Which undead should I use?

[Zexionthefirst]

At this point in my campaign, my players have encountered a Cleric of Pelor. Except he's not faithful to Pelor anymore. About five years ago, his wife fell ill. It's unknown if she kept it to herself, or if she was honestly unaware of what was ravaging her body. Long story short, she died.

And the Cleric found a new patron in the goddess Evening Glory. (Libris Mortis, goddess of Love, Beauty, and Immortality).

Evening Glory brought the wife back to life, but Pelor wasn't very happy about one of his followers abandoning him (let alone abandoning his faith for something advocating Undead). Pelor interceded in that limited way that gods can, and the wife came back as an undead monster.

Now, I had planned to use a ghoul with a couple of class levels tacked on, or even a Ghast. But, I'm wondering if anyone has any other ideas that might fight thematically. We're playing on Monday.

I'm wanting to keep the wife at around ELC of 4, to play into the Cleric's Undead Leadership feat (he can have a cohort of ELC4), but if it's thematic I might be willing to bend that a bit.

If it matters, the players will be a Half-elf Druid, and Halfling Rouge, a Tiefling Sorcerer, a human Favored Soul (sorta a one-off NPC who one of our friends will be playing for the session) and a Half-elf monk who has been kidnapped, and will probably be out of most of the fight.

Any ideas are welcome. Thank you in advance.

[Karl Aegis]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Pelor, The Burning Hate, Enemy of Undead, went out of his way to create an undead monstrosity? Is he actually some other deity in a wig?

[Falontani]

I honestly remember an undead creature that only occurs during a failed resurrection. It was pretty scary but something that didn't seem like it would ever come up (of course it will, its dnd) but I am having the hardest time finding it! I'd expect it to be from Libris Mortis or Heroes of Horror

[Zexionthefirst]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Pelor, The Burning Hate, Enemy of Undead, went out of his way to create an undead monstrosity? Is he actually some other deity in a wig?

The undead was going to be created regardless. This was more a curse affecting the wife's form when she was brought back to life. At least, that's what the Cleric believes.

The Party isn't really a high enough level to make the hop, skip, and jump over to ask him in person if he's really at fault.

[Blackhawk748]

A Wight is good or you can go with a Zombie with a bunch of extra HD or the Spellstiched template

[Feantar]

If it was a curse, why not make the wife a Curst (From Monsters of Faerun - not FR Specific). It makes her existence pretty much torturous, which would be a fitting punishment for the sadistic way most D&D deities are presented (even the good ones).

Another idea is making her a Quell - an antideity incorporeal undead (HD 5 - Libris Mortis p 116) which can disrupt a cleric's connection with their deity; a sort of personification of what he did from pelor's perspective. Note that making the Quell corporeal would reduce its CR, which might bring it to your requirements.

[Falontani]

Corpse Creature from Book of Vile Darkness (zombie with intelligence and purpose)
Or a Tainted Raver could be appropriate

[Zexionthefirst]

Another idea is making her a Quell - an antideity incorporeal undead (HD 5 - Libris Mortis p 116) which can disrupt a cleric's connection with their deity; a sort of personification of what he did from pelor's perspective. Note that making the Quell corporeal would reduce its CR, which might bring it to your requirements.

So, there are actually Quell appearing earlier in the dungeon. Two of them are set to be the second encounter they face (the first being two Raiment and a Tomb Mote from the same book). Elsewise, this would be a fantastic idea.


If it was a curse, why not make the wife a Curst (From Monsters of Faerun - not FR Specific). It makes her existence pretty much torturous, which would be a fitting punishment for the sadistic way most D&D deities are presented (even the good ones).

This. I like this a lot. I'm going to use the Crust. I think... I think the worst part is I don't see the Cleric knowing about Crusts not dieing at Zero HP. So, when the players defeat her, Cameron is going to be distraught, thinking his wife died again, that everything he's been going for the last 5 years was for nothing...

Thank you so much for this suggestion.