Stevie Delgado

[Top 15] D&D Best Undead Creatures When you think of undead creatures, you may immediately conjure up ideas of zombies, skeletons, or even vampires. But there are dozens of creatures other than these regular flavors of undead baddies, including some who fall into these categories but with a special twist. From tiny creatures to colossal beasts, even the weakest sounding of them can be a real threat when roving the land of the living long after decomposition and rigor mortis should've set in. In this Top 15 list, we’ve looked at the undead creatures offered and found the absolute best ones out of all the maggot-infested, putrid baddies! 10. Shambling Mound An intelligent and carnivorous plant, the Shambling Mound looks like a large heap of rotted vegetation. With viney appendages and a leaf covered body weighing about 3,800 pounds, the raunchy scented beast is about 8 feet wide and 6 feet tall. It's brain and organs are located high in it's upper body, and it's tentacle-like limbs are used to batter or constrict opponents. The Mounds usually feed off the flesh and blood of living creatures after engulfing and crushing them. They can survive off dead flesh if it's not too old, but prefer their victims to be as fresh as possible, and many have a taste for Elf-flesh specifically. Often found in forests or swamps, any mound that produces edibles such as berries are poisonous if consumed. Despite their aggressive and predatory nature, a Shambling Mound's protection can be bought with food. Should someone regularly bring a Mound fresh humanoid flesh or a for-now-living sacrifice, they will generally leave their feeder alone and even fend off attacks against them. 9. Crawling Hand (Claw) The Crawling hand, sometimes referred to as a Crawling Claw, is usually a tiny-sized undead creature. They are hands or claws amputated from living or dead creatures, typically the left one, that’s been reanimated by dark wizards or warlocks to do their bidding. They use their fingers as legs and scuttle across the ground or even vertical surfaces, and are often used as a hidden lookout for their reanimator. The Hands are often from humanoids, but a talented and powerful enough master can raise an undead hand from any creature, including dragons if they’re ambitious enough. They have low intelligence regardless of what creature they come from and can't perform complicated tasks alone. They can follow simple orders and directions, such as alerting their crew of nearby enemies or potential victims. While a single hand poses little threat to a party, other than to alert their combat pals, a pack of hands can be a difficult foe. The Hands can swarm and quickly overwhelm their enemies. 8. Wraith Drifting through the air, this humanoid entity is draped in black cloth and leaves a dark haze in its wake. They usually have no face, beneath their hood is a dark and empty void of despair. Sometimes carrying a weapon, they can use magic or attack with simple weapons. They represent the souls of evil beings, continuing an afterlife of torment and destruction that rivals the evil they committed in life. Wraiths drain the life from living creatures, turning them into Wraiths as well upon death. While they're unbelievably powerful in darkness and shadows, they're entirely powerless in natural sunlight. When they speak, their voice holds tones of evil and death, and their laughs are like an ice cold shock down one's spine. Able to blend with shadows, they use stealth to flit around dark places, stalking potential victims before they finally go in for the kill. 7. Tormented Stalker At first glance, the Tormented Stalker seems to be any normal zombie. However, they're formed when a humanoid dies in great physical or emotional pain, leaving it's shambling corpse to suffer in eternal torment. Retaining what skills they had in life, these undead creatures are smarter than normal zombies and move faster and with more cunning attacks, too. Also unlike normal zombies, the Tormented Stalker is obsessed with the goal of finding who killed them and killing them back, although sometimes they fixate on those they feel failed them or let them die. They defend themselves brutally, but typically ignore prey or what isn't perceived as a threat. They cannot be reasoned with, they will not be swayed or appeased and will kill anything they think is trying to stop them. The Tormented Stalker doesn't lay down it's arms after completing their original fixation, instead they will continue to find a new goal of killing whoever most recently harmed it in life before they were killed. Even once that task is done, they will find foes who have wronged them and go until they're finally killed for good. 6. Spawn of Kyuss The Spawn of Kyuss seems like a regular, normal zombie at first. Upon further inspection, writhing worms can be seen protruding from the walking corpse, and the being itself seems somewhat more aware than normal zombies. The soul of the dead is still trapped in the corpse, aware of its decaying state but unable to escape it's wriggling new form. These worm infested zombies pose a great threat, not just with attacks but with their worms as well. Should a worm fall on a recently killed body, it can turn them undead and into another shambling enemy. The worms can also harm the living, as when any worm falls on a living creature it quickly burrows into the skin and starts eating away. With enough worms, they can quickly kill their new host and raise it to a zombie spawn within seconds. 5. Lich An undead spellcaster of great power, usually of a wizard, sorcerer, or cleric origin; a Lich is a classically feared and evil creature. They're typically gaunt and skeletal in appearance, with any remaining withered flesh dried tightly to mostly visible bones. They tend to be dressed in tattered, hanging robes, their bodies and clothes rotted away and leaving only slightly recognizable scraps behind. They seem to glide as if floating on water when they move, and their eyes are deep empty sockets, occasionally with a glow inside. They magically project speech though they lack any lips or flesh to actually make noise. They can live forever, or until they are killed, and often outlive anyone living near their dwellings. They use this eternity of undead life to grow in intelligence and power, making them formidable foes. They're almost all humanoid beings, but some dragons and other beasts sometimes crop up. 4. Banshee Sometimes known as a groaning spirit, the Banshee is a female undead phantom who enjoys bringing death to any living creature they come across. They're strong-willed and can present themselves as a gorgeous woman to lure victims to their death. A flowing, misty form, they can resemble how they looked in life. With enough time, they will eventually become distorted to the point they can't be recognized as ever being a humanoid. They're incorporeal and their mere presence draws energy from their surroundings to the point of killing local plants and foliage. 3. The Death Knight Created by gods of death or other malevolent beings, a Death Knight is a mighty undead warrior, usually from evil humanoids ranging from Fighters to Rangers to even fallen Paladins. Often mounted upon a nightmare when riding into battle, a Death Knight can also have a variety of undead servants, the more powerful knights having higher numbers of servants to join their destruction and do their biddings. They tend to either be alone and working solo, or with their servants, and rarely work or fight alongside other knights. Appearing similar to how they did in life, they slowly lose their recognizable features as their flesh decays and rots from their bodies. Typically dressed and armed in what they had shortly before death, the knights generally include a tattered cape regardless of if they had one in life as a mark of importance. With their glowing red eyes, they quickly strike fear into the hearts and souls of weaker creatures. They maintain cognitive thought and actions, they can plan and plot as any sentient being can. 2. Mohrg Mohrgs are created when a truly evil humanoid, such as a mass murderer for example, dies without atoning for their crimes. Their supposed punishment for justice going unserved when alive is to be cursed to rise as an undead, with their souls eternally trapped within their rotting corpse. They’re unable to control their actions, instead having to watch from the back seat of their fetid brains as their zombified body does what it wants. The only thing their festering corpse feels is a violent hatred for all living things, and the only thoughts to be had in their maggot-infested brains are how to kill their next victims. Appearing like a severely gaunt and decomposed, skeletal corpse, they're commonly mistaken for ghouls or zombies. This often leads to them being underestimated when encountered, a mistake that is usually realized too late. These putrid creatures are far more intelligent than a standard zombie, and are able to comprehend combat tactics and put up a hard fight. They can move quickly, usually relying on stealth and speed to form calculated attacks to surprise enemies. Their main defining feature is their extremely long and clawed tongue, setting them apart from the usual zombie or skeleton or other undead thrall. Other than being capable of complex mobility, their tongue can also paralyze targets, and is a favorite weapon for them to use. They will almost always use their tongue to stun a target before beating it to death with their fists. 1. Death Tyrant Beholders are a rough enough fight themselves- but an undead Beholder, called a Death Tyrant, is in a league of its own. Their form is something of a mix between skeleton and zombie, with almost all of their skull exposed and any remaining flesh sloshing off in rotting globs. Often used as guardians for powerful Wizards, the Death Tyrant is otherwise a solitary creature as living Beholders find them abhorrent and avoid them. Unlike the weaker and mindless state of zombie Beholders raised through reanimation with necromancy, the Death Tyrant is still an intelligent and sentient being who is capable of complex actions. When not given orders or if facing a situation not detailed in their orders, they will simply destroy any living creature that isn't expressly considered off-limits. Sometimes, if the transformation from living to undead doesn’t go exactly right, the Death Tyrant can enter a "rogue state" where it's incapable of being commanded by anyone or any means, including spells.