Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Undead Origins
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Voadam" data-source="post: 8535194" data-attributes="member: 2209"><p><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/318625/5th-Edition-Monsters--Treasure-of-Aihrde?affiliate_id=17596" target="_blank">5th Edition Monsters & Treasure of Aihrde</a></p><p>5e</p><p><strong>Bag O' Bones:</strong> The creation of such a monster requires expensive ingredients (at least 10,000 gp), months of preparation equal to that of a stone golem, and it requires the magical coordination of both a high-level cleric and a master wizard.</p><p>The bag o’ bones is a result of the blending of the necromantic arts of the undead with the alchemical lore of golem creation.</p><p><strong>The Black Breath, Unklar's Breath, Breath of Despair:</strong> Created by dark magic, the black breath is a creature of necrotic energy. When created, the black breath contains a drop of its creator’s blood and appears as a small, invisible gel. The creature remains inert until it is rubbed on a location or object it is meant to guard. It can then assume its air form and attack.</p><p>Arch-Mage Nulak-Kiz-Din created the black breath to guard his many treasure holds, towers, and places of power.</p><p><strong>Feliul Stone, Magical Stone That Has Been Possessed by the Spirit of a Fallen Dwarf Gnome Giant or Goblin:</strong> Feliul stones are magical stones that have been possessed by the spirit of a fallen dwarf, gnome, giant, or goblin (far more commonly a dwarf). Usually, the victim has died some horrible death, through torture or the like. Some feliul stones are possessed of the spirits of those that have died before some great task was completed. Whatever the case, the spirit lingers in the living world and takes up residence in the stone about it. These spirits live within the rock and stone, trying to fulfill their spent lives’ lingering needs.</p><p><strong>Forsaken:</strong> They bear the signs of their origins and chains and leather straps hang upon them, some attached, others not.</p><p>The forsaken are creatures who have survived Klarglich, the Pits of Woe. There, Unklar bound many unfortunate victims of his reign and wreaked havoc upon them, their minds and bodies. His slave masters tortured them, his wizards experimented upon them and the darkness fed upon their sanity. Most victims perished in that dark pit in the bowels of Aufstrag, but a few survived and they fled the Pit when they could.</p><p><strong>Laumeun:</strong> The laumeun were once humans whose bodies have wasted away, mutating into abominations through a lifetime of misspent sorceries. They are shells of themselves; their flesh largely rotted away, their innards, blackened with corruption, hanging on to their slowly mutating bones. Their muscle has long since decayed and only their sorcery holds them upright, giving them the appearance of floating.</p><p>The laumeun are aware of what has happened to them. They well remember the transformation and understand that the sorcery they practiced in life somehow went awry and corrupted them.</p><p>The laumeun first appeared during the Age of Men when the sorcerers ruled. Lau is the dwarven word for sorcery [and] is a derogatory word at best. Mastery of the Language of Creation lies beyond many men’s capabilities and some succumb to the power of it before they cast it aside. These are the laumeun. The language, corrupted beyond its scope lingers with the laumeun, burning away their flesh and corrupting the mind.</p><p>The creatures are considered great abominations by wizards in Aihrde for they failed at their craft, but continue to hound those more successful. It is the fear of all wizards that at some point they too shall become corrupted by their magic and mutate into a laumeun.</p><p><strong>Mison Men, Ancient Mountain Warrior Who Has Returned to the World by the Magic Bound in the Bones of a Dead Dragon:</strong> Mison men are ancient mountain warriors who have returned to the world by the magic bound in the bones of dead dragons. Mison men rise up from the grave and equip themselves with the skin and bones of the dead dragon, appearing in the guise of men adorned in plates of dragon scale.</p><p>The mison men’s origins lie in the early history of men. When men first wandered the high planes beyond the confines of the Dwarven Realms, they encountered creatures both amazing and terrifying, not least of which were the dragons. Many paid homage to these beasts and the monsters took them as servants. And though they still plundered the men of their wealth, or devoured them in flame and acid, the men paid them homage. These ancient tribes found their futures interwove with that of the great beasts. In later days, Cults of priests learned how to stave off death using the power of the magic born in the dragons, but what they did not account for was the evil bound into the beasts, for as is known, the dragons all came from the goddess Inzae, and her disposition is a malicious one.</p><p>Bound to the dragon and the mountain where the dragon dwelt, the mison men lingered in the lands between life and death, returned or otherwise.</p><p><strong>Naerlulthut:</strong> The naerlulthut are the spawn of the [naerluth], that dread creature of the darkness whose sole intent is to destroy the world about it. These, its children, are undead spirits whose bodies did the beast devour and whose souls were bound to it.</p><p>The naerlulthut’s natural form is one of dust, the spirit of the devoured creature lingering in the refuse left behind by the naerluth.</p><p>These creatures are very uncommon, only found where the [naerluth] have dwelt for some time. They have no real connection to the Winter Dark or the Horned God, being entirely creations of the [naerluth]. </p><p><strong>Shelkerow:</strong> The shelkerow are priests of a banished god, evil and tormented souls who had nowhere to go after death, so they coalesced into a morass of etheric ectoplasm, a twisted nightmare that exists only to drain the life from the world.</p><p>Anywhere that dark priests were put to death en masse a shelkerow can manifest. In years past when the city was sacked, the priests of Unklar gathered here in the tower in a last-ditch attempt to save themselves. They failed, as knights and paladins broke through the door and put them all to the sword.</p><p>As priests of a banished god, their souls had no house to which they could flee. So they lingered, evolving into a morass of twisted nightmare known as a shelkerow.</p><p><strong>Soul Thief, Rottenshuf:</strong> These creatures are of the order of the Val-Austlich, created in the Days before Days by Ornduhl. They were shadows, cast off by the Cloak of Red, and called the rottenshuf.</p><p><strong>Terralip Tree:</strong> In the old dead husk of many a tree lingers the echo of its spirit. The spirit burns with some malevolence that it bore in life or that was given to it by others or that it suffered in death. These are twisted spirits, born crooked and they die angry. They are forbidden to return to the earth and oblivion as is the want of all trees, so they remain in bark, bole, and branches, there to poison the ground, the very air, that once gave it life.</p><p>The terralip is found where any deciduous forest once grew or grows. They can be of any breed of hardwood, from the hard barked cherry tree to the tall, thin aspen. They can exist in any climate and as high as the tree line in the mountains. They are found in swamps and deserts, towns and valleys, wherever trees grow.</p><p>But others, druids and the like, use them as guardians, for powerful druids can bind a tree’s spirit to the bole and keep it there until released or turned.</p><p>Trees root deep in the ground; the fingers of their age push into the soils, soft or hard. For some, this is all there is and they take no heed of the fruit that is the earth, the wind, the sky, and cool waters. For others, they are awake and take notice, for what it is worth, of the world around them, and these love or hate the joy of it as is their wont. Of these, the terralip is born. An evil limb in life turns worse in death. Or happenstance twists a happy spirit into a malevolent force. In either case, the tree is foul in death, poisoning the earth and air, filling the soils at its feet with death, trapping the spirits of the fallen in the tangled roots of its own spite.</p><p>They are found in any environment and locale, sometimes along on a dusty plain, at others in the deeps of a wild forest.</p><p><strong>Undead:</strong> Any creature slain by a naerluth arises again as a random type of undead within 1d10 rounds.</p><p><strong>Undead Crow:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Undead Hound:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Undead Spirit:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Banshee:</strong> Noxmurus, Night of the Dead, artifact.</p><p><strong>Ghost of a Priest Who Lived in the Tower:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Ghost:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Ghoul:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Skeleton:</strong> Knoglen Blade magic item.</p><p><strong>Skeletal Colossus of Various Animal and Human Bones Grafted Together in Odd Patterns:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Gaunt Skeletal Creature:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Gaunt Orc:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Skeletal Orc:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Gaunt Skeletal Manticore:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Wight:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Malhavok, Wraith Who is Not Affected by Sunlight:</strong> In the Age of Heroes, Malhavok was reputed to be the greatest thief in the entire west. In his travels, he took up with the holy paladin Saint Luther who tolerated his malfeasance for he proved useful in his struggles with the evil that had arisen in the east. But eventually, Malhavok betrayed the paladin and when Luther discovered Malhavok’s misdeed, the paladin’s knight laid hands on the rogue and slew him; they gave his body no rest, but burned it to ash. But Malhavok’s spirit proved powerful and refused to enter the Shadow Realms and fled the Gates of Tiamat. Naked, it returned to the world of the living as a houseless shadow, seeking it knew not what. At last, it found a home in the very blade the rogue carried in life. This blade, borne of the magic of Rhealth, one of the Og-Aust of old, consumed the fire of Malhavok so that the rogue became entwined with the blade and the blade became a cursed thing.</p><p><strong>Zombie:</strong> Knoglen Blade magic item.</p><p><strong>Terrible Yellow-Boned Figure of Grotesque Proportions:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Alchemical Abomination:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Simple-Minded Guardian:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Relentless Guardian:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Solitary Guardian:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Ravenous Hunter:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Abomination:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Fallen Sorcerer:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Ancient Blight:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Silent Killer:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Great Abomination:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Guardian of a Mountain:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Clever Stalker:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Incorporeal Creature:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Tormented Spirit:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Lingering Essence:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Relentless Attacker:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Swirling Cloud of Dust:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Vaguely Corporeal Form:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Morass of Etheric Ectoplasm:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Twisted Nightmare:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Echo of Darkness:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Eater of Souls:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Mass of Black Smoke:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Morass of Twisted Nightmare:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Shadowy Transparent Figure of Smoky Black:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Shepherd of the Damned:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Special Servant of the Lords of the Netherworlds:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Guide of Sorts:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Hunter of Souls:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Shadow:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Old Dead Tree:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Angry Remnant:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Echo of a Tree's Spirit:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Twisted Spirit:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Mindless Killer:</strong> ?</p><p><strong>Malevolent Force:</strong> ?</p><p></p><p>Knoglen Blade: This weapon is a pole-arm, fashioned from the living bones of the aghul’s victims. Ranging about 8 feet long, it serves as a +2 weapon in both hit and damage. The blade(s) are razor-sharp, self-replicating bones. When the blade strikes a successful hit with a 19 or 20 (without bonus), flakes of the bone break off into the wound. These flakes are living bone and begin to meld with the victim. If not treated, the wound begins to rot and the surrounding flesh begins to fall off. A creature that dies from the rotting returns as an undead. Unless buried in holy or consecrated ground, they reanimate as a zombie or skeleton in 1d8 days. The Knoglen loses all magic when its owner dies.</p><p></p><p>Noxmurus, “Night of the Dead”</p><p>Weapon (longsword), Artifact</p><p>When Unklar came to the world of Aihrde, the greater host of the elves fled the world to the hidden realm of Seven-Rivers, Shindolay. Only a few possessed so great a love for the lands of the All Father that they remained. They hated Unklar and fought him at every turn. But defeat followed defeat and their powers proved too slight in the face of the Horned God. Their losses mounted, culminating in the battles for those lands that came to bear the name The Shelves of the Mist. With frustrated rage their thoughts turned ever to their kin who had fled, in their thoughts were visions of all the gathered strength of the elven hosts and the utter defeat of Unklar. Though they did not know it, even those hosts could not have stood against the Horned God in his prime; not even were all his minions stripped of him. But their thoughts did not know reason, only defeat and in time they turned on their kin, hating them, and cursing those who fled the fate of the world.</p><p>The Elf Prince Meltowg Lothian, brother to Daladon Half-Elven Lord of Darkenfold, was one of these elves. As is told in the Lay of the Lothian Princes, he forged the sword Noxmurus and bound within it the spirit of his rage and hate; this raging spirit took a name, Bodach, which in the elven tongue means “darkness.” Meltowg died in the Winter Dark Wars and his brother, Daladon Lothian, took up the blade for a space of years. Since those days Daladon has drifted from the halls of the Val-Tulmiph and the blade has been lost to history. </p><p>Noxmurus is a +3 greatsword, whose deep green blade is unbreakable. Its grip is of black wire wrapped tightly around an iron base, the pommel a dark green opal, and the great cross guard is speckled black as if colored with coal dust. The sword wastes with time or use, for the spirit of the elves lies within it. It is always sharp, immune to notches and scratches. Within the blade lurks the corporal manifestation of Meltowg’s madness, Bodach the imp. This imp is possessed of all the rage of its creator and bears a deep, abiding hatred for the High Elves of Aihrde. When held by any elf, but a high elf (or half-elf who is not the offspring of a high elf) or human, the sword becomes a living thing and will talk to its “master,” trying to influence the wielder. Bodach’s goals are always twofold, to kill servants of the enemy or the High Elves. It will attempt to drive its master to war on these creatures. Noxmurus is a sentient artifact and has an Intelligence of 12, Wisdom of 15 and Charisma of 17. While Bodach is within the blade, the blade can communicate telepathically with its wielder. If Bodach is outside of the blade, the blade can only transmit emotion.</p><p>Its greater and lesser abilities are listed below.</p><p>When unsheathed, the sword grants the wielder advantage on all stealth checks, and if in a forest environment, the bearer can become invisible at will. Also, elves and half-elves wielding the blade may summon and command Bodach the Imp upon command. Bodach acts as an imp-familiar in all respects.</p><p>The blade imparts a resistance to poison as well as darkvision up to 120 feet. It can detect magic within a 20-foot radius. When borne by any elf but a high elf (or half-elf who is not the offspring of a high elf), the sword bestows a glamour upon the wielder, allowing the wielder to make himself seem greater than he is. The glamour unsettles creatures within 120 feet if they have fewer than 12 HD or levels. A potentially affected creature that succeeds at a Wisdom save (DC 15) remains immune to the Glamour for one day. On a failure, creatures with 4 or fewer HD or levels suffer the frightened condition for 2d4 rounds, fleeing from the wielder and those with 5-12 HD become shaken for 4d4 rounds, suffering a -2 on all attack rolls and attribute checks. The wielder can also detect any type of scrying.</p><p>The sword has two natural enemies, orcs, and elves. Against orcs, the wielder always gains initiative. Against elf or fey, the blade has a malevolent effect. On a roll of natural 20, the elf or fey’s spirit is forever destroyed, thus cursing them to live out their days as shadows of their former selves, eventually becoming a banshee.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Voadam, post: 8535194, member: 2209"] [URL=https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/318625/5th-Edition-Monsters--Treasure-of-Aihrde?affiliate_id=17596]5th Edition Monsters & Treasure of Aihrde[/URL] 5e [b]Bag O' Bones:[/b] The creation of such a monster requires expensive ingredients (at least 10,000 gp), months of preparation equal to that of a stone golem, and it requires the magical coordination of both a high-level cleric and a master wizard. The bag o’ bones is a result of the blending of the necromantic arts of the undead with the alchemical lore of golem creation. [b]The Black Breath, Unklar's Breath, Breath of Despair:[/b] Created by dark magic, the black breath is a creature of necrotic energy. When created, the black breath contains a drop of its creator’s blood and appears as a small, invisible gel. The creature remains inert until it is rubbed on a location or object it is meant to guard. It can then assume its air form and attack. Arch-Mage Nulak-Kiz-Din created the black breath to guard his many treasure holds, towers, and places of power. [b]Feliul Stone, Magical Stone That Has Been Possessed by the Spirit of a Fallen Dwarf Gnome Giant or Goblin:[/b] Feliul stones are magical stones that have been possessed by the spirit of a fallen dwarf, gnome, giant, or goblin (far more commonly a dwarf). Usually, the victim has died some horrible death, through torture or the like. Some feliul stones are possessed of the spirits of those that have died before some great task was completed. Whatever the case, the spirit lingers in the living world and takes up residence in the stone about it. These spirits live within the rock and stone, trying to fulfill their spent lives’ lingering needs. [b]Forsaken:[/b] They bear the signs of their origins and chains and leather straps hang upon them, some attached, others not. The forsaken are creatures who have survived Klarglich, the Pits of Woe. There, Unklar bound many unfortunate victims of his reign and wreaked havoc upon them, their minds and bodies. His slave masters tortured them, his wizards experimented upon them and the darkness fed upon their sanity. Most victims perished in that dark pit in the bowels of Aufstrag, but a few survived and they fled the Pit when they could. [b]Laumeun:[/b] The laumeun were once humans whose bodies have wasted away, mutating into abominations through a lifetime of misspent sorceries. They are shells of themselves; their flesh largely rotted away, their innards, blackened with corruption, hanging on to their slowly mutating bones. Their muscle has long since decayed and only their sorcery holds them upright, giving them the appearance of floating. The laumeun are aware of what has happened to them. They well remember the transformation and understand that the sorcery they practiced in life somehow went awry and corrupted them. The laumeun first appeared during the Age of Men when the sorcerers ruled. Lau is the dwarven word for sorcery [and] is a derogatory word at best. Mastery of the Language of Creation lies beyond many men’s capabilities and some succumb to the power of it before they cast it aside. These are the laumeun. The language, corrupted beyond its scope lingers with the laumeun, burning away their flesh and corrupting the mind. The creatures are considered great abominations by wizards in Aihrde for they failed at their craft, but continue to hound those more successful. It is the fear of all wizards that at some point they too shall become corrupted by their magic and mutate into a laumeun. [b]Mison Men, Ancient Mountain Warrior Who Has Returned to the World by the Magic Bound in the Bones of a Dead Dragon:[/b] Mison men are ancient mountain warriors who have returned to the world by the magic bound in the bones of dead dragons. Mison men rise up from the grave and equip themselves with the skin and bones of the dead dragon, appearing in the guise of men adorned in plates of dragon scale. The mison men’s origins lie in the early history of men. When men first wandered the high planes beyond the confines of the Dwarven Realms, they encountered creatures both amazing and terrifying, not least of which were the dragons. Many paid homage to these beasts and the monsters took them as servants. And though they still plundered the men of their wealth, or devoured them in flame and acid, the men paid them homage. These ancient tribes found their futures interwove with that of the great beasts. In later days, Cults of priests learned how to stave off death using the power of the magic born in the dragons, but what they did not account for was the evil bound into the beasts, for as is known, the dragons all came from the goddess Inzae, and her disposition is a malicious one. Bound to the dragon and the mountain where the dragon dwelt, the mison men lingered in the lands between life and death, returned or otherwise. [b]Naerlulthut:[/b] The naerlulthut are the spawn of the [naerluth], that dread creature of the darkness whose sole intent is to destroy the world about it. These, its children, are undead spirits whose bodies did the beast devour and whose souls were bound to it. The naerlulthut’s natural form is one of dust, the spirit of the devoured creature lingering in the refuse left behind by the naerluth. These creatures are very uncommon, only found where the [naerluth] have dwelt for some time. They have no real connection to the Winter Dark or the Horned God, being entirely creations of the [naerluth]. [b]Shelkerow:[/b] The shelkerow are priests of a banished god, evil and tormented souls who had nowhere to go after death, so they coalesced into a morass of etheric ectoplasm, a twisted nightmare that exists only to drain the life from the world. Anywhere that dark priests were put to death en masse a shelkerow can manifest. In years past when the city was sacked, the priests of Unklar gathered here in the tower in a last-ditch attempt to save themselves. They failed, as knights and paladins broke through the door and put them all to the sword. As priests of a banished god, their souls had no house to which they could flee. So they lingered, evolving into a morass of twisted nightmare known as a shelkerow. [b]Soul Thief, Rottenshuf:[/b] These creatures are of the order of the Val-Austlich, created in the Days before Days by Ornduhl. They were shadows, cast off by the Cloak of Red, and called the rottenshuf. [b]Terralip Tree:[/b] In the old dead husk of many a tree lingers the echo of its spirit. The spirit burns with some malevolence that it bore in life or that was given to it by others or that it suffered in death. These are twisted spirits, born crooked and they die angry. They are forbidden to return to the earth and oblivion as is the want of all trees, so they remain in bark, bole, and branches, there to poison the ground, the very air, that once gave it life. The terralip is found where any deciduous forest once grew or grows. They can be of any breed of hardwood, from the hard barked cherry tree to the tall, thin aspen. They can exist in any climate and as high as the tree line in the mountains. They are found in swamps and deserts, towns and valleys, wherever trees grow. But others, druids and the like, use them as guardians, for powerful druids can bind a tree’s spirit to the bole and keep it there until released or turned. Trees root deep in the ground; the fingers of their age push into the soils, soft or hard. For some, this is all there is and they take no heed of the fruit that is the earth, the wind, the sky, and cool waters. For others, they are awake and take notice, for what it is worth, of the world around them, and these love or hate the joy of it as is their wont. Of these, the terralip is born. An evil limb in life turns worse in death. Or happenstance twists a happy spirit into a malevolent force. In either case, the tree is foul in death, poisoning the earth and air, filling the soils at its feet with death, trapping the spirits of the fallen in the tangled roots of its own spite. They are found in any environment and locale, sometimes along on a dusty plain, at others in the deeps of a wild forest. [b]Undead:[/b] Any creature slain by a naerluth arises again as a random type of undead within 1d10 rounds. [b]Undead Crow:[/b] ? [b]Undead Hound:[/b] ? [b]Undead Spirit:[/b] ? [b]Banshee:[/b] Noxmurus, Night of the Dead, artifact. [b]Ghost of a Priest Who Lived in the Tower:[/b] ? [b]Ghost:[/b] ? [b]Ghoul:[/b] ? [b]Skeleton:[/b] Knoglen Blade magic item. [b]Skeletal Colossus of Various Animal and Human Bones Grafted Together in Odd Patterns:[/b] ? [b]Gaunt Skeletal Creature:[/b] ? [b]Gaunt Orc:[/b] ? [b]Skeletal Orc:[/b] ? [b]Gaunt Skeletal Manticore:[/b] ? [b]Wight:[/b] ? [b]Malhavok, Wraith Who is Not Affected by Sunlight:[/b] In the Age of Heroes, Malhavok was reputed to be the greatest thief in the entire west. In his travels, he took up with the holy paladin Saint Luther who tolerated his malfeasance for he proved useful in his struggles with the evil that had arisen in the east. But eventually, Malhavok betrayed the paladin and when Luther discovered Malhavok’s misdeed, the paladin’s knight laid hands on the rogue and slew him; they gave his body no rest, but burned it to ash. But Malhavok’s spirit proved powerful and refused to enter the Shadow Realms and fled the Gates of Tiamat. Naked, it returned to the world of the living as a houseless shadow, seeking it knew not what. At last, it found a home in the very blade the rogue carried in life. This blade, borne of the magic of Rhealth, one of the Og-Aust of old, consumed the fire of Malhavok so that the rogue became entwined with the blade and the blade became a cursed thing. [b]Zombie:[/b] Knoglen Blade magic item. [b]Terrible Yellow-Boned Figure of Grotesque Proportions:[/b] ? [b]Alchemical Abomination:[/b] ? [b]Simple-Minded Guardian:[/b] ? [b]Relentless Guardian:[/b] ? [b]Solitary Guardian:[/b] ? [b]Ravenous Hunter:[/b] ? [b]Abomination:[/b] ? [b]Fallen Sorcerer:[/b] ? [b]Ancient Blight:[/b] ? [b]Silent Killer:[/b] ? [b]Great Abomination:[/b] ? [b]Guardian of a Mountain:[/b] ? [b]Clever Stalker:[/b] ? [b]Incorporeal Creature:[/b] ? [b]Tormented Spirit:[/b] ? [b]Lingering Essence:[/b] ? [b]Relentless Attacker:[/b] ? [b]Swirling Cloud of Dust:[/b] ? [b]Vaguely Corporeal Form:[/b] ? [b]Morass of Etheric Ectoplasm:[/b] ? [b]Twisted Nightmare:[/b] ? [b]Echo of Darkness:[/b] ? [b]Eater of Souls:[/b] ? [b]Mass of Black Smoke:[/b] ? [b]Morass of Twisted Nightmare:[/b] ? [b]Shadowy Transparent Figure of Smoky Black:[/b] ? [b]Shepherd of the Damned:[/b] ? [b]Special Servant of the Lords of the Netherworlds:[/b] ? [b]Guide of Sorts:[/b] ? [b]Hunter of Souls:[/b] ? [b]Shadow:[/b] ? [b]Old Dead Tree:[/b] ? [b]Angry Remnant:[/b] ? [b]Echo of a Tree's Spirit:[/b] ? [b]Twisted Spirit:[/b] ? [b]Mindless Killer:[/b] ? [b]Malevolent Force:[/b] ? Knoglen Blade: This weapon is a pole-arm, fashioned from the living bones of the aghul’s victims. Ranging about 8 feet long, it serves as a +2 weapon in both hit and damage. The blade(s) are razor-sharp, self-replicating bones. When the blade strikes a successful hit with a 19 or 20 (without bonus), flakes of the bone break off into the wound. These flakes are living bone and begin to meld with the victim. If not treated, the wound begins to rot and the surrounding flesh begins to fall off. A creature that dies from the rotting returns as an undead. Unless buried in holy or consecrated ground, they reanimate as a zombie or skeleton in 1d8 days. The Knoglen loses all magic when its owner dies. Noxmurus, “Night of the Dead” Weapon (longsword), Artifact When Unklar came to the world of Aihrde, the greater host of the elves fled the world to the hidden realm of Seven-Rivers, Shindolay. Only a few possessed so great a love for the lands of the All Father that they remained. They hated Unklar and fought him at every turn. But defeat followed defeat and their powers proved too slight in the face of the Horned God. Their losses mounted, culminating in the battles for those lands that came to bear the name The Shelves of the Mist. With frustrated rage their thoughts turned ever to their kin who had fled, in their thoughts were visions of all the gathered strength of the elven hosts and the utter defeat of Unklar. Though they did not know it, even those hosts could not have stood against the Horned God in his prime; not even were all his minions stripped of him. But their thoughts did not know reason, only defeat and in time they turned on their kin, hating them, and cursing those who fled the fate of the world. The Elf Prince Meltowg Lothian, brother to Daladon Half-Elven Lord of Darkenfold, was one of these elves. As is told in the Lay of the Lothian Princes, he forged the sword Noxmurus and bound within it the spirit of his rage and hate; this raging spirit took a name, Bodach, which in the elven tongue means “darkness.” Meltowg died in the Winter Dark Wars and his brother, Daladon Lothian, took up the blade for a space of years. Since those days Daladon has drifted from the halls of the Val-Tulmiph and the blade has been lost to history. Noxmurus is a +3 greatsword, whose deep green blade is unbreakable. Its grip is of black wire wrapped tightly around an iron base, the pommel a dark green opal, and the great cross guard is speckled black as if colored with coal dust. The sword wastes with time or use, for the spirit of the elves lies within it. It is always sharp, immune to notches and scratches. Within the blade lurks the corporal manifestation of Meltowg’s madness, Bodach the imp. This imp is possessed of all the rage of its creator and bears a deep, abiding hatred for the High Elves of Aihrde. When held by any elf, but a high elf (or half-elf who is not the offspring of a high elf) or human, the sword becomes a living thing and will talk to its “master,” trying to influence the wielder. Bodach’s goals are always twofold, to kill servants of the enemy or the High Elves. It will attempt to drive its master to war on these creatures. Noxmurus is a sentient artifact and has an Intelligence of 12, Wisdom of 15 and Charisma of 17. While Bodach is within the blade, the blade can communicate telepathically with its wielder. If Bodach is outside of the blade, the blade can only transmit emotion. Its greater and lesser abilities are listed below. When unsheathed, the sword grants the wielder advantage on all stealth checks, and if in a forest environment, the bearer can become invisible at will. Also, elves and half-elves wielding the blade may summon and command Bodach the Imp upon command. Bodach acts as an imp-familiar in all respects. The blade imparts a resistance to poison as well as darkvision up to 120 feet. It can detect magic within a 20-foot radius. When borne by any elf but a high elf (or half-elf who is not the offspring of a high elf), the sword bestows a glamour upon the wielder, allowing the wielder to make himself seem greater than he is. The glamour unsettles creatures within 120 feet if they have fewer than 12 HD or levels. A potentially affected creature that succeeds at a Wisdom save (DC 15) remains immune to the Glamour for one day. On a failure, creatures with 4 or fewer HD or levels suffer the frightened condition for 2d4 rounds, fleeing from the wielder and those with 5-12 HD become shaken for 4d4 rounds, suffering a -2 on all attack rolls and attribute checks. The wielder can also detect any type of scrying. The sword has two natural enemies, orcs, and elves. Against orcs, the wielder always gains initiative. Against elf or fey, the blade has a malevolent effect. On a roll of natural 20, the elf or fey’s spirit is forever destroyed, thus cursing them to live out their days as shadows of their former selves, eventually becoming a banshee. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Undead Origins
Top