Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead

CHAPTER #Illus. by W. EnglandIntroductionIt doesn’t take too much effort to unearth stories, histories,and legends of the walking dead, those horribly animate monstrositiesthat 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 watchersfor hundreds, perhapsthousands of years. Almostevery culture on the planethas its own legends of restlessspirits, blood-drinkingfiends, and the animate corpsesof beloved relatives comingback to haunt their unsuspectingrelations. 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 appropriatefor D&D. Withinthese covers the DM can findnew horrors to include in his game, ideas for how to incorporatethe 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 includedare optimal tactics for battling the undead, new toolsfor the fight—including equipment, magic items, spells,feats, and prestige classes—andeven some guidelines for playingan undead creature as aplayer character. If roleplaying ahorrible creature damned to eternalunlife—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.pqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqrs4LIBRIS MORTISThis book takes its name from a set of tomes penned in a dialectof Celestial by an aasimar cleric of Pelor named Acrinus, of sorcery, and copies are on the shelves of many dark elventic lore. The book is required reading in most drow academieswho collected the information from a variety of other sources clerics as well.over the course of decades. Roughly translated, it means “From As befits their nature, dwarven scholars took a straightforwardthe Books of Dead,” though some sages claim that the current approach to the study of the undead. Thrakharaktor (“The Bookname is a bastardization of Acrinus’s original title. Since he’s of Dark and Restless Souls”) contributed many tactics for battlingsuch creatures, and its lessons have been passed down forlong dead, and the dialect of Celestial is no longer used by livingcreatures, this is impossible to confirm.generations among the races of stone.The elven tome Maie Firvain (“Beyond Death”) was one of the The most notable human approach to the topic is, of course,first treatises on the realities of undeath. Most sages find this The Book of the Dead (also known as the Necronomicon). Thoughwork too detached and clinical to be very useful, but it has its this work is perhaps the most well-known of any source materialshare of supporters.on the undead, its veracity is frequently questioned by those wellNot to be outdone by their hated cousins, the drow also pursuedthis topic. Their most notable contribution, Tsabal Gulstrae attempt at disinformation, created by some necromancer or lichinformed on the topic. Some even claim that the book is a crafty(“Weavers of the Dark Void”), explored new depths of necroman-to thwart its enemies.pqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqrs