B/X monster: Intruder undead

Art by OpenClipart-Vectors on pixabay

A B/X-compatible monster.

Ghosts are always unsettling and the stronger ones can be dangerous, but there's an even better reason you don't want them hanging around. Ghosts are an open channel between the living world and the afterlife, and sometimes that channel provides a way into the world for things that don't belong to either.

Intruder undead come from a third place which wizards have named the Plane of Restless Flesh. It's a place without structure, where boundaries constantly shift and there's no clear separation between the world and the creatures that live there. Apprentices less mindful of their dignity like to call it the Plane of Screaming Meat.

Some of the beings there have the power to possess ghosts and wear them like environmental suits that let them function in our world. They're not hostile in the way we understand it, but they have a destructive curiosity. They'll smash, rend or tear things (or people) just to see what the pieces look like.

From a combat point of view, once the characters have defeated and dismissed the intruder, they still have the ghost to deal with.

Minor intruder undead

AC 7, [12] HD 1-3* (4/9/13hp), Att x 1 (see specials), THACO 17, MV 90' (30'), SV F3, ML 12, AL Chaotic, XP 13/25/50, NA 1, TT none

• Undead: Soundless until attacking, immune to effects that require a living target (eg poison, disease), immune to mind-effecting and mind-reading spells.
• Mundane weapon immunity: Only harmed by silver or magic.
• Poltergeist: Can lift or throw items up to the size of a backpack. Items moved this way transform partially to flesh.

 

Regular intruder undead

AC 5, [14] HD 5-6** (23/26hp), Att x 1 (see specials), THACO 15, MV 90' (30'), SV F5, ML 12, AL Chaotic, XP 425/725, NA 1, TT none

• As minor intruder
• Fear: Instead of attacking, the intruder can project a fear aura that causes up to its HD in opponents to develop a sudden hysterical fear of their own bodies. Save vs magic negates.

 

Major intruder undead 

AC 3, [16] HD 7-8*** (32/36hp), Att x 1 (see specials), THACO 12, MV 90' (30'), SV F8, ML 12, AL Chaotic, XP 1650/2200, NA 1, TT none

• As regular intruder
• Possession: Instead of attacking, the intruder can attempt to possess a living being. Save vs magic prevents. They gain complete control and can make use of the following powers instead of an attack:
  Blood spray - can spray scalding hot blood from an eye socket. (2 x only, eye is destroyed in the process. Vision unaffected.)
  Crackbones - can break host's bones and extrude them through flesh to make an attack on anyone in 5" range. 1d6 damage.
  Tentacles - can extrude host's intestines through a slit in the stomach and control them like tentacles to grapple anyone in 5" range.

Body-based powers do 1d6 damage to the host each time, but the hp loss is only inflicted when the intruder leaves the body.