FREQUENCY: Rare
NO. APPEARING: 2-8
ARMOR CLASS: 3
MOVE: 6
HIT DICE: 6 + 3
% IN LAIR: 80% (6 Mummies: underground tombs, TPL30: 5th, REF3.11)
TREASURE TYPE: [D]
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1 ~ 13
DAMAGEIATTACK: 1-12
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Fear, paralyzation, disease
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Hit only by magic weapons (or fire or holy water) at reduced damage, immunity to some magic
MAGIC RESISTANCE: See below
INTELLIGENCE: Low
ALIGNMENT Lawful evil
SIZE: M
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: VII | 1050 + 8

Mummies are undead humans with xistence on both the Normal and the -Negative Material- Planes.
They are found near their tomb or in like burial places || ruins.
They retain a semblance of life due to their evil, and they seek to destroy any living thing they encounter.
Their unholy hatred of life and their weird un-life state gives them tremendous power, so that a blow
from their arm smashes opponents for 1-12 HP of damage.

Disease: The
scabrous touch of a mummy inflicts a rotting disease on any hit. The
disease will be fatal in 1-6 months, and each month it progresses the
diseased creature loses 2 points of charisma, permanently. It can be cured
only by a magic spell, cure disease. The disease negates all cure wound
spells. Infected creatures heal wounds at 10% of the normal rate.

Fear/Paralyzation: The mere sight of a mummy within 6" will cause such {fear} and revulsion in
any creature, that unless a save vs. Magic is successful, the victim
will be paralyzed with fright for 1-4 melee rounds. Note that numbers will
give courage, and for each creature above 6 to 1 mummy, the creatures
add +1 to their saving throw. If humans confront a mummy, each will
save at +2 on his dice.

Hit only by magic weapons (or fire or holy water) at reduced damage:
Mummies can be harmed only by magical weapons, and even those do
only one-half normal damage, dropping all fractions (5 becomes 2, 3
becomes 1, and 1 becomes 0 HP of damage).

Sleep, charm, hold,
and cold-based spells have no effect upon them. Poison or paralysis do not
harm them. A raise dead spell will turn the creature into a normal human
(of 7th level fighting ability, naturally) unless the mummy saves versus
magic. Mummies will suffer certain damage from fire, even flame of
normal sort. A blow with a torch will cause 1-3 HP of damage. A
flask of burning oil will cause 1-8 HP of damage on the first round it
covers the mummy and twice that amount on the second melee round.
Magical fires are at + 1 per die of damage. If holy water is splashed upon
them they suffer 2-8 HP of damage for every vial-full which strikes.

Any creature killed by a mummy rots and cannot be raised from death
unless a cure disease and raise dead spell are used within 6 turns.

FREQUENCY: Rare

FREQUENCY: Rare ([Cold Wilderness Plains], [Cold Wilderness Desert])
FREQUENCY: Very rare ([Cold Wilderness Mountains], [Cold Wilderness Hills], [Cold Wilderness Forest], [Cold Wilderness Swamp])

FREQUENCY: Rare ([Temperate Wilderness Plains], [Temperate Wilderness Desert])
FREQUENCY: Very rare ([Temperate Wilderness Mountains], [Temperate Wilderness Hills], [Temperate Wilderness Forest], [Temperate Wilderness Swamp])

FREQUENCY: Rare ([Tropical Wilderness Plains], [Tropical Wilderness Desert])
FREQUENCY: Very rare ([Tropical Wilderness Mountains], [Tropical Wilderness Hills], [Tropical Wilderness Forest], [Tropical Wilderness Swamp])
<twf: WTF? hermetically sealed blood vials? WTF?>

Hi Scott:)

The mummy being indicated as from the PMP was a typo.
It was meant to be Negative as all undead are.

Cheers,
Gary

Ecology of the Mummy

". . . and so we find that here in the
North, the crypt guardian, or mummy
is known through what sages call the
'Netherese oral tradition,' a collection of
common legends found among folk
descended from refugees of ancient
Netheril. Whether or not these gruesome
creatures actually exist anywhere
in Faerun other than the mysterious
Raurin desert is not known."

"Excellent. Send it over to Florins for <>
recopying. A good ending, don't you
think, eh Erek?"

"Good if you like boring dribble about
dusty dead. Why don't you spice it up a
bit, add some color, some adventure.
Too bad about old Felloman and your
friend Vortigur. Was it true the council
of clerics was about to send you as a
missionary to the ice wastes after that?"

"If brother Felloman had not interceded,
I'm sure they would have. Imagine,
someone who actually liked being a
ghoul . . . or was it a ghast? But that's not
important. The Journal of the Watchful
Order of Magists and Protectors is a
scholarly publication, not a collection of
wild stories.

"Still, there was that time when I
joined a band of adventurers when they
journeyed into lost Ascore, on the
periphery of the Great Desert. I like to
call that adventure, 'The Curse of the
Mummy's Eye' . . .

"As I said, mummies are not common
to most cultures of Faerun--only in
those civilizations that religiously preserve the bodies of their dead ||
that are pervaded by LE, does one
find mummies. Dwarven Ascore,
though not a part of ancient Netheril,
contained much lost lore and guardians
to protect it."
zb

"I had been studying magick for a few
years, and had adventured some, but
with other companions. I was hired to
accompany a band of warriors and
thieves who had found a map revealing
the location of a minor piece of ancient
magic called the golden eye. They had
also paid a seer to gaze into her crystal
ball and reveal what obstacles stood
between them and their goal.
?We found ourselves inside the outer
shrine of an ancient tomb. The glyphs
on the walls were ancient, but readable:
?The golden eye of Rethekan, avenger
of Bhaal, curses tomb-robbers forever.?
Of course, that was the usual warning
one finds in tombs, doomed and cursed
forever and all that, yet what was more
interesting were the tomb paintings.
They depicted, in gruesome detail I
might add, the creation of a tomb
guardian, what we call a mummy.
?The preparers, usually priests,

began the mummification process with
a live victim, usually a warrior-one of
their own people. Their spells kept the
poor soul in his body after it died, while
they removed and preserved his vital
organs, then dried out and preserved
his body. Remember, the victim is alive
through this whole procedure and is
aware of what is happening to him. Still
gives me the shudders to think about it.
It?s no wonder the resulting creature
hates life so much.

?Anyway, we entered this dusty tomb
and as we went deeper, there were
more paintings, and mind you, if the
other ones only made your stomach
queasy, these were nightmare makers.
Who could imagine someone choosing
to become a mummy? Yet, these pictures
showed just that. A man who willingly
submitted to mummification and
retained much of his power from life. I
began to get a bad feeling about the
whole thing.

?My brave but incredibly thickheaded
comrades laughed when I suggested
that the guardian here might be
more than just a mummy. ?The seer
would have known if it were other than
a tomb guardian.? they smirked. ?The
golden eye is not that important. Maybe
you should go back to being a priest,?
?Red-faced, I entered the outer sanctum
with them. Of course, we met
mummies, two of them, garbed in

ancient armor and tattered linen windings.
I had not seen a mummy before,
but I knew I faced them now. Even my
encounter with ghouls had not prepared
me for this. The smell, the creaking
joints, the unnatural glaring eyes . . .
they horrified me. I was paralyzed with
fear-they do that you know. My companions
hurled fragile glass bottles
filled with volatile oil at the things, then
ignited them with torches until they
burned like bonfires, stumbling about
engulfed in flames.

?When I could force myself into
motion again, the battle was over. The
guardians were little more than smoking
ruins in the shape of men. One of
my companions had sustained a minor
wound, and it had begun to stink
already with the dreaded rot disease,
often called Talona's Curse after the
goddess of disease.

?The cleric of Lathander, who like me
had been hired to accompany the party,
applied dried mothersleaf powder to
the wound and prayed to his god, but it
still would not heal. I later learned that
the herb must be brewed as a tea to be
effective, but by then, the unfortunate
warrior had already lost the arm to the
rot.

?Undaunted, my companions burst
into the inner sanctum, confident they
would soon have the golden eye. Meanwhile,
I was engrossed in examining the
room, and, urn, neglected to follow
them. Poking around, I found a secret
niche, filled with odd bottles, jars and a
small wooden box. Then it struck me,
the jars looked exactly like those in the
mummification pictures.

?I grabbed everything and ran after
my companions, only to find them all
asleep. Standing over them was yet
another mummy. Like the ones behind
me, it smouldered, yet it seemed to
have resisted the fire attack. Now it prepared
to slay my companions. They
were fools, but they were paying me to
keep them alive.

?Then, as if it heard me enter, it
looked up and I saw, the mummy was
blind! It had no eyes. And it talked!
? ?Yet another disturbs my vigilance: it
whispered, ?Prepare to die at the hands
of Rethekan.?

? ?I don?t think so,? I countered. ?I?d like
to trade these jars, your canopic jars,
the ones that contain your preserved
guts, for my friends there. Otherwise, I
drop them or fall on them if you try to
put me to sleep. Either way, they break
and you?re dust.?

?Its hands clawed air. It couldn?t see
me, couldn?t see the jars, couldn?t tell if I
was bluffing. Yet it knew.

? ?I propose a different trade, mage?? it
hissed. ?I wait for the return of my
beloved, the priestess Asharla-Rhil, I
would gaze on her again. I need an eye,
a living eye freely given, as I freely gave
my life for Asharla-Rhil.? ?

"So that's how you lost that eye, I
thought you just accidentally poked it
out with a stick or something? Erek
interrupted.

"I'm not done with the story. As I said,
it wanted an eye. ?Only if my friends go
free first." I demanded.

? ?Agreed,? it whispered and then
began to dance around in what I can
only guess must be glee. I gave the thing
its gruesome gut jars, then dragged my
friends outside to safety. Steeling my
nerve, I returned to the inner sanctum.
As it waited, I jammed my fingers into
my right eye socket and yanked hard
on its contents, then thrust it into the
mummy?s outstretched claw. I didn?t
wait to see Rethekan pop the grisly
thing into its own empty orbit or listen
to the chanting that follwed. I just ran.
My companions wisely, for once, decided
to pursue other adventures.?

"What a sacrifice, removing your
own eye in TRADE for someone else's
life."

?I didn?t say I gave him my eye, did I?
Just the contents of the eye socket,
which at that time was a simple glass
eye. I?d lost the real one long before
that. On the other hand, it was an eye
for an eye. I somehow failed to mention
that I had found the golden eye along
with the canopic jars. I doubt if Rethekan
had any real use for the golden eye
anymore. Erek, that sounds like the
door, get it will you.?

"Amelior, there's a big box out here,
big enough for a coffin or something
like that. Real dusty too. Say, who do
you know in Ascore?"

Creature Notes
Known mummy-producing cultures
include the ruined cities found in
Raurin in the Desert of Desolation (I3-I5)
and lost Netheril in the Savage Frontier
(FR5). It is also said that the tombs of the
Zhentarim are rife with such guardians.
Mummies do not exist of their own
accord. Unlike life-draining undead,
they do not give birth to their own kind
out of the bodies of their victims.

-
 

Mummies
are created by men to act as tomb
guardians. The process is similar to that
required to create a skeleton or a zombie,
but requires long preparation of
the body, expensive and rare preservative
spices and compounds, and a spell
to bring them to ?life.? For the mummycreation
ritual to be successful, the
mummy must be a living being (usually
human) when the mummification process
begins. The unspeakable horror
and agony of the process (the body dies,
but the soul and mind remain aware
and trapped within) are responsible for
the mummy?s ?unholy hatred of life.?
Mummies are not skeletal beings, nor
are they always wrapped in cloth
(though this is a common practice, since
the cloth retains the preservatives that
keep the mummy from decay). The
preservation process may leave the
mummy with the appearance it had in
life, though its flesh is dried and withered.
The mummification rituals draw
upon power from the Negative Material
Plane, replacing life energy with death
energy. While the desiccation (drying)
of body tissues makes them hard and
increases the strength, negative energy
makes it invulnerable to non-magical
weaponry.

Even those weapons do only ½ damage.
Yet the spices and resins that preserve
the mummy's flesh from decay
are flammable and make the mummy
highly susceptible to damage by fire.
Even the fire of a simple torch can
destroy a mummy, eventually.
The potent energy within the mummy,
combined with its preservatives,
affects those it injures in a deadly way.
The negative energy reverses the effect
of the preservatives on the victim.
While the mummy is preserved from
decay, the victim begins to rot away,
permanently losing two points of Charisma,
and will die of the disease within
1d6 months. All the while, he smells like
a rotting corpse, as flesh, features, and
limbs slowly decay and slough off.
In Faerun, the clerical spell cure disease
cannot fully cure the advance of
the mummy's rotting disease. At best, it

halts its progress for a number of
weeks equal to the caster?s level, but in
the end, the spell must be renewed. The
disease builds up a tolerance for the
spell and each casting lasts 1d3 weeks
less than the previous use.

To cure the
disease, the PCs must have mothersleaf
(fresh or properly preserved), a leafy
medicinal herb found in most northern
temperate and subarctic regions. When
the herb is imbibed as a tea before the
casting of cure disease, all traces of the
rot from the body disappear. The herb
is rare, and can be found only by characters
with a Plant Lore proficiency
(see WSG).

There are 2 types of mummies.
The common mummy (as described in <i>
the MM), which has
been brought into being by the acts of
others, and the greater mummy, the <i>
undead remains of a man (or woman)
who has chosen to be mummified. The
common mummy is a fighting creature.
It retains its INT, but the magicks
of its creation binds it to its purpose. A
greater mummy, like a lich, may use
spells (though it is limited to the talents
of a seventh-level spell-caster), or any
special powers, abilities, skills, or proficiencies
that it had in life.

As part of the mummification process,
the internal organs of the living victim
are removed and preserved
separately in three canopic jars,
immersed in an elixir made from the
bodies of larvae. These organ jars must
remain within the tomb guarded by the
mummy. Destroying a canopic jar and
its contents does 2d6 points of damage
to a mummy. As one might imagine,
these organs are often well hidden and
protected in some way (such as magical
or mechanical traps).

The appearance, smell, and magickal
aura of the mummy elicits a paralyzing
revulsion && fear. Those who see a
mummy and fail to make a SAVE vs. spells are subject to paralysis.

Quote:
Originally Posted by gizmo33
The second mummy question has to do with their connection to the Positive Material Plane. Did you ever flesh out this idea? Were there other undead that would have a connection to the Positive plane? Did you ever speculate on a criteria or reason for this connection as opposed to the Negative plane?

See ScottyG's post below. It was an error, although I probably could create a rationale for mummies drawing their energy from the positive plane is pressed...

Cheers,
Gary