Vampire Lord's Zombie

Only one being, a vampire lord, can make these undead. They are human corpses dragged back into a living death, still dressed in whatever they died wearing; because many once guarded his castle, half of them wear worthless, mismatched bits of armor. They rarely carry tools or weapons.

They look fragile, with soft gray-green flesh and bones that seem ready to snap. Their eye sockets are empty and dark yet somehow see. Shriveled lips and cheeks bare big, crooked teeth, and the fingers end in sharp claws nothing like human nails. Like ordinary zombies they reek of rot, detectable at 100 feet across open ground.

They make just two sounds, neither with visible movement of the mouth: a low moan that means they are eager to act, and a mangled whisper of their master's name. A character who tries to make out the whisper must pass an Intelligence check.

Seeing one calls for a horror check, at -4 if the viewer recognizes someone he once knew among them. For all their frailty, they brim with negative energy and carry their master's power, so they turn as mummies.

As with common zombies, they always act last in the round, raking with one clawed hand each round. Any single hit of 5 or more points lops off a limb, and since they lurch forward with arms outstretched, that is usually an arm. With both arms gone, the head leans in to bite and becomes the natural target. Aiming at anything other than the arms or head imposes -2 to hit, and a natural 1 strikes whichever arm or head is thrust forward anyway.

Severed arms inch along like caterpillars and heads roll about, each at movement rate 1 and able to attack on its own; other severed parts just twitch. On first watching loose limbs creep toward him, a character makes a second horror check, this time at +2 for having already held his ground. All the pieces share one life: damage to any part comes off the zombie's total, and at 0 hit points every part goes still.

They prowl dungeons and graveyards, especially near the vampire lord's castle. Mindless, they have no society and carry out any order their master gives, provided it fits in one plain sentence of no more than 20 words. Morale checks never apply to them and keep obeying until destroyed. Inside his domain they can 'report back' if ordered to, standing idle for a full turn to make contact, and even then their master might be too occupied to pay attention. He receives only a vague sense of success or failure. This link stems from his bond with the land, not from the zombies themselves.

These creatures are neither natural nor a product of the dread realm's own corruption. They come from a secret formula known only to the vampire lord, who can make them only from dead humans.