Undead

Skeletons are the animated bones of the dead, brought to unlife through foul magic. While most skeletons are mindless automatons, they still possess an evil cunning imparted to them by their animating force—a cunning that allows them to wield weapons and wear armor.

VARIANT SKELETONS
Numerous variant skeletons exist, such as those whose bones burn with an unending fire and those who drip with gore and reassemble themselves over time. Both of these variant skeletons can be created using animate dead, but they count as twice their normal number of Hit Dice per casting. Once controlled, they count normally against the controller’s limit. Each of the following skeleton types modifies the base skeleton in a few key ways. Except as noted, these variations can be stacked with one another—it’s possible to have a bloody burning skeletal champion.

Some skeletons retain their intelligence and cunning, making them formidable warriors. These undead are far more powerful than their mindless kin, and many gain class levels.

Zombies are the animated corpses of dead creatures, forced into foul unlife via necromantic magic like animate dead. While the most commonly encountered zombies are slow and tough, others possess a variety of traits, allowing them to spread disease or move with increased speed. Zombies are unthinking automatons, and can do little more than follow orders. When left unattended, zombies tend to mill about in search of living creatures to slaughter and devour. Zombies attack until destroyed, having no regard for their own safety. Although capable of following orders, zombies are more often unleashed into an area with no command other than to kill living creatures. As a result, zombies are often encountered in packs, wandering around places the living frequent, looking for victims. Most zombies are created using animate dead. Such zombies are always of the standard type, unless the creator also casts haste or remove paralysis to create fast zombies, or contagion to create plague zombies.

VARIANT ZOMBIES
The typical zombie is a slow-moving abomination that is tough to destroy. Yet this tough zombie is not the only type of zombie to plague crypts or stalk graveyards. Each of the following two variant zombies modifies the base zombie in a few simple ways.

Zombie lords are the fleshy counterparts of skeletal champions—intelligent, cunning, and envious of creatures whose bodies aren’t rotting away. Despite their decaying flesh, they are not slow like common zombies, and can easily pursue fleeing prey. Zombie lords are more powerful than common zombies and retain their class levels.

Undigested are the animate slurry of the indigestible parts of a humanoid creature. They come into being when a giant beast that swallowed its prey alive is slain by unspeakable necromantic arts. A primal shard of the beast’s sentience is ripped from it during the agonizing moments of its death, animating the gelatinous humanoid remains within its stomach into an ooze-like undead creature which hungers to inflict its digestive fate upon others. If the beast was digesting multiple creatures, this phenomenon results in undigested swarms instead. Undigested—implacable ambush predators—slop, ooze, and undulate through the dark places of the world in search of sustenance.

A beheaded is a severed head or skull animated as a mindless undead sentinel that silently floats at eye level as it lies in wait for living prey or is sent out into the lands of the living to terrorize everyone it finds. A beheaded set loose near populated areas thumps ominously against shut doors and windows, biding its time until someone responds to the incessant knocking. The beheaded then assaults this victim. Beheaded also guard grim crypts, abattoirs, and hideouts of murders who like to keep reminders of their past sins close at hand. Beheaded come in many varieties, usually based on the creature the head came from. A beheaded prefers to float at head height so it can more easily attack the face, neck, and shoulders of its victim. A neutral evil spellcaster can gain a beheaded as a familiar at 3rd level by taking the Improved Familiar feat. A beheaded familiar loses the mindless trait and has an Intelligence score appropriate for its master’s level.

Some say the origins of the crawling hand lie in the experiments of demented necromancers contracted to construct tiny assassins. Other tales tell of gruesome prosthetics sparked to life by evil magic, which then developed primitive sentience and vengefully strangled their hosts. Regardless, the crawling hand is an efficient killing tool. When not commanded to kill, the crawling hand remains still and can be handled and transported safely. Typically, owners carry them about in small, velvet-lined boxes. Crawling hands can also be placed as guardians and programmed with contingency commands, such as to hunt down and slay an individual who performs a specific task like violating a shrine, opening a warded door, or breaking the seal of a casket.

Drawn from energies of the Ethereal Plane, ectoplasm is a vile substance resembling thick tangles of slimy linen or dripping goo. It shapes itself into the form of an undead creature, creating a host for a soul unfortunate enough to be confined within it. The existence of an ectoplasmic being is a cruel one, and few souls willingly choose this painful form of undeath. An ectoplasmic creature is approximately the same size as the body it inhabited in life, though it weighs nearly twice as much, as the ropes of undead matter that compose its body are significantly heavier than most living flesh. Even more so than most undead beings, creatures born of ectoplasm live hateful existences, filled with nothing but a lust for destruction and suffering. They have no bodily needs and require no sustenance; the only thing an ectoplasmic creature feeds upon is its own hatred of the living. Once a spirit has passed to the afterlife, it seldom wishes to return at all, let alone in a disfigured ectoplasmic body. Spirits that aren’t powerful enough to come back as ghosts or spectres sometimes return as ectoplasmic monsters, particularly when there are no remains of the creature’s original body for its soul to inhabit in the form of a skeleton or zombie. Sometimes, ghosts and other strong undead purposefully draw upon ectoplasm from the ethereal realm, yearning for even more power in their ectoplasmic hosts. Those who suffer this sorrowful fate, by misfortune or choice, are usually stuck in their ectoplasmic prisons until death grants them sweet release from this unlife. The transition from death to ectoplasmic undeath is a torturous ordeal, as is retaining the horrid form into which the creature is reborn. Often, this persistent agony drives these beings beyond mad, creating within an insatiable rage akin to that experienced by frustrated ghosts and other haunted souls. An ectoplasmic creature’s burning desperation and embitterment often pushes it toward violence: most such beings fling themselves into battle willingly, killing to satiate their natural hunger for the suffering of others, while simultaneously hoping to be killed and thus freed of their own suffering own. Whenever in contact with surfaces (including walls they pass through), ectoplasmic creatures leave a trail of a silvery substance that resembles a slug’s mucus—a trait almost exclusive to these undead. This slippery secretion dries within moments, so if its encountered, there is surely such a creature lurking nearby. Ectoplasmic beings can inhabit any location, regardless of environment or climate. The horrors tend to prowl the areas in which they died, and rarely venture outside these areas, as though they were anchored there. Though these entities rarely coordinate complicated actions with others of their kind, they seem to do so unintentionally at times. Their unnatural strength makes ectoplasmic creatures formidable combatants, which those not familiar with fighting ectoplasmic creatures would expect by looking at them. Fortunately for the wary, the sticky ectoplasm that trails behind these undead monsters is a clear indicator of their presence, and most experienced clerics can identify the substance at a glance.

Found skittering through forgotten tombs, crawling through deep forests, and filling damp caverns, exoskeletons are animated carapaces of arthropods and other vermin. Most exoskeletons are the intentional creations of necromancers, but some of these undead monstrosities arise spontaneously from places awash with negative energy or are created by malfunctioning artifacts. Sometimes, the simple act of feeding on freshly destroyed undead creatures is enough to transform an insect into an exoskeleton upon its eventual death. Though exoskeletons are just as mindless as they were when they were living, they have become infused with an evil instinct in their new unlife that drives them to relentlessly attack all living creatures on sight, exploding in a burst of dusty remains when destroyed.  A spellcaster can create an exoskeleton using animate dead. An exoskeleton can be created from a mostly intact dead vermin that has an exoskeleton. This includes arachnids, crustaceans, insects, and even some mollusks, but not soft-bodied vermin such as jellyfish and leeches.  

HAUNTED EXOSKELETONS
Rarely, an exoskeleton is haunted by the lost spirit of a stubborn soul. This wreaks havoc on the spirit, wiping away most of its memories but giving the exoskeleton an Intelligence score of 10, along with all of the feats and skill ranks its Hit Dice would afford. Climb, Fly, Perception, and Swim are class skills for haunted exoskeletons. A haunted exoskeleton typically understands one language (usually Common) but cannot speak.   

Awkwardly flapping through the air, this creature constantly weeps salty tears, leaving a dripping trail behind it as it flies. Most often encountered in the company of necromancers or powerful undead creatures capable of casting spells, an isitoq serves as a companion, spy, or sometimes even a familiar. Its creator normally uses it as a sentinel, sending it flying through the halls of its laboratory, lair, or dungeon complex to watch for intruders or spy on guests and test subjects. As an isitoq’s creator can see through the creature’s single eye, the creator can keep watch over her domain without having to leave an inner sanctum or other heavily-guarded area. Though the isitoq’s attack is itself weak, any creature struck by the floating eyeball’s wings sees the last moments of life experienced by the creature from which the isitoq was created. This horror-filled vision is potent with emotion, making the victim feel as if it’s experiencing its own death.

CREATING AN ISITOQ
A spellcaster can create an isitoq from the head of a Small or Medium corpse that has at least one intact eye. The head must be animated as a 1 Hit Die undead using animate dead (this counts toward the total HD animated by the spell and the total HD the caster can control), followed by casting clairaudience/clairvoyance or locate object to establish the sensory connection, and air walk, fly, levitate, or wind wall to give it the ability to fly. When these spells are finished, one of the head’s eyes pulls itself free of its socket and becomes an isitoq. The rest of the head remains part of a corpse. An evil spellcaster with the Improved Familiar feat can gain an isitoq as a familiar at 5th level.

Ghouls are undead that haunt graveyards and eat corpses. Legends hold that the first ghouls were either cannibalistic humans whose unnatural hunger dragged them back from death or humans who in life fed on the rotting remains of their kin and died (and were reborn) from the foul disease—the true source of these undead scavengers is unclear. Ghouls lurk on the edges of civilization (in or near cemeteries or in city sewers) where they can find ample supplies of their favorite food. Though they prefer rotting bodies and often bury their victims for a while to improve their taste, they eat fresh kills if they are hungry enough. Though most surface ghouls live primitively, rumors speak of ghoul cities deep underground led by priests who worship ancient cruel gods or strange demon lords of hunger. These “civilized” ghouls are no less horrific in their eating habits, and in fact the concept of a well-laid ghoul banquet table is perhaps even more horrifying than the concept of taking a meal fresh from the coffin.

Ghasts are ghouls with the advanced monster template. A ghast’s paralysis even affects elves. Ghasts roam in packs of their own kind or lead groups of common ghouls. The stink of death and corruption surrounding these creatures is overwhelming, granting them the stench extraordinary ability.

Lacedon are aquatic cousins of the ghoul lurk near hidden reefs or other places where ships are likely to meet their ends. Lacedons have a base land speed of 30 feet and a swim speed of 30 feet.

Grotesque curiosities, pickled punks are deformed, often-humanoid fetuses raised by necromancers and stored in jars of embalming fluid. Every pickled punk is different and the level of deformity spans a spectrum between the mildly lopsided to the utterly unfathomable. Though they seem harmless at first— even laughable—pickled punks are hungry creatures that attack without provocation when freed from their jars. Some pickled punks rock and wriggle in their jars in hopes of falling off a shelf or table and shattering their glass prison (such jars typically have hardness 1 and 2 hit points). Once freed, a pickled punk pulls itself across the ground with its malformed limbs in search of sustenance. Unless weaned from its taste for blood or constantly controlled, pickled punks become a danger to their creators. Some necromancers (especially those on the edge of sanity) and some intelligent undead cultivate a fondness for pickled punks and regard them as their children. They talk to their various jars in cooing tones and are known to even carry around favored specimens on outings and social calls, often granting them names and imagined personalities.

Created from blood-spattered armor infused with the souls of betrayed knights or fallen soldiers, phantom armors appear as suits of damaged but animate armor that move with deadly purpose and lethal precision. Arising from the armored remains of towering humanoids, these suits are particularly fearsome, though slower than guardian phantom armors.

CREATING PHANTOM ARMORS
Phantom armors are created using the spell create undead. Creating a phantom armor requires a corpse wearing a suit of heavy armor. The corpse is destroyed in the phantom armor’s creation. A magic-user must be at least caster level 12th to create a guardian phantom armor and at least caster level 15th to create a giant phantom armor.

Huecuvas are the risen corpses of heretical clerics who blasphemed and renounced their deities before meeting death. In unlife, they hate and seek to destroy those pious souls who keep their vows. Although easily mistaken for zombies or even skeletons, huecuvas have a spark of intelligence that makes them cunning and deceptive foes. During daylight hours, a huecuva becomes shrouded in an illusion that causes it to appear as it did in life—at these times, a huecuva might seek to infiltrate society to dwell among those it hates. When night falls, it emerges to seek out its prey. Fortunately for the living, the typical huecuva has only fragments of intellect remaining, so it is usually not long before the undead creature makes an error of judgment or simply reveals itself for the monster it is. Most huecuvas remember little of their former lives except for the blasphemies that led them to their cursed fates. They often find themselves drawn to the ruins of old temples, where they rage against or seek hopeless absolution from the deities who so afflicted them. Huecuvas sometimes work in concert with other undead creatures that share the same area. While most huecuvas arise when a god rejects a heretic priest’s soul, forcing the slain to rise as horrible undead, a huecuva can also be created with create undead. The caster must be at least 11th level, and the body to be transformed must have been an evil cleric in life. The spell can be used to create a huecuva using the body of a nonevil cleric, but doing so requires a DC 20 caster level check.

A juju zombie is an animated corpse of a creature, created to serve as an undead minion, that retains the skills and abilities it possessed in life.

When animals are stricken with demon plague, they may arise as undead and further spread the disease. Some demons and cultists are fond of using plagued horses as mounts.

A shredskin is a wretched undead creature created either when a humanoid is skinned alive to be preserved as a trophy or otherwise killed in a terrifying way that leaves much of its upper half unharmed, such as being dissolved feet-first in acid. A fragment of the creature’s soul animates the skin and seeks vengeance on those who created it, all the while trying to find a comfortable body for it to use as it did when it was alive. A shredskin may attack on its own and try to squeeze the life out of a living humanoid to use it as a body, or it might control another undead such as a skeleton, zombie, or ghoul, covering it like a morbid costume. In either case, it abandons its borrowed body if it finds a better one or the old one is destroyed. A shredskin is usually recognizable by creatures who knew it in life. Because it lacks a lower half, a shredskin is 3–4 feet tall and weighs only 10–15 pounds.

Most scholars of the strange consider accounts of spontaneous combustion to be nothing more than superstitious folktales. But those with a deep understanding of the occult know it is indeed possible for a person to feel a sudden fever come on, only to find the heat within her body rising to incredible levels until she bursts into flames and perishes, leaving behind only a charred corpse. The sudden and violent deaths of such individuals make it easier for dark powers to reanimate their bodies, and sometimes for the victims to return from the dead on their own.  However they return, the undead creatures known as combusted all suffer the telltale signs of their demise: their corpses constantly burn and their desiccated flesh is never fully consumed by the flames. Roiling clouds of smoke, thick with the stench of burning skin and hair, surround them at all times, and may reveal their presence from over a mile away. These shambling horrors can arise at any location that has a particular affinity for undead, but they have been known to wander into nearby bodies of water in an attempt to extinguish the flames that took their lives, though they never attempt such self-destructive acts when affronted by the presence of the living.  A typical combusted stands the same height as the creature it was in life, but weighs less than half as much, since so much of its body and musculature has burned away to ashes.

A necrocraft is a medley of undead body parts and corpses grafted together with dark magic to create a single animated undead creature with abilities based on its component pieces and the surgical and necromantic talents of its creator. Necrocrafts are better suited for brute force than delicate manipulation, and most creators build larger hulks rather than smaller, more agile (and fragile) necrocrafts. Though necrocrafts can be of virtually any size and can be made up of undead bodies or parts of any size, a typical Medium specimen is 7 feet tall and weighs 250 pounds. The details of the ritual to create a necrocraft vary greatly, and depend on the particular undead parts used and the intended size of the resulting creature. The final anatomy of the creation largely depends on the master’s artistry, creativity, and personal preferences—as well as any specific goals it has in mind for the creature. For example, a necrocraft’s “teeth” could actually be dozens of clawed ghoul talons, or its eyes and mouth might be located in its chest rather than in a distinct head.

There are certain evil fungal creatures (such as fungus queens, but also rare fungal growths or extraplanar blights upon the wild) that can infest vermin with spores that have been infused with sinister power and negative energy. These foul spores grow quickly in the body of a dead vermin, eventually bursting from its head to form disturbing, antler-like growths. At the same time, the spores animate the vermin as an intelligent undead creature.  These are then known as spore zombies.

The dreaded trailgaunt is a form of undead that plagues regions where travelers have long trod the roads. Legends hold that trailgaunts rise from the remains of seasoned travelers who became lost and then perished from exposure or starvation, suffering great shame and humiliation to have come to such unexpected and lonely ends in addition to their physical torment. Trailgaunts seek travelers to avenge themselves upon and are driven to feast upon the feet of those they slaughter, often leaving the maimed bodies to rise as new trailgaunts with the setting of the next sun. Trailgaunts with intact feet are rare, yet even those fortunate enough to retain all their toes are slow and clumsy.  Trailgaunts are particularly feared in nomadic societies, and stories of how these undead creatures relentlessly stalk those who commit crimes are popular. The most common tales focus on a hunter who abandons a partner in the wild and then prospers on the profits of the hunt for a year before the betrayed partner finally catches up to the traitor and kills him as he sleeps. Many variations on this tale exist, but they inevitably revolve around themes of treachery and relentless pursuit.

Vukodlaks spawn from the malignant spirits of powerful, intelligent, wolf like creatures such as worgs, winter wolves, or werewolves. Often they arise from such creatures that—through desperation or depravity—fed on undead flesh or drank the blood of a vampiric creature. Their blackened souls arise after death, twisting their bodies into monstrous shapes. Like vampires, vukodlaks share an insatiable thirst for blood.  Vukodlaks measure 8 feet long and 6 feet tall at the shoulder, and they weigh 1,000 pounds. A vukodlak typically walks on all fours, and from a distance can easily be mistaken for a large, shaggy horse. However, it has a distinct wolf like muzzle filled with sharp canine teeth, as well as other wolfish features. Vukodlaks possess monstrous strength, making them ideal mounts for powerful undead masters or other evil creatures. While serving as mounts, they keep to all fours, and might easily be mistaken for worgs or great fanged horses. Masters seeking to control vukodlaks find the most success relying on fear and intimidation, as well as providing a constant source of blood for the creature to feed upon. Vukodlaks share a natural kinship with vampires and often serve them willingly.  Vukodlaks hunger for blood, gorging themselves rather than saving victims to feed on later. When feeding, they can prove difficult to command. Riders who are not careful in their attempts to restrain a hungry vukodlak risk having their mount turn on them. While vukodlaks can go days without feeding, they gradually become weaker if they do not feed daily, and have difficulty operating on anything other than pure instinct. Though intelligent, vukodlaks rarely think or plan ahead, instead focusing on feeding or obeying their masters’ commands.  Vukodlaks without masters often form small packs. These packs annihilate all life in entire areas, overfeeding until destroyed or forced to move on. Vukodlaks hate sunlight and hunt only at night, making their lairs in deep caves or ruins. They don’t care for treasure; anything of worth found in a vukodlak lair is simply something its latest victim was carrying that the beast couldn’t eat. Although vukodlaks don’t appear undead at first glance, any creature that wounds one or finds a vukodlak corpse can tell they’re not living creatures—their bodies being largely hollow, filled with the rotten, stinking remains of organs that ceased functioning long ago.

Known in some circles as ghoul bats, skavelings are the hideous result of necromantic manipulation by urdefhans, who create them from mobats specially raised on diets of fungus and humanoid flesh. Upon reaching maturity, urdefhans ritually slay the bats using necrotic poisons, then raise the corpses to serve as mounts and guardians.

Whereas individual undigested are more of a nuisance than a threat to adventurers, a swarm of such creatures can be dangerous to even experienced adventurers. An undigested swarm comprises hundreds of individual undigested. Driven by insatiable hunger, they fall upon and consume any living creatures crossing their path, surrounding the unfortunate victims and drenching them in acidic slime, digesting their still-living prey even before the screaming ends.

Even by the standards of the undead, unrisen are an affront to life. An unrisen is rarely created intentionally, as most come about when a resurrection attempt is poorly performed and results in a mishap, or through experimental alchemical processes that attempt to restore life to the dead.  The unrisen cling to unlife with unparalleled resilience. Their half-living organs drink in positive energy, taking a form of healing from the life-giving power. Even devastating violence cannot truly slay an unrisen, as the magic that created them reforms them over and over in a horrifying rebirth. Only the purifying touch of fire or the unrisen’s dissolution to essential salts can grant these undead creatures permanent rest.  An unrisen is 6 feet tall and weighs 200 pounds.

A deathweb is the undead exoskeleton of a massive spider animated with the vilest necromancy. The spells that create this monstrosity bind to it thousands of normal spiders, which together form the mind of the undead beast like an arachnid hive. These smaller spiders live in and direct their exoskeleton home, working together to swarm around the deathweb and weave its web sheets. The exoskeleton of a deathweb is cracked and full of holes to allow the resident spiders easy passage into and out of it. Although the exoskeleton can be up to 10 feet long, the largest spiders within are only 6 inches in length. The variety in the sizes of the internal spiders allows them to ably move all parts of the exoskeleton, giving the massive carapace amazing dexterity and swiftness, as well as cleverness, perception, and presence. These capabilities make deathwebs resourceful and frightening opponents, especially when adversaries mistake them for normal monstrous arachnids or mindless undead. Because of their ability to squeeze into tight surroundings, deathwebs may be found lurking in all manner of niches. Deathwebs lair where they can build webs to trap passersby, such as among thick trees or in caves or tunnels. The creatures don’t actively collect valuables, but they kill indiscriminately to feed the multitude of spiders within. Webs in a deathweb’s lair are thus likely to contain valuables despite the creature’s lack of interest in wealth.

Kurobozus, also called black monks, are jealous undead that arise when a monk dies under circumstances that violate the precepts of his or her monastic training. Kurobozus need to feed upon the breath of mortals to survive, and they usually acquire this sustenance by sneaking up on a sleeping victim, though they can just as easily draw breath from a foe stunned by their fists in combat. While this feeding doesn’t immediately kill the victim, it leaves a horrific rotting scent on the victim’s breath that can spread the kurobozu’s contagious apoxia to others, eventually leading to faintness, exhaustion, and death. When they aren’t maintaining their existence through feeding, kurobozus carry out their jealous fantasies by murdering living monks, especially members of their former monastery or monastic tradition. They still possess a shred of their former discipline, which they use to formulate long-term plans for their acts of revenge. Generally, kurobozus’ interactions with other creatures are limited to feeding and killing, but they have an affinity for malcontent ex-monks and may actually go out of their way to secretly offer protection or succor to such a person, without ever revealing their true identities. Evil ex-monks seeking to destroy their former masters and fellow disciples may even see the actual face of their benefactors and be able to forge lasting alliances.

When an especially jealous or greedy evil person dies, it sometimes returns as a gaki—a misshapen creature with a supernatural hunger for things of the material world. Mistakenly called “hungry ghosts” because of their ability to fly and turn invisible, gakis believe that if they consume the right material—typically meat, wine, blood, flowers, and souls—they can form a new body resembling their former mortal shapes. Its long, thin neck restricts how much it can eat, and the creature is perpetually starving. It prefers to consume evil creatures, believing it gains more sustenance from a sinful being than a righteous one, but it won’t pass up any mortal flesh. Some gakis believe they must consume flesh from demons or undead, and fixate on these creatures to the aversion of all others. Gakis are cursed, pitiable creatures with nothing to lose, which makes them very dangerous. Some that have existed for many years as undead grow desperate and try consuming earth, sewage, or more vile substances in an attempt to find the missing ingredient for their transformation. Particularly unfortunate ones bear an onerous curse that causes anything they try to eat to burst into flame or wither away into dust. These creatures have short memories and little sense of perspective. They’re smart enough to pursue what they want cannily, but fail at making long-term plans. Most gakis wander alone, pursuing their search for nourishment in solitude. When they do form packs, they use their numbers to surround and bring down large animals or groups of people, but then throw cooperation aside to squabble and shove as each one greedily tries to claim the entire prize they’ve taken. Strangely, gakis are scorched by moonlight and frozen by sunlight. Because of this, they’re forced to lurk in the shadows of ruins. Some wander the deep caves and tunnels below the surface, scrounging whatever meals they can find. In urban areas, they group together to stalk the slums, often leaping upon victims, tearing away small morsels of flesh before they retreat, leaving victims bleeding and disoriented. They find hiding places— often in abandoned buildings or sewers— to stay during the day, turning invisible and biding their time till the dark of night comes.

The vrykolakas knows only rage and relishes the suffering of those who failed it in life. Reanimated corpses of wicked and vengeful souls denied even the most basic burial rites, these unreasoning, vampire-like creatures unleash their wrath against the living indiscriminately, spreading disease and death among all in their paths.

Gashadokuros are enormous skeletons that come into being as a result of mass starvation. The victims of such a tragedy fuse together into an undead colossus that continues to hunger even in death. A gashadokuro uses its feral instincts to hunt living creatures, forever seeking to sate its ineradicable, collective memory of starvation. A typical gashadokuro is 30 feet tall and weighs up to 5,000 pounds.

The bodyguards and spies of undead masterminds, ecorches appear as gory giants with musculatures overdeveloped by infusions of necromantic toxins and grafts of reanimated sinew. Although its natural form possesses no skin, an ecorche can steal the flesh of another creature, flaying its victim in mere seconds and leaving it in unimaginable shock and pain with only moments to seek aid before perishing. Yet this gruesome act of violence is only the first stage of the chaos an ecorche spreads with its violence. An ecorche possesses incredible control over its gruesome form, allowing it to compress its body into the skin of a much smaller creature. Wearing such grisly garb, these terrors walk among the living, doing the bidding of their terrible masters or searching for more inf luential individuals to murder, skin, and impersonate. If an ecorche’s unholy nature is revealed, the monster is quick to dispose of its nowuseless disguise, bursting from the suit of flesh and exposing its terrible form to the unprepared, few of whom can withstand such unabashed gore. An ecorche stands approximately 8-1/2 feet tall and weighs upward of 600 pounds.

Crafted from the shed skins of great snakes by serpentfolk necromancers and other foul spellcasters, hollow serpents are plagued by an eternal hunger they can never sate. The act of draining energy from living creatures blunts these supernatural pangs, driving the hollow serpent to constantly seek new prey. A hollow serpent is a difficult undead to create—most of them were crafted by a long-forgotten god of the serpentfolk and not by mortal spellcasters at all. The exact methods by which a mortal might create a hollow serpent are obscure, but most scholars have come to the conclusion that the use of powerful artifacts or the aid of a demigod may be required for such a feat. A hollow serpent is 15 feet long and weighs 500 pounds.

Warsworns are massive undead amalgams, their ever-shifting, chaotic bodies composed of countless slain soldiers and their armor and weapons. The shambling, serpentine form of a warsworn creates a grotesque, metallic cacophony as the weapons and armor of countless souls clash as though still in the throes of a never-ending battle. A warsworn forms by the will of a god or goddess of undeath or war, or spontaneously from the bloodlust and wrath of a battlefield of dead soldiers. Once created, a warsworn exists to spread the rage of war, ravage the land, and spread the carnage of battle. A typical warsworn weighs several tons and can reach a height of up to 25 feet. A newly formed one is much smaller, but quickly consumes nearby corpses from a battlefield or mass grave and swells to its full size. It is always hungry for more dying bodies. It prefers to absorb warriors and soldiers, but willingly consumes any suitable humanoid. Its constant grinding motion breaks its component parts, giving it plenty of scrap to hurl at distant foes.