Rimebound Zombie

At rest, a rimebound zombie is a sprawled, frost-glazed human with no wound (it died in enchanted sleep) and no rot, preserved by its home's unnatural cold. Once it tears free of its icy shell, there is no mistaking what it is: its eyes hold the emptiness of the void, its touch freezes to the bone, and its mere presence pulls the life from those nearby.

A dormant zombie still steals life. Any living creature within 20 feet must roll 12 or higher on 1d20, adding its Constitution hit point bonus (every class may use the warrior bonus here), or lose 1d4 hit points to the zombie, which gains them up to its maximum and wastes the rest. Such losses heal only through magic. A creature brought to 0 dies and has a 13% chance of rising as a rimebound zombie within 24 hours.

Once roused, it stays active one day per hit point, shedding 1 each day until it goes dormant at 0.

An active zombie moves toward the living to keep them inside its draining radius, attacking with a weapon or its fists for 1d8. Once per round it can also release a wave of frost at every foe within 30 feet. A target who fails a save vs. spell takes 2d6 cold damage and must then save vs. paralyzation or be locked in ice for 1d4+1 rounds.

Only fire, acid or similar destruction ends it permanently. It is turned as a vampire, and death magic, poison, cold, charm, hold and sleep all fail against it.

The cursed city once stood under an ordinary sun. Its people were wicked worshipers of a demon prince of undeath, but over time their devotion faded, and the prince took revenge. He cast them into a magical sleep that would break only at dawn, then tore the whole city from its place and remade it as a nightmare demiplane bound to the Negative Energy Plane, where dawn never comes. The sleepers perished one by one, and the nearby negative energy raised their frozen bodies.

These zombies have no permanent tie to the Negative Energy Plane. While one is draining life a channel to that plane opens, then vanishes once the stolen energy is used, so the zombie stays animated only as long as its stolen life endures.