Greater Mummy

Called the pharaoh's children, these undead begin as powerful lawful evil priests of certain faiths, embalmed and sworn to guard a holy burial place for centuries. One resembles a normal mummy but wears priestly vestments and (un)holy symbols and smells like a spice cupboard. It is keenly intelligent, speaks as in life, telepathically commands every mummy it created, and can command other unclaimed mummies by spoken order.

All who see it make a fear check, modified for age, with doubled effects on failure; remove fear or cloak of bravery counters this. It punches once per round for 3d6 or calls on priestly magic. A hit spreads a rot that works in days, faster the older the mummy. After 24 hours the victim loses 1 Strength, 1 Constitution and 2 Charisma as skin flakes away, cannot heal normally, and shakes too badly to cast or memorize spells. Only regenerate cures it and restores hit points; lost ability points return only through wish. One cure disease per day since infection holds the rot at bay until a cure is found. The dead crumble to dust, lost forever unless cure disease and raise dead are cast within 6 turns (1 hour).

It casts priest spells at 16th to 20th level, with its old spheres and Wisdom bonus spells; choose them before play. Patrons are usually a god of the dead, the serpent god of evil or a goddess of mourning, or powers of death, darkness, disease, ancestors, guardianship and vengeance; otherwise use a standard high-level cleric.

Only magical weapons harm it, older ones needing bigger bonuses, and they deal half damage. Cold is useless, magical fire hurts normally, mundane fire not at all, and lightning spells deal 50% extra. Holy water is harmless, but a non-evil holy symbol burns it for 1d6 and its own faith's symbol heals 1d6. Older ones gain magic resistance and resist turning.

Like vampires, greater mummies strengthen over time in the misty dread realm; base statistics describe a new one. An age table sets its required weapon bonus, AC, Hit Dice, THAC0, alignment, Wisdom, magic resistance, rot speed, priest level, XP value, attending mummies and fear penalty. It turns as one Hit Die higher (a 10+3 HD mummy of 250 years turns as 11 HD), and as special from 300 years on. With two alignments listed, the first applies 75% of the time, so a 300-year-old leans chaotic evil. At Wisdom 19 or more it gains the usual spell immunities.

Most draw power from darkness, though a rare few served good gods and still receive spells from them. They guard temples and tombs but, unlike normal mummies, may leave to spread evil abroad. To make a servant, one mummifies a rot victim, usually held or charmed, over 10+2d4 hours that any interruption ruins; the bound victim dies of the rot and rises as a mummy under its control. Too slow for battle, the process still drives it to take captives.

The first were made by an undead pharaoh of a desert kingdom while he still lived; most were destroyed or dragged into the dread realm with him, where many now spy for him abroad. Only he knows the method, said to need a great sacrifice and an undying oath of loyalty to him. If that is true, sages warn, every greater mummy may be his to command.