Undead Origins

Freeport: The City of Adventure
3.0
Fire Spectre, Fire Specter: Fire spectres are undead creatures created when blackhearted villains are burned alive. Their hatred burns so strong that the fires transform them into supernatural terrors.
Fire spectre is a template that can be added to any corporeal giant, humanoid, or monstrous humanoid of evil alignment (hereafter referred to as the “base creature”). The creature must die by fire to be reborn as a fire spectre.
Kothar the Accursed, Fire Spectre Rogue 10: Kothar’s sentence was, as was always the case with pirate justice in those days, death. But it was a very special death that the Sea Lord decreed for Kothar. The pirate captain was securely tied to the mast of the ship he had attacked, and his crew bound and tossed in the hold. The Burning Tide was then piloted a few miles off the coast of the Serpent’s Teeth. There the entire craft was soaked in pitch and set alight. Kothar and his cutthroats were left to burn to death among the timbers of the ship that they had murdered so many to possess.
That should have been the end of Kothar and his crew—but it wasn’t. It was just the beginning. A single month had gone by when a burning ship was spotted on the night horizon off the coast of A’Val.
Ship of the Damned Crewman, Fire Spectre Fighter 2: Kothar’s sentence was, as was always the case with pirate justice in those days, death. But it was a very special death that the Sea Lord decreed for Kothar. The pirate captain was securely tied to the mast of the ship he had attacked, and his crew bound and tossed in the hold. The Burning Tide was then piloted a few miles off the coast of the Serpent’s Teeth. There the entire craft was soaked in pitch and set alight. Kothar and his cutthroats were left to burn to death among the timbers of the ship that they had murdered so many to possess.
That should have been the end of Kothar and his crew—but it wasn’t. It was just the beginning. A single month had gone by when a burning ship was spotted on the night horizon off the coast of A’Val.
Fire Spectre, Supernatural Terror: ?
Undead, Undead Creature: ?
Fiarella Donadrien, Ghost: A consortium of aristocrats built the Freeport Opera House nearly 100 years ago in an effort to bring some semblance of culture to the cesspool known as Freeport. To commemorate the occasion, the Sea Lord at the time commissioned a brand-new opera from one of the greatest composers of that time, an elf by the name of Fiarella Donadrien. This ancient songstress poured so much of her heart and soul into the composition, it’s said, that she actually expired shortly after its first performance.
Ghost: ?
Ghoul: ?
Skeleton: ?
Wealthy Vampire: ?
Vampiric Kraken: ?
Zombie: Dnulper magic item.

Dnulper
This +2 unholy guisarme is said to be the creation of Friar Ingiltere, a mad monk and necromancer of Freeport’s distant past, and named for the villain’s patron, a death slaad of unsurpassed power. The weapon’s shaft is carved from the lightning-struck trunk of a hangman’s tree, and the head is forged from the grave-sword of an ancient chieftain.
Any living, corporeal opponent slain by Dnulper rises on the next round as a zombie under the wielder’s control. These creations remain animated until the next sunrise or sunset, and must remain within 50 feet of their controller or revert to inanimate corpses. There is no limit to the number or total HD of zombies that may be created in this manner.
Caster Level: 10th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, animate dead, unholy blight, creator must be evil; Market Price: 84,809 gp; Cost to Create: 42,405 gp + 3,393 XP.
 

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General Guidelines for D20 Zothique
3.0
Ghorii, Jaghoul: A ghorii shaman invokes hellish powers to create more ghorii from jackal skeletons wrapped in human skin. This cannot be done in battle, and requires several hours of spell casting. Ghorii must be created in multiples of five, and each one requires a complete jackal skeleton and the entire skin plus some blood, brain & bones from a human.
Crawling Members: Crawling members are animated body parts severed into sections large enough to move and inflict damage.
Wraith Desert, Wraith: The desert wraith is a desiccated corpse, animated through a small portion of the malevolent spirit of the skriaxit that killed it.
Ghorii, Jaghoul, Devilish Undead, Gaunt Jackal-Like Form: ?
Crawling Members, Animated Body Parts Severed Into Sections Large Enough to Move and Inflict Damage: ?
Wraith Desert, Desiccated Corpse, Energy Draining Undeadl, Humanoid Form, Form of a Jackal, Shape of a Jacka: ?
Undead, Undead Monster: ?
Animated Dead: ?
Animate Dead: ?
Reanimated Dead, Lich: ?
Vampire-Like Undead: ?
Ghoul: ?
Lich: ?
Wizened Lich: Thasaidon is known and feared throughout Zothique, even where he is not worshiped. The vampires and lamiae pay him homage, and wizened liches drawn upon his power for continued earthly presence beyond the grave.
Vampire, Lamia, Vampiric Lamia, Undead Lamia, Undead Vampire: ?
Vampire, Solitary Former Human That Feasts on Blood: ?
Vampire Spawn, Lamia, Vampire: ?
Wraith: ?
Zombie: Any humanoid slain by crawling members becomes a zombie in 1d4 rounds.
Any humanoid slain by a desert wraiths energy drain attack becomes a zombie within 48 hours, even if raised from the dead, though this can be prevented if the body is washed in holy water.
 

Generals of Prime
3.0
Undead: ?
Skeleton: ?
Skeletal Bowman: Raised from peasant corpses.
Skeletal Mob: Raised from peasant corpses.
Skeletal Archer: Raised from soldier’s corpses, carefully selected for their dexterity, and made at a Desecrated altar.
Skeletal Archer Augmented: Soldier corpses raised with the Augmented Summoning feat at a Desecrated altar.
Zombie: ?
Zombie Mob: Raised from peasant corpses.
Zombie Glaivier: Raised from peasant corpses.
Zombie Halberdier: Raised from soldier’s corpses, carefully selected for their strength, and made at a Desecrated altar.
Zombie Halberdier Augmented: Soldier corpses raised with the Augmented Summoning feat at a Desecrated altar.
 

Hammer & Helm
3.0
Defender of Mar-Namor: The defenders of Mar-Namor are undead bound to the Forge God’s will and granted heightened powers. Long ago, the great city of Mar-Namor faced attack by a powerful illithid army keen to plunder its wealth and enslave its tireless dwarven workers. The bravery of the city’s legions was for naught: The illithids blasted the minds of dwarven warriors sent against them, and soon many of the defenders fought as thralls in the invading army. The automatons and golems of Mar-Namor could not be so overtaken, but they were too few to do much more than delay the illithid host.
Desperate, the city’s defenders turned to the arts of necromancy, creating undead dedicated to the Forge God. For a while the ploy worked, and the undead legions marched with impunity against the illithids. Necromancy, however, was not the succor that Mar- Namor needed-the city was betrayed from within by many of the same spellcasters who built the new defenders. As the city fell, the traitors fled, taking the secrets of creating the new undead with them, and some can still be found in remote locations.
“Defender of Mar-Namor” is a template that can be added to any corporeal undead creature.
A defender of Mar-Namor can be created by clerics casting animate dead, create undead, or create greater undead. A cleric must have acquired knowledge of the defender of Mar-Namor template and its application through adventuring (GM’s discretion) before he can use it in conjunction with these spells. The ritual also requires a suit of the appropriate armor, along with the weapon the creature will wield and the other components necessary for the spell.
The rituals that bind an undead creature with the trappings of the Forge God are long and impossible to complete without some other means of controlling it. Applying the template to existing undead requires that it first be controlled by a turn attempt, then somehow immobilized without being destroyed. Finally, a dwarf cleric (or a character with access to the proper profane knowledge) must expend a turn attempt powerful enough to destroy the undead and sacrifice XP equal to 20 times the undead’s Hit Dice total.
Defender of Mar-Namor, Undead Bound to the Forge God's Will And Granted Heightened Powers, Undead Dedicated to the Forge God: ?
Defender of Mar-Namor, Mindless Undead: ?
Defender of Mar-Namor, Especially Powerful Defender Made From Intelligent Undead: ?
Defender of Mar-Namor, Especially Powerful Knight Made From Intelligent Undead: ?
Defender of Mar-Namor, Intelligent Undead: ?
Ghoul Soldier of Mar-Namor: ?
Mummy Defender of Mar-Namor: ?
Undead, Undead Creature, Normal Undead Creature, Normal Undead: ?
Advanced Undead: Beginning at 2nd level, the spirit stone defiler can enhance undead he creates with the animate dead spell or similar magic by including spirit stone as a power component. Every 20 gp of spirit stone consumed in the casting advances a single created undead by one Hit Die, up to a number of Hit Dice equal to the defiler’s class level. Sheathed in fragments of spirit stone, the advanced undead looks alien and warped. Sometimes such creatures bear the visages of the dwarven souls that formerly blessed the spirit stone, now twisted with pain.
Undead Servant: ?
Independent Undead: ?
Corporeal Undead Creature: ?
Undead Foe: ?
Undead Warrior: ?
Ghoul: If a ghoul soldier of Mar-Namor does not devour a humanoid victim, the corpse rises as a ghoul in 1d4 days. Casting protection from evil on a body before the end of that time averts the transformation.
Malicath, Arch-Lich: ?
Shadow: ?
Vampire: Talisman of the Wild Vampiric magic item.
Wight: ?

Talisman of the Wild
Each of these talismans grants the user greater transformation ability whenever casting the polymorph self spell, using a druid’s wild shape ability, or employing similar effects. A given talisman of the wild grants the listed template to the assumed form. Each talisman’s effects are listed on page 96. Only one talisman of the wild can be used at a time, and if the template could not normally be added to the assumed form, it has no effect. A talisman requires the Craft Wondrous Item feat to create in addition to the spell listed. Weight: 1 lb.

Talisman of the Wild
Talisman Template Caster Level Prerequisites Market Price Cost to Create
Heavenly Celestial 11th holy word 8,000 gp 4,000 gp + 320 XP
Infernal Fiendish 11th blasphemy 8,000 gp 4,000 gp + 320 XP
Ironbound Iron-souled 13th iron body 2,000 gp 1,000 gp + 80 XP
Taloned Half-dragon 11th fly 18,000 gp 9,000 gp + 720 XP
Vampiric Vampire 13th enervation 8,000 gp 4,000 gp + 320 XP
 


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