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ContentsIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .What You Need to Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .What is an Undead? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Manifestations of Undeath . . . . . . . . . . . . .4455Chapter 2: Character Options . . . . . . . . . . . . 23New Feats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Divine Feats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Monstrous Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Feat Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Undead in the Party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Undead Advantages and Disadvantages . 31Level Adjustments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Templates and Monster Classes . . . . . . . . 32Undead Cohorts and Followers . . . . . . . . 32Undead Mounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Undead Monster Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Creating an Undead Character . . . . . . . . . 34Entering an Undead Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34How Monster Classes Work . . . . . . . . . . . 35Ghoul/Ghast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35Mohrg36Mummy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Vampire Spawn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Wight40Chapter 3: Prestige Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Death’s Chosen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Dirgesinger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Master of Radiance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Master of Shrouds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Pale Master . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Sacred Purifier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49True Necromancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Undead Prestige Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Ephemeral Exemplar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Lurking Terror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Master Vampire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Tomb Warden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Chapter 4: Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Assassin Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Blackguard Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Cleric Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59Cleric Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Deathbound Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Hunger Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Undeath Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Druid Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Paladin Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Sorcerer/Wizard Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Avascular Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Chapter 5: Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Special Items and Alchemical Substances . 73Positoxins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Magic Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Undead Grafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Chapter 6: New Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Using this Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Challenge Ratings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Common Types and Subtypes . . . . . . . . . . 81Angel of Decay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Atropal Scion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Blaspheme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Bleakborn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Blood Amniote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Bloodmote Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Bone Rat Swarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Boneyard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Brain in a Jar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Carcass Eater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Cinderspawn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Corpse Rat Swarm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Crypt Chanter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Deathlock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Desiccator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Dire Maggot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Dream Vestige . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Entomber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Entropic Reaper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Evolved Undead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Forsaken Shell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Ghost Brute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Gravetouched Ghoul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Grave Dirt Golem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Half-Vampire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Hooded Pupil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Hulking Corpse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Mummified Creature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Murk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Necromental . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112Necropolitan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Plague Blight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Quell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Raiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Revived Fossil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118Skin Kite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Skirr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Skulking Cyst. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Slaughter Wight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Slaymate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Spectral Lyrist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Swarm-Shifter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123Tomb Mote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Umbral Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Visage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130Voidwraith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Wheep. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Chapter 7: Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Incorporating UndeadInto Your Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Undead as Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Undead as Masterminds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134Undead-Themed Campaigns . . . . . . . . . . 134Running Undead Encounters. . . . . . . . . . . . 135Using Sample Undead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Using Variant Undead. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Ghosts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144Liches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151Skeletons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158Vampires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162Zombies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170Cults of Undeath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Academy Necromica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Eyes of Vecna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174Lurkers in Shadow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175Minions of the Skull . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176The Ruby Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Adventure Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177Nuchar’s Tomb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177The Barrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Fanghurst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180The Warlord’s Subterfuge . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182Necromantic Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185Catacomb of the Scion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187TABLE OFCONTENTSChapter 1: All About Undead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Origins of Undeath. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Undead Physiology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Undead Metabolism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Undead Propagation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Undead Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Undead Senses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Undead Outlook and Psychology . . . . . . . . . 12Sentience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Time and Immortality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Compassion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Spawn13Undead Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Undead Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Deity Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Fighting Undead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Avasculate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Awaken Undead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Bite of the King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Blade of Pain and Fear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Bloodstar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Chill of the Grave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Clutch of Orcus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Consumptive Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Consumptive Field, Greater . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Death Ward, Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Ectoplasmic Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Ectoplasmic Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Energy Ebb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Eyes of the King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Fangs of the Vampire King. . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Field of Ghouls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64Ghost Touch Armor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Ghost Touch Weapon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Ghost Trap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Ghostform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Ghoul Gauntlet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Ghoul Gesture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Ghoul Glyph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Ghoul Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Haunt Shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66Incorporeal Enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Incorporeal Nova. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Kiss of the Vampire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Necrotic Awareness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Necrotic Bloat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Necrotic Burst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Necrotic Cyst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Necrotic Domination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Necrotic Empowerment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Necrotic Eruption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Necrotic Scrying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Necrotic Tumor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Necrotic Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Night’s Caress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Plague of Undead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Protection from Negative Energy . . . . . . 70Protection from Positive Energy . . . . . . . 70Restoration, Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Revive Undead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Sheltered Vitality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Spark of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Spawn Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Spectral Touch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Summon Undead I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Summon Undead II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Summon Undead III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Summon Undead IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Summon Undead V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Undead Bane Weapon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Veil of Undeath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Wither Limb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723

Illus. by W. EnglandCHAPTER #IntroductionIt doesn’t take too much effort to unearth stories, histories,and legends of the walking dead, those horribly animate monstrosities that prey upon the living. From haunted catacombsto the city necropolis, undead are something every adventureris likely to encounter, again and again. In the face of such certainty, it is best to be preparedwith knowledge of unlife.Tales of the walking deadhave entranced and horrifiedlisteners, readers, and watchers for hundreds, perhapsthousands of years. Almostevery culture on the planethas its own legends of restless spirits, blood-drinkingfiends, and the animate corpses of beloved relatives comingback to haunt their unsuspecting relations. Hundredsof books exist describingencounters with vampires,ghosts, and ghouls, and themotion picture industry hascontributed an enormous listof new (and old) versions ofthese stories.Libris Mortis collects manyof those bits of folklore, literature, and pop culture andpresents them in formats appropriate for D&D. Withinthese covers the DM can fi ndnew horrors to include in his game, ideas for how to incorporate the undead in his campaign world, tips and tricks forrunning undead encounters, and a range of sample undeadand undead encounters to drop right into his game. If you’vebeen looking for new ways to use familiar undead creatures,for new takes on familiar themes of death and unlife, or justa new scare to throw at your all-too-complacent players, thisbook is what you need.But the book doesn’t leave players out in the cold. Also included are optimal tactics for battling the undead, new toolsfor the fight—including equipment, magic items, spells,feats, and prestige classes—andeven some guidelines for playing an undead creature as aplayer character. If roleplaying ahorrible creature damned to eternal unlife—or perhaps someonededicated to destroying suchmonstrosities—gets you in themood to roll some dice, you’vecome to the right place.So whether you like yourundead pustulent and hungryfor brains or aristocratic andthirsty for blood, you won’t gowrong with this book. A wordto the wise, though: You mightwant to leave the lights on whileyou read.An extra strand of garlic isn’t abad idea either.WHAT YOU NEEDTO PLAYLibris Mortis makes use of theinformation in the three D&Dcore rulebooks—Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, andMonster Manual. In addition, it includes references to materialfrom several D&D supplements, including Monster Manual II,Fiend Folio, and Book of Vile Darkness. Although possession ofany or all of these supplements will enhance your enjoymentof this book, they are not strictly necessary.pqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqrsLIBRIS MORTISThis book takes its name from a set of tomes penned in a dialect of Celestial by an aasimar cleric of Pelor named Acrinus,who collected the information from a variety of other sourcesover the course of decades. Roughly translated, it means “Fromthe Books of Dead,” though some sages claim that the currentname is a bastardization of Acrinus’s original title. Since he’slong dead, and the dialect of Celestial is no longer used by livingcreatures, this is impossible to confirm.The elven tome Maie Firvain (“Beyond Death”) was one of thefirst treatises on the realities of undeath. Most sages find thiswork too detached and clinical to be very useful, but it has itsshare of supporters.Not to be outdone by their hated cousins, the drow also pursued this topic. Their most notable contribution, Tsabal Gulstrae(“Weavers of the Dark Void”), explored new depths of necroman-4tic lore. The book is required reading in most drow academiesof sorcery, and copies are on the shelves of many dark elvenclerics as well.As befits their nature, dwarven scholars took a straightforwardapproach to the study of the undead. Thrakharaktor (“The Bookof Dark and Restless Souls”) contributed many tactics for battling such creatures, and its lessons have been passed down forgenerations among the races of stone.The most notable human approach to the topic is, of course,The Book of the Dead (also known as the Necronomicon). Thoughthis work is perhaps the most well-known of any source materialon the undead, its veracity is frequently questioned by those wellinformed on the topic. Some even claim that the book is a craftyattempt at disinformation, created by some necromancer or lichto thwart its enemies.pqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqrs

Illus. by C. Lukacshis chapter presents the truth about undead—theirorigins, habits, physiology, and worldview. Moreover, itattempts to ascertain the nature of undeath itself, presenting several theories concerning the energies that give riseto unlife.WHAT IS AN UNDEAD?“What lies at the end of a life well lived? Eons of cold servitude, yourflesh but a memory, your every tortured thought focused on one thingonly: to feed on the living.”—Academician DrakeBleak Academy Necromancer“. . . uhhhnnsss . . .”—Nameless zombieAmong scholars, debates rage about the multitude of forms,bodies, powers, and abilities to be found among the undead.Why are they not all alike? The differences spring from thesource of unlife itself, the dark élan that suffuses the necrotictissue of the dead.MANIFESTATIONS OF UNDEATHUndeath manifests itself in various ways. One need only flipthrough the pages of a necromancer’s bestiary to see the multitude of forms and states ascribed to the undead.Form/StateCorporeal, rottingCorporeal, preservedCorporeal, preserved with feedingIncorporeal, transientIncorporeal, onLichOne unifying element defines most undead creatures:Each must have been alive in the past, no matter howlittle of the original creature is left, even if just thespirit or memory remains. Although extreme and rarecases have seen small bits of the energy of unlife itself(negative energy) take on terrible form and purpose,almost all undead once had breath in their bodiesbefore gaining their feared title.ORIGINS OF UNDEATHNumerous theories exist concerning the nature ofundeath, and though some hypotheses compete withor contradict one another, others reinforce or overlapeach other. While these conjectures may not agree onthe origins of unlife, most of them at least assert that thiscondition is generally visited upon the bodies of recentlydeceased creatures. Below are some of the more widelyaccepted theories about the origins of this affliction.5

pqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqrsALL ABOUTUNDEADCHAPTER 1VARIANT RULE: HAUNTING PRESENCES6Sometimes when undead are created, they come into beingwithout a physical form and are merely presences of malignevil. Haunting presences can occur either spontaneously (seeAtrocity Calls to Unlife, earlier in this section) or as a result ofthe spell haunt shift (see page 66). Tied to particular locationsor objects, these beings may reveal their unquiet natures onlyindirectly, at least at first.As a haunting presence, an undead is impossible to affector even directly sense. A haunting presence is more fleetingthan undead that appear as incorporeal ghosts or wraiths, oreven those undead enterprising enough to range the EtherealPlane. In fact, a haunting presence is tied to an object or location, and only upon the destruction of the object or locationis it dispelled. However, despite having no physicality, eachhaunting presence still possesses the identity of a specifickind of undead. For instance, one haunting presence may besimilar to a vampire, while another is more like a wraith.The Haunting: Whenever an undead appears as a haunting presence, it haunts an unattended, mundane object orlocation. Using the same decision-making process that heuses to populate a location or area with a standard monster,the DM simply chooses an unattended mundane object orlocation as the subject of a haunting presence. The DM alsodetermines the variety of undead (skeleton, zombie, wraith,or other kind) that serves as the source of the haunting presence. An undead may haunt a discrete object of at least Tinysize and no larger than Huge size. Items (both magical andmundane) currently in the possession of a character (oftenreferred to as attended items) cannot be haunted. Unattended magic items receive a saving throw as if a spell wasbeing cast upon the item (DC 10 1/2 the undead’s HD the undead’s Cha modifier).A haunting presence becomes a part of the object or location haunted. Haunting presences are always aware of whatis going on around the object that they haunt. They can seeand hear up to 60 feet away (but do not gain blindsight). Ahaunting presence cannot be turned, rebuked, or destroyedwhile the presence remains immaterial (but see Exorcisinga Haunting Presence, below). Normal vulnerabilities of aparticular kind of undead do not apply to the haunting presence of that undead. For instance, the haunting presence ofa vampire haunting a fire poker is not destroyed if broughtinto sunlight.Effects of a Haunting: A presence haunting an object maydo so in a couple of ways. Undead of fewer than 5 Hit Dicemay use only one form of haunting, but undead of 5 or moreHD can make their presence known using either of the methods described below (impermanent home or poltergeist). Nomatter the way the haunting presence makes itself felt, thehaunting presence of a sentient undead can always choose tospeak to nearby creatures, usually in a whispery or incoherentvoice that seems to come from the air. However, hauntingpresences are usually not much for conversation. Charactersmay note at times that the object they’ve found or the location they inhabit has a strange air, or the appearance of it issomehow “off” (with a successful DC 15 Intelligence check).Impermanent Home: An undead presence haunting anobject or an area can sometimes become more than a presence, actually taking corporeal or incorporeal form a numberof times per week equal to the undead’s Hit Dice (thatincludes haunting presences that manifest “physically” asincorporeal undead). The presence that takes form does soanywhere within the location it haunts, or in the closest emptyspace adjacent to the object it haunts. A presence that takesform can remain so for up to a number of minutes equal to itsHD. An undead that takes form can always choose to return toits haunting presence status earlier, but it must take a moveaction to do so.While in physical form, the undead can take any actionsnormal for an undead of its kind. It can attack, take damage,and even be destroyed. Unless it is a ghost, lich, or some othersort of undead that is resistant to destruction, the hauntingpresence is also permanently eradicated, though most attemptto return to their haunting presence status if threatened withsuch destruction.Poltergeist: If an object has parts that move, such as awagon, a clock, or a crossbow, a haunting presence can control the object’s movement, though the object will move nofaster than the undead itself could move in its normal form.Thus, a wagon can be made to steer toward a pedestrian ona street or roll out of a stable with no horse pulling it. A clockcan slow or run backward. A crossbow can cock and fire (butnot aim or load itself ).An undead with at least 10 HD and a Charisma score of 17or higher can actually force an object with no moving partsto animate (see Animated Objects, page 13 of the MonsterManual), based on the object’s size. No undead, no matterhow many Hit Dice it has or what its Charisma score is, cananimate an object that has a higher Challenge Rating thanits own.If a location instead of an object is haunted, the hauntingpresence can animate a number of objects equal to its HD atone time.Exorcising a Haunting Presence: No matter how a hauntingpresence chooses to reveal itself, it is subject to being discovered and destroyed. Unfortunately, a cleric’s turning abilitygenerally has no direct effect on haunting presences, otherthan to irritate them and focus their attention on the clericdoing the turning. Something more is called for—an exorcist.Exorcism is a special ritual, involving a spoken formula callingupon one or more deities, used with the intention of drivingout haunting presences. Exorcism of a haunting presence isessentially a two-step process—forcing a presence to becomephysical, then destroying the revealed undead in the most expeditious manner possible.First, the forced revelation can be achieved through the useof a special ritual, which is generally known to anyone withranks in Knowledge (religion). It must be performed by an exorcist who spends ten consecutive full-round actions chantingor speaking the formula that pertains to exorcism, at the endof which time the exorcist must make a DC 20 Knowledge (religion) check. If the exorcist’s concentration is interrupted, theritual must begin again. If the ritual is successful, the haunting presence becomes physical and must remain so for 1 fullround. The exorcist’s next action can be used to either attemptto turn the revealed undead, or to continue the ritual, with anadditional DC 20 Knowledge (religion) check required at theend of each round. Each successful check forces the undeadto stay corporeal or incorporeal for 1 additional round.Even undead of 5 or fewer HD that normally haunt only aspoltergeists are forced to take form by the exorcism ritual,as well as haunting presences that have already used up alltheir chances to take form for the week. Undead forced totake form usually use their actions to attempt to slay theexorcist before they themselves are destroyed, so exorcistsgenerally bring along companions who can physically attackthe revealed undead.pqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqrs

CHAPTER 1Undeath as Contagion: Many undead have methods ofpropagating their curse among their previously living victims.For instance, those infected by the diseased bite of a ghoulmay contract ghoul fever. Those who perish from this rottingillness rise at t

of books exist describing encounters with vampires, ghosts, and ghouls, and the motion picture industry has contributed an enormous list of new (and old) versions of these stories. Libris Mortis collects many of those bits of folklore, lit-erature, and pop culture and presents them in