Spectres of the Dead
Spooky spectres and ghoulish ghosts await any who dare to read the descriptions of this damned family.
If encountered in the dark, you always go first and you start the encounter with 2 × LVL temporary hit points.
If a creature attacks you because they miss a creature riding you, you have heavy armor.
- Hooves.2d6.
On hit: Prone.
Creatures who look at you for a significant period of time (long enough to perform an action against you) must make a DC 10 WIL save or become Dazed for one turn.
- Dark Fire.1d12+1.
Range: 4
Soul cages are iron lanterns that are occupied by an undead spirit. They burn a dark fire which smothers candles and other weaker light sources.
When in the light, take 50 damage at the end of your turn and you have disadvantage on everything you do.
- •Snuff Out.
Magically turn off a nonmagical light within Range: 8. Then:
- •Strangle.2d10+5.
On hit: Grappled (escape DC: 10).
A Thing that Hides in The Dark is the corpse of a child who was abandoned in a dark, forgotten place - animated by their loneliness and grown by the hatred that festered as they died. No one has ever truly seen one, since they disintegrate nearly instantly in the light, but it is written that these undead measure over 10 feet tall and always try to kill parents before their other victims.
You have heavy armor against piercing and slashing attacks. You have no armor against bludgeoning attacks.
- •Strangle.2d6+4.
Reach: Directly beneath them on the ground. On hit: Grappled (escape DC 13). Then:
- •Lift.
Lift all Grappled creatures two squares in the air.
- •Snap.12d6 to a grappled creature.
On damage: if target is at 0 HP, they die
Hanging Men are skeletal monsters that form from the skeletons of people who died at lynchings, executions, or suicides by hanging. They move slowly on the ground, but climb extremely quickly on high ceilings. When they grab an enemy, they leave them hanging in noises made of bone, slowly bring them up to them. When a target is in reach, the Hanging Man moves in for the kill - snapping their neck.
You have heavy armor against piercing and slashing attacks. You have no armor against bludgeoning attacks.
At the end of any creature in the rooms turn, if they didn't eat something, they take 2d6 damage.
- •Claw (x2).1d8+3
- •Poisoned Pie.
Summon a pie made with rotted meat within Reach: 6. Anyone who consumes this is Poisoned (1 round).
- •Drugged Pie.
Summon a pie made with rotted herbs within Reach: 6. Anyone who consumes this pie falls asleep.
By default, you have 5 corpses hanging from you. For each extra corpse you acquire, you gain 10 HP and make an additional Floating Head attack.
- •Harvest.
Add a humanoid corpse to your collection.
- •Floating Head (×5).1d4.
Range: 6. On miss: Target is Frightened.
The Walking Gallows is a large beast that resembles a Giraffe without a head. In addition to being headless, it has many rope-like tentacles on its long neck that display the hanging corpses of its victims. It is able to send the heads of its hanging corpses to attack its foes, but is more concerned with acquiring bodies than attacking.
The Walking Gallows is best used as an interruption than as an encounter on its own - maybe it appears as the heroes fight a group of bandits, stealing the corpses of fallen bandits and not attacking the heroes unless one is Dying or attacks it.
If it is used as an encounter, make sure it has corpses to consume, and consider letting it make a single Floating Head attack and Harvest on the same turn.
Inspired by the Light Novel: Otherside Picnic
- •Tackle (×4).1d4
- •Uncontrolled Soul.3d4+8.
Range: 8. Also hits nearest creature to target. On hit: Remove all Digested.
A snail that has died and been revived as an undead.
Whenever someone tries to leave the room, you deal d44 damage to them and pull them back into the room.
- •Hide!
Teleport under a piece of furniture somewhere in the room.
- •Stay With Me... (Once).1d4.
Attacks all creatures in Reach: 3. On hit: Incapacitated (1 round).
The Roommate is an undead formed from the soul of someone with extreme abandonment issues. It's only goal is to acquire a roommate - and never let them go.
It will usually occupy a bedroom, and stay hidden, out of sight. Heroes will often find corpses in this room - perhaps one right by the door (with no apparent cause of death) or one in a bed (died from starvation). When they go to leave - the beast strikes!
The Roommate will not fight if it can avoid it, instead teleporting to new hiding spots. When it is unable to hide, as a last ditch effort it will try to paralyze its roommates and hide again, but after that, it's defenseless. It will curl up and accept it's defeat.
When a hero harms you, at the end of their turn all heroes make a DC 12 WIL save. On a fail, they are Buried Alive in one of your graves. You can only bury half of the heroes with this ability.
- •Shovel (once).1d8+2.
On crit: Buried Alive
- •Your friends are gone... (once).
From each grave someone is buried alive in, summon 2 skeleton minions (1d6, immune to piercing)
- •Mourn .1d4.
Attack all creatures in Reach: 3. Regain all uses of (once) abilities.
Buried Alive: Someone who is buried alive is magically teleported into a shallow grave. They have disadvantage on all rolls, will gain 1 would ever STR rounds they remain buried, and in order to escape 4 actions must be spent digging them out. An action can be spent to dig them out, and as part of that action if a DC 15 skill check is made, it counts as two actions.
The Gravekeeper is the soul of someone buried alive, animated to protect the dead and add to their ranks. They appear on clear nights as someone visiting a distant grave in a cemetery. If the heroes approach this person, the Gravekeeper will suddenly vanish and the heroes will notice they are in a completely different and foreign cemetery - they have entered the Gravekeeper's domain.
The Gravekeeper is now waiting at the gate to this haunted place, and will attack if the party attempts to leave. Once defeated, they will return to the real world, and the body of the person who turned into the Gravekeeper will be at the grave the spirit was visiting. If it is not properly dealt with, the Gravekeeper will rise again the next night.
She has heavy armor against nonmagical weapons.
- •Call the Help (once).
Summon 1 Zombie per hero in an open and empty doorway (each creature must appear in a unique open doorway), then teleport to an open and empty doorway.
- •Slam (once).
Attack each creature of your choice within Reach: 2 of an open doorway for 1d4+5.
- •Open The Doors (Once).
Open all unlocked doors in the house.
- •Make Way!
Open five unlocked doors within sight, teleport to an open and empty doorway, then attack a creature within Reach: 3 for 2d4+5. Regain all uses of your (Once) abilities.
At 150 HP, doors in the house now require a DC 10 Might check to close.
The Master of the House is dying! 100 more damage and she is dead! She now can slam twice whenever she slams.
Some heroes find themselves investigating haunted houses through their travel, and all pray they never enter a mansion ruled by an undead known as The Master of the House.
The Master of the House is an eight foot tall undead woman with countless hands. She always appears only in the room of a house with the most doors - usually the main entrance - and only after heroes have explored her haunted house and found the keys needed to escape. She ensures that they do not.
The Master of the House relies on the doorways to fight. She will be teleporting around the room, doorway to doorway, and will summon enemies from them as well. Because of this, her difficulty is very much based on her lair. The more doors in the lair, the more powerful she is. You should push the players towards realizing this (when they assess, make sure to stress the importance of open and empty doorways) and encourage their creative ways of disabling the door powers. Perhaps you include extra furniture in the room that they can use to turn even opened doors into blocked doorways.
The battle can get even more fun (and difficult!) if you are playing in a way that allows for the entire mansion to be the battle map. More doors equals more opportunities!
Don't forget that closing a door is free once per turn, but after that they will need to start utilizing their actions. I would recommend that they may close one additional door for each move action they take, but it is up to you to determine if you want to use that ruling.
If a hero looks at you for too long (performs 2 actions against you that require sight in the same turn) they become Enraptured (They cannot attack another creature, have a speed of 0, and take 1d6 radiant damage after each action) by you until they are magically healed or reduced to 0 HP.
- Draining Kiss.1d66.
On hit: Enraptured. Misses on an 11, crits on a 66.