?
Ghost, Ethereal Creature: ?
Ethereal Creature: ?
Powerful Ghoul: ?
Mighty Lich King: ?
Powerful Lich: ?
Lich: ?
Bothersome Lich: ?
Skeleton: ?
Vampire Lord: ?
Powerful Vampire: ?
Vampire: ?

 

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Ultimate Divine Spellbook
3.5
Undead, Undead Creature: ?
Incorporeal Undead: ?
Corporeal Undead: ?
Nonintelligent Undead Creature: ?
Intelligent Undead Creature: ?
Corporeal Foe: ?
Good Undead: ?
Evil Undead: ?
Lesser Creation: ?
Semi-Sentient Undead Creature: ?
Undead Creature Particularly Vulnerable to Sunlight: ?
Nonliving Creature: ?
Creature That Does Not Breathe: ?
Undead Creature Specifically Harmed By Bright Light: ?
Devourer: Create Undead Greater spell, caster level 20th or higher.
Devourer, More Powerful Intelligent Undead: ?
Ghast: Create Undead spell, caster level 12th to 14th.
Ghast, More Powerful Undead: ?
Ghost: Kidnap Soul spell.
Ethereal Ghost: ?
Ghoul: Create Undead spell, caster level 11th or lower.
Ghoul, More Powerful Undead: ?
Summoned Ghoul: ?
Lich, Caster: ?
Lich: ?
Mohrg: Create Undead spell, caster level 18th or Higher.
Mohrg, More Powerful Undead: ?
Mummy: Create Undead spell, caster level 15th to 17th.
Mummy, More Powerful Undead: ?
Shadow: Create Undead Greater spell, caster level 15th or lower.
Shadow, More Powerful Intelligent Undead: ?
Skeleton, Undead Skeleton: Animate Dead spell.
Risen Armies spell.
Skeleton, Semi-Sentient Undead Creature: ?
Spectre: Create Undead Greater spell, caster level 18th to 19th.
Spectre, More Powerful Intelligent Undead: ?
Vampire, Creature Normally Damaged by Sunlight, Creature Damaged by Sunlight, Undead Creature Particularly Vulnerable to Sunlight, Being That Hates the Light of Day: ?
Wraith: Create Undead Greater spell, caster level 16th to 17th.
Wraith, More Powerful Intelligent Undead: ?
Zombie, Undead Zombie, Ordinary Zombie: Animate Dead spell.
Kidnap Soul spell.
Necromantic Aura spell.
Risen Armies spell.
Zombie, Semi-Sentient Undead Creature: ?

Animate Dead
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Clr 3, Death 3, Sor/Wiz 4, Adp 3
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Targets: One or more corpses touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
This spell turns the bones or bodies of dead creatures into undead skeletons or zombies that follow your spoken commands. The undead can follow you, or they can remain in an area and attack any creature (or just a specific kind of creature) entering the place. They remain animated until they are destroyed. A destroyed skeleton or zombie can not be animated again.
Regardless of the type of undead you create with this spell, you can not create more HD of undead than twice your caster level with a single casting of animate dead. The desecrate spell doubles this limit.
The undead you create remain under your control indefinitely. No matter how many times you use this spell, however, you can control only 4 HD worth of undead creatures per caster level. If you exceed this number, all the newly created creatures fall under your control, and any excess undead from previous castings become uncontrolled. (You choose which creatures are released.) If you are a cleric, any undead you might command by virtue of your power to command or rebuke undead do not count toward the limit.
Skeletons: A skeleton can be created only from a mostly intact corpse or skeleton. The corpse must have bones. If a skeleton is made from a corpse, the flesh falls off the bones.
Zombies: A zombie can be created only from a mostly intact corpse. The corpse must be that of a creature with a true anatomy.
Material Component: You must place a black onyx gem worth at least 25 gp per Hit Die of the undead into the mouth or eye socket of each corpse you intend to animate. The magic of the spell turns these gems into worthless, burned-out shells.

Create Undead
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Clr 6, Death 6, Evil 6, Sor/Wiz 6
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: 1 corpse
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
A much more potent spell than animate dead, this evil spell allows you to create more powerful sorts of undead: ghouls, ghasts, mummies, and mohrgs. The type or types of undead you can create is based on your caster level, as shown on the table below.
Caster Level Undead Created
11th or lower Ghoul
12th–14th Ghast
15th–17th Mummy
18th or higher Mohrg
You may create less powerful undead than your level would allow if you choose. Created undead are not automatically under the control of their animator. If you are capable of commanding undead, you may attempt to command the undead creature as it forms.
This spell must be cast at night.
Material Component: A clay pot filled with grave dirt and another filled with brackish water. The spell must be cast on a dead body. You must place a black onyx gem worth at least 50 gp per HD of the undead to be created into the mouth or eye socket of each corpse. The magic of the spell turns these gems into worthless shells.

Create Undead, Greater
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Clr 8, Death 8, Sor/Wiz 8
This spell functions like create undead, except that you can create more powerful and intelligent sorts of undead: shadows, wraiths, spectres, and devourers. The type or types of undead you can create is based on your caster level, as shown on the table below.
Caster Level Undead Created
15th or lower Shadow
16th–17th Wraith
18th–19th Spectre
20th or higher Devourer

Kidnap Soul
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Clr 6, Sor/Wiz 6, Death 6
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: Full-round
Range: Unlimited
Target: 1 creature
Duration: 1 month / level or until successful save (D)
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
This spell allows you to entrap the soul of your target inside a clay jug, and make with its body what you will. You need to point a specially prepared clay jug at your target for a full round and, if it fails a Will save, its life force is pulled into the jug and its body drops dead. This spell can be cast over scrying effects.
The following round the body rises as a zombie under your control, keeping its hit points and Armour Class, but otherwise using the statistics for a zombie as detailed in Core Rulebook III. The soul is allowed an additional Will save at the end of every month of the duration to free itself. Whether you free the life force, the spell’s duration ends, or it escapes on its own, the body is returned to normal once the soul returns to it, having no knowledge of what the body did in its absence. Casting raise dead or any other resurrection magic on the body grants the trapped soul another Will save to escape with a +4 morale bonus.
If the animated body is slain, the trapped life force remains in the jug, and has a 50% chance of becoming a ghost (and quite an angry one) upon its release or escape. In this case, casting resurrection magic on the slain body automatically frees the trapped soul and calls it back to the body.
Protection from evil and other wards block this spell, and destroying the receptacle ends it. The effect can be dispelled only at the clay jug.
Focus: A clay jug painted with rich metal paintings worth at least 100 gp.

Necromantic Aura
Necromancy
Level: Clr 5, Sor/Wiz 7
Components: V, S, F/DF
Casting Time: 1 full round
Range: Personal
Area: 100-ft. radius/level spread centred on you
Duration: 1 hour/level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
This spell creates a field in which any creature that dies is immediately animated as a zombie. Any creature that dies within this spell’s area rises as a zombie after 1d4 rounds, under the control of the caster. Corpses that are brought into the circle are not reanimated, nor are ones that were already within the area when the spell was cast. For example, casting this spell in a graveyard does not cause any of the interred to rise. Undead created by this spell count against the usual maximum number that can be controlled by the caster.
Arcane Focus: A vial of the caster’s own blood.

Risen Armies
Necromancy
Level: Clr 7, Sor/Wiz 8
Components: V, S, M/DF
Casting Time: 1 full round
Range: Personal
Effect: 10-ft. radius/level spread centred on caster
Duration: 1 minute/level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
This spell animates all of the dead within range, for a short period of time. Upon completion, every corpse within the spell’s area of effect rises as a skeleton or zombie under the caster’s command. This spell ignores all limitations on the amount of undead that may be controlled at one time, placing (potentially) armies of the undead at the caster’s fingertips. However, any undead still functional at the end of the spell’s duration disintegrate, collapsing into piles of dust.
Note that this spell does not supply any form of armament for the undead it creates. Furthermore, the time it takes to dig oneself out of the grave is part of the duration, making this spell most useful on battlefields or in crypts. In all other respects, this spell acts as animate dead.
Arcane Material Component: A black onyx gem worth at least 500 gp.

 

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Ultimate Equipment Guide, Volume I
3.5
Undead, Undead Creature: ?
Insubstantial Undead: ?
Ghoul: ?

 

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Ultimate Equipment Guide, Volume II
3.5
Undead, Undead Creature: ?
Undead Landowner: ?
Incorporeal Undead: ?
Evil Corporeal Undead: ?
Mightier Undead Creature: ?
Undead Spellcaster: ?
Nonliving Creature: ?
Allip: ?
Bodak, Mightier Undead Creature: ?
Devourer, Mightier Undead Creature: ?
Ghast: ?
Ghost: Ghost Pill item.
Ghoul: ?
Hungry Ghoul: ?
Lich, Mightier Undead Creature: ?
Mohrg: ?
Mummy: ?
Nightshade, Mightier Undead Creature: ?
Shadow: ?
Skeleton: ?
Spectre: ?
Vampire, Foul Undead, Creature That is Naturally Vulnerable to Sunlight: ?
Vampire Spawn: ?
Wraith, Creature With Daylight Powerlessness, Creature That is Naturally Vulnerable to Sunlight: ?
Zombie: ?

Ghost Pill The name of this product tends to attract customers who believe it allows the consumer to become incorporeal. When they learn the much scarier truth, most immediately ask about any other article. Ghost pills have no effect whatsoever on a living consumer, ‘living’ being the point here – by consuming ghost pills, a character ensures he will return as a ghost after death. Life as a ghost can sound a lot of fun to some people, though most prefer to go to a well-deserved afterlife. In general, ghost pills are more popular among those characters whose behaviour in life has been less than exemplary. A ghost pill looks like a round, pea-sized, colourless shell. A ghost pill package appears as a corked crystal container containing 20 of these pills.
Although being a ghost can appear as a gas – not having to die, eat or sleep, never getting tired and having all of those sinister powers – it really is a lonely, grisly, tortured business. Though other merchants may not be so honest, Kay always attempts to make customers aware of how life as a ghost really is, the torment of not being able to feel anything and the indescribable, soul-rending pain of being turned by a cleric. Additionally, since ghost pill consumers tend to die without any ‘unfinished business’ to fulfill, they are usually doomed to remain in the material plane forever, having no escape clause tied to their ghostly condition. Anything that lasts forever can of course become quite boring after a few centuries. If customers still wish to consume ghost pills after hearing these arguments, Kay gladly sells them the product after they have signed a formal disclaimer. Apparently, such waivers make Kay immune to the powers of the undead, though nobody’s really sure. Nobody knows either how is it that Kay has such detailed knowledge about living as a ghost; when asked about it, she just shrugs and changes the subject.
The regular intake of ghost pills strengthens the consumer’s link to the ethereal plane, allowing his soul to retain incorporeal form after his body dies. A character that dies within 24 hours of having taken a ghost pill always returns as a ghost after one day. If the character dies more than one day after taking his last ghost pills, he has only a 50% chance of returning; the chance lowers to 10% if the dying character took his last ghost pill more than one month ago. If the character dies in circumstances that would actually merit his return as a ghost, such as unfulfilled love or revenge, his chance to return as a ghost increases by 25%.
Ghost Pills (20): 3,750 gp; 0 lb.

 

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Ultimate Game Designer's Companion
3.5
Undead, Undead Creature: ?
Creature That Has No Constitution Score: ?
Creature Immune to Critical Hits: ?
Ghoul: ?
Skeleton, Fallen Warrior: ?

 

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Ultimate NPCs
3.5
Undead: ?
Lich, Necromancer: ?
Cletus Deadwood, Human Vampire Rogue: All of the ‘if onlys’ of his life came together in that single instant of terror when the thing emerged from the crypt, a swirl of dust and mist that coalesced into something terrifying, something terrifyingly hungry. The thing said nothing, simply stared at him and Cletus’ will disappeared into a void.
Cletus Deadwood, Human Vampire Rogue 1: All of the ‘if onlys’ of his life came together in that single instant of terror when the thing emerged from the crypt, a swirl of dust and mist that coalesced into something terrifying, something terrifyingly hungry. The thing said nothing, simply stared at him and Cletus’ will disappeared into a void.
Cletus Deadwood, Human Vampire Rogue 5: All of the ‘if onlys’ of his life came together in that single instant of terror when the thing emerged from the crypt, a swirl of dust and mist that coalesced into something terrifying, something terrifyingly hungry. The thing said nothing, simply stared at him and Cletus’ will disappeared into a void.
Cletus Deadwood, Human Vampire Rogue 10: All of the ‘if onlys’ of his life came together in that single instant of terror when the thing emerged from the crypt, a swirl of dust and mist that coalesced into something terrifying, something terrifyingly hungry. The thing said nothing, simply stared at him and Cletus’ will disappeared into a void.
Cletus Deadwood, Human Vampire Rogue 15: All of the ‘if onlys’ of his life came together in that single instant of terror when the thing emerged from the crypt, a swirl of dust and mist that coalesced into something terrifying, something terrifyingly hungry. The thing said nothing, simply stared at him and Cletus’ will disappeared into a void.
Cletus Deadwood, Human Vampire Rogue 20, Small Petty Man: All of the ‘if onlys’ of his life came together in that single instant of terror when the thing emerged from the crypt, a swirl of dust and mist that coalesced into something terrifying, something terrifyingly hungry. The thing said nothing, simply stared at him and Cletus’ will disappeared into a void.
Vampire, Something Terrifying, Something Terrifyingly Hungry: ?
Vampire Spawn: ?
Zombie Dire Shark: Occasionally, Sahuagin will accompany major raiding parties with a creature guaranteed to terrify and revolt their enemies – the animated corpse of a dire shark.
Zombie Dire Shark, Creature Guaranteed to Terrify and Revolt Sahuagin Enemies, Animated Corpse of a Dire Shark: ?
Faceless Horde of Zombies: ?

 

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Ultimate Prestige Classes Vol 2
3.5
Psionic Revenant: Sometimes, the will to live of a psionic character is so phenomenally strong that it survives their physical death. In order for such a will to be ‘stimulated, the character must have suffered a particularly violent end in which some quality of betrayal played a part. For instance, they could have been sold out by their comrades, have been tricked into letting themselves be imprisoned somewhere and starved to death or have been murdered by someone they trusted or loved.
Such beings are not undead in the traditional sense. They are animated only partly by the power of the negative material plane and far more by the will-to-live of the psionic brain.
The revenant's immensely powerful will, fueled by a desire for revenge, animates his physical remains. (Naturally, this does not happen to all psionic characters who are killed in this way, or nobody would ever dare to lull them; it is the Games Master’s discretion whether any one character rises as a revenant or not.)
It is undead by its own will, not because some evil deity (or the representative of one) chose it as a servitor.
Cowled Rider: The cavalry of darkness, the cowled riders were once mortal men who sought to know things that the wise gods had forbidden mortals to learn. Fear of mortality prompts living men to make awful bargains and to sign away that which they should not. Acceptance and initiation into the cult of Kharash Var brings knowledge of terrible things hidden from living minds; the cowled rider does not remain human long, shedding his mortal flesh gladly and taking on the cold form of one of the undead.
The cult of Kharash Var does not permit the living to dwell in its ranks for long. Upon reaching level 3, the cowled rider transcends a mere lifetime of service to the cult by pledging himself to it in body and soul for all eternity. In a lengthy mind-wracking ceremony of transfiguration, he sheds his mortal flesh and becomes a skeletal knight, an undead creature.
Psionic Revenant, Force of Supernatural Evil: ?
Cowled Rider, Figure of Stark Dread, Apparition, Skeletal Knight, Skeletal Undead Creature: ?
Cowled Rider, Returning Nemesis, Undead Crusader: ?
Undead, Undead Creature: ?
Evil Undead: ?
Undead Servant: ?
Invading Undead: ?
Undead Master Creature: ?
Powerful Undead Creature: ?
Ancient Undead Horror: ?
Higher Undead: ?
Sentient Lord of Unlife: ?
Animated Corpse: ?
Undead Minion: ?
Blasphemous Travesty: ?
Skeletal Undead: ?
Animated Undead: ?
Intelligent Undead: ?
Undead Captain: ?
Lesser Creation: ?
Semi-Sentient Undead Creature: ?
Ordinary Sentient Intelligent Undead Creature: ?
Mindless Minion, Putrescent Protege: ?
Allip, Unquiet Spirit That Has No Body: ?
Ghost: Ghosts in this context are defined as the psychic remnants of creatures who died while experiencing extreme emotion, be that pain, fear, love or hatred. This emotion has bound them to the physical world, preventing the transition to the planes beyond that they rightly should have made. They remain bound to the ethereal plane. It is not enough merely to destroy the ghost’s form. The circumstances that keep it bound to the place must be investigated and dealt with properly if it is ever to be banished completely. An abandoned lover who committed suicide may need to be reconciled with a mortal descendant of the man who jilted her, a murdered child might wish its murderer to be brought to justice and a wholly malevolent spirit might need to be destroyed with an especially sacred weapon.
Ghost, Unquiet Spirit That Has No Body, Psychic Remnant of a Creature Who Died While Experiencing Extreme Emotion, Incorporeal Creature: ?
Ghost, Wholly Malevolent Spirit: ?
Ghoul: ?
Mummy: ?
Skeletal Serpent: ?
Skeleton, Skeletal Undead, Semi-Sentient Undead Creature, Undead Minion: ?
Animated Skeleton: ?
Skeletal Thing: ?
Spectre, Unquiet Spirit That Has No Body: ?
Vampire: ?
Vampire, Master, Vampire Tutor, Vampire Master: ?
Vampire Spawn: ?
Zombie, Mere Zombie: ?
Zombie, Mindless Minion, Putrescent Protege, Animated Corpse, Walking Dead, Undead Minion, Scary Creature, Semi-Sentient Undead Creature: ?
Unquiet Spirit That Has No Body: ?
Ambulatory Corpse: ?
Animated Dead Creature: ?

 

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Vigil Watch: Secrets of the Asaatthi
3.5
Undead: ?
Undead Ooze: ?
Incorporeal Undead: ?
Undead Creature Particularly Vulnerable to Sunlight: ?
Remnant of a Soul: ?
Ghost: ?
Ancient, Aasatthi Ghost Wizard 2: ?
Lich: ?
Cynosure Msehel, Cynosure of the Orb, Asaatthi Lich Wizard 12 Locus Master 5/Ornamancer 3, Ancient Lich, Enclave Guardian: ?
Sepuis, Asaatthi Lich Wizard 9/Druid 7/Locus Master 2: ?
Eleuhs, Asaatthi Lich Wizard 12/Dragon Warrior 5: ?
Dragon Lich: ?
Zharahua, Cold One, Asaathi Lich: ?
Skeleton: ?
Specter, Remnant of a Soul: ?
Vampire, Undead Creature Particularly Vulnerable to Sunlight: ?
Wraith, Remnant of a Soul: ?
Zombie: ?

 

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Villages of the Wastes
3.5
Undead, Undead Creature, Undead Monster: ?
Undead of Mythic Appetite: ?
Ghost of Ancient Ancestor: ?
Villager Fael: The only outside relations the villagers of Segovara had and will still have in the future are with the caravans of House Rees. A caravan would come from Balic and deliver raw materials, food, and other supplies to the villagers, and return to Balic with finished goods. However, none have been to the village since the middle of Free Year 10.
With the situation in Balic having calmed down, House Rees has planned to send a caravan to Segovara in the next few days. When the caravan arrives to find the village dead, the villagers will rise as undead. As the sun goes down that night the villagers will rise as faels and attack the members of the caravan. Blaming House Rees for their deaths and seeing the caravan as representing the merchant house, they will kill and eat all its members.
Evitius, Dhaot Trader 6: Since his death at the hands of the other villagers far from his home in Balic, Evitius has become a dhaot. He longs to be buried in his family’s mausoleum back in Balic, and cannot rest until he is.
Or Evitius will recreate the scene of his death. Since the scene would be from Evitius’s point of view it will be very confused, with a mob of angry faces, shouting too loudly to be heard and wielding torches.
Dwarven Banshee: ?
Dwarven Banshee of a Fallen Water Bearer: ?
Kree, Athasian Wraith, True Spirit of the Lake: Little is known about him, but Kree still exists as a wraith at the bottom of the lake. He has sworn to protect the lake and his tribe for all eternity.

 

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Wisdom of the Drylanders
3.5
Undead: ?
Undead Laborer: ?
Ghost: ?
Animated Skeleton: ?
Zombie: ?
Stalker, Invisible Monster, Undead Mindbender, Corporeal Undead: ?
Dwarven Banshee: Vows are aims that are associated with a specific penalty. A dwarf may vow: I will neither eat nor drink nor sleep until I have recovered my stolen kank and he will not become a banshee if he fails; only if he breaks his vow, fails, and eats, drinks or falls asleep without accomplishing his focus. Sometimes bansheehood may be made part of a penalty: “and may I become a banshee if I fail” but this is rare.
Animated Corpse: ?
Athasian Wraith: ?
Founder, Athasian Wraith Fighter 10, Incorporeal Undead: ?