Allip

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In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, undead is a "creature type" or a keyword, depending on which edition of the game rules are used. Undead creatures are most often once-living creatures, which have been animated by spiritual or supernatural forces.

In the 3rd edition of the game, all undead have darkvision out to 60 feet. Undead have a wide array of immunities, including being immune to: all mind-affecting effects, poison, sleep effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, and death effects. They are also not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, or energy drain. Most Dungeons & Dragons undead can be "turned" (destroyed) or driven away by a cleric.

Contents

Allip

Allip
Characteristics
Alignment Always Neutral Evil
Type / origin Undead
Subtype Incorporeal
Image Wizards.com image
Stats OGL stats
Publication history
Source books Monster Manual v3.5

In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game an allip is an undead creature, the spectral remains of someone driven to suicide by madness in life. They are found on any land, and underground, they are solitary, and carry nothing with them, despite having the intellect of a human.1

In the third edition Monster Manual, an allip is described as having the same features that it did in life, but greatly distorted. The mouth is twisted, and the eyes glow. From the waist down, it becomes much more gas-like, looking like a typical ghost- it has no legs, and trails off into 'vaporous nothingness'. It leaves a faint trail of fog behind it as it moves. The more recent Monster Manuals use the same image that was used in the earlier ones, despite it not matching the newer description.

Allips are incorporeal, and cannot deal any physical damage. When it hits a creature it deals Wisdom damage, and anyone trying to read an allip's mind, or do something similar, will take Wisdom damage as well. This is because, in Dungeons & Dragons, the Wisdom ability score is tied to sanity, and, as a creature loses Wisdom, it becomes more and more insane. Another aspect of the madness of the allip is the way that it constantly babbles incoherently. This can cause a hypnotic effect upon those who hear it2.

Being incorporeal, allips are difficult to injure using normal weapons. They are also resistant to the turn and rebuke attempts of clerics3.

Animus

Animus
Characteristics
Alignment Any Evil
Type / origin Undead
Image [No Wizards.com image]
Stats [No OGL stats]
Publication history
Source books From the Ashes, Ivid the Undying
First appearance From the Ashes

In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, an Animus is an undead monster created through the use of both arcane and divine magic. They are unique to the Great Kingdom and its successor states.

Animi retain all skills and powers that they possessed in life (unless a deity forbids it) and also attain other powers from their transformation. All animi possess immense strength, and can spread fear by their touch. They also gain the power to command undead, and can paralyze by gazing into a target's eyes. An Animus can also mentally dominate living creatures and implant suggestions into their minds.

Among the most important powers of an animus is its regeneration powers. An animus can only be destroyed totally by being cremated or dissolved in acid.

Unique among undead, animi are affected by disease. However, as the animus is already dead, no disease can be fatal or terminal to an animus.

The animi are a legacy of the alliance between the House of Naelax and the devil Baalzephon. In the 440s CY, an ancestor to the Naelax line of Overkings made contact with Baalzephon to further his own powerbase. Baalzephon promised to aid the Naelax in gaining the position of Overking in exchange for the souls of the Naelax line. Part of this aid rendered would be the secrets to making animi.

Around 583 CY, during the Greyhawk Wars, the first animi were created. Overking Ivid V, paranoid about disloyal advisers and nobles, had numerous key generals, nobles and lords assassinated, particularly after the defeat of Aerdy forces at the Battle of Innspa. Their bodies were handed over to priests of Hextor and pit fiends supplied by Baalzephon. Each body was imbued with an admixture of divine and fiendish arcane spells while the body resided in an artifact on loan from Baalzephon, the Casket of Abyssal Bone.

Amongst those transformed into animi was, eventually, Ivid himself, transformed on the orders of Baalzephon, who hoped to stave off the wasting disease that had afflicted Ivid and threatened to kill him. The aim was to keep Ivid as a stable puppet on the Malachite Throne. The plan failed, however, as the disease progressed unchecked.

Since the loss of Rauxes and with it Ivid, there have been no means to create new animi, as Baalzephon's devils and the Casket have vanished along with the capital of the Great Kingdom. The exact spells used to create animi have also been lost as well. However, numerous animi still walk the lands of the Aerdi. Since Ivid's disappearance, the magical effects that bound them to loyalty to him were diminished, and many of the animi pursue their own plans.

A second story places the blame of the creation of the animi, at least initially, on Lady Lorana Kath, one of the 12 Death Knights created by Demogorgon. In this telling, she created the first Animi from peasantry from her fiefdom near Stringen, either as a means of finding a lover who could tolerate being near a Death Knight, or in the hopes of finding a way of undoing the transformation imposed upon her by Demogorgon. She later revealed the secret of animus creation to Ivid V and the priesthood of Hextor as a means of currying favor. Under this theory, Kath is thought to be still capable of creating new animi, a potential that she uses as a means of retaining power within the priesthood of Hextor. 4

Publishing history

The animus first appeared in From the Ashes, which linked the first appearance of the monster to the Greyhawk Wars storyline. The idea was fleshed out in the never-released (but available online) supplement Ivid the Undying. The monster was later updated in 2001 for third edition in the Living Greyhawk Journal, and for 3.5 in Dragon Magazine's "Creature Catalogue" feature.

There have been no official game stats allowing players to replicate the process of creating animi, and it is explicitly said that the process would be impossible to replicate in game statistics. 5

Known animi

Ashen Husk

Ashen Husk
Characteristics
Alignment Neutral Evil
Type / origin Undead
Image Wizards.com image
Stats OGL stats
Publication history
Source books Sandstorm

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the ashen husk is an undead. They are the animated corpses of those who died of thirst and dehydration while in the desert (contrary to being labelled as animated corpses, however, they are not zombies).

An ashen husk resembles a normal zombie or skeleton for the most part, except bone dry. So devoid of fluid they are brown and crumbling, and their flesh so desiccated that it appears nearly skeletal. Accompanying them wherever they go is a dry, sucking heat that makes the air waver, almost as though they bring with them the soul of the waterless desert.

Ashen husks of course inhabit the deserts, where who they once were died of thirst, and arose as the undead creature.

Many ashen husks died of exposure in the open desert when they became lost without water. Sometimes entire caravans get lost and die of thirst, causing all of them to die and rise as Husks who years later stalk the deserts desperately searching for water.

Ashen husks slam their foes with bone-hard limbs, but they expose their real threat against living creatures caught in their dehydrating aura that accompanies them. Anyone within 10 feet of a Husk, without making a successful save, takes heat damage and becomes dehydrated, a dangerous combination.

In addition, any creature killed by an ashen husk promptly rises shortly after as another Ashen Husk.

Baelnorn

Baelnorn
Characteristics
Alignment Lawful Good (mainly)
Type / origin Undead
Image Wizards.com image

A baelnorn is a fictional undead creature, usually a spellcaster, in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

Baelnorns are described as elves who sought undeath to serve their families, communities, or other purposes (usually to see a wrong righted or to achieve a certain magical discovery or deed). They are lich-like creatures that appear as impressive-looking elves with shriveled skin and glowing white eyes. Most of their appearances in modules, setting books, games, novels and the like are related to the old lords of Cormanthor/Myth Drannor, a fictional location in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.

Baelnorns are created through a powerful arcane or divine necromantic ritual. Typically, elven characters choosing to pursue a duty which would extend beyond death voluntarily go through the process. The process is described as similar to that of a lich, but does not result in the fear oriented abilities attributed to liches. The ritual permits the character to retain all of its memories, personality, and abilities. In addition, the process alters a character's abilities, conferring many of the powers seen in other types of undead monsters, including paralyzing touches and summoning other, lesser forms of undead. In the Forgotten Realms setting, Gold, or Sun, elves are the most likely to pursue this goal, but first must find the approval of various groups, sometimes including the Seldarine.

To become a baelnorn (instead of a lich), a character must be of a non-evil alignment (usually Lawful Good). However, a baelnorn may become evil after the ritual, as seen in the character Tordynnar Rhaevaern, detailed in the supplement Lords of Darkness.

Baelnorns in D&D novels

Baelnorn characters usually appear in the role of champions, guardians, and protectors. In the novel Elminster in Hell, Elminster consults with a number of baelnorns beneath the ruins of Myth Drannor. In the Pool of Radiance novel and game, the protector baelnorn Miroden Silverblade is kidnapped by a cult. The Forgotten Realms novels The Siege and The Lost Library of Cormanthyr both include guardian baelnorn characters. The character Tordynnar Rhaevaern is detailed in the supplement Lords of Darkness as a baelnorn archmage who has become evil and shows hatred for humans.

Bloodhulk

Bloodhulk
Characteristics
Alignment Neutral Evil
Type / origin Undead
Publication history
Source books Monster Manual IV

In the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the bloodhulk is an undead being. They were originally evil, fanatical, shamanistic humans or similar creatures whom others had come to worship as a god, and had too many sacrifices made to them. When they die, the gallons of blood from those sacrificed to them begins to run in their veins, and they arise as oozing, hulking, misshapen abominations.

Bloodhulks resemble, albeit very vaguely, humans. So full of blood has their muscles, skin, sinew and such become, however, that they look nothing short of mutated, and their identity is completely lost. Their veins bulge through their thick, red, rippling skin, struggling to pump blood to their gargantuan upper masses. Their heads are incredibly disproportionate to the rest of their body, being shriveled and wizened and tiny at the top of their massive torsosoriginal research?.

Under Second Edition rules, Bloodhulks are described as incredibly bestial creatures with no desire other than to roam around and obtain the blood of any who would encroach upon what was their territory in life. For each victim the Bloodhulk kills with their brute strength and powerful fists, they consume the remains and become stronger from the blood. Eventually their hearts can no longer take the strain, however, and the creatures shrivel and die. For some reason, Bloodhulks are often depicted with other, smaller Bloodhulks, possibly clerics or such which had also received a small portion of the blood from the Bloodhulk's sacrifices in lifeoriginal research?.

As of Third Edition, Bloodhulks seem to have lost their clerical background, their blood-consuming ability, and their vulnerability to cardiac failure. They are essentially on par with zombies, although with increased size and hit points and a vulnerability to piercing weapons.

Most Bloodhulks cannot speak. The few that can speak speak Undercommon.

Bodak

Further information: Bodak

Boneclaw

Boneclaw
Characteristics
Type / origin Undead in 3rd edition; Shadow Animate in 4th edition.
Subtype Undead (in 4th edition only)
Image Wizards.com image

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the boneclaw is an undead creature6 which can be used by Dungeon Masters as allies or enemies of the player characters. In the game, they resemble humanoids who are half skeletal and half without skin, with their sinew and muscle exposed. The most prominent feature of the boneclaw are its claws; its three, bony fingernails seem to grow and shrink randomly between two to ten feet long, and are razor sharp. They are constructed using a secret magical ritual to hunt and kill living creatures6

Whether to sadistically end the lives of the innocent, or due to being in the service of a necromancer or such who commands them to do so, the purpose of boneclaws in the Dungeons & Dragons game is to eviscerate the living with their claws. Though they often grow and retract as they please, the Boneclaw can take full control of the length of its claws, and attacks by sneaking into the range of a foe and then lashing out with a claw growing at the speed of lightning, and skewering them through the heart.

Boneclaws speak Common and, in 3rd edition, Abyssal7. They are evil in alignment6.

Boneclaws in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting were created by Szass Tam to protect Thayan enclaves7.

Boneclaws in Eberron were created by Droamite necromancers working for the daughters of Sora Kell from ogre magi7.

The boneclaw appears in the Monster Manual for 4th edition.8

Miniatures

Two Dungeons & Dragons miniatures represent boneclaws. The first, simply called "Boneclaw", was a Rare miniatures in the Deathknell expansion9. The second, also a rare, was the "Boneclaw Impaler" in the Against the Giants expansion10.

Brain in a Jar

For the thought experiment, see Brain in a Vat.
Brain in a Jar
Characteristics
Alignment Usually Neutral Evil
Type / origin Undead
Image Wizards.com image
Publication history
Source books Libris Mortis

Brain in a Jar is an element of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. In addition to being undead, it is, simply put, a brain in a jar of preservative fluid. The concept may have been influenced strongly by such sci-fi and horror as They Saved Hitler's Brain and Doctor Who: The Brain of Morbius. It was introduced in Libris Mortis, a D&D supplement that deals specifically with undead.

It is a live brain in a grimy jar filled with preservation fluid with powerful psionic abilities.

The brain in a jar is a masterpiece of preservation -- but where alchemical preservatives leave off, necromancy picks up. An animated brain in a jar is, in truth, an undead creature. Additionally, a brain in a jar possesses potent mental powers (psionics).

Merely removing the brain of a zombie or some other undead creature and storing it in alchemical preservatives is not enough to create an undead brain with psionic ability. The ritual of extraction, the spells of formulation, and the alchemical recipes of preservation are closely guarded secrets held by only a few master necromancers.

The creation of a brain in a jar is difficult and fraught with danger, because once its mental powers are fully developed, this undead creature is adept at controlling the thoughts and minds of other creatures, especially living creatures. It is not unknown for a brain in a jar to take control over the necromancer who created it.

The Brain in a Jar uses mainly psionic abilities to do what its lack of moving parts would otherwise prevent: move itself, manipulate objects and the environment, and ward off attackers. Its main attack is Mind Thrust, an assault upon the mind of another creature. In addition to this, it can also drive mad anyone who magically or psionically detects it, and it can control and rebuke other undead.

Corpse Gatherer

Corpse Gatherer
Characteristics
Alignment Usually Neutral
Type / origin Undead
Image Wizards.com image
Publication history
Source books Monster Manual II 3rd edition

The Corpse Gatherer is an undead creature in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It appears as a giant made of earth and stone. Upon closer inspection, one can see headstones, dead hands and heads protruding from its bulk. The monster is essentially an animated graveyard.

A corpse gatherer can swallow any creature in its grasp. The victim then takes bludgeoning damage from rocks, gravestones, etc. in the creature's body. It can also increase its mass by absorbing corpses.

When a corpse gatherer is destroyed it falls apart into its component corpses. The undead's animating force converts these corpses into zombies.

Crimson Death

Crimson Death
Characteristics
Alignment Always Neutral Evil
Type / origin Undead
Image Wizards.com image
Publication history
Source books Monster Manual II 3rd edition

The Crimson Death is an undead creature in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game that dwells in marshes and swamps. It appears as a vaguely humanoid knot of fog, with arms, a torso, and white glowing eyes. Its lower body trails off into indistinct vapor.

The crimson death is an incorporeal undead. However, it can drain blood from any creature it touches.

Death Knight

Further information: Death knight

Devourer

Devourer
Characteristics
Alignment Chaotic Evil
Type / origin Undead
Image Wizards.com image
Stats OGL stats
Publication history
Source books Monster Manual 3rd edition, Monster Manual 4th edition

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the devourer is a horrible undead creature which lurks on the Ethereal Plane and Astral Plane11.

In Dungeons & Dragons, the devourer resembles a grey, horrible mutated, malnourished, sickly, shambling humanoid. The barely-there skin on its chest is opened up, revealing the completely dry and empty ribcage. Growing out of this ribcage is a smaller head, and two arms.

In the game, devourers speak Common.

The devourer appears in the Monster Manual for 4th edition, including the spirit devourer, the viscera devourer, and the soulspike devourer12.

Dracolich

Further information: Dracolich

Effigy

Effigy
Characteristics
Alignment Chaotic Evil
Type / origin Undead
Image Wizards.com image
Publication history
Source books Monster Manual II 3rd edition

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the effigy is an undead.

A hybrid of a ghost or spectre and a fire elemental, it is an envious undead creature that hates living creatures and lusts after the life energy they possess. It possesses the bodies of living creatures and takes over their lives, but eventually the possessed body catches fire from the inside from the corruption, turns into a flaming zombie, and is destroyed, and the Effigy must find a new host.

An effigy appears as a ghostly, translucent humanoid shape with a fiendish countenance and composed of burning, multicolored flame. Its eyes glow white within the flickering fires of its insubstantial body, but it has no other discernible facial features. Clawed, fiery arms can also be made out.

The Effigy's preferred form of attack is to possess a living body and then use this body to attack. A creature infused (possessed) with an Effigy does fire damage, and has an energy draining touch. A wisdom check can be made against an Effigy to drive it out of a host, or to prevent it from entering in the first place.

Flameskull

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the flameskull is an undead. It is a tiny undead guardian created from the skull of a recently slain humanoid spellcaster.

Publication history

The flameskull was introduced to the D&D game in the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. It appears first for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting in Dragon #197 (September 1993) in the "Dragon's Bestiary" column, and was later reprinted in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume One (1994).

In v3.5, the flameskull appears in Lost Empires of Faerûn (2005).13

The flameskull appears in the Monster Manual for 4th edition, including the great flameskull.14

Ghost

Further information: Ghost (Dungeons & Dragons)

Ghoul

Further information: Ghoul (Dungeons & Dragons)

Lich

Further information: Lich (Dungeons & Dragons)

Mohrg

Mohrg
Characteristics
Alignment Chaotic Evil
Type / origin Undead
Image Wizards.com image
Stats OGL stats
Publication history
Source books Monster Manual 3rd edition

In the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, mohrg are undead, not limited to skeletons or fleshed out bodies of any sort, controlled by a parasitic creature of evil nature. They lack the intelligence of liches but have more brain power than a zombie.

In the third edition of the game, the mohrg is the animated corpse of an unrepentant murderer. It possesses a long, prehensile clawed tongue that can paralyze with a successful attack.

Mummy

Further information: Mummy (Dungeons & Dragons)

Nightshade

Further information: Nightshade (Dungeons & Dragons)

Shadow

Shadow
Characteristics
Alignment Chaotic Evil
Type / origin Undead
Image Wizards.com image
Stats OGL stats
Publication history
Source books Monster Manual 3rd edition

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the shadow is an undead creature.

A shadow is an incorporeal creature of sentient darkness. Its touch saps the strength of living creatures, and if the living creatures are afflicted for long enough, they can turn into a shadow themselves. They can be found anywhere, and appear as patches of mobile gloom with a more or less humanoid shape.

Skeleton

Further information: Skeleton (Dungeons & Dragons)

Skeleton Warrior

In the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, skeleton warriors are a more powerful version of undead skeletons. Skeleton warriors are created from great warriors by powerful necromancy. Unlike their lesser kin, skeleton warriors retain all of their fighting skill and are highly resistant to magic. Skeleton warriors are difficult to command, and as such are rarely found in groups greater than two or three.

Lord Soth of Krynn was served by thirteen skeleton warriors, the cursed undead remnants of his loyal retainers.

Spectre

Further information: Spectre (Dungeons & Dragons)

Vampire

Further information: Vampire (Dungeons & Dragons)

Wight

Further information: Wight (Dungeons & Dragons)

Wrackspawn

In the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the Wrackspawn' is an undead being. Wrackspawn are created/risen from the bodies of those fallen in battle, tortured prisoners, or others who endured extreme pain and bodily damage before death. Wrackspawn are incredibly ugly, with charred black muscles, blood stained all over them, limbs bent in odd directions, a tortured, howling expression, the skin burnt off them, and bones and organs protrudingwho?. Wrackspawn are completely mindless, seeking only to kill everyone they see with their bone spears (perhaps made of their own bone) in order to extract morbid revenge on what they mistake for their tormentors in life. Wrackspawn are far too mindless to speakoriginal research?.

They are Neutral Evil in alignment.

Wraith

Further information: Wraith (Dungeons & Dragons)

Zombie

Further information: Zombie (Dungeons & Dragons)

Other Undead

Other undead from the 3rd edition Monster Manual II

Other undead from the v3.5 Monster Manual III

Other undead from the v3.5 Monster Manual IV

Other undead from the v3.5 Monster Manual V

Other undead from the 3rd edition Fiend Folio

  • Abyssal Ghoul
  • Bhut
  • Crawling Head
  • Crypt Thing
  • Demon: Blood Fiend
  • Huecuva (template)
  • Hullathoin
  • Quth-Maren
  • Symbiont (Ghostly Visage)
  • Swordwraith (template)
  • Ulgurstasta

Other undead from other D&D sources

References

  1. ^ Allip – d20 System Reference Document entry
  2. ^ Williams, Skip, Jonathan Tweet, and Monte Cook. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2000).
  3. ^ Monster Manual v3.5, page 10.
  4. ^ Holian, Gary. "The Death Knights of Oerth, Part Two." Dragon Magazine #291 (January, 2002), page 95. Paizo Publishing, 2002.
  5. ^ Ivid p. 32
  6. ^ a b c Monster Manual 4th edition, by Mike Mearls, Stephen Schubert, and James Wyatt, copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast.
  7. ^ a b c Monster Manual III, 3rd edition, copyright 2004 Wizards of the Coast.
  8. ^ Mearls, Mike, Stephen Schubert, and James Wyatt. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2008)
  9. ^ Deathknell miniatures gallery at Wizards of the Coast's website.
  10. ^ Against the Giants miniatures gallery at Wizards of the Coast's website.
  11. ^ Monster Manual v3.5.
  12. ^ Monster Manual 4th edition,
  13. ^ Stout, Travis. Lost Empires of Faerûn. Wizards of the Coast, 2005
  14. ^ Mearls, Mike, Stephen Schubert, and James Wyatt. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2008)
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