Bestiary 4 pg. 196
Acquired/Inherited Template Acquired
Simple Template No
Usable with Summons No
Many ancient cultures mummify their dead, preserving the bodies of the deceased through lengthy and complex funerary and embalming processes. While the vast majority of these corpses are mummified simply to preserve the bodies in the tombs where they are interred, some are mummified with the help of magic to live on after death as mummified creatures. A mummified creature appears much as other mummies do—a dusty corpse, desiccated and withered, swathed in a funeral shroud of linen wrappings adorned with hieroglyphs—but a spark of malign intelligence gleams in its unliving eyes.
Mummified creatures differ from the standard mummy presented in the Pathfinder RPG Bestiary with regard to how and why they are created. Most standard mummies are created as simple tomb guardians; they gain abilities such as an aura of despair and mummy rot, but they usually lose their free will, much of their intelligence, and the abilities they possessed in life. A mummified creature, on the other hand, retains its intelligence, memories, and many of its other abilities. A mummified creature does not spread the curse of mummy rot, nor does the sight of it paralyze the living with fear, but its touch can reduce a living creature to dust and its very presence is frightening. Though slow and clumsy in undeath, a mummified creature is nonetheless capable of surprising bursts of speed and ferocity. Because of its creation process, however, a mummified creature is susceptible to energy damage, though determining an individual mummified creature’s vulnerability is not always easy.
Many mummified creatures are created to guard the tombs of important figures, but some powerful beings—rulers, high priests, mighty wizards, or even wealthy aristocrats—arrange to be transformed into mummified creatures upon their deaths. Unwilling to give up their lives and knowledge to the whims of fate, these people bind their souls to the dried husks of their dead bodies, trading oblivion for endless centuries of unlife. The truly wealthy sometimes arrange for their most favored spouses, concubines, servants, or guards to be mummified with them, enabling them to hold court in dusty tombs in an undead mockery of their old lives centuries after they perished.
To create a mummified creature, a corpse must be prepared through embalming, with its internal organs replaced with dried herbs and flowers and its dead skin preserved through the application of sacred oils. Unlike with standard mummies, a mummified creature’s brain is not removed from its skull after death. Injected with strange chemicals and tattooed with mystical hieroglyphs, a mummified creature’s brain retains the base creature’s mind and abilities, though the process does result in the loss of some mental faculties. Once this process is complete, the body is wrapped in special purified linens marked with hieroglyphs that grant the mummified creature its new abilities (as well as its weakness). Finally, the creator must cast a create greater undead spell to give the mummified creature its unlife.
“Mummified creature” is an acquired template that can be added to any living corporeal creature (hereafter referred to as the base creature). A mummified creature uses all of the base creature’s statistics except as noted here.
CR: Same as the base creature +1.
Alignment: Any evil.
Type: The creature’s type changes to undead (augmented). It retains any other subtypes as well, except for alignment subtypes and subtypes that indicate kind. Do not recalculate class HD, BAB, saves, or skill points.
Senses: A mummified creature gains darkvision 60 feet.
Aura: A mummified creature gains a frightful presence aura with a range of 30 feet and a duration of 1d6 rounds.
Armor Class: Natural armor improves by +4.
Hit Dice: Change all racial Hit Dice to d8s. Class Hit Dice are unaffected. As an undead, a mummified creature uses its Charisma modifier to determine bonus hit points (instead of Constitution).
Defensive Abilities: A mummified creature gains DR 5/— and the defensive abilities granted by the undead type.
Weaknesses: The mummification process leaves a mummified creature vulnerable to a single energy type. Choose or determine randomly from the following list.
| d10 | Energy | | 1 | Electricity | | 2–3 | Acid | | 4–7 | Fire | | 8–9 | Cold | | 10 | Sonic |
As a fail-safe in case of rebellion, a mummified creature is subtly marked during the ritual process with a hieroglyph someplace inconspicuous on its body or wrappings that identifies the particular energy type to which it is vulnerable. A successful DC 20 Perception check is needed to find the mark, but a successful DC 25 Linguistics check is still required to decipher the hieroglyph’s meaning.
Speed: Decrease all speeds by 10 feet (to a minimum of 5 feet). If the base creature has a flight speed, its maneuverability changes to clumsy.
Attacks: The mummification process hardens the mummified creature’s bones to a stone-like density, granting the mummif ied creature a powerful slam attack if the base creature has no other natural attacks. This slam attack deals damage based on the mummified creature’s size (Bestiary 302), treating the creature as if it were one size category larger.
Special Attacks: A mummified creature gains the following special attacks.
Burst of Vengeance (Su): Despite its slow, lumbering nature, a mummified creature is capable of lurching forward to attack with a short but surprising explosion of speed. Twice per day as a swift action, a mummified creature may act as if affected by a haste spell for 1 round.
Dust Stroke (Su): A creature killed by a mummified creature’s natural attack or slam attack is disintegrated into a cloud of dust and ash, completely destroying the victim’s body (as disintegrate).
Abilities: Str +4, Int –2 (minimum 1). As an undead creature, a mummified creature has no Constitution score.
Feats: A mummified creature gains Toughness as a bonus feat, and Improved Natural Attack as a bonus feat for each of the base creature’s natural attacks.
Skills: A mummified creature gains a +4 racial bonus on Stealth checks.
Variant Mummy Special AbilitiesSource Pathfinder #81: Shifting Sands pg. 71
The abilities of a mummy reflect the circumstances of its creation. Mummies that arise from traditionally embalmed corpses usually exhibit standard abilities; those arising from natural mummification or more exotic embalming rituals may not.
Several variant mummy abilities replace a mummy’s basic despair or mummy rot abilities, as described in the ability, and do not alter its CR. Exceptional mummies may gain additional abilities instead of having their powers replaced. GMs modifying mummies with additional or variant abilities should check the final monster and adjust the CR appropriately.
These abilities can also be applied to undead with the mummified creature template (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 4 196). For purposes of variant abilities, any ability that replaces despair can replace burst of vengeance, and any ability that replaces mummy rot can replace dust stroke. Optionally, to create a mummified creature with the same special abilities as a traditional mummy, simply replace the mummified creature’s burst of vengeance with despair, or replace its dust stroke with mummy rot.
Many variant abilities are described in terms of a standard, linen-wrapped mummy. Adjust the description appropriately for mummies with different origins. For example, an ice mummy grapples and constricts its victims by chilling them to the bone with waves of cold instead of by wrapping them in linen strips (as presented in the entangling wrappings ability). Chilling Touch (Su) This mummy’s touch carries the chill of glaciers and mountain heights. Its slam attack deals an additional 1d6 points of cold damage, and creatures struck by it are slowed for 1d4 rounds (Fortitude negates). The save DC is equal to 10 + 1/2 the mummy’s Hit Dice + the mummy’s Charisma modifier. This ability replaces mummy rot. Entangling Wrappings (Su) A mummy with entangling wrappings can unravel and detach some of its linen strips to make a grapple check against a creature up to 10 feet away (or twice the mummy’s reach for larger mummies). This attack doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. It can constrict for an amount of damage equal to its slam attack with a successful grapple check. The linen strips remain wrapped around the victim and attempt a grapple check to pin each round on the mummy’s turn. They continue to deal constrict damage on a successful grapple check. The wrappings cannot be damaged by any attack or effect while detached, but turn to dust if their victim escapes or dies, or if the mummy is destroyed. If the mummy still lives, its wrappings reappear at the end of its next turn.
The mummy is not inconvenienced in any way while its wrappings are detached and grappling, but it cannot use its wrappings to entangle again until they return. This ability replaces either despair or mummy rot. Infested (Ex) An infested mummy carries a scarab swarm (Pathfinder Adventure Path #79 89) inside its body cavity. The mummy can release its swarm as a standard action, or it can do so as an immediate action after taking damage from a slashing weapon. The swarm is completely under the mummy’s control, and can’t be harmed while inside the mummy, though it streams out of the mummy’s body if the mummy is destroyed. If the swarm is destroyed, a new swarm grows to replace it in 24 hours. For variation, instead of carrying a scarab swarm, an infested mummy can hold any swarm of CR 3 or lower. An infested mummy’s CR is 1 higher than that of a normal mummy, or this ability can replace despair and mummy rot and not affect the mummy’s final CR. Spellscribed Mummy (Sp) When scrolls and magical texts are used in place of linen wrappings, the result is a spellscribed mummy. A spellscribed mummy has the complete text of up to three spells written on its wrappings. The total spell levels scribed cannot exceed the mummy’s Hit Dice, and the spells must be of a level no higher than half the mummy’s Hit Dice. This allows a standard 8 HD mummy spells of up to 4th level that add up to no more than 8 levels. The spells need not be from the same spell list, and arcane and divine spells can both be used in the creation of a spellscribed mummy. Individual spells cannot be repeated. The mummy can use each spell scribed in its wrappings once per day as a spell-like ability, with a caster level equal to its Hit Dice. Save DCs are Charisma-based. A spellscribed mummy’s CR is 1 higher than that of a normal mummy.
Lesser: A lesser spellscribed mummy bears a single1st- or 2nd-level spell in its wrappings, usable once per day with a caster level equal to half its Hit Dice. Its CR does not increase.
Greater: A greater spellscribed mummy operates as a normal spellscribed mummy, but its wrappings can hold as many spells as it has Hit Dice. The total spell levels scribed cannot exceed twice its Hit Dice, and the spells must be of a level no higher than half its Hit Dice. Spells cannot be repeated, but spells of a level no higher than one-quarter the mummy’s hit dice can be used 3 times per day instead of 1. (For example, a standard greater spellscribed mummy with 8 Hit Dice can have up to 8 different spells, of no higher than 4th level, and a total of not more than 16 spell levels. It can use spells of 2nd level or lower 3 times per day, and spells of higher levels once per day.)
In addition, a greater spellscribed mummy has spell resistance equal to its adjusted CR + 11. A greater spellscribed mummy’s CR is 2 higher than that of a normal mummy.
Creating a Spellscribed Mummy: Spellscribed abilities are added to a mummy in a manner similar to magic item creation. The cost is equal to a command-word item that’s usable once per day: 1,800 gp × the spell level × spell’s caster level ÷ 5. For example, spellscribing a mummy with fireball costs 1,800 × 3 × 8 (the mummy’s HD) ÷ 5, for a total of 3,375 gp. The creator of a spellscribed mummy must possess the Scribe Scroll feat. Variant Mummy Rot (Su) Those afflicted with the dreaded mummy’s curse wither and fade, resisting all healing until they finally crumble into dust. Other forms of mummy rot exist, affecting the victim in the same fashion as classic mummy rot except where otherwise noted. Typically, the method of mummification determines which type of rot the mummy causes. These alternate strains of mummy rot do not alter the mummy’s CR.
Corpse Chills: Corpse chills manifest as bitter cold and frostbite. Those suffering from corpse chills gain vulnerability to cold and resist fire 10. Immunity to cold prevents and suppresses corpse chills, but does not cure the disease if it has already been contracted.
Grave Ichor: Water saturates the skin of victims of grave ichor until their very flesh breaks down and sloughs off their bodies. Grave ichor deals 1d4 points of Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma damage. The loose skin caused by grave ichor grants the victim a +4 bonus to CMD against grappling.
Phantom Infestation: The victim’s skin breaks out in welts, but it exhibits no other trace of infestation until the body bursts in an eruption of scarab beetles at the instant of the victim’s death. Phantom infestation imposes a –2 penalty on all ability and skill checks.
Swamp Crumble: This affliction causes 1d3 points of Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma damage. The disease dissolves the bones, leaving behind a putrid mass of skin and organs after death. Bludgeoning weapons and effects deal 1 additional point of damage per die against those afflicted with swamp crumble. As the diseases progresses, the victim’s hair turns the color of fresh-spilled blood.
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