Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead

pqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqrsCHAPTER 1ALL ABOUTUNDEAD6VARIANT RULE: HAUNTING PRESENCESSometimes 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 hauntingpresence, 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. Unattendedmagic 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 locationhaunted. 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 presenceof 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 methodsdescribed 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 locationthey 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 controlthe 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 discoveredand 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 expeditiousmanner 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 exorcistwho 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 hauntingpresence 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