Corporeal Undead
This page contains a selection of undead types that keep their bodies, albeit in some sort of twisted manner such as the animated skeleton, zombie, or mummy. My standard rules fuse the Stormbringer concept of the major wound level with the Runequest use of hit locations. Bodily undead use the locations, but in many cases each has the full amount of hit points, rather than half. This represents their extreme toughness. Even then, you have the problem that only destroying the abdomen, chest or head will actually "kill" the thing. They'll keep coming after you even if you take off a limb or two. After all, they are already dead, right? And because they are dead, they can parry all but the attack of a two-handed weapon - they don't feel pain. And many of them carry weapons and/or armour as well.
Also, it is worth noting that the Young Kingdoms doesn't really have a direct equivalent to the D&D Cleric class. This makes the undead particularly deadly because your average group of characters won't necessarily contain the usual priestly type to deal with these sorts of things. However, since the undead arise as the result of Chaotic necromancy, there is probably a specific Order of Law fanatically devoted to eradicating them. That might make for some really cool role-playing possibilities and interactions.
Mummy
Stats are as in life, except that Charisma is reduced by 2D8, as is DEX, although they will never go below 3. Mummies are really tough, but they aren't the fastest things on the planet(s).
Parry: 80%
Fear attack: The classic attack of the mummy is straight out of the movies: it shambles menacingly towards a chosen victim with the single-mindedness of the Undead with a POW attack. If the victim fails, it is reduced to a quivering mass of fear, unable to protect itself or attack in any way. The Mummy will then wrap its bandaged hands around the character's neck and throttle them to death - very up close and personal. The base chance for it to grab a victim is 80%. It can also smack weapons out of the way. It's too slow to Dodge though, and besides such a move is well beneath its dignity.
Special defence: leather armour equivalent is provided by the bandages. Mummies can take huge amounts of damage, so a location needs to be destroyed by the application of full hit points - there is no major wound level as such. They are, though, especially vulnerable to fire. A torch, for example, will do 1D6 damage to the location it hits, and then the whole thing goes up in flames. It will take 2D6 to overall hit points the next turn, then 3D6, then 2D6 and finally another 1D6 before it burns out. If it survives this, rework the location hits that will be left. This is the traditional way to kill one of them.
Description: the Mummy is created by powerful death magic rituals, usually a cursed version of a certain familiar culture's way of venerating the dead bodies of important persons. There is often a reason for the curse, in that the recipient did something taboo and totally horrendous by the standards of its home people, such as being a trusted adviser, high noble or priest who illicitly seduces Pharaoh's wife or daughter - something like that. The perpetrator is cursed to undead immortality, until destroyed by a massive amount of damage. The truly horrible thing about this is that at some level, he or she remains conscious and aware of what has been done to them. There are variations to the curse, such that, for example, the mummy carries sort some of flesh rotting disease, so that even if you survive its touch, you contract a nasty form of leprosy or similar. This 'attack' is based on the mummy's Power.
Skeletons
STR as in life
CON as in life
SIZ as in life
INT 1D8
POW varies, but usually 1D8
DEX as in life
CHA 1D8
Skills vary, but these things are basically undead grunts, so they will have weapons abilities and Dodge, but that's about it. If in doubt, give them an average of 50%.
Special Defences: animated skeletons could come in all shapes and sizes, and could also be armed and armoured with whatever weapons take the umpire's fancy. Their locations do have major wound levels, but they need to be completely destroyed as per the location suggestions above of head, abdomen or chest. They do have one extra thing going for them, though; piercing/thrusting weapons have a 50% chance of doing no damage at all. After all, they are either bone or the spaces between bones; if you miss, tough.
Wight
As with the mummy, stats are as they were in life, with the same penalty to Charisma (but not Dexterity).
Parry: 70%
Touch of Death: 70% for 1D4 + damage bonus for automatic permanent POW drain.
Defence: often up to half-plate equivalent of the remains of armour from its previous life, now fused to what is left of its body and skeleton. Use the standard rules suggest above for hit locations, except that in this case each location has points equal to the major wound level.
Description: the Wight is a twisted necromantic survival, often the result of a demonic curse or some ritual gone horribly wrong. It isn't especially strong or tough, but its touch is dreaded, and costs the recipient a point of Power for every five points the Wight has; so one with 15 POW permanently drains three from a victim. It does this each time it touches someone. It adds one from the drained Power to its own, so over time one of these things can become really nasty. Because of its cursed link to whatever nameless plane is the source of its strength, there is no resistance roll. In a sense, it isn't the Wight that drains the victim; instead, a portion of one's life force leeches away into another dimension, and some of it resides with the Wight. Please note that this is based on the D&D monster, not the Tolkien one, which is far more powerful. If you really want to ramp it up, though, give the thing superior quality or magical armour to wear, or make its touch come through a cursed weapon fused to its hand so that it does more in the way of real damage as well as the Power attack. I'm sure an inventive umpire could find all sorts of ways to make one of these especially memorable.
Also, it is worth noting that the Young Kingdoms doesn't really have a direct equivalent to the D&D Cleric class. This makes the undead particularly deadly because your average group of characters won't necessarily contain the usual priestly type to deal with these sorts of things. However, since the undead arise as the result of Chaotic necromancy, there is probably a specific Order of Law fanatically devoted to eradicating them. That might make for some really cool role-playing possibilities and interactions.
Mummy
Figure by Ral Partha
Stats are as in life, except that Charisma is reduced by 2D8, as is DEX, although they will never go below 3. Mummies are really tough, but they aren't the fastest things on the planet(s).
Parry: 80%
Fear attack: The classic attack of the mummy is straight out of the movies: it shambles menacingly towards a chosen victim with the single-mindedness of the Undead with a POW attack. If the victim fails, it is reduced to a quivering mass of fear, unable to protect itself or attack in any way. The Mummy will then wrap its bandaged hands around the character's neck and throttle them to death - very up close and personal. The base chance for it to grab a victim is 80%. It can also smack weapons out of the way. It's too slow to Dodge though, and besides such a move is well beneath its dignity.
Special defence: leather armour equivalent is provided by the bandages. Mummies can take huge amounts of damage, so a location needs to be destroyed by the application of full hit points - there is no major wound level as such. They are, though, especially vulnerable to fire. A torch, for example, will do 1D6 damage to the location it hits, and then the whole thing goes up in flames. It will take 2D6 to overall hit points the next turn, then 3D6, then 2D6 and finally another 1D6 before it burns out. If it survives this, rework the location hits that will be left. This is the traditional way to kill one of them.
Description: the Mummy is created by powerful death magic rituals, usually a cursed version of a certain familiar culture's way of venerating the dead bodies of important persons. There is often a reason for the curse, in that the recipient did something taboo and totally horrendous by the standards of its home people, such as being a trusted adviser, high noble or priest who illicitly seduces Pharaoh's wife or daughter - something like that. The perpetrator is cursed to undead immortality, until destroyed by a massive amount of damage. The truly horrible thing about this is that at some level, he or she remains conscious and aware of what has been done to them. There are variations to the curse, such that, for example, the mummy carries sort some of flesh rotting disease, so that even if you survive its touch, you contract a nasty form of leprosy or similar. This 'attack' is based on the mummy's Power.
Skeletons
STR as in life
CON as in life
SIZ as in life
INT 1D8
POW varies, but usually 1D8
DEX as in life
CHA 1D8
Skills vary, but these things are basically undead grunts, so they will have weapons abilities and Dodge, but that's about it. If in doubt, give them an average of 50%.
Special Defences: animated skeletons could come in all shapes and sizes, and could also be armed and armoured with whatever weapons take the umpire's fancy. Their locations do have major wound levels, but they need to be completely destroyed as per the location suggestions above of head, abdomen or chest. They do have one extra thing going for them, though; piercing/thrusting weapons have a 50% chance of doing no damage at all. After all, they are either bone or the spaces between bones; if you miss, tough.
Wight
Figure by Mithril Miniatures
As with the mummy, stats are as they were in life, with the same penalty to Charisma (but not Dexterity).
Parry: 70%
Touch of Death: 70% for 1D4 + damage bonus for automatic permanent POW drain.
Defence: often up to half-plate equivalent of the remains of armour from its previous life, now fused to what is left of its body and skeleton. Use the standard rules suggest above for hit locations, except that in this case each location has points equal to the major wound level.
Description: the Wight is a twisted necromantic survival, often the result of a demonic curse or some ritual gone horribly wrong. It isn't especially strong or tough, but its touch is dreaded, and costs the recipient a point of Power for every five points the Wight has; so one with 15 POW permanently drains three from a victim. It does this each time it touches someone. It adds one from the drained Power to its own, so over time one of these things can become really nasty. Because of its cursed link to whatever nameless plane is the source of its strength, there is no resistance roll. In a sense, it isn't the Wight that drains the victim; instead, a portion of one's life force leeches away into another dimension, and some of it resides with the Wight. Please note that this is based on the D&D monster, not the Tolkien one, which is far more powerful. If you really want to ramp it up, though, give the thing superior quality or magical armour to wear, or make its touch come through a cursed weapon fused to its hand so that it does more in the way of real damage as well as the Power attack. I'm sure an inventive umpire could find all sorts of ways to make one of these especially memorable.
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