Development reference · 3 min read
Undead
Reference tables contain changeable development values.
The dead do not rest where the wards have failed. They rise, they remember, and they are angry.
The collapse of the Magnus Empire shattered the vast network of funerary wards that kept the dead quiescent. In the century since, undead have become an endemic threat across every region. From mindless shambling corpses in abandoned villages to ancient vampire lords ruling from ruined palaces, the undead represent perhaps the single greatest hazard facing the peoples of the Unbound Realms.
Corporeal Undead#
| Name | Level | Size | HP | Notable Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skeleton Soldier | 1 | Medium | 16 | Weapon use; mindless; resistant to piercing |
| Zombie Shambler | -1 | Medium | 20 | Slow; tough; slam attack |
| Zombie Hulk | 2 | Large | 40 | Fist smash; wide swing; corpse toss |
| Ghoul | 1 | Medium | 22 | Paralysis; consume flesh; burrow |
| Wight | 3 | Medium | 50 | Drain life; command lesser undead |
| Draugr | 4 | Medium | 62 | Cursed blade; barrow strength; deathless grip |
| Mummified Guardian | 6 | Medium | 80 | Despair aura; rotting fist; fire vulnerability |
| Vampire Spawn | 4 | Medium | 55 | Dominate; blood drain; regeneration |
| Vampire Lord | 8 | Medium | 110 | Shapeshifting; mist form; dominate; blood drain |
Draugr are the restless dead of the Nord-Vast, warriors who refused to stay in their barrows. Unlike mindless skeletons, they retain a fragment of their living will and fight with the weapons they carried in life. Their cursed grip can sap the strength from the living, and the barrow-mounds they inhabit are often layered with ancient traps and runic wards that make excavation perilous.
Vampire lords represent the apex of corporeal undeath. Those that survived the Voiding have spent a century consolidating power in the Night Principalities, where they rule openly from ruined palaces with courts of spawn and mortal thralls. The Crimson Diet of Valedrac is the most prominent political structure built around vampiric nobility.
Incorporeal Undead#
| Name | Level | Size | HP | Notable Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghost | 4 | Medium | 40 | Incorporeal; possession; frightful moan; rejuvenation |
| Shadow | 4 | Medium | 35 | Incorporeal; strength drain; shadow spawn |
| Wraith | 6 | Medium | 72 | Incorporeal; drain life; sunlight weakness; spawn wraiths |
| Banshee | 9 | Medium | 108 | Wail of death; incorporeal; terrifying presence |
Banshees are among the most terrifying undead encountered in the Unbound Realms. Their death wail can kill outright, and their incorporeal nature makes them nearly impervious to mundane weapons. They are most commonly found haunting sites of great tragedy or betrayal, endlessly replaying the circumstances of their death.
Greater Undead#
| Name | Level | Size | HP | Notable Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lich | 12 | Medium | 180 | Soul cage phylactery; paralyzing touch; vast arcane power |
Liches are spellcasters who have bound their souls to phylacteries in exchange for immortality. They are among the most dangerous individual threats in the world, combining centuries of accumulated magical knowledge with the patience of the truly deathless. Destroying a lich requires locating and shattering its soul cage, a task that has defeated entire adventuring companies.
Regional Variants#
| Name | Level | Size | HP | Notable Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drowned Spirit | 5 | Medium | 55 | Water-bound; drowning grasp; fog aura |
| Salt Wraith | 5 | Medium | 58 | Desiccation touch; coastal haunt |
| Radiant Undead | 6 | Medium | 74 | Solar burn aura; blinding presence; Akeshi origin |
Radiant undead are unique to the Akeshi desert, where intense solar energy interacts with necromantic residue to produce undead that burn with captured sunlight. They are particularly dangerous because positive energy, which normally harms undead, instead empowers them.
Public in-game encyclopedia. Website edition: 10 October 2026.
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