Dungeons and Dragons Lore : Mummy

Many cultures around the world have preserved the dead via mummification. The oldest known naturally mummified human corpse is a severed head dated as 6,000 years old, found in South America. Over one million animal mummies have been found in Egypt, many of which are cats.
The ritual of preservation saw the brain liquefied by a rod, then drained out via the nose, the inside of the skull was then disinfected. A long incision along the flank gave access to internal organs, each removed and preserved either in jars or placed back into the body. The abdominal cavity was then rinsed with palm wine and an infusion of crushed, fragrant herbs and spices (everything except frankincense), then the entire body was dehydrated in salt for around seventy days, before being washed and wrapped in special bandages soaked in waterproof and anti-microbial gum. The wrapped body was then placed in a wooden case, then into a stone sarcophagus, and placed upright against the wall of a tomb.
One example of a warning Curse written in a tomb is "As for all men who shall enter this my tomb, impure, there will be judgment, an end shall be made for him, I shall seize his neck like a bird, I shall cast the fear of myself into him"
The Mummy is one of Dungeons and Dragons most classic monsters and one of the most powerful undead, not quite as formidable as the Lich.
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[@Joemantler]

I know this was posted 4 years ago, but I still want to weigh in. The key with Mummys is DRY WEATHER! Egypt has the desert. South America, Tibet and other places have high altitudes! You don't need the whole Egyptian mythos, but you do need dry climates! You wont get Mummys in the rain forest, or tropical isles, or swamps. HOWEVER, you can get a cool thing with a Bog Body! "These conditions include highly acidic water, low temperature, and a lack of oxygen which combine to preserve but severely tan their skin. While the skin is well-preserved, the bones are generally not, due to the acid in the peat having dissolved the calcium phosphate of bone." Imagine a boneless undead moving towards you, half slither, half... slime style! Ewww! Creepy and scary!

[@gabrielshervo678]

Mummy Lords are to Clerics as Liches are to Wizards. Priest-Kings, doncha know.

[@Nerdarchy]

I kept thinking when is AJ going to mention the mummy Lord I was not disappointed. Skeleton bucket brigade!- Nerdarchist Dave

[@AJPickett]

+Nerdarchy Skeletons are so handy!

[@warpmaster1597]

In my current campaign,which has a tropical setting ,i plan on using Mummy Lizardmen .They are wrapped in giant snake skin and placed in places of old knowledge.

[@AJPickett]

+Darren Urquhart That is a great idea!

[@Swatman170]

Warpmaster I'm actually doing sort of a combination of that and the more Egyptian desert motif. He was a king of the lizardfolk of that area very long ago, still using crocodile skins and aesthetics. I did not think of this at the time, but I am now, basically a combination of Warhammer Lizardmen and Tomb Kings.

[@adamwelch8445]

Warpmaster neat

[@Klancer2]

That intro drum riff is Deathklok's Face Fisted. It is one hundred percent ultra suited to Goliaths, and good vibe music when making any kind of barbarian character.

[@ChasoGod]

You know... Perhaps Imhotep from 'The Mummy' was accidentally made a Mommy Lord instead of a regular Mummy. His followers were made into regular ones, but when he was cursed they accidentally used the Mummy Lord ritual thinking it was a worse punishment than the regular ritual.

[@krispalermo8133]

Instead of inking spells onto dead skin, they brand or crave/ draw/ scrap the symbols into the skin with a hot copper/ bronze pencil thick rod/ pen. Then wrap and entomb they alive with insects.

[@thevoidcritter]

I'm "homebrewing" up a boss that I call the Bog King, but he's just a reskinned mummy lord that uses druid spells instead of cleric spells. (He's also a bog body as opposed to a traditional/stereotypical mummy and I'm probably going to reskin the heart into something else.)

[@AJPickett]

Sounds good!

[@adreabrooks11]

Interesting counterpoint: In a quarter-century of gaming, I have never played a game where the mummies were particularly "Egyptesque," to the point that I was a bit surprised when you mentioned that some people are overly tied to it. Naturally, I know the origins of the "mummy's curse" trope, and I love the Brandon Frasier and Bruce Campbell movies; but it never occurred to me (or any of my DMs/GMs, apparently), to give in-game mummies an Egyptian-style flavour. After all, undead are a product of their environment, and a dwarven mummy wrapped in linens with runes made from iron ink; or elvish mummies lying in peat bogs, next to their black-stained bows and clad in night-dark leather armour; or a tribe of polar barbarians whose dead lie waiting beneath the permafrost until they are needed for the greatest of battles... well, it's just a better fit. For my part, I'd love to hear a few stories about how people *did* incorporate Egyptian motifs, without coming off as Hallowe'en kitschy. I imagine it would be a world where the likes of Anubis and Osiris feature into the pantheon, but I would be interested t hear how DMs pull such a thing off, while still retaining immersion.

[@bigmonkey1254]

The Tomb Lords from Warhammer fantasy are really cool. They're Egyptian themed and have a legacy where their great kings are preserved and sort of "set" to return in a time of great need or prosperity to lead again. There's a very rich history of their more famous and infamous kings and the powerful magics they wielded.

[@warriorwithin44]

I've placed Ice mummies in isolated mountain areas that were very high altitude in campaigns. In the Homebrew world I use, the tribes who live on those desolate heights aren't able to bury their dead normally due to the sheer rock so honored dead are placed on shelves in ice caves wrapped in ritual robes where the sheer cold preserved the bodies

[@seigram1587]

Mummy lord that used to be a ranger ... the ultimate hunter ..slowly lurking, placing traps, observing, learning........taking the party to the underworld one by one, once you can smell him its too late

[@vinx.909]

fun fact: natural mummies exist: bog mummies and ice mummies could make for great surprises that also just look horrific (a mummie is really just a dried up corpse. any corpse that's not eten by scavangers(much) in an area where there's no water will turn into a zombie). i also strongly advice making the cure conditional. remove curse is a 3rd lv spell that a lot of characters get access to, which would make it barely a problem if the characters can take a rest (if you don't like rushing your players all the time they generally can). make it need a specific material, or cast during a full moon on top of a mountain. suddenly it's something the players have to care about instead of just "i'll prepare remove curse tomorrow".

[@krispalermo8133]

Cast spell then the cleric must make a Diplomacy skill check. Along with the person/ pc being treated loses a Xp class HD level as the god strip energy from them as payment.

[@vinx.909]

@@krispalermo8133 1. xp drain relies on the game using individual xp, while group xp seems to leave in favour of milestones. 2. Hp drain doesn't have rules for recovery other that the standard regain it all on a long rest (a rule I honebrewed away). 3. This in general relies on a transactional exchange between cleric and God, while most clerics I see are more avatars for their god - - -. They do the will of their god, and what God's want people who aid in their goals to die to mummy rot? 4. And most importantly: this uniqually attacks restoring character (aka healers), a group that many already call a thankless role. Sorry, but I don't see any of those as good suggestions.

[@krispalermo8133]

@@vinx.909 Sorry I should have made my statement clear in regards to the level drain. When a PC is brought back from death with Raised Dead or other spell they lose a Hd/ level due to the shock of shifting back from spirit into the material plane. IR, when people are brought back from heart attacks, they normally have to deal with constitution problems for the rest of their life cause of damage heart muscles. My two game shops over the years also plays White Wolf/ World of Darkness : Vampire, werewolf, mage, changeling, wraith which is a Xp/dot/point system. And creating some powerful magic items demand the PC give up a dot of willpower/8xp which is a month of larp RP Xp. Other more powerful items require a attritbute/ ability score point dot in the given arcanos. Example " Wish, " AD&D2ndE ages the years 5years to cast for humans, elf it was 50 years. 3rdE it cost 5,000 xp. In WW/WoD mage it would cost the require spell level casting dot/level of power. My shops tried " mana " pools, spell components/tass, if you don't have the tass spells cost Spell level x caster level x 10XP. Fireball 3rd level spell x 6th-level caster =180xp. But spell result could more Xp back then what was spent. Along with having a wizard fork over 6 temporary hit point dmg in casting.

[@vinx.909]

@@krispalermo8133 raise dead already has a mechanics like that: you subtract 4 from every roll, lowered by 1 for each long rest. all the other options you gave still seem as terrible ideas to introduce: permanently reduce the strength of a character for being raised from the dead incentives leaving any character that's dead to be replaced instead of being raised. raising them already has a monetary cost, but your character is still your character, not a diminished version. being diminished also doesn't make a lot of sense in a setting like fearun. (irl you also can't be fully healed from a proper stabwound and it'll always leave scar tissue which leave you with problems, yet we ignore that in games too) 5e games (how people play, not perse technically what's in the rules) largely move away from using xp, so any system that's builds on xp is being outdated to the players. xp drain on every spell seems utterly useless for tons of reasons: 1. if it means less xp it moves people away from playing casters over martial classes. 2. if it means more xp it moves people to casters over martial classes. 3. if it evens out it adds complexity and paperwork without purpose. 4. it adds more mechanics to the already more complex classes which already have a barrier to entry. 5. if it only evens out with effective spell use it moves people away from using spells for fun. hp drain on casting spells is also a terrible idea imo. casters are balanced by a small hp pool. a lv 1 wizard has between 6 and 8 health. you want to drain health on the standard action for the classes with the lowest amount of health? you see the problem? this is why i say to add a consumed material component to remove curse. it's monetary and/or fetch quest, it makes a curse linger, but once the material component is acquired the character is fully back. depending on the group the monetary drain can be split within the group or put on the people who are responsible, or trying to get the quest giver to pay for it as hazard pay which can add to a social encounter. i'm (obviously) not saying you shouldn't play the games you do, just that and why i really won't (:

[@krispalermo8133]

@@vinx.909 Home group playing with friends most of the time is the best way to go, but there are still problems. Then there are other things to deal with. 1.) Being a D&D fan and non of your friends want to play table top, video games or anything else is better than reading rule books and doing math along with record keep of a character sheet. 2.) The first game shop I went to was back in 1997 when I was 20 years old, been to a few house games in my area but those never really went well enough for serious long time campaign play. Then there was the snob'ish social in group behavior to the new guy. 3.) My first game shop ran White Wolf/ World of Darkness: Vampire the Masquerade, VtM .. which were a bunch of elitist jerks to D&D players. The two other ttrpg which were played when I started was WEG west end games Star Wars RPG d6 system and AD&D2ndE. And the DMs that ran D&D had a bunch of .. different .. game house rules which equal to the level of b.s. Full detail on the way things went would require eight paragraphs on the variants ways I learn to play in a give game on how each group run play. Rolling a Spellcraft non proficiency/ skill check to cast a spell in combat is not a new thing. Along with some DMs just hated anything doing with magic. 4.) So as for myself and all the other odd balls that got screwed over by the jerk DMs that want to play with the .. cool .. older players in their thirties & fifties. We built up our own open campaign setting. The place was big enough to have player vs player groups and other the .. tradition .. from 1stE and written into 2ndE, when a PC dies you rip that PC sheet into two. Then in mass tournament play, the victor of combat get the other players' equipment. so when the owner DM games in my/ our campaign .. it was fair open season. Which cause some people to get spank .. hard. So they social bullied young players and they lost in an encounter in game, hand over your equipment sheet, your PC is now dead. a.) Walked in one day seen the group with three snobs and two other players running a game with a 16 year old just sitting there cause he did know the rules and he would just mess up the flow of the story being told, stand VtM non sense. So I start a game up with him and gave him eight PC of two from each class so he could work out voice role acting and how to move the PC around on the tactical map. Snob leader, " You can't do that, the book says one player equals one PC ! When a DM runs a Solo game with a single player they only get one PC." Owner of the game shop grins .. really .. big, " It's .. His .. game, his rules." Around an hour later one of the .. cool .. older players came that also DM some great games ask what was going on. After he got fill in with the whiners, he sat down at my table and ask to join in. I said he could play up to eight PC, he said he stick with two of them. After around another 3ominutes three from the other group left the lead snob and his yes man follower. 5.) WotC 3e D&D/ Star Wars came out. The old WEG Star Wars players started to mix all their favorite things into the new Star Wars system along with taking Short Rests and applying Vitality/ wound points to D&D. Jedi spend their vitality/ hp to power their Force skill power checks. 6.) Other than the prep snow flake VtM that look down on other game systems, the rest of us played everything and mixed everything. If a 6th-level wizard with the Int:18 wanted to cast .. Wish, we had a system work out on that. 7.) To take your state 4. out of contexts, " .. it adds more mechanics to the already more complex classes which already have a barrier to entry." AD&D2ndE purest, how to find them at a public game shop of the age group in their 40's +. ... just say Thac Oh. a.) You roll 3d6 for each ability score strait down the row, you don't place the states where you want them. b.) You have to roll for you class, you can't just .. chose .. to play a paladin, ranger, bard cause you want to. After a few months of that we early 20 year old told the older players to F.. Off, and ran our own games, it is fantasy role playing. If the 18 year old wants to play a paladin he can in my game and he can just have the ability state to do so. c.) Deal with murder hobo players where their DM hands out Lich and dragons as XP snacks and way too much treasure. The write down on their PC sheets being neutral good and play as chaotic stupid. 8.) Other than house rules, when 3rdE came out with its multi-classing, we just did away with 2ndE rules on multi-classes & dual classing rules, cause case in point. Dragon Lance and Forgotten Realms never keep their novels' magic and PC skill behavior in line with the RPG books. 9.) Few thing which got me in life, I'm forty years old and I met a few old players from 17 to 25 years ago from my first game shop and high school. And they still have the index cards which I drew D&D and White Wolf werewolf/ mage magic equipment on. When I got treasure in game or made a game, I would draw equipment treasure cards to hand out as trade items. Even Spellcards, so during the DM calling actions, I would hold up what I was using in a given action. Fun keep sakes to look at years later to remind you of adventure. 10.) More or less wasted $ 200 on 4thE, haven't touch 5e, and haven't been in a game for close to 15 years. So all my thinking runs in WoD VtM d10, WEG, AD&D2ndE, and 3rdE. Silliest game I was in when I was 20 years old, I sit down in a game of " My Little Pony," cause the game was for the DMs daughters and her friends. After his wife took his girls home, he ran " Nightmares." .. yeah I played roll under your ability state score to pass a non weapon proficiency check system role playing a pony and later a neutral evil demon shape horse. So you have any fun games stories to share ?

[@olivierreiners6848]

A bit of a personal problem I always had with mummies is: How can a corpse that is treated to be conserved, pass on arotting disease?

[@AJPickett]

It's a supernatural affliction, not a microbial one.

[@Giganfan2k1]

Two possible answers: Because the disease is perserved. For instance if you had a C. Diff patient spit into a container that is antibacterial stuff but doesn't specifically destroy bacterial cysts. The container would look like antibiotics. But if you treat someone with it they get C. Diff. One of the reasons hospitals lock down C. Diff patients. Or second option. If you want something even more sciency. Could work like Botulism. The bacteria is literally everywhere in anerobic ecosystems. However, it only becomes a major health problem when there is an environment anaerobic enough to support a colony. Like lets say on a rusty piece of metal. Therefore mummy rot is an extremophile that needs mummification to become a problem?

[@nokomarie1963]

@@Giganfan2k1 Erm, more like if you allowed the c-diff pt. to handle the medication with their unwashed hands. It's the poo that's infective, not saliva.

[@bray2964]

Maybe it's a virus, so it can't work on dead cells?

[@Mare_Man]

If you're not partial to the old-fashioned cadaver wrapped in linen, a mummy tattooed with the necessary spellwork and preserved in a bog or in a block of enchanted ice could work just as well

[@electromancer2645]

I like the Dethklok intro

[@Klancer2]

100% suited to any kind of Goliath or barbarian character.

[@MisterTutor2010]

Mummy: Undead female parent who has returned to nag her still living children :)

[@AJPickett]

+MisterTutor2010 Great, now I am picturing a bandaged head with curlers on it, a pink fluffy dressing gown and one slipper on the foot, one in the hand ready to deliver the slam attack.

[@MisterTutor2010]

+AJ Pickett (The Mighty Gluestick) special powers include Guilt Trip, which functions like a Geas spell. Failure to comply makes victim feel terrible about themselves :)

[@pete8420]

MisterTutor2010 why don't you call me?!

[@uglarinn2715]

Makes me think of that video with the Scottish mom scolding her children for not flushing the toilet. Only the mom is a mummy with curlers lol.

[@bleatsdgoat3638]

I used a Yuan-Ti cult who mummified their elite Pureblood monks and chained them for the day their god returned. When first encountered, the mummy had a stone mask, and stone manacles covering it's hands, dragging chains of it's imprisonment. The players fought it off at a low level, and thinking it dead, removed it's mask to study. When the mummy attacked again, they were higher level and the mummy had more of it's powers as it was free of the mask. In the course of the fight it's stone manacles were broken, but again it was defeated. When it came back again it inflicted mummy rot with it's now exposed fists, so the villain essentially leveled up with the players, providing a meaningful challenge as it regained it's power and someof it's memories and ultimately was faced as a mummy lord.

[@Menzobarrenza]

That's a very cool idea. I might use it as inspiration.

[@walterbunn280]

Ehh... the slam attack is the most common vector, but that's more for expedience. Mummy's are dangerous because even casual contact with them inflicts the mummy rot. You don't need to be punched to have the rot infect you. Honestly, I've always thought that the Dungeon and Dragon's Mummy was more of a demon than an undead, but the quasi-lich take sounds kinda cool.

[@krispalermo8133]

Vengeful ghost reanimating their corpus.

[@That80sGuy1972]

I'm a 2nd Ed guy... haven't been much more than a player after that. In 1st and 2nd Ed, Mummies were Positive Material energy plane undeads. Yes, that was an undead status. Diseases were living curses, the necromantic spell Contagion was a positive energy attack, bolstering invading microbes, with a negative energy attack, reducing the body's defenses... so was Cure Disease because it bolsters the body to overcome its diseases via positive and kill invading microbes via negative. The Mummy Rot was a Positive Material energy plane based curse. It inflicts its disease and its curse Positive Material energy plane bolsters the disease. Mummies used to be Positive Material energy undeads because even that plane can be perverted in necromancy the same way a Necromancer can be a "White Necromancer" and use the specialty to use the art for healing. I see 3rd Ed and all reduced it all back down to "black hat" vs. "white hat" and made all of the undead negative material. For Gygax's sake on this and other lazy writings, I am glad he is resting in peace. Thanks for the great video on this, AJ. I am a devoted viewer of yours because you make me less of a dinosaur.

[@BAN3FromNoWhere]

Currently trying to build a one-off where the players are hired by a local lord to assist an archeological expedition to investigate a pyramid that, according to freaked out villagers from the other side of the mountain, rose out of the ground one day. Nothing seems to have happened in the two weeks it took to gather the party to investigate, so they go in and find that it's designed to keep something in just as much as it was designed to keep others out. Long story short, there is a long forgotten mummified demigod in there that the archeologist accidentally wakes up.

[@trentonmaloney3280]

mummies are cool. you could mummify just about any creature. giant snakes or whatever.also in the game diablo, there were these mummies that looked like a combination of creatures like a horse skull on human body,but mummy wrapped.like the wrappings themselves create an undead golem like creature.neet vid as always.

[@AJPickett]

+trenton maloney Diablo II was the best Diablo.

[@trentonmaloney3280]

yeah, my son got 3 but said he dosent like it

[@budahbaba7856]

Great memories, that desert section of Diablo 2. That was always my favorite part of the game! :)

[@One_Eyed_Man_]

If I remember right, they had crocodile heads.

[@derrabbit7289]

Could be an ancient priest of Nyarlathotep with ghouls apeing the ancient civilization and acting to bring forth some far realm horror

[@ironkeepgaming1936]

I’m going to make a dungeon that references Castlevania, and there will be mummies in the dungeon, a vampire will be the dungeon boss, the dungeon will be a giant castle in the shadowfell, there will be a mummy dragon boss that breathes acid

[@krispalermo8133]

Mummy dragon breathes suffocating plague breath as a dark cloud. Full of tiny nates that chew the skin as sand fleas do.

[@rylog8]

Casual reminder that "mummified" dinosaurs are also a thing irl, and the Egyptians intentionally mummified animals like cats and crocodiles.

[@krispalermo8133]

Cats ?! Oh .. zhit, ... Pet Cemetery ... !

[@Giganfan2k1]

Octopus has such low Int? WTF. Well it is a fantasy setting. IRL octopi should have like 9, arguably 8 Int.

[@thrillhouse4151]

I really liked the description of the zombies in a mummies employ pulling their nasty moist insides out of their rotting bellies and throwing them onto a fire to extinguish it.

[@krispalermo8133]

I have my audio up to 40 and still have a hard time relistening to this video. I know it is seven years old. Could use an update but I know you are .. very .. busy. Along with there are currently other gaming system/settings you will be reviewing. Ravenloft AD&D2ndE had " Van Ritchen guide to Ancient Dead " covering mummy as a gothic ghost story written by the author's point of view. Most games I ever played didn't bother to up play the Dread effect. AD&D mummy lord had a necklace that healed the mummy lord for 2d8hp each round but didn't cover how such items were made by AD&D limitations on magic items having charges. Then Wotc came out with 3e and had rules on Magic Trap Items with unlimited charges. And we twist the rules of 6th-level cleric could create a mummy along with playing around casting a bit of AD&D spells such as Life-Link to temporary bind a spirit to its corpus, Animate Dead and Bestow Curse to rise and defeat their tomb and burial goods. Then again as a plot point, a mummified corpus could just rise as a Wight to attack grave looters of their tomb. Or a Ghost that could animate corpuses. Also there is nothing wrong with a ghost that had the combined power effects of a ghost, mummy, and wight. All depends on what type of one shot horror story games you want to play. 2.) Mummy are natural pickle in oxygen depleted water, so where will you find oxygen depleted water in an ancient or medieval village/town ? Answer, blacksmith or swordsmith shop for cooling/tempering blades. Missing person, murder mystery of a person that disappear during town fair. Guy was brutal murder in a smith shop and body stuff in a water barrel and rolled in the back till things quite down, but was forgotten over a few days of drinking. Left for months to pickle till reawakening the following fair. Story could be written off as a Reverent, but the N/PC was stabbed, toss into the forge fire and rolled around burning, stab repeatedly and then when he stop moving was put in a water barrel. When the Reverent/ mummy came back to kill off his murders, one of his victims cough up water and drown on dryland as a form of Mummy Rot. The other players laugh, " He was still alive and drown in a barrel of water !" Needless to say we were PCing neutral evil thief guild members. Along with anytime the mummy stab someone to death, they were set on fire from out of nowhere for extra damage and dramatic effect. Also the Dread effect was in action the full time. So any villages and town folk where in terror any time the mummy pass them by during anytime of the day. Sweet story where paladins and Lg clerics team up with a Le form undead bandit to hunt down his murders to Very Quickly put a vengeful spirit to rest, along with cleaning out the thief guild. Then received a former religious burial with honors. Sadly after a few months the mummy push his way out of the crypt grave, and climbed into a water barrel in the back of the smithy. See you next fair season week.

[@AJPickett]

Excellent

[@InquisitorThomas]

Personally I like to take influence from the Tomb Kings in Old Warhammer Fantasy, where the all the mummies are essentially intelligent wights that were mummified believing they rise from the dead one day, until all the mummies created over the course of millennia were all resurrected in one great necromantic ritual and now they are in their tombs plotting with their own armies of lesser mummified retainers.

[@beckaldo8741]

What is the difference between a Lich and a Mummy Lord? A Lich clings to life and like a parasite it feeds on the living. A Mummy Lord accepts death and becomes its shepherd. Both of them are paths to immortality but one is a decision based on a selfish desire to live while the other is a duty to ones beliefs. I don't think a Mummy Lord just chooses to be one. I think it has to do with servitude to their deity but more importantly their beliefs. Only those who have shown true loyalty and faith can earn the privilege of being a Mummy Lord. When someone becomes one it is to forever serve their beliefs. A Mummy Lord is more impressive to me because of that. They don't have blind ambition. They don't cling to the petty feelings of a mortal creature. They are driven by faith to the point where they give themselves entirely to their cause. What is more terrifying than faith that has persisted? Faith that has been challenged and yet remains stronger over the years? I can only imagine that living forever and seeing the world change around you would make you extremely wise. It would allow you to see a lot of what you wouldn't be able to see in the day to day. It would allow you to challenge your perspectives and inevitably become wiser. As we know Mummy Lords draw their power from Wisdom, that means they would grow in power. They would never really stop growing as long as they keep themselves open. Allow themselves to challenge their beliefs yet still find a way back to their root values. Eventually they would start to see new paths to their religion. Things they might never have considered in life. It is in that I believe the Mummy Lord would excel over the Lich. Not through might. But through understanding. To the point where they might outlast the Lich. Waiting for the Lich to simply extinguish due to their short sighted ambitions. A Lich is a king without a kingdom. Without souls to syphon they falter and die like any other creature. A Mummy Lord is nourished by faith. They don't need anything else and though some might find servitude to one's ideal debilitating, it can be liberating for those who are firmly set in those ideals. Who enjoy pondering them. Challenging them. Overcoming opposing ideals through rational thought. The mark of wisdom is not blind belief. It is understanding that our beliefs are not truth but speculation. That the pursuit for truth is about constant growth and change but to always retain the core ideals of the self. To push to the brink but to never fall into madness. Wisdom allows us to break the shell of our egos and expand. I would make a Mummy Lord a BBEG. But I would make them the kind of villain that doesn't simply attack needlessly. I would make them well read, intelligent, open minded but with the wisdom of centuries behind them. I would make them a Lord in the more literal sense. They would be a Warrior-Monk who created an empire. Their ideals and faith in the divine allowing them to achieve status as a Mummy Lord. But they were betrayed. Cast into shadows to never be named or ushered. But in that darkness their faith kept them strong. The longer they persisted, the more they were challenged, the stronger they became. Eventually their faith was so powerful they were able to reach out into the world. They called upon long dead subjects. The undead all converging on their final resting place. The entire campaign would be trying to survive this entire ordeal. Whether that means joining the BBEG or slaying them is entirely up to the party. It just seems like this kind of monster excels at being more methodical. Lichs feel like they are a bit more on the Emperor Palpatine vibe. The whole "Ultimate Power" they have is kind of eh to me. Conviction through ideals feels more intimidating. It doesn't mean Lichs can't have it. But Lichs do have a selfish motivation. I don't know why I am saying all this. I think I just kind of had the late night jitters.

[@krispalermo8133]

Paragraph and nicely written, I enjoy the read.

[@james739123]

A Mummy Lord to a Lich: You haven't conquered death, you cower in fear of it.

[@koosh138]

I think I'd like to do something along the lines of having the mummy summon others or convert the living into serving it and amassing a bigger army to accomplish its task and the longer the players try to ignore it the bigger the army would get.

[@smarke9]

I ran a mummy lord based on the Buddhist "living mummy" traditions, which was pretty horrific. She started meditating and took only tea made from embalming herbs, and, upon the cusp of death, her body was preserved in amber. The patrons of the temple believed that she was halted at the door between life and death and could thus protect souls on both sides. It was more setting than plot in my game, but I loved the idea and hope to revisit it some day.

[@rolandmarktorralba7658]

These awesome monster ecology vids actually help me decide what monsters I use for our weekly games. Keep 'em coming :D

[@AJPickett]

+Roland Mark Torralba Happy to help, and yes sir, shall do!

[@rolandmarktorralba7658]

aww yeah! :D

[@TheDrexxus]

I love egyptian style mummies. Everything about it just feels so ominous... You start with one of the harshest and most horrible terrains imaginable. A vast, lifeless desert. No land marks to navigate with because there is nothing but ever shifting sand dunes. The heat is enough to kill you on it's own. There is no food or water to be had, so if you run out for any reason you're already dead. Then during the night, the temperature drops to freezing, and the creatures that dwell beneath the sands begin to wake up to hunt in the dark because the day is just too punishing even for monsters. Things like scorpions, spiders, snakes, and lizards, and most of them have extremely toxic and deadly venom. Simply the trek through such a place would be next to impossible without an experienced guide and a lot of preparation in advance, and then it would still be dangerous, prone to all kinds of things going wrong. Then you arrive... A monolithic structure in the center of a desert wasteland. The type of scene that is difficult to replicate in just about any other environment. An ancient structure that is so old, it probably predates not just what country/kingdom you hail from, but your entire civilization. A structure that stood in defiance of time from an age when the entirety of history that you know had not even happened yet. You enter to find it full of magical traps to kill intruders, but otherwise it is dark, lifeless, and completely silent. A place not even the native snakes and insects venture into out of some kind of instinctive fear. But as you venture deeper inside, the pyramid begins to awaken, as if the structure itself is sentient and becoming aware of you after resting for who knows how many ages. Your food spoils. Your water evaporates. One of many curses laid upon this place, and sealing the fate of absolutely everyone who does not have some magical means of creating sustenance or those with the knowledge and foresight to leave your supplies outside. At this point, without those things, you're already dead, and you know it. You don't even have to encounter any monsters, the heat and lack of water will end you in one of the worst and most painful ways to die. You know you're doomed, but can do nothing about it but wait for it to happen. So many ways to die... And that's all before even encountering a single monster. I feel like the whole atmosphere of these types of mummies are just unmatched.

[@derrabbit7289]

Just change up the aesthetics and a mummy can be in any tomb. Viking mummies are like Skyrim Draugr, and South American mummies would be like an undead god king or priest. Could also be an ancient warlord of some Conan world empire

[@Birbucifer]

Der Rabbit That’s a very good point, especially considering that the Ancient Nords actually used very similar techniques that the Ancient Egyptians used to mummify their corpses. I’m considering adding Polynesian inspired mummies to my campaign since it takes place in an island nation and already has alot of hawaiian influences.

[@rickeymariu1]

I'm about to put my party against some Tibetan style monk zombies.... its gonna be good

[@ironkeepgaming1936]

One of the villans of my d and d campaign is a mummy king in a steam punk castle.

[@maxsteel4934]

I know this is old but still a awesome video man and well it gave me a idea for a Nobel warrior turned into a mummy lord as a punishment from a dark god he once defied I would use him as a hero still but since none trust him he has to act though others Kinda like a immortal curse and never able to earn his reward thing

[@Huggamugger1]

My groups have always affectionately called, failing a save vs Mummy Rot as contracting a case of the dropsys. So in 5th edition, every time they take damage, reducing their maximum hit points, their body decays and a piece of them falls off. Depending upon the percent of damage they've taken from their original hit points would determine how bad of a case of dropsys they contract. It really ups the threat level of a mummy especially when you start joking about the possibly of their willies falling off. :-P And remember that since in the real world a mundane mummy can be spontaneously created through various means you can give them different powers. A mummy that was created in a particularly foul and evil bog may have different powers to mess with what players might be expecting. Giving them immunity to fire but vulnerability to some other element like ice (permafrosting them) might be an interesting twist.

[@krispalermo8133]

Bog mummy, you slowly drown in your own mucus in coughing fits.

[@davidfletcher6703]

It would be interesting to have a mummy that comes from the old creator races like the Avian, Saurach, Betrachi, and Yuanti

[@HowtoRPG]

Thanks AJ.

[@yawnos]

Isn't the int score of a dog 2? Because I was fairly certain 3 was the minimum possible for humans or did that change after D&D 3.5?

[@AJPickett]

Sounds about right.

[@ArtKidTV]

A great addition to any game/story. I always enjoyed the mummies of HeroQuest for their rather tough and thick look unlike many other concepts and miniatures of mummies out there.

[@AJPickett]

+Arthur Kidawa (The Kidawa Show) Yeah, one thing I suggest people ignore, is that a dehydrated human corpse is actually quite light weight, the body, without the wrappings, weighs only 5 pounds.

[@ArtKidTV]

AJ Pickett Right. With a bit of magic it can even be a hulking menace like.. Mummra!

[@deanlol]

I love the idea of mummies but everytime I use them players burn them to death within two rounds.

[@AJPickett]

Put the encounter in a room full of Argon gas.. no oxygen, no fire.

[@deanlol]

@@AJPickett great idea but, what ancient civilization would build a pyramid, entomb the dead and fill it with argon gas? No verisimilitude for me.

[@AJPickett]

@@deanlol The Pyramids were built right next to the shore of the Nile (it has since changed course a bit), what if rising groundwater floods the chambers of the mummies?

[@deanlol]

@@AJPickett that would work against torches and oil. Magic fire isn't retarded by water. I could see a wet mummy maybe not being as vulnerable to fire. It might be pretty cool to see a wet mummy because the flesh wouldn't be dry. It would look more skeletal with rags and flesh hanging from it.

[@RobDastardly]

Have the chamber filled with Methane gas. Particularly for a Mummy Lord who has his heart stored elsewhere, he can afford to take an “I die, you die” stance.

[@thefox347]

Mummy's: terms and conditions may apply.

[@PumpkinSeries]

I am inspiring to play a mummy character in this 5e campaign, “Demons of the Sands”. It is a campaign by my fellow coworkers and I wanted to play an inspired mummy cleric. Although mummies are depicted usually as undead evil, I wanted to take the Undying (good) template for inspiration, which is distinct from undead (evil). Also, just a fan of Egyptian lore so vibing to this fantasy Egyptian game is gonna be lit.

[@thehillz726]

reptile races using the more Latin american styles of mummification or any swamp dwelling shaman making peat bog mummies would be my go to, or one based those weird Buddhist monk mummies acting as receptacles of the orders knowledge or mouthpieces for the god they serve/ venerate.

[@brianroberts783]

So rewatching this video just now has given me some awesome ideas which may or may not be connected. First of all, I thought about why a god might want one of its servants to continue as a Mummy or Mummy Lord. This led me to an idea where a Mummy or more likely a Mummy Lord is charged with guarding a portal to that god's realm. In particular, I think I'll use it as a guard on a portal to the Astral Plane that leads to the place where Anubis watches over the corpses of dead gods. Secondly, the part about Mummy Lords reconstituting their body somewhere else and having to make their way back to their tomb led me to the idea of using a disguised Mummy Lord as a random encounter. It could even be a Mummy Lord that the party previously defeated, and they just run into it on the road, wrapped up in the heavy, protective robes common to desert peoples. Give them a Perception check to see if they can recognize it as a Mummy Lord, with a lower DC if they've already fought it. But the most fun part would be just having it act like a normal NPC since the party isn't currently triggering its murder script.

[@Veridiansolar]

Question. If mummy rot is a curse and not a disease , does that mean a vampire can be afflicted with mummy rot?

[@AJPickett]

Hmmm... I'll allow it (just because I hate vampires)

[@krispalermo8133]

@@AJPickett Well, mummy rot used to be base on positive energy ... So I would say vampires would suffer twice the damage and die in half the time.

[@Tellion12]

YES! Thank you so much, you're the best! :D

[@AJPickett]

+Tellion12 Thanks for the feedback!

[@rickeymariu1]

I used a south American style mummy lord and temple who basically were the ones in charge of keeping Vecnas eye and hand locked up

[@BigDad138]

Hahaha that's funny, right now in my campaign I created a Pyramid of Vecna. It's one of his 5 Pyramids and the main one will hold his hand and eye. The PC's are about to get fucked up.

[@JPdrrraws]

Very interesting is Sokushinbutsu. East path practised by monks. Basically - Entering mummification while alive.

[@kevinchristiansen4348]

mummies, that dude you piss off by treating him and his stuff with disrespect. he destroys your charisma and makes you look bad until you make him happy lol

[@andirach]

In 2nd Ed, mummies are actually undead powered by Positive energy. Mummy rot actually functions as a form of cancer, which is why it is so difficult to cure. It never made a lot of sense, but there ya go.

[@gabrielshervo678]

Um, no. Check again. None of that is 2e official.

[@griffstridemoor29]

I really enjoy watching your videos, but you either need better recording equipment, bring it closer to your face or speak louder. That being said, I'm gonna continue to watch

[@kevinbarber2795]

Also, so an undead would still activate a mummy and be attacked by it right? Because if not, that’s an easy way to raid places guarded by mummy.

[@ThengelB]

Most D&D players have to encounter a mummy at least once a day, standing next to mirror

[@AJPickett]

What?

[@ThengelB]

@@AJPickett Well, noone wake up looking fresh

[@zmishiymishi5349]

im considering to come back as a mummyfied halfling

[@andrewsowl8696]

I wish they were still based on positive energy... Van R. Guide on mummies anyone

[@krispalermo8133]

Have all of Van Richten guides, love them. Then there is White Wolf/ World of Darkness.

[@antwan1357]

i know this is just off the top of my head but i saw a really cool creature called a WITCHWYRD i thought it was super cool can you do one from that PATHFINDER creature .

[@adrenalineunlimited]

I think I'd get along with you pretty well mate

[@kirkish001]

A little late to the video, but Im going to be using mummies with more the Inca in mind. Still in a desert, but no egyptian pyramids or scarab beetles, stuff like that. Yuan-ti slavers, undead ruins, and the resurgence of Vecnas artifacts. Possibly dinosaurs? Going for more of a Chult feel to it all

[@adamwelch8445]

I can apply this to my call of cutulu rpg because there version of a mummy is pretty basic

[@pete8420]

Do deathbat next. A7x fan here

[@johncouzens5321]

How do you have a different intro for tmg every time xD

[@Scianta]

Gotta chime in. Just watched episode iv of Moon Knight and had some revisional ideas spawned by their Mummy guardian. That one was the last remaining priest -sealed in to finish the final ritual of mummifying the servants sealed in with the Pharoh to join him in the afterlife... figure at least 8 or 9 dice equal to a vampire with 5th to 7th clerical skills, physical strength 17 to 19 (1st and 2nd ed. rating), I'd give it resistance to any weapon less than plus two and regenerative powers.

[@AJPickett]

That is some very powerful spellcasting for a lesser mummy.

[@Joemantler]

Mummys are not silent! they all make that noise just like in the Jonny Quest episode! BUMP! BUMP! BUMP!

[@akrdragon1240]

what about Dragon Mummy?

[@kevinbarber2795]

Viking mummy!

[@AJPickett]

Bjaaarg!

[@nocturnalsblade8121]

I would probably make a neutral mummy lord of a long dead race that guards the burial chamber of his people or a magical weapon of mass destruction that was used in ancient wars when the gods and primordials still walked the planet. Maybe a good align mummy that willing became one because a vision foretold that a group of adventurers would one day come here seeking knowledge that could save the world or something of the like and the mummy was given the knowledge that they need.

[@docop8926]

I'm goin TMG old school today!

[@ArtKidTV]

Ghouls!

[@AJPickett]

+Arthur Kidawa (The Kidawa Show) Mmmm I remember a Hammer Horror classic, a collection of stories.. one featured a half ghoul... *makes notes*

[@andirach]

AJ Pickett there was an issue of Dragon magazine that had stats for half-undead. Vampires, ghouls/ghasts, ghosts I think. Issue 313

[@MrTribAdris]

Too quite :(

[@AJPickett]

Older videos like this one will soon be remastered and updated with much better quality.

[@MrTribAdris]

@@AJPickett Looking forward for that video!

[@cheeseburgerdave2463]

Too many commercials man omg

[@AJPickett]

thanks for the feedback. your refund is in the mail.

[@napoleoninrags1346]

Yeah, but Tom Cruise still sucks

[@BLOODKINGbro]

Is a mummy not a zombie?

[@AJPickett]

Not a zombie, no.