Monster Workshop is a weekly feature where I build new monsters or monster variants for Dungeons & Dragons. A new Monster Workshop drops every Wednesday. Throughout October, Monster Workshop gets in on the Month of the Living Dead action as I homebrew a bunch of undead from video games and other sources.
Last week, I played around with the Dry Bones from Super Mario Bros., and this week, I’m returning to Nintendo to build a couple of undead from The Legend of Zelda franchise. The Poes and ReDeads of Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker were staple monsters of my childhood. Sometimes terrifying, always fun to beat, I did my best to capture them here.
I considered adding Stalfos or raiding Ikana Canyon from Majora’s Mask for ideas, but ultimately, I think Poes and ReDeads have a little more to offer in terms of a distinct play experience. Besides, whatever I did for the Stalfos would probably have to be pretty close to the Dry Bones.
Poe
Poe are restless spirits found along roads that pass through the wilderness. Their bobbing lanterns lead travelers astray, leaving them vulnerable to the elements and attack from the poes.
Lonely Spirits. Poes are the spirits of people who died alone in remotes places. They haunt dangerous mountain passes, paths through deep woodlands, and roads over vast plains. They tend to target lone travelers or small groups, hoping for company in their lonesome wanderings.
Mirthful Marauders. Travelers in the wild places fear the heartless laughter of poes. When a poe successfully lures a traveler off the road, their high, cold cackling is the first warning of the ensuing attack.
Sold Souls. Strange collectors will buy poes from adventurers capable of capturing them. Some believe these collectors are benign, simply locking away dangerous undead, but the true aims of the collectors are a mystery.
Undead Nature. A poe doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.
Redead
Dry, shambling corpses adorned with simple clay masks, redeads stalk ruins and desecrated tombs. Their shrill cries chill the love of the living, leaving them frozen in fear.
Cursed Masks. The creation of redeads relies on their clay masks. Despite their simple appearance, the masks are created by dark rituals and when placed on a corpse, enact a short-lived false resurrection. The masks have no effect on the living.
False Resurrection. When a redead’s mask is placed on a corpse, it brings the body back to life for 24 hours. Once applied, the mask cannot be removed without the intervention of a remove curse spell or similar magic. The mask has a fiendish spark embedded within it that allows it to access the memories of the corpse and impersonate it for a short time. When the 24 hours ends, the spark is exhausted and the redead becomes a feral beast, lacking any memories of its past life or a glimmer of its intellect.
Necromancer’s Tool. Necromancers sometimes turn their enemies into redeads to mine their memories for useful information before turning them loose as undead attack dogs to guard their lairs. Less powerful necromancers have traveled in the guise of clerics, taking advantage of the grieving for coin. They bring the corpses of the recently departed back to life in exchange for food, shelter, and gold, and leave town in the dead of night before their treachery can be discovered.
Horrid Appetites. The cruel process of false resurrection leaves redeads stripped of all personality and memory save for the faint memory of beating hearts, pumping blood, and gasping breath. This leaves them with a sort of animalistic jealousy toward the living, causing them to attack on sight, wailing in frustration, and attempting to consume living flesh.
Undead Nature. A redead doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.
Design Notes
If the designs themselves don’t make it clear, my approach to homebrew is typically to look for creatures that do what I’m after and cobble abilities from them together until I get something satisfying.
I was a little stumped about what to do for poe lore. A poe isn’t really all that different from a ghost or will-o’-wisp. I like what I came up with, and I think a “ghost collector” is an even more interesting idea to throw into your game than a poe alone.
On the other hand, I’m quite pleased with my work on the redead. It explains the redead in a way that doesn’t necessarily fly in the face of its video game origins but fits nicely in a typical D&D setting. I did consider making the cursed mask its own magical item, but I think its got enough explanation within the text to work as is.
I was concerned that the bog mummy and the redead would have too much overlap, but I think I managed to give them similar attack strategies while still feeling usefully different.
That’s all for now. To see these glammed up in D&D style with some extra doo-dads to boot, check GM Binder. Until next time!
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