Corpse Troops
1HD (5HP), AC14 (Iron Plates), Morale 13 (Fearless)
Mass-raised by possessing them with randomly selected wardead souls, weapons tied to their insensate hands with wire, and protective plates of crude iron bolted to their heads and chests. This is the grade between a novice’s zombies and a true professional’s clean skeletons.
No. Appearing: 3d6 (5d6 in an active battlefield). Rolls of 1 are a Shieldbearer, Bannerbearer or Gasbearer. Rolls of 6 indicate the presence of an additional Captain.
Movement: Slow, stumbling march - unlike a zombie, able to actually balance, and avoid obstacles like churned mud or punji pits.
Senses: Senses life. Dull, muted sight, hearing and smell.
Morality: Loyal to their necromancer, if only out of a pained desire to return to rest.
Intelligence: Like a normal soldier, but suffering from intense confusion, bouts of amnesia, and dreamlike sensations of voices giving them orders.
Attacks: Equipped Weapon - +2 to Hit, damage dice per equipped weapon.
Variant (Shield Bearer) - Has AC17. Bears a gigantic spiked wooden shield, taller than its head. Marches at the front of the column and absorbs early hits. Their Attack is replaced by Shield Bash, +1 to Hit, 2d6 damage.
Variant (Banner Bearer) - Carries a swaying banner emblazoned with an evil glyph, or other necromantic symbol. Their attack is replaced by Banner Swipe (+1 to Hit, 1d4 damage), and all Corpse Troops within 50ft of them get +1 to Hit. Marches at the back of the column, driving the others forward.
Variant (Gas Bearer) - Carries a burning brazier that envelops everything within 10ft of it in choking gas. Non-undead who spend their turn in the gas are unable to speak, and must save or take 2d6 poison damage.
Variant (Captain) - Is 2HD, has AC16, attacks twice in a round.
Undead — As standard - no need to breathe, no need for food or drink, no natural healing unless under the power of a dark god, feels no fear, immune to poison and unholy damage, takes double holy damage, can be turned by clerics.
Livereater
2HD (10HP), AC10 (Brittle Old Bones), Morale 13 (Fearless)
Created via the stitching together of multiple birds of prey, this many-winged abomination is armed with a murderous bone needle and reeks of death. Never exist naturally.
No. Appearing: 1d6
Movement: Unagile flight. Excellent glider, poor at midair turns. Hopping walk on six eaglesfeet.
Senses: Senses life. Decent sight. Otherwise, lacking.
Morality: Whatever its creator’s morality is - not usually good.
Intelligence: Roughly that of a stupid dog.
Attacks:
Bone Needle - +2 to Hit, 1d8 damage + 1d6 poison damage. Crits impale.
Needle Dive - Only when attacking from the air. As above, but +3 to hit and crit range 18-20. Forces the Livereater to land.
Undead — As standard - no need to breathe, no need for food or drink, no natural healing unless under the power of a dark god, feels no fear, immune to poison and unholy damage, takes double holy damage, can be turned by clerics.
Needle Reservoir — The Livereater’s bone needle is connected to an internal gullet (usually a pig’s bladder) which the thing’s creator can fill with any chemic or poison that is desired. This statblock assumes a simple 1d6 poison, but all kinds of odd things can be placed within.
Death Burst - There’s a 4-in-6 chance a dying Livereater’s reservoir will burst, showering anyone closeby with whatever was stored in it.
Muddler
2HD (10HP), AC12 (Spectral Clothing), Morale 13 (Fearless)
Demighosts born of the confusion of fragmented souls, left without the rest of the mind, to grow strange.
No. Appearing: 1d3 (Often in the company of other demighosts).
Movement: Slow, drifting, never in a straight line.
Senses: Hazy sight, deaf, can sense life within earshot.
Morality: More or less non-applicable. The muddler experiences the world through a thick veil of post-mortem confusion.
Intelligence: Mad and incoherent.
Attacks: Either Demighost Possession, or Roll 1d3:
Sleepwalk - A randomly selected creature moves as far as they can in a randomly selected direction on their next turn.
Mishap - After the other side’s initiative has come and their moves are declared, a randomly selected creature’s attack, spell, etc. is moved to target another randomly selected creature (but not themself). If it targets a fellow monster, this resolves on the monster’s next turn.
What’s Going On? - Does nothing.
Mere Shade - Sunlight destroys the Muddler.
Demighost Possession - Being only a piece of a soul, the Muddler can meld with other souls. It is able to possess creatures which are bloodied. Only holy people, paladins, clerics, innocents, and those with 16+ WIS get a save. When a person is possessed, they cannot distinguish any being from any other being, and when they try to walk, they go in a random direction. If the person is dropped to 0HP, enters sunlight, or receives magical healing, the possession ends.
Ghostly — As Undead, but are also intangible to mundane objects, allowing them to move through walls, and rendering them immune to weapons not specially prepared.
Bonesnatch
3HD (15HP), AC14 (Leathery Hide), Morale 13 (Fearless)
Bizarre things born of the lonely dead, mummified in bogs. Appear only in the sickliest of fens. Necromancers will occasionally work to secure those who died a lonely (natural) death, and inter them in bogs, to create guardian bonesnatches.
No. Appearing: 1d4 (2d6 in wetlands where a necromancer resides)
Movement: Slow, sludgy trudge.
Senses: Senses life. Smells fear. Decent sense of smell and hearing. Blind.
Morality: Still-lonely, desires friends, but almost possessed by a hatred of joy and life.
Intelligence: Dull, bitter cunning.
Attacks: Snatch Bones - +3 to Hit. On a hit, the target takes 2d6 evil damage and saves. A failed save indicates the permanent loss of a limb by theft of the supporting bones, or the loss of 1d6 Max HP by the raking of supporting bones, choice of the player. A fumble causes instant death, as the bonesnatch rips out the skull.
Bog Body — From a distance, bonesnatches look like ordinary humans. They are unimpeded by mud.
Undead — As standard - no need to breathe, no need for food or drink, no natural healing unless under the power of a dark god, feels no fear, immune to poison and unholy damage, takes double holy damage, can be turned by clerics.
Bomb-oxen
3HD (15HP), AC14 (Leathery Hide), Morale 13 (Fearless)
Swollen reeking guts, peeling skin, bones peeking out through thick layers of rotten, steaming beef. These are the corpses of kine rigged up as ugly, dirty explosives, sent to charge into enemy ranks in bloated herds.
No. Appearing: 3d6
Movement: Slow and steady. Short bursts of fast but unstable galloping.
Senses: Blurry, dull sight. Muted hearing. Decent smell. Has an implanted sense of its final objective.
Morality: Little beyond a vague loyalty to the necromancer that created them, driven by desire to charge into the objective and explode.
Intelligence: Extremely stupid, herd mentality.
Attacks: Horns - +3 to Hit, 1d10 blunt or piercing damage, whichever is more advantageous.
Rigged to Blow — When a Bomb-ox receives a severe jolt, takes fire damage, or is dropped to 0HP, it explodes in a reeking chemical fireball. All creatures within 20ft of the Bomb-ox take 3d6 fire damage and 3d6 poison damage, save for half. This can cause a chain reaction in a Bomb-ox herd, and is in fact intended to.
Undead — As standard - no need to breathe, no need for food or drink, no natural healing unless under the power of a dark god, feels no fear, immune to poison and unholy damage, takes double holy damage, can be turned by clerics.
Glutton Swine
3HD (18HP), AC16 (Thick Rotten Fat), Morale 13 (Fearless)
Horrible necromantic weapons created from the corpses of especially corpulent pigs. Thronging with minor demons and reeking of rot, they swell and swell and stumble on leaking guts, mouths splayed wide with an excess of teeth.
No. Appearing: 1d4 (2d6 in necromancer’s villages, or a village conquered by a necromancer)
Movement: Speedy trot, slow to start and hard to stop. Comically bad turning circle.
Senses: Senses life. Smells fear. Incredible sense of smell. Dulled sense of hearing and sight.
Morality: Hungry, hungry, manic, occasional dull flicker of inhuman cruelty.
Intelligence: Extremely stupid.
Attacks:
Ram -+3 to Hit. The big bastard runs right into something. People and similarly sized objects are knocked flat into biting range, taking 1d6+2 damage.
Horrible Chewing - +5 to Hit, only against targets at ground level. 2d6+2 damage.
Stench of Brimstone - Due to the minor demons that animate them, Glutton Swines count as infernal beings (whether it is to their advantage or not), and their gore counts triple for any requirements to summon hellish beings.
Undead — As standard - no need to breathe, no need for food or drink, no natural healing unless under the power of a dark god, feels no fear, immune to poison and unholy damage, takes double holy damage, can be turned by clerics.
Dorotabo
4HD (20HP), AC14 (Thick Hide), Morale 13 (Fearless)
When someone toils their whole life in a place, they create a powerful resonance with it. Spells often take advantage of this - “there’s no place like home”, as they say. Furthermore, strong emotions of dismay or anger in the dead can cause them to become restless.
No. Appearing: 1 per ruined farm, at most.
Movement: Slow, unagile but inexorable.
Senses: Nearly blind, excellent smell, sense life, decent hearing, tremorsense 20’.
Morality: Manically territorial and violent, otherwise content to be a hermit.
Intelligence: Capable of halting speech, slowly forms ideas, relates everything back to hard work and home.
Attacks: Strike (+4 to Hit, 1d10+2 damage) OR Drag Down (Target standing above the Dorotabo saves or is dragged down to the waist in soil. On subsequent turn, they are dragged fully underground and entombed unless somehow assisted).
Soil Swim— The Dorotabo moves through soil like water.
Undead — As standard - no need to breathe, no need for food or drink, no natural healing unless under the power of a dark god, feels no fear, immune to poison and unholy damage, takes double holy damage, can be turned by clerics.
Disquaestor
4HD (16HP), AC10, Intangible (Ghostly Robes), Morale 13 (Fearless)
When a promising wizard dies without fulfilling their ambitions, and especially if the death is foolish (such as by a concealed spike trap or a clubbing from some sot in a gutter), their unquiet soul may become a disquaestor.
No. Appearing: 1d2 (1d4+2 in dungeons left behind by the old magocracy)
Movement: Drifting flight. Seems unable to move in a perfectly straight line, which occasionally hampers their ability to pursue.
Senses: Decent sight, deaf, no sense of smell, no sense of touch. People with MD glow like bonfires even through four feet of stone (though this sense is blocked by even an inch of lead).
Morality: Frustrated, manic, insane, unable to properly perceive reality.
Intelligence: High, but not as high as they might think. Capable of rambling speech.
Magic: 3MD | 1d6 random wizard spells, all Innate (suffering no mishaps or dooms).
Attacks: Manaviolence - Target within 30’ saves. If they fail and…
…have no MD, the Disquaestor bestows upon them 1d3 MD. As they’re not a spellcaster, they suffer manaburn, rolling their newly-gained MD at the end of their turn, and taking [sum] irreducible wizard damage. If they roll doubles or, god forbid, triples, they suffer mishaps and dooms from whatever type of wizard the Disquaestor was in life. Any unexpended MD of course remain in their pool, and continue to manaburn them.
…have MD, the Disquaestor drains away an unexpended MD into their own pool.
Necromantic Wellspring — If under the power of a dark god, Disquaestors’ MD always replenish.
Ghostly — As Undead, but are also intangible to mundane objects, allowing them to move through walls, and rendering them immune to weapons not specially prepared.
(credit to G.R. Michael for the manaburn mechanics)
Mortamané
4HD (20HP), AC12 (Lightweight), Morale 13 (Fearless)
Stripped back flesh and exposed bone, guts cut out and spinal cord reinforced for minimal weight. A freakish half-face with removed cheeks and exposed teeth - and fingers bonded to sharp iron spikes. The work of more urbane, pragmatic and practical necromancers. You know, the type that work away in city-cellars of prosperous republics, looking to influence politics.
No. Appearing: 1 (1d6 in election season)
Movement: Agile scuttling crawl, frighteningly fast run, nimble climbing.
Senses: Excellent sight, senses life, nearly deaf, no sense of smell or taste, limited sense of touch.
Morality: Perfectly loyal to their Bonded masters. Faint cruel streak.
Intelligence: Creative, but mostly lack individual will. Unable to speak.
Attacks: +6 to hit, 1d8+1, Crit-Range 18-20.
Evasion - If a save is allowed to take half damage from something, the Mortamané takes none on a success, and half on a failure instead.
Wall-Crawler - With thick metal spikes in its feet and hands, the Mortamané can, you know. Crawl on walls, and shit.
Portable— The Mortamané can fold up into an inactive state, only 4 slots in size. If you bought it from a necromancer, it probably came with a leather carrying bag.
Bonded - The Mortamané is bonded to a specific person or family. The bonding works by the detection of life. It will loyally obey anyone it is bonded to, and only those people. If none of the bonded people remain alive (or themselves undead), the Mortamané goes feral.
Undead — As standard - no need to breathe, no need for food or drink, no natural healing unless under the power of a dark god, feels no fear, immune to poison and unholy damage, takes double holy damage, can be turned by clerics.
Screecher
4HD (20HP), AC12 (Spectral Clothing), Morale 13 (Fearless)
Demighosts born of the rage of fragmented souls, left without the rest of the mind, to grow strange and strong.
No. Appearing: 1d2
Movement: Fast, direct hover.
Senses: Hazy sight, deaf, can sense life within earshot.
Morality: Gnashing, wailing, spitting, but unable to properly perceive reality.
Intelligence: Mad and confused.
Attacks: Demonic Shriek OR Demighost Possession.
Demonic Shriek - All within 10’ of the Screecher take 1d6 mental damage and must save or attack randomly on their next turn. Those with their own points of rage are immune.
Mere Shade - Sunlight destroys the Screecher.
Demighost Possession - Being only a piece of a soul, the Screecher can meld with other souls. It is able to possess creatures which are bloodied. Only holy people, paladins, clerics, innocents, and those with 16+ WIS get a save. When a person is possessed, they ferally attack the nearest person - ties broken by focusing on those with whom they have the most grievances, expressed or otherwise. If the person is dropped to 0HP, enters sunlight, or receives magical healing, the possession ends.
Ghostly — As Undead, but are also intangible to mundane objects, allowing them to move through walls, and rendering them immune to weapons not specially prepared.
Lullabyer
4HD (20HP), AC12 (Spectral Clothing), Morale 13 (Fearless)
Demighosts born of the parental instincts of fragmented souls, left without the rest of the mind, to grow strange and strong.
No. Appearing: 1d3 (Often in the company of other demighosts).
Movement: Slow, drifting hover.
Senses: Hazy sight, deaf, can sense life within earshot.
Morality: Loving, patient, kind, but unable to properly perceive reality.
Intelligence: Mad and confused.
Attacks: Soothing Song OR Swaddle OR Demighost Possession
Soothing Song - The Lullabyer sings to a target that can hear it. They must save or become drowsy, suffering a -4 penalty to all d20 rolls. If the target sung to is already drowsy, they fall into a dreamless sleep, no save.
Swaddle - The Lullabyer wraps a sleeping person in ectoplasmic cloth, and spirits them away (either down to the next dungeon level or off to a prepared “safe place”in the same hex.) The place is entirely safe and free of environmental hazards, but other, more dangerous demighosts may inhabit the place.
Mere Shade - Sunlight destroys the Lullabyer.
Demighost Possession - Being only a piece of a soul, the Lullabyer can meld with other souls. It is able to possess creatures which are bloodied. Only holy people, paladins, clerics, innocents, and those with 16+ WIS get a save. When a person is possessed, they select a randomly chosen being and protect them as if the being were their own child, sobbing the entire time. If the person is dropped to 0HP, enters sunlight, or receives magical healing, the possession ends, and the Lullabyer is ejected.
Ghostly — As Undead, but are also intangible to mundane objects, allowing them to move through walls, and rendering them immune to weapons not specially prepared.
Pursuer
7HD (35HP), AC14 (Agile), Morale 13 (Fearless)
Demighosts born of the hatred and vitriol of fragmented souls, left without the rest of the mind, to grow strange, hungry and strong.
No. Appearing: 1 (1d4 on old battlefields) (Often in the company of other demighosts).
Movement: Fast, whispering movement, like smoke carried on the wind.
Senses: Excellent sight, deaf, can sense life within earshot.
Morality: Consumed by a destructive instinct.
Intelligence: A horrible, cruel intelligence has crystallised.
Attacks: Deathly Claw x2 OR Demighost Possession
Deathly Claw - +7 to Hit, deals 2d8 ghost damage. Struck creatures must save. Those who fail must choose one of the options listed below.
Poltergeist - Target is bodily flung 15’ in a direction of the Pursuer’s choice.
Malice - Target takes 2d6 damage to a stat of the Pursuer’s choice.
Baubles - Target loses whatever is contained in an inventory slot of the Pursuer’s choice, ripped free by ghostly telekinesis.
Mere Shade - Three rounds of continual sunlight destroys the Pursuer.
Demighost Possession - Being only a piece of a soul, the Screecher can meld with other souls. It is able to possess creatures which are bloodied. Only holy people, paladins, clerics, innocents, and those with 16+ WIS get a save. When a person is possessed, there is no clear outward sign, but their mind becomes entirely bent to the premeditated murder of a specific being the possessed person already disliked. If the person is dropped to 0HP, enters sunlight, or receives magical healing, the possession ends. The Pursuer is coherent enough to flee once it possesses someone and use their face and mind to its own ends.
Ghostly — As Undead, but are also intangible to mundane objects, allowing them to move through walls, and rendering them immune to weapons not specially prepared.
Godhated
7HD (42HP), AC16 (Ancient Panoply), Morale 13 (Fearless)
Ancient blasphemers from before this age of the earth. The gods so despised their ways and their cruelties that they shattered their minds and gave them a perverse and burning immortality.
No. Appearing: 1 (1d4 in the catacombs of the ancient civilisation)
Movement: Frighteningly fast and athletic.
Senses: Excellent sight, excellent hearing, taste and smell only ash, detect life, see magic.
Morality: Completely hate and rage at the world, omnicidal nihilism.
Intelligence: High, but warped. Their empathy has withered over long eras of torment.
Attacks: 3x Weapon per turn. Godhated have two of the following weapons, and +7 to hit with all of them:
Runed Greatsword - Massive impractical single-edged chopper. Polished reflective, runes along the blade gleam with a subtle pinkish flame, and tell an ancient saga. 1d10+4 damage, crits remove limbs.
Lawhammer - Two handed maul with a blocky cubical head of dark iron. Mages struck must save or immediately expend an MD. 1d10+4 damage.
Sundering Spear - Gigantic spear with head made of revolving sections of glinting red metal. 1d10+4 damage - damage rolls of 8 or above destroy mundane equipment.
Refracting Daggers - Mirror-finish shardlike blades glint with a nacreous shimmer. 1d6+3 damage, re-rolling results of 1. When held, +2 to saves vs. spells.
Moonlight Bow - Dark, lustrous bow with black string. Fires invisible arrows in total silence. Double the range of a usual longbow. 1d8+4 piercing damage.
Sunlight Bow - Glowing bow of exotic metal, incredibly loud twang. Arrows turn into searing bolts of sunlight that deal 3d8 damage and melt through rock and steel. Effort of drawing it back limits it to one shot a turn. Beams continue until their energy is spent (after melting through ~10’ of rock, for example).
Weaponbond - Godhated can summon their weapons to themselves at any distance, causing them to fly back to them - possibly destroying shit that gets in the way.
Punished Forever — Godhated can only be destroyed with the explicit permission of a god, or in the presence of at least three clerics (or one cleric of Template D). Otherwise, when reduced to 0HP, they suffer in pain and become immobile and insensate, but are not destroyed.
Undead — As standard - no need to breathe, no need for food or drink, no natural healing unless under the power of a dark god, feels no fear, immune to poison and unholy damage, takes double holy damage, can be turned by clerics.
Rise Again, Die Again - After spending 24 hours at 0HP, Godhated suffer a paroxysm of fiery agony and return to full HP. They are suffused with rage and hatred, and will immediately begin to hunt their destroyers, or, failing that, attack nearby innocents at random.
Tar Crawler
8HD (40HP), AC10 (Massy), Morale 13 (Fearless)
Born of open tar pits. Once human beings, their bodies have intermingled with the tar and with every other beast that’s met their end in that tar, back to the beginning of time. Very rare, but especially favoured by warlike necromancers. They resemble huge multi-limbed assemblages of bone and flesh, inside a gigantic “cocoon” of sticky tar.
No. Appearing: 1
Movement: Slow, slimy crawl on many dragging limbs,
Senses: Nearly blind, nearly deaf, decent sense of touch, senses life within 200’.
Morality: None to speak of - they are easily controlled by strong-willed necromancers (or exceptionally strong-willed paleontologists).
Intelligence: Uncreative, brutal, blunt, capable of stringing together two or three words at most.
Attacks: 5x any attacks. Repeated attacks need to be aimed at different targets. Maximum one Engulfing Ram a turn.
Tarred Limb - +8 to hit, automatic grapple, 2d8 bludgeoning damage.
Targlob - +8 to hit, anyone within 20’. Blasts with a glob of tar - 1d8 damage, roll MOVE or get knocked to the ground, save or get your legs or arms tangled in tar.
Beastskull Bite - +8 to hit. Animal skull launches out of the tar to bite down. 2d6+2 piercing damage.
Engulfing Ram - Target creature saves with a +2 bonus, or takes 2d8 damage and is swallowed by the Tar Crawler, beginning to drown in hot tar.
Adhesive Layer— Melee weapons that damage the crawler immediately stick into it.
Ignitable - Fire damage done to the Crawler will ignite the tar - burning it for 1d8 damage a round, but adding +1d6 fire damage to all of its attacks.
Undead — As standard - no need to breathe, no need for food or drink, no natural healing unless under the power of a dark god, feels no fear, immune to poison and unholy damage, takes double holy damage, can be turned by clerics.
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