Mutants & Masterminds Deluxe Gamemaster's Guide
Mutants & Masterminds 3e
Undead, Undead Creature, Supernatural Undead Creature: Magical empowerment may be intended as a curse rather than a gift. Examples include the curse of lycanthropy (turning someone into a werewolf or similar creature) or transforming someone into an undead creature.
Although mad science tends to be the preferred means of threatening the world, it is far from the only one. Mystical master villains can get into the game, too, with magic capable of doing anything science can, and more, such as:
Raise an army of undead, demons, or other magical creatures capable of destroying humanity, and probably quite eager to do so.
You can easily create other kinds of zombies and undead creatures by taking another archetype, removing its Stamina rank and applying Immunity to Fortitude Effects and sufficient Protection to make up for its lost Stamina in terms of Toughness defense. This way you can make zombie animals or zombie dinosaurs, or you can create intelligent undead that retain their various advantages, skills, and equipment, such as zombie soldiers or undead cultists risen from the grave to follow their sorcerous master.
Undead Minion: ?
Mystical Undead: ?
Undead Sorcerer: Not even death can trap a true master of the mystic arts. The Undead Sorcerer exists in a kind of half-life, either trapped there by the decree of foes who bound and entombed him, or through his own machinations, transcending the limits of mortality at the price of the pleasures and aesthetics of the flesh.
Undead Sorcerer, Hideous Desiccated Corpse: ?
Mystic Minion: ?
Magical Creature: ?
Minion: ?
Undead Animal: ?
Undead Swarm: ?
Undead Dinosaur: ?
Intelligent Undead: You can easily create other kinds of zombies and undead creatures by taking another archetype, removing its Stamina rank and applying Immunity to Fortitude Effects and sufficient Protection to make up for its lost Stamina in terms of Toughness defense. This way you can make zombie animals or zombie dinosaurs, or you can create intelligent undead that retain their various advantages, skills, and equipment, such as zombie soldiers or undead cultists risen from the grave to follow their sorcerous master.
Undead Cultist: You can easily create other kinds of zombies and undead creatures by taking another archetype, removing its Stamina rank and applying Immunity to Fortitude Effects and sufficient Protection to make up for its lost Stamina in terms of Toughness defense. This way you can make zombie animals or zombie dinosaurs, or you can create intelligent undead that retain their various advantages, skills, and equipment, such as zombie soldiers or undead cultists risen from the grave to follow their sorcerous master.
Undead Cultist, Intelligent Undead: ?
Occult Creature: ?
Undead Warrior, Guardian, Unliving Guardian: ?
Undead Remnant of a Temple's Ancient Worshipper: Worshippers are typically minions (using the archetypes in this book), either ordinary humans or minor creatures such as the undead remnants of the temple’s ancient worshippers, raised from the dead to serve their master once again.
Undead Remnant of a Temple's Ancient Worshipper, Worshipper, Minion, Minor Creature: ?
Walking Dead, Minion, Henchman: ?
Ghost of a Confederate General: ?
Ghostly Minion: ?
Ghost, Phantom Puppeteer, Insubstantial Entity, Villain, Most Alien and Creepy of the Puppeteers: ?
Ghost, Mystic Minion, Magical Creature, Minion: ?
Ghost: ?
Ghostly Black Knight, Old World Bad Guy, Villain: ?
Mummy, Creature of Magic: ?
Mummy, Hero: ?
Mummy, Villain: ?
Mummy, Minion: ?
Revenant, Revenant Assassin, Undead Revenant: A Revenant is an undead assassin that targets the living for various reasons, most often vengeance for the Revenant’s own death. A Revenant might also seek out targets it hated in life, such as an undead soldier who assassinates military and government personnel from a nation against which he fought a war, even if that war is long since over. Alternately, a Revenant Assassin might go after targets he once cared about, feeling they have betrayed him.
Of course, it’s possible the slain Assassin might not rest easily and could come back as a Revenant....
Revenant, Undead Assassin: ?
Revenant, Undead Soldier: ?
Revenant, Mystical Undead: ?
Kung Fu Revanant: Some revenants are mystical undead like zombies or Chinese “hopping vampires” while others are products of scientific research or a fusion of science and sorcery. In some sources, undead suddenly seem to develop considerable hand-to-hand combat skills as part of their unlife, which can create this type of villain.
Kung Fu Revanant, Mystical Undead, Villain, Unliving Martial Artist: ?
Shade of the Dead, Undead Shade: ?
Skeleton: ?
Skeleton, Fleshless Zombie, Occult Creature, Classic Movie Monster: ?
Skeleton, Mystic Minion, Magical Creature, Minion: ?
Skeleton, Guardian, Unliving Guardian: ?
Skeleton Warrior: ?
Skeleton Minion: The necromancer works with the dead, particularly reanimating corpses as zombie or skeleton minions and summoning the shades of the dead to provide knowledge and forbidden lore.
Spirit of a Murder Victim: ?
Vampire, Traditional Vampire: Although in many legends only those slain by a vampire will become one, in the comics, vampires often possess the ability to slowly transform victims into Vampires over time. They accomplish this either through the power of their bite, or by feeding the victim small amounts of the Vampire’s own blood, filled with corrupt, transformative power.
Vampire, Villain, Bad Guy, Supernatural Creature, Somewhat Low-Powered Foe: ?
Chinese Hopping Vampire, Mystical Undead: ?
Comic Book Vampire: Although in many legends only those slain by a vampire will become one, in the comics, vampires often possess the ability to slowly transform victims into Vampires over time. They accomplish this either through the power of their bite, or by feeding the victim small amounts of the Vampire’s own blood, filled with corrupt, transformative power.
You can treat the transformation like a slow, progressive Affliction, with the victim making Fortitude or Will checks against it to fight it progression. After a number of failed checks, the victim irrevocably becomes one of the undead. Often, the proto-vampire falls into a death-like coma (incapacitated) as the final transformation takes place, although there may still be time for heroes to reverse the process with the right arcane ritual or other technique. Slaying the “master” Vampire often serves to free any victims.
You can usually treat this slow transformation as a plot device and an aspect of the Vampire’s Weaken attack; set a resistance difficulty appropriate for the series’ power level. If you want to build it as a full-fledged power, treat it like an Affliction. The victim makes one resistance check per day, and three successive failed checks result in transformation into a vampire over the course of the final 24 hours.
Count Dracula, Vampire: ?
Elizabeth Bathory, The Blood Countess of Hungary, Vampire: ?
The Nosferatu, Vampire: ?
More Powerful Vampire: ?
Vampire, Queen of the Damned: ?
Servitor Vampire: A female Vampire may fixate on a hero as a potential “consort,” seeking to transform him into a Vampire as well. Some might even collect a number of “suitors,” creating a kind of male harem of mind-controlled or influenced servitor Vampires or thralls.
The Baron, Vampire:
The Blood Count, Vampire:
The Blood Countess, Vampire:
DeGhul, Vampire:
Diable, Vampire:
Nosferatu, Vampire:
Sangré, Vampire:
Schreck, Vampire:
Lesser Vampire: A Vampire’s other thralls include victims under its mental influence, lesser Vampires of its creation, and possible other monsters, such as an assistant or some creation of the Vampire’s science or magic.
Lesser Vampire Thrall: ?
Master Vampire: ?
Powerful Vampire: ?
More Formidable Vampire: ?
Vampire Super-Powered Thrall: After uncounted years of unlife, the Vampire has chosen a woman worthy to be his bride and consort for all eternity: a heroine of great power and beauty. He begins to visit her in the night, slowly drinking her blood and beginning her transformation into a vampire like him. Friends and teammates notice changes in behavior and a general malaise and do their best to help, but the heroine is in the Vampire’s thrall and resists their efforts. Eventually, she goes to join her new lord and master so he may complete her transformation. If the heroes do not prevent it, the Vampire will have a new super-powered thrall with all the abilities of a vampire as well!
Seductive Female Vampire: ?
Vampire Daywalker: The Vampire has located a legendary lost artifact reputed to grant the undead immunity to their traditional weaknesses, such as holy water, garlic, wooden stakes, and— most of all—sunlight. A Vampire with this talisman would be virtually indestructible, able to move about during the day and immune to the concerns of others of its kind. The heroes learn of the Vampire’s quest for the artifact when an archeologist or renowned collector of ancient manuscripts turns up missing or dead, and drained of blood.
Then the race is on to keep the Vampire from acquiring the item, as both parties visit libraries, museums, tombs, and ruins to piece together the clues to its location. Perhaps more than one villain is interested in it, pitting the heroes against multiple foes and the bad guys against each other. Eventually, it comes down to a confrontation at the artifact’s resting place, where the heroes have to keep it out of the wrong hands and ensure it remains safe. Maybe the Vampire gets it, and the good guys have to find a way of neutralizing a foe who lacks any apparent weaknesses!
Beautiful and Seductive Vampire: ?
Vampire Hero: ?
Lesser Vampire, Consort: ?
Zombie, Typical Low-Level Zombie, Conventional Undead Zombie: Zombies are typically animated human corpses given a semblance of life through magic or sometimes by scientific means (exposure to a disease or toxic waste, for example).
You can easily create other kinds of zombies and undead creatures by taking another archetype, removing its Stamina rank and applying Immunity to Fortitude Effects and sufficient Protection to make up for its lost Stamina in terms of Toughness defense. This way you can make zombie animals or zombie dinosaurs, or you can create intelligent undead that retain their various advantages, skills, and equipment, such as zombie soldiers or undead cultists risen from the grave to follow their sorcerous master.
A villain transforms people in the city into creatures (demons, zombies, plants, etc.) under the villain’s control.
Zombie, Magical Creature, Villain, Bad Guy, Nonhuman Creature, Mystical Undead, Classic Movie Monster: ?
Zombie, Mystic Minion, Magical Creature, Minion: ?
Zombie, Minion: ?
Zombie Warrior: ?
Zombie Minion: The necromancer works with the dead, particularly reanimating corpses as zombie or skeleton minions and summoning the shades of the dead to provide knowledge and forbidden lore.
Zombie Animal: You can easily create other kinds of zombies and undead creatures by taking another archetype, removing its Stamina rank and applying Immunity to Fortitude Effects and sufficient Protection to make up for its lost Stamina in terms of Toughness defense. This way you can make zombie animals or zombie dinosaurs, or you can create intelligent undead that retain their various advantages, skills, and equipment, such as zombie soldiers or undead cultists risen from the grave to follow their sorcerous master.
Zombie Dinosaur: You can easily create other kinds of zombies and undead creatures by taking another archetype, removing its Stamina rank and applying Immunity to Fortitude Effects and sufficient Protection to make up for its lost Stamina in terms of Toughness defense. This way you can make zombie animals or zombie dinosaurs, or you can create intelligent undead that retain their various advantages, skills, and equipment, such as zombie soldiers or undead cultists risen from the grave to follow their sorcerous master.
Zombie Soldier: You can easily create other kinds of zombies and undead creatures by taking another archetype, removing its Stamina rank and applying Immunity to Fortitude Effects and sufficient Protection to make up for its lost Stamina in terms of Toughness defense. This way you can make zombie animals or zombie dinosaurs, or you can create intelligent undead that retain their various advantages, skills, and equipment, such as zombie soldiers or undead cultists risen from the grave to follow their sorcerous master.
b]Zombie Soldier, Intelligent Undead:[/b] ?
Flesh-Eater Zombie: ?
Contagious Zombie: Variations on the basic zombie archetype include making them flesh-eaters (no real change in game traits, apart from the gruesome visuals) and making their condition contagious, either to anyone killed by them, or even anyone scratched or bitten (suffering at least an injured result from damage).
Zombie Template: This template can be added to any creature to turn it into a zombie.
Zombie Tyrannosaurus Rex: A necromancer in the Lost World raises a zombie tyrannosaurus rex!
