From countless crypts and forgotten fortresses, undead masterminds scheme all manner of unnatural depravities. Whether they take the form of murderous ghouls preying upon a city’s poorest citizens, wayward spirits trapped in ghostly form, or nefarious liches who continue their evil beyond death, there’s no shortage of terrifying undead in the world of the Pathfinder campaign setting. And now they’re just waiting to be set loose on your campaign!
Inside you’ll find 15 deathless enemies, each with full statistics, details of the villain’s history and plots, and a complete lair ready to torment and terrify unprepared heroes. Unleash a host of Golarion’s most fearful foes with Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Undead Unleashed!
Within this book, you’ll find:
The treacherous ravener Arantaros, who made a bargain with the demon lord of alchemy to extend his life into undeath.
The well-intentioned ghost Ordellia Whilwren, who attempts to carry on the work of the goddess of dreams even in death.
The sinister Wight Mother of Isger, blessed by the goddess of undeath herself and tasked with spreading disease throughout the world!
Erum-Hel, the mythic Lord of Mohrgs, who plots to put an end to the crusader goddess Iomedae.
The Osirian vampire Prince Kasiya, nemesis of Count Varian Jeggare and primary villain in the Pathfinder Tales novel "King of Chaos".
Ten other foul exemplars of undeath, from ravenous ghouls and devourers to overwhelming nightshades and liches.
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Undead Unleashed is intended for use with the Pathfinder campaign setting, but can be easily adapted to any fantasy world.
Written by Adam Daigle, Dave Gross, Mark Moreland, David N. Ross, Todd Stewart, Jerome Virnich
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-677-5
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
Undead Unleashed is a pretty straightforward book. Essentially, it's a collection of fifteen four-page entries on (mostly) high-CR named undead NPCs. Half of each entry is made up of a picture, full background, and stat block for the NPC. The other half of each entry is a map and room-by-room layout of the undead's lair. The creatures and lairs are situated in the Inner Sea, but most could be easily adapted to other settings. I wish they would have included an adventure hook section. Given how powerful these undead are, I assume most would be used as campaign "bosses". Some of the entries also include a new magic item, disease, or some other crunch. Six different writers are credited on the book so there are definitely some differences in approach. Here's a brief rundown on the creatures included:
* Arantaros (CR 20 ravener): A dragon alchemist who failed in an attempt to replicate the Sun Orchid elixir for immortality, and thus decided to bargain with a demon lord to achieve eternal "life" another way. It's an intriguing backstory. Arantaros' lair is high-level indeed, though they ran out of room to describe the treasure in Arantaros' horde.
* Arnlaugr the Fearless (CR14 draugr): A famed Ulfen adventurer who got in over his head and now serves in death as the guardian of a powerful witch. The lair is pretty mundane, apart from being mostly underwater.
* Erum-Hel (CR23 mohrg): You know Erum-Hel is tough, as he makes use of Mythic rules! This guy could easily be the big-bad for an epic campaign or a new antagonist after PCs finish an AP by roughing up some CR 20 wimp. His backstory is tied intimately into Iomedae and Tar-Baphon, and his lair is very cool and memorable. One of my favourite entries.
* Imaloka Ghalmont-Neverhome (CR22 banshee): There's a fantastic backstory for this banshee, though it would be hard to bring out most of the flavour into an adventure involving her. As a resident of Sarkoris/The Worldwound, she would make a surprise non-demon foe for adventurers to face in that area.
* Jolanera (CR17 nightwing): Another backstory tied strongly into Tar-Baphon. Unfortunately, this nightwing doesn't have much of a personality. Its lair has some interesting foes though.
* Meyi Pahano (CR13 lich): This lich has a cool backstory tied into both Lirgen (the drowned lands beneath the Eye) and Eox (the planet of undead). She's a diviner wizard, and thus a different type of combat threat than many others in the book. Her lair is sound.
* Mirik the Drowned (CR3 ghast): One of the very few low-level threats. Mirik is nicely integrated into Absalom's Siphons district and could be the base of a good little story arc. I like the sewer gator zombie!
* Mother Comfort and Poor Eledia (CR3 allip and CR 4 attic whisperer): A classic haunted house location with a really said origin story. A new magic item introduced here, the ghost mirror, looks really good.
* Ordellia Whilwren (CR10 ghost): A good-aligned undead! This violates one of the "rules" of Golarion. Nonetheless, I like the character's integration into the history of Magnimar and the really interesting story seed of what it would take to set her spirit free (getting a Varisian elected leader of the city). There's even a Season 10 PFS scenario that uses her lair from this book.
* Prince Kasiya (CR12 vampire): I wish I had read this entry before reading the Pathfinder Tales novel King of Chaos--it explains so much! This vampire sorcerer has a fun backstory as an (evil) former member of the Pathfinder Society. Stats are included for his flying chariot.
* Razinia (CR7 ghul): I could see a good story arc set up around Razinia and her domination of an important oasis (and caravan stopover) in Qadira.
* Rudrakavala (CR15 devourer): Great, creepy artwork for this guy along with a cool premise for his existence that creatures a natural adventure hook. His lair is nestled into an extremely difficult environment to traverse, so adventuring parties that focus too much on combat proficiency may die before they even get to him.
* Seldeg Bhedlis (CR17 graveknight): One of the six Knights of Ozem twisted by Geb and sent to steal Arazni's body! Now serves as a general and spymaster. The lair is pretty bland, unfortunately.
* Walkena (CR16 mummy): Divine undead child-god and ruler of Mzali in the Mwangi Expanse. Walkena kills all foreigners and tolerates no dissidents, and I like the idea of the PCs having an entire city as their enemies. This entry has the only new feat in the book, but it's really just for NPCs.
* Wight Mother of Isger (CR19 daughter of Urgathoa): This big-bad murdered the entire town of Finder's Gulch in Isger and now uses it as her headquarters. As a growing threat in the region, she could make a good campaign villain.
Some general thoughts: 1) The cover art is really cool, as Kyra tries to fend off a lich and its minions--I hope Sarenrae comes through! 2) The interior artwork of each villain is very good--maybe not Paizo's best, but definitely strong; 3) The cartography on the maps is mostly pretty bland. Overall, this book definitely adds to setting lore. However, I think it would probably really only be useful to homebrew GMs who need inspiration for a high-level undead antagonist. Even those GMs wouldn't make use of the vast majority of the content in the book, so I wouldn't consider it an important purchase.
Undead Unleashed presents fifteen entries each detailing one or more unique undead in Golarion. The book begins with a two-page spread giving an overview of each entry. The book has a good spread of challenges and different levels. The weakest is a CR 3 ghastly in an urban environment. The second most challenging is a CR 22 banshee with class levels running a twisted reflection of her former pleasure barge that floats on a lake in the middle of a demon-overrun wasteland. Topping the list is the CR 23 Lord of Mohrgs. At least one of these baddies also has some mythic tiers to really challenge the party.
Then come the fifteen four-page spreads for each entry. The first two pages of each entry are devoted to background and a stat block for each entry. The next two pages contain a small map and encounter entries for the specific undead creature's lair. Each of them also includes a haunt. If you're a GM running adventures for PCs that don't necessarily love labyrinthine dungeons, the shorter entries will be perfect for you. The table of contents and the open game license round out the 64 pages. There's also a nice map of the Inner Sea region that shows where each of the baddies make their lair.
I'm looking forward to seeing both Erum-Hel and Walkena (particularly Walkena).
Others I'm hoping to potentially see:
* Socorro
* Ruithvein
* Geb
* One of the Bone Sages
* One of the leaders of House Shraen
* Some manner of notable Nightshade
I'm looking forward to seeing both Erum-Hel and Walkena (particularly Walkena).
Others I'm hoping to potentially see:
* Socorro
* Ruithvein
* Geb
* One of the Bone Sages
* One of the leaders of House Shraen
* Some manner of notable Nightshade
Given the presence of Walkena (who is actively worshiped as a deity and provides the domains Community, Evil, Law, and Weather) and Erum-Hel (who was a general of the Whispering Tyrant and fought Iomedae), I'm hoping it does (though I don't think either of the above has been directly guaranteed as mythic).
Her entry in the lich article in Carrion Crown (Chapter Six) is downright provocative, if you're a student of campaign lore, secrets, and conspiracies.
Given the presence of Walkena (who is actively worshiped as a deity and provides the domains Community, Evil, Law, and Weather) and Erum-Hel (who was a general of the Whispering Tyrant and fought Iomedae), I'm hoping it does (though I don't think either of the above has been directly guaranteed as mythic).
I'm not saying anything, but Lord Gadigan is onto something.
Her entry in the lich article in Carrion Crown (Chapter Six) is downright provocative, if you're a student of campaign lore, secrets, and conspiracies.
Pathfinder Companion, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Danubus wrote:
Is this basically just an updated book from the 3.5 Undead book?
If you mean Undead Revisited, that was, to my knowledge, published under Pathfinder rules already. Rather than a book about undead, I imagine this book is more like the relationship between Dragons Revisited (which was admittedly 3.5) and Dragons Unleashed...Revisited talks about dragons and the undead, while Unleashed stats up various dragons or undead, gives information about them, their situation, their goals, other NPCs related to the situation, maps, and so on and so forth, allowing a DM to drop them into a game as they like. So I'm anticipating it to be a very different book.
Luthorne is correct. This is going to share the same format as Dragons Unleashed where it will take undead that have been mentioned before in Golarion and present a background, a statblock, and a lair for each of them so GMs can present an encounter or the seed of an entire campaign.
I'm potentially very interested in this, always great to have fully stat blocked and detailed monsters, especially with lairs and minions! From the examples given so far though I am wondering what the rough CR range of the enemies will be? If it is mostly a book with high level (cr 13 and up) threats it won't be much use for me in particular, while a lot of midrange enemies (cr 5-12) would be very useful!
Pathfinder Companion, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Well, it's hard to say for certain if Dragons Revisited is indicative (especially since mythic rules hadn't come out at that time), but if it is, it had: CR 3 (The Brazen Clutch) CR 10 (Sonthonax), CR 11 (Rezlarabren), CR 12 (Tuan Huy), CR 13 (Maghara), CR 15 (Toishihebi), CR 16 (Eranex), CR 17 (Moschabbatt), CR 18 (Sjohvor), CR 19 (Seryzilian), CR 20 (Zedoran), CR 21 (Deyrubrujan), CR 22 (Fahrauth), CR 23 (Garaudhilyx), and CR 25 (Aashaq). So, based off of Dragons Revisited, I would expect a fair number of high CR creatures, but also some low to mid level ones to round things out.
Is Unleashed going to be a recurring book type? The last one was pretty neat.
We're making a few adjustments. I'm not a fan of sticking to a format just to stick to a format—so don't expect hoards, for example. But, we'll see how this one goes. If folks dig this as much as they did dragons, we'll certainly be interested in hearing what people want next.
Will this have anything that is transposable into Virlych? My PCs are halfway through book 5 of Carrion Crown, and I'd love some high level horror to throw at my PCs on top of what's in Shadows at Gallowspire. The September release coincides perfectly with where we'll be then...
Can i assume that each monster has a lair with a map and could be setup for a mini adventure or tied to a larger dungeon/adventure. If so it could be perfect for what i need.
Can i assume that each monster has a lair with a map and could be setup for a mini adventure or tied to a larger dungeon/adventure. If so it could be perfect for what i need.
Yep, that's exactly what's in this book. Have fun!
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