Undead Dwarf

An undead dwarf is clad in ceremonial burial armor and bears ceremonial weapons, but the body inside is shrunken and dried out, with bone poking through and hair gone wiry and stark white. Though solid to the touch, it is faintly see-through. It still speaks every language it knew in life.

These guardians come from dwarves who, in their final moments, feared their graves would be disturbed. That lingering worry leaves behind enough essence to turn the corpse into a protector.

An undead dwarf never leaves its consecrated resting place. When the site is violated or defiled, it steps straight out of the stone of its cairn or crypt using an innate phase door it can use at will, and those it targets suffer -3 on surprise rolls. It then hammers intruders with short, brutal punches for 3d4 damage that knock them back, steadily driving them out. When the last trespasser is beyond the sacred boundary, the dwarf fades away with a weary sigh and returns to its rest.

Only weapons of +2 or better can harm it, it has 25% magic resistance, and it is wholly immune to mind control such as charm and sleep. It cannot be permanently destroyed. Reduced to 0 hit points, it vanishes with a disgusted sigh, its essence flows back to its resting place, and it reforms at full hit points to confront the intruder again 1d4 rounds later.

These dwarves do nothing except guard their tombs, idling inside the crypt when no threat exists. Visitors who approach carefully and address them humbly in dwarvish may persuade them to hold off and hear a respectful apology or question. Sometimes humble folk have even held regular prayers or services for the dead at such tombs. As long as no part of the site is defiled, the undead dwarves leave them alone and may even appear to listen, though they almost never speak or take part.

Nobody understands how undead dwarves come to be beyond their duty as tomb guards, nor whether they finally rest once their graves are secure. Living dwarves who stumble on a guarded tomb usually beg pardon and back out, then wall the entrance with solid masonry to hide it, hoping the dead can at last sleep undisturbed. Some have gone further and collapsed whole tunnel systems to seal such crypts forever.