Undead
Undead are once-living creatures, of Esau, brought to a horrifying state of undeath through the practice of necromantic magic or some unholy curse. Undead include walking corpses, such as Vampires, skeletons, zombies and ghouls. As well as Incorporeal Undead or bodiless spirits - Ghosts, Poltergeists, Specters, Shadows, Wraiths, and Banshee. Liches, Demiliches, and Death Tyrants are considered to be Undeath’s “Final Form”.
* Enslaven are not truly Undead - but are classified as such.
Common Undead Traits
Despite their dizzying variety, many undead – from the lowly zombie to the archest arch-lich – share some common traits.Poison Immunity:
Virtually all undead – probably because they don’t have any blood left to contaminate – pay absolutely zero attention to poison damage and poisons.Condition Immunities:
Much like poison, being dead relieves many creatures of the drawbacks of, well, living.Many undead monsters ( Vampires are one notable exception ) are immune to conditions like Charmed, Exhaustion, and Poisoned.
Rarely do the undead require sleep, food, water, or even air to breathe.
Mundane Damage Resistance and Immunity:
The undead also tend - whether it’s the result of just being big and beefy or having no corporeal form to hit - to resist or flat out ignore bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.The notable exception here is damage coming from either magical or silvered weapons.
Other undead are vulnerable to fire ( like mummies ), bludgeoning ( skeletons ), or radiant damage, and virtually all ( with the exception of the CR 0 Crawling Claw ) can be turned - or even destroyed by a Cleric’s Turn Undead ability.
Basic Information
Biological Traits
Additional Information
Domestication
ENSLAVEN
Enslaven undead - were dead and brought partically back to life.* serve mage who brought them partically back
* silent movements - high slealth
* loyal
* living, sort of * cannot speak
Civilization and Culture
History
GHOSTS
HISTORYBecause elements of a ghost’s mortal life de ne and foreshadow the course of their death and undeath, a common aspect of a ghost-story adventure involves piecing together the history of the ghost’s life to gure out how to put the spirit to rest. This gives any ghost story characteristics similar to a mystery. Be generous in planting clues to the ghost’s history throughout the adventure, assuming that the players will miss several of them. You can use the Ghost’s History table to determine how long the ghost has been Undead.
d6 Ghost’s History
1 The ghost died so recently that they might not yet fully realize they are dead.2 The ghost died recently enough that people who knew them in life are still around.
3 The ghost died years ago, and few people who knew them in life are still alive.
4 The ghost died a generation ago; folks remember rumors or stories told about the person’s life.
5 The ghost died multiple generations ago, and only local folklore or histories preserve their memory.
6 The ghost died a very long time ago, and no one knows anything about their history.
TRAGEDY
Ghosts embody the pain and grief that surround death. To build an effective ghost story adventure, present either the ghost or those they haunt as the tragic victims of painful circumstance. The Tragic Elements table offers suggestions, framing each as a tragic element for either the ghost or their victims.
d10 Tragic Element
1 The ghost aches from a broken heart.2 The ghost interferes with the romantic life of their victim.
3 The ghost was falsely accused and convicted of a crime.
4 The ghost makes an innocent person appear to be guilty of the ghost’s crimes.
5 In life, the ghost was cut off by family members and denied a rightful inheritance.
6 The ghost refuses to acknowledge any living heirs as family members and tries to prevent these heirs from inheriting what is rightly theirs.
7 Society shunned the ghost unfairly in life.
8 Association with the ghost causes their living victim to be shunned by society.
9 In life, the ghost’s efforts to do good led them to be cursed by hags, mage, or powerful spirit.
10 The ghost foils their victim’s efforts to do good.
Romance Issues of love and romance are intimately bound to the tragic elements of a ghost story, or can supplement those elements to make the ghost sympathetic. The Romantic Elements table offers suggestions.
d8 Romantic Element
1 The ghost hopes to be reunited with another ghost - the spirit of someone they loved in life.2 The ghost haunts someone they loved in life, who still returns that love.
3 The ghost haunts a place they loved in life, perhaps their home or a memorial to one they lost.
4 The ghost haunts someone they loved in life, who is trying to move on.
5 The ghost haunts someone who looks like a person the ghost loved in life (possibly a descendant of that person).
6 A person who loved the ghost in life refuses to let the spirit leave.
7 The ghost was murdered by someone they loved in life.
8 The ghost seeks vengeance on someone who spurned them in life.
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