Undead Overview [Dark Sun]

Sages of the desert world sort the dead into two camps. Freewilled undead, usually just called undead, were once thinking beings and still reason and act for themselves, which makes them far more dangerous. Controlled undead, or the walking dead, are animated bodies such as skeletons and zombies, possibly of unintelligent creatures, that obey a master, usually an evil wizard or priest.

All of them hate the intelligent living and turn evil whatever they were in life, often hunting down any they sense. It seldom needs food or water, ignores harsh climate, frequently shrugs off normal weapons and absorbs huge punishment. Each keeps all the class abilities, skills and levels it had alive, and nearly all have extra quirks beyond the norm for their type. The obsession or event that let it cheat death decides what it becomes.

Dhaots are spirits that cannot rest until they, and often their remains, get home; many are halflings who died far from their forests. Faels, mostly elves and humans of high station, haunt any great store of food and devour it all, cursed by past excess. Sorcerous liches, the Dead Lords, chose undeath as a path to immortality; they are mighty, very rare, and gather mostly in a valley of ash and fire. Meorties guarded realms that vanished over 2,000 years ago and were entombed with treasure to keep watching; they still hunt anyone who breaks forgotten laws, and few who glimpse their crypts survive. Raaigs are bodiless shrine guardians, all over 2,000 years old, sustained by faith in vanished gods, who oppose visitors of differing alignment and sometimes appear to worthy ones of their own. Meorties and raaigs alike are drawn solely from the five old races, namely humans, elves, dwarves, giants and halflings.

Racked spirits are tormented by guilt over betraying their own nature and find relief only in destruction; the dwarven banshee, born when a dwarf abandons his life's purpose, is the commonest. Skeletons and zombies are controlled corpses with none of their old abilities, usually man-sized or smaller, though strong necromancers raise dune hulk skeletons and zombie giants. Thinking zombies have hate burning in their eyes and pursue an unfinished task, often imposed by geas or quest, with great cunning; many are giants or half-giants. T'lizes are life-draining wizards who died mid-study and go on researching for centuries, rare because sorcerer tyrants and a secret league of life-respecting wizards hunt them first. Wraiths here embraced undeath willingly and serve the world's dragon-tyrant, sometimes guarding kin's remains.

Touch effects: aging 1d6x5 years (save vs. spell, +1 per HD the victim has above the undead); paralysis, save vs. paralysis, lasting 2d4 rounds (01-50), turns (51-75), hours (76-90) or days (91-00); draining 1d4 points of one attribute, save vs. death negates, for a number of days equal to 2x the undead's HD before recovering at 3 per day, with unconsciousness at zero; and draining 3d8 PSPs, save vs. paralyzation negates.

Area effects use a radius of 30 feet plus 10 per HD over 5. Despair and revulsion each force a save vs. spell or a 1d4 penalty on all rolls lasting 2x its HD in turns. Fear works like dragon fear within 10 feet: those under 1 HD flee 4d6 turns, and others with fewer HD than the undead save vs. petrification or suffer -2 to hit it.

Physical gifts: claws for 1d6 (or +2 damage to existing claws), fangs as an extra 1d4 attack (or +2), sharp senses (-1 to its surprise roll), +1 to all saves, one attribute at 19-24, +1d4 hp per HD, movement +3, 3 extra PSPs per HD for psionic undead, regeneration of 1 hp per round (2 if it already regenerates), and 5% magic resistance per HD to a 90% cap. Weapon resistance means only a creature of greater HD or a +1 weapon hits it, stepping up to +2 or +3 with matching HD margins if it already had such protection.

Magical gifts: controlling undead as an evil cleric of level equal to its HD (+1d8 levels if it was a cleric); raising one skeleton or zombie per HD once per day from corpses on hand; 1-2 wild talents for every 3 HD, with PSPs for each plus 4 per HD beyond the first; immunity to 1d4 spells of the DM's choice; and shapechange (1d6: 1-4 that many animal forms, 5 mist, 6 mist plus 1d4 animals, no larger than human, keeping its hit points and gaining natural attacks, and weapon-immune as mist).

Spell-like powers are cast at will, without components, at a caster level equal to HD. Total spell levels known are 1-3 at 1-3 HD, 1-4 at 4-6, 1-6 at 7-9, 2-8 at 10-12, 3-12 at 13-15 (5th level maximum), and 3-12+2 at 16+ HD (6th level maximum). Typical picks are illusions, charms, darkness, fear, curses, cause wounds spells, summonings, shadow magic and, at the top end, death spell, disintegrate, geas, harm and slay living.

Roll 1d8: 1-2 none, 3-4 one, 5-6 two, 7 three, 8 four; a weakness rolled more than once multiplies its effect. Options: bound to an area from a room to a few square miles; terror of running water, which deals 3d4 per round to cross; no shadow; a binding code of honor that the knowing can exploit; turned as if 3 HD lower (minimum 1); elemental susceptibility, meaning normal damage from cold or electricity, or double from another energy; Morale capped at 10; a daily need for blood, corpse flesh or freshly killed prey; needing one less plus to hit; a stench detectable from afar; sunlight dealing 1d6 per round; harm from iron or obsidian despite magical-weapon protection; and full vulnerability to sleep, hold and charm.