Next up are the undead. My primary goal was to remove level drain. While I've never feared character death, I find level drain is too punishing. Instead, I've replaced it with a curse. In my games, characters can only recover spells between adventures, not overnight - which can make removing curses a bit tricky. Additionally, I added the versions of death knights and liches I use in my game.
The Undead
The undead are neither living nor dead. They cannot be killed, because they are not alive, but they can be defeated - sometimes by force and sometimes by severing their link between the mortal world and the afterlife.
All undead share certain characteristics. Undead do not require food, drink, rest, or air and are immune to poison and disease. They can see in the dark and are immune to mind-affecting spells, such as charm, ESP, and sleep. Incorporeal undead, like wraiths and specters, are immune to spells that affect the body, including hold monster.
Lesser undead - like skeletons, zombies, and ghouls - can be hit by normal weapons and never check morale. They will always fight until wiped out. Greater undead - wight, wraiths, mummies, and so on - can only be harmed by silvered or magical weapons (or sometimes no weapons at all) and may flee from combat if the odds turn against them. Greater undead cannot abide sunlight and have reduced morale when fighting when exposed to the sun.
Skeletons: Skeletons are magically animated and controlled by an anti-cleric or magic-user. They are usually armed with weapons and sometimes armored. Skeletons are typically found nearby old battlefields and graveyards. They are sometimes animated to guard vaults, castles, tombs, and laboratories.
Zombies: Zombies may only be animated from new corpses. They are simply skeletons held together by flesh and sinew. Unlike skeletons, zombies never use weapons or wear armor.
Ghouls: Ghouls crave and devour the flesh of the living. They inhabit crypts, graveyards, and ruins. A victim bitten by a ghoul and killed in the next 24 hours will rise at as a ghoul at the next moonrise. Ghouls hate fire and will immediately attack any character holding a torch in preference of all other targets.
Wights: Wrights haunt crypts, graveyards, and ruins. They possess the memories of their former lives, though their motivations are tainted by the curse of undeath. They can only be harmed by silvered and magical weapons. A wright's attack places a curse of life draining on its victim, which prevents it from recovering hit points (even by magical means) until the curse is removed. Any character killed by a wight rises as a zombie under the wight's control at the next moonrise. Thus, they are typically found leading a small army of 5-30 zombies.
Wraiths: Wraiths are incorporeal undead, half of this world, half of the next. Their physical form waxes and wanes when exposed to varying levels of light. In darkness, they can pass through walls and physical objects. If exposed to full sunlight, a wraith dissipates completely and can never reform. Consequently, they keep to dark and enclosed areas. Wraiths can only be struck by magical weapons. A wraith's touch drains its victim's life force and places the curse of life draining on the victim (as per a wight). Any character killed by a wraith rises as a ghoul under the wraith's control at the next moonrise. Wraiths are typically found commanding a small army of 4-24 ghouls.
Mummies: Mummies do not drain life, Instead, when a mummy inflicts damage, the victim must make a saving throw against disease. On a failed save, the victim contracts a rotting disease; at the beginning of each day, the flesh surrounding the victim's wound continues to deteriorate, inflicting 1 die of damage. Only a cure disease spell can cure the disease. Any character who successfully saves against a mummy's rotting disease is immune to it for 24 hours. Mummies can only be harmed by magical weapons, but are vulnerable to fire. 15% of mummies were once powerful clerics and can cast animate dead, curse and insect plague a total of 3 times per day.
Specters: Specters are similar to wraiths, except that all weapons - even magical weapons - simply pass through them. As such, they can only be harmed by magic. Any character killed by a specter rises as a ghoul under the specter's control at the next moonrise. Thus, they are often found commanding a small army of 4-24 ghouls. 25% of specters were once powerful magic-users and can cast the phantasmal forces, wall of ice and cone of cold spells a total of 3 times per day.
Vampires: Vampires make their homes in caverns, castles, and crypts. They sustain their tainted existence by drinking blood. They can only regain hit points by drinking the blood of the living . Drinking a victim's blood inflicts 1 die of damage and allows the vampire to immediately regain a like number of hit points; if the vampire's thirst kills its victim, it rises as a vampire at the next moonrise.
Vampires have a number of special abilities allotted to them by undeath. They can transform into a bat, rat, and wolf at will. They can also communicate with and command bats, rats, and wolves to aid them. Additionally, they can charm members of the opposite sex merely by looking into their eyes. Finally, they possess unnatural strength, allowing their attacks to inflict two dice of damage.
Luckily, vampires have several weaknesses: they do not cast a shadow or a reflection; they may not cross running water or enter an inhabited home unless first invited inside; and they cannot abide the scent of garlic or the sight of a cross.
A vampire does not die if reduced to 0 hit points. Instead, it is transformed into a cloud of mist and will flee back to its coffin, where it reforms with 1 hit point remaining. The only way to permanently kill a vampire is by directly exposing it to sunlight or by tying it down and driving a wooden or silver stake through its heart.
Death Knights: Death knights are holy warriors fallen from grace and raised as undead. They wear plate mail and their powerful attacks inflict 2 dice of damage. When outside their lairs, death knights can be found riding 5 HD skeletal war horses and are usually accompanied by an army of 5-30 skeletons. Like wights, death knights can only be struck by silvered and magical weapons. Death knights control power dark magic and can cast animate dead, fire ball, wall of fire and death spell a total of 3 times per day.
Liches: Liches are powerful magic-users and clerics who have embrace undeath as a means of conquering mortality. Every lich has a phylactery, which is an item containing the lich's soul. When a lich is slain, its body reforms near its phylactery after 6 days. Only by destroying its phylactery can a lich be truly killed. However, slaying a lich is no easy task. They can only but harmed by magical weapons. Moreover, they have the spellcasting ability of a 9th level anti-cleric or 11th level magic-user. Like death knights, when traveling, a lich can be found riding a 5 HD skeletal war horse and its usually accompanied by an army of 4-24 ghouls and 1-6 wights.
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