Source: Monster Manual (2024) p. 221. Available in the SRD and the Free Rules (2024)
Those desperate to escape death sometimes make terrible bargains with wicked deities. Devoting their hearts to evil forces, these villains gain power over death and a cursed immortality that binds their minds and spirits within a desiccated corpse. Freed from mortal concerns, these mummy lords pursue their obsessions across ages.
Most mummy lords linger amid the ruins of ancient palaces or temples where they once held sway. Their age-old faith and ties to deathly forces grant them fearful magic, which they use to sow ruin and animate undead servants.
A mummy lord’s heart embodies the pact that grants it immortality. Rather than bearing its heart within its corpse, a mummy lord removes and hides this accursed organ. As long as its heart isn’t destroyed by fire, a mummy lord can return to unlife no matter what doom it meets.
Mummy lords are usually consumed by ageless plots. Roll on or choose a result from the Mummy Lord Plots table to determine a mummy lord’s ancient agenda.
Mummy Lord Plots
dice: 1d8
The Mummy Lord Seeks To…
1
Open a portal to the past, when its power was at its height.
2
Perform a ritual that can be attempted only once every eight hundred years.
3
Reclaim and resurrect a loved one’s corpse.
4
Reconquer the lands that once composed its empire.
5
Recover the pieces of its lost heart.
6
Replace its descendant as the ruler of a realm.
7
Sacrifice a thousand souls to its god in return for true life.
8
Transform the people of an entire nation into Undead servants.
^mummy-lord-plots
Mummy Lord Lairs
Mummy lords typically lurk in the ruins of places they dwelled in life. Such sites have forbidding reputations, or they might be lost and forgotten.
A quote from Isu, High Priest of Muhar
The scroll contained a foul ritual to raise one of the children of Anhktepot. I tried to burn it, but the flames refused to touch the parchment. Forgive me, but I cannot destroy it… and I cannot help myself.
Mysterious rites and mighty faith can tie spirits to their corpses, binding them to their remains for all time. Should their resting places be violated, these beings, known as mummies, reanimate their deteriorating bodies to restore the sanctity of their tombs and punish those who disturbed their rest.
Mummies pursue those who offend them, typically mortals who desecrate their resting places, steal their burial treasures, or defile sites tied to their faith. With undying rage, these ancient corpses go to extreme lengths to avenge themselves and restore what they need to find peace.
A mummy might look frail, but its body possesses supernatural strength, and its gaze can strike fear in the bravest hearts. Those who escape a mummy’s grasp might find themselves subject to a terrible curse. Victims of a mummy’s curse gradually wither, their bodies rotting away until they’re reduced to dust. This curse can be healed only by the Remove Curse spell or similar magic.
