This week we offer a tantalizing whiff of the revised mummy and mummy lord. The mummy is an excellent example of a monster that was made tougher and then expanded with an interesting, more powerful variant. While the mummy is currently in a pretty advanced state of composition, bear in mind that nothing is complete or final until you buy the book in the store.

Mummy

This creature looks like a withered and desiccated corpse, with features hidden beneath centuries-old funereal wrappings. It moves with a slow, shambling gait and groans with the weight of the ages.

Mummies are preserved corpses animated through the auspices of dark desert gods best forgotten. They usually inhabit great tombs or temple complexes, maintaining a timeless vigil and destroying would-be grave robbers.

These horrid creatures are often marked with symbols of the dire gods they serve. While other undead often stink of carrion, the herbs and powders used to create a mummy give off a sharp, pungent odor like that of a spice cabinet.

Mummies attack intruders without pause or mercy. They never attempt to communicate with their enemies and never retreat. An encounter with a mummy can end only with the destruction of one combatant or the other (unless the mummy's foe elects to retreat).

Most mummies are 5 to 6 feet tall and weigh about 120 pounds.

Mummies can speak Common, but seldom bother to do so.

Combat

In melee combat, a mummy delivers a powerful blow. Even if it had no other abilities, its great strength and grim determination would make it a formidable opponent.

Despair (Su): At the mere sight of a mummy, the viewer must succeed on a DC 16 Will save or be paralyzed with fear for 1d4 rounds. Whether or not the save is successful, that creature cannot be affected again by the same mummy's despair ability for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Mummy Rot (Su): Supernatural disease -- slam, Fortitude DC 16, incubation period 1 minute; damage 1d6 Con and 1d6 Cha. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Unlike normal diseases, mummy rot continues until the victim reaches Constitution 0 (and dies) or is cured as described below.

Mummy rot is a powerful curse, not a natural disease. A character attempting to cast any conjuration (healing) spell on a creature afflicted with mummy rot must succeed on a DC 20 caster level check, or the spell has no effect on the afflicted character.

To eliminate mummy rot, the curse must first be broken with break enchantment or remove curse (requiring a DC 20 caster level check for either spell), after which a caster level check is no longer necessary to cast healing spells on the victim, and the mummy rot can be magically cured as any normal disease.

An afflicted creature who dies of mummy rot shrivels away into sand and dust that blow away into nothing at the first wind.

Mummy Lord

Unusually powerful or evil individuals preserved as mummies sometimes rise as greater mummies after death. A mummy lord resembles its lesser fellows, but often wears or carries equipment it used in life -- ancient bronze armor, a rune-marked sword, or a magic staff.

Mummy lords are often potent spellcasters. They are found as guardians of the tombs of high lords, priests, and mages. Most are sworn to defend for eternity the resting place of those whom they served in life, but in some cases a mummy lord's unliving state is the result of a terrible curse or rite designed to punish treason, infidelity, or crimes of an even more abhorrent nature. A mummy lord of this sort is usually imprisoned in a tomb that is never meant to be opened again.

Despair (Su): The save DC against this mummy lord's despair is 17.

Mummy Rot (Su): The save DC against this mummy lord's mummy rot is 17.

Typical Cleric Spells Prepared (6/7/6/5/5/4; save DC 15 + spell level): 0 -- detect magic (2), guidance, read magic, resistance, virtue; 1st -- bane, command, deathwatch, divine favor, doom, sanctuary*, shield of faith; 2nd -- bull's strength, death knell*, hold person, resist energy, silence, spiritual weapon; 3rd -- animate dead*, deeper darkness, dispel magic, invisibility purge, searing light; 4th -- air walk, dismissal, divine power, giant vermin, spell immunity*; 5th -- insect plague, slay living*, spell resistance, symbol of pain.

*Domain Spell. Domains: Death and Protection.

Possessions: +2 half-plate armor, cloak of resistance +2, ring of minor elemental resistance (fire), brooch of shielding. (Different mummy lords may have different possessions.)

Dragon Magazine

Dragon Magazine features monthly focus articles on the upcoming D&D 3.5 revision. For more information on changes to the haste, harm, and hold person spells, check out Dragon 307 (May), available on newsstands April 22, 2003. Or subscribe to Dragon for your monthly fix of the latest Dungeons & Dragons updates and meaty bonus features.

Hear Ed Stark Discuss D&D 3.5!

Ed Stark appeared on Mortality.net Radio on March 28, 2003, to discuss the D&D 3.5 revision that releases in July of this year. His show, nearly 3 hours of nitty-gritty information about the upcoming revision, is available for download or streaming on their site. Consult their site for streaming information, or download the MP3 if you have a fast connection. The file is 30 MEG, but you won't want to miss it!