Not Another Zombie Apocalypse

Spicing Up Your Undead Choices

October is here and that means we are hitting my favorite holiday, Halloween. For this month, we will be taking a look at a number of Halloween related topics. Zombies, Ghouls, and Skeletons are hallmarks of the holiday, and of any Pathfinder game you play too. But are they too common?

Skeletons and zombies are probably the most common forms of undead one meets at lower levels. As much as we all love shambling corpses, sometimes as both a player and a GM, I like to see things shaken up. There are about a dozen or so other low-level – between CR ¼ and CR 1 – undead to choose from, so why not consider throwing some of those at your players?

Whereas an ambulatory carcass is ghastly, seeing just individual parts of a body come after you can be downright terrifying. The floating skulls that are the Beheaded come in a number of shapes and sizes, with new and interesting powers like the fire wreathed Flaming Skull, or the decaying snake-haired Medusa’s Head and its petrifying bite. If you imagine a flying eyeball that uses its bloody nerves as wings you would have the CR ½ Isitoq. Or you can sic the bloodhound-like Crawling Hands, which grab and claw at their prey until either it or their quarry are killed.

Midgame undead, between CR 7 and 10, tends to be things like Specters, Ghosts, and Vampires. While classic, there are a lot of other undead creatures for you to have fun with, many of them based on other myths and legends. The Manananggal is a monster from the Philippines that can disguise itself as a living woman, but at night it separates its torso and flies around on bat-like wing. If you really want to play up the terror of this creature, in the real world myth its favored prey is sleeping pregnant women.

The Baykok is a dread skeletal being from Ojibwe or Chippewa legend. Much like the real myth, the Pathfinder version carries a bow and can paralyze its foes. However, they changed its devouring of a victim’s innards to a devouring of its soul. Confound your players with this creature, who they may believe is just a regular skeleton until they hear its fearsome howl.

If you want to use a legend from the good old US of A, the headless horsemen would serve you well. Paizo has converted the sleepy hollow phantom into a creature called the Dullahan. The dark rider heads out across the countryside on his equally fiendish horse to take the souls of the living. These creatures are formed from cruel military commanders, watch-captains, and other martial notables. Having a slain enemy general come back as a Dullahan to hunt down those who defeated him could make for an interesting encounter.

There are tons of out of the box undead from all levels that aren’t Liches, Mummies, Ghasts, or any of the other standard fare. If you’re looking to spice up your game, throw some creatures at them that they haven’t seen before. Paizo extensively uses creatures in its own modules and adventure paths from Frog God Games, Tome of Horrors -- a resource many of your players may not have memorized. A dip into any of the for Tomes could bring new life – or unlife – to an old game

Lastly, if you really want to spice up your game and make even weaker undead a little more of a challenge for your party try adding a Hungry Fog or two to the encounter. When creatures pass through the vaporous ooze they emit a wave of negative energy. This will heal your undead making them quite a bit harder to kill. A powerful intelligent undead or necromancer might consider keeping a few of these mindless green miasmas around to bolster their other minions.

What are some of your favorite oft unused undead? What real-world legends have you converted yourself, or wish were converted into undead creatures? Has your party ever truly been surprised by one of these evil creatures in your game?

The CRB looks to find new and interesting ways to help you spook and challenge your party. If you’ve found this week’s article enlightening, please consider becoming a contributor to the CRB. Monthly donations of as little as one dollar can be made to my Patreon. A one-time donation can easily be made to my Patreon. A one-time donation can easily be made to my paypal. Every bit helps me keep the lights on so I can concentrate on bringing you the content you deserve.

The CRB has been growing as a community on social media. Please join us on Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter. My inbox is open on all forums for questions, comments, and discussion. If you don’t want to miss a beat make sure you sign up to have the CRB pushed directly to your e-reading device with Kindle Subscriptions through Amazon.