Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead

by Bruce R. Cordell and Andy Collins

An art-filled sourcebook about undead in the D&D world. This title takes a comprehensive look at undead creatures and characters in the D&D world. It includes information on playing undead characters... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786934336
• ISBN13: 9780786934331
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.5" x 11.2"

Customer Reviews

A great book for players and DM's!

This book is an outstanding resource for dm's and players alike. It has several different functions, without going into the specifics of chapter by chapter reviews (which has already been done). First, it includes a section on the various "ecologies" of the undead. This is an outstanding tool for designing new undead, designing campaigns and plot hooks for players. Several techniques are described for how undead feed and their effect on the undead psychology. Second, the book provides for a way to rapidly return a player to the game. Nothing is worse than having a character die early in the session and having to wait for your character to be raised or to make a new character to continue play - with this manual, you can rapidly join back in the game AND have a quest to complete at the same time - either the destruction of your sire, or the raising of your corpse. Much in the spirit of Ghostwalk, this manual allows for the game to go on even when your characters' pulse didn't. The book also contains a selection of new items and feats geared toward undead. Whether your character hunts undead or is one himself, there is something in here for them. In addition, it is useful for DM's in the same fashion to "bulk up" one of the villians with these additional feats and powers and thus suprise the players. All in all, another outstanding product from WOTC.

Lovely little book of Undeath

Where to begin? I suppose I should begin by saying that if you can't stand the sight of cysts, and disembodied heads being swarmed and eaten by rats, then you shouldn't get this book. Also, if you can't stand the thought of children perishing then being brought back and being used by an evil Necromancer to sow chaos, then you might steer clear of this book. But if the aforementioned doesn't bother you, or already has your mind filled with a million and a half ideas for your campaigns, then let's talk. Firstly, let's talk about... oh, I don't know... say, the monsters. There's fluff and there's crunch, first of all, or if you don't know what that means, things that are overall useless and things that have you saying, 'bout time. Brain In A Jar? Who needs that? Grave-Dirt Golem? I know what you're thinking, 'Oh, No! Not another Construct!' but bear with me, while it's not necessarily necessary, it is fun to have a Golem made of dirt, with bones of people who perished and were unlucky enough to have their graves used for the Golem. Besides, it fits a Necromancer, or any class, really, who builds Constructs for whatever reason who likes to hang around graveyards. So yeah, like I said, fluff and crunch. Also, there's fluffy, crunchy creatures including the Slaughter Wight, the Wheep, and the Spectral Lyrist. I'll leave it to you to decide what's fluff and crunch among those, and every other new monster in the book. Secondly, let's talk about the prestige classes, there's classes like the Death's Chosen, the True Necromancer, and the Pale Master. Now, those aren't the only classes in this book, there's also the Dirge Singer and the Master of Radiance. I'll talk about those. The Dirge Singer, as you've probably guessed, is a prestige class for the Bard who specializes in songs that fill their enemies with sorrow and dread and, by my gathering, I haven't read in detail yet, can control some undead. The Master of Radiance is a prestige class for a druid, but you also have to have some levels as a cleric, at any rate, the Master of Radiance can use spells that channel sunlight and destroy undead who are destroyed by sunlight (blasted vampires). And on the subject of Clerics, I know, they're lame, let's not kid around here, about all they can do is heal and turn undead. But in this book, they can also summon undead. Yes, Clerics of Nerull, rejoice. You can summon undead to do your dirty work, while you use your Inflict spells to keep them at full strength (Instead of doing damage, Inflict Grievous Wounds recovers a lot of damage for that Huge Skeleton you summoned). Thirdly, and the last I'm going to write about, is the nuts and bolts of campaign planning included in this book. The people who made this book were generous in giving several sample undead to use as minor villains, or use as the big baddie for your newbie players if your a DM. They also included a few scenarios to use if you're running an undead-centered campaign, including World of Shadows

Awesome For DM's, Still Useful for PC's

I'm really glad that I ordered this book. The number of prestige classes in it and the number of the monsters make it worthwhile. It gives you the rules to one of my favorites templates, the Half-Vampire, and one of my favorite classes, the True Necromancer (cleric of death domain M/C with Necromancer specialist). However, like others have said, some of the drawings in this book make the Book of Vile Darkness look "G" rated, namely the Atrophial Scion: A zombified stillborn celestial being. The number of feats in here is incredible as well. There is plenty for the anti-Undead player character, and it has everything you need to create the most deadly Necromancer ever. For DM's, this book will add so much to your campaign if you utilize it over a period of time. Unless your campaign has literally NO undead in it, this book is worth it. As a DM, and as a player in 3 different campaigns, I really love this supplement.

Excellent Campaign Material

Usually, I write reviews that detail the good and bad of a product. I have to do things differently this time around, because this sourcebook is ALL good. Let me tell you why: FOR THE DMs: The book details pretty much everything you ever needed to know about running undead monsters in your campaign, and then some. The material is extremely well-organized and concise, allowing it to be used readily and requiring little, if any, prior research on the part of a DM to incorporate both "new" and "traditional" undead monsters into the campaign. Updated definitions of abilities and traits are included (even incorporating descriptive material from the Monster Manuals through MM3). Without getting too boring, details are given on the methods and motivations of all of the "traditional" undead types (skeleton, zombie, ghoul, ghast, shadow, wraith, spectre, ghost, mummy, mohrg, vampire, and lich), with information given on creation methods above and beyond the typical myths surrounding these monsters and the mundane "game mechanic" procreation abilities possessed by some of them -- all excellent fodder for creating new adventure hooks or plotlines to jazz up any "haunted house" adventure. In addition, a number of ready-to-use horrors and their backstories occupy a section of the book all to themselves, just waiting for you to pick up and run with them. The latter portions of the book detail more new undead creatures -- fair warning: while there is, at least, no nudity, the illustrations in the New Monsters section makes much of the artwork from the Book of Vile Darkness seem tame. FOR THE PLAYERS: For those of you out there that enjoy running uniquely interesting campaigns with a twist, there are rules and options presented for playing an undead horror as a PC. Setting up and running an undead character using this book is slightly more involved than running undead creatures as monsters, but the superlative organization and breakdown of information makes this a much more simple task than one might expect. In the same vein as the "Savage Species" sourcebook, Libris Mortis presents the "standard" undead creatures from the Monster Manual as character classes, detailing progression and ability acquisition from 1st level on upward. Since all of the "basic" undead monsters are covered, it's not difficult to extrapolate your own progression for less mundane undead creatures should you desire to expand your options. I was particularly impressed with how smoothly and effectively the character rules presented take all of the best concepts about the old 2nd edition "Requiem" campaign from Ravenloft and simplifies them in 3.5 edition standards. FOR BOTH: A number of prestige classes (mostly for villains, but with a few foes of the walking dead thrown in) appear here, including updated revisions of a number of prestige classes that originally appeared in the "Defenders of the Faith," "Tome & Blood," and other sourcebooks (including the True Necromancer, the

Best Core Supplement Yet!

Where most D & D supplements are basically window dressing for the core game, Libris Mortis opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for your campaign. Whether it's the basic approach of simply bolstering your current setting with some interesting new undead monsters and Prestige Classes; or opening things up by allowing your PCs to play as Vampire Sorcerors or Mhorg Barbarians; or creating an entire campaign set in a world where the undead rule entire kingdoms and the living cower in fear - Libris Mortis is a comprehensive toolkit for making it happen. Besides the requisite supplement fodder of new feats, spells and prestige classes, Libris Mortis includes great background material and full information on Undead Monster Classes (as opposed to high-powered templates from the Monster Manual) for creating undead characters with full level-by-level progressions. There's also a short but interesting chapter of new equipment (including undead armor and grafts), a slew of new monsters, and some great ideas for incorporating it all into your campaign. Libris Mortis is arguably Wizards' best core supplement yet!