The Inphidian Strikes Back: Let's Read Tome of Horrors II

[Shadowknight12]

Grave Risen
Created by the blood of a spellcaster being spilled over a buried a corpse, grave risen are CR 4 Undead with claws that deal blood poisoning and the ability to animate skeletons and zombies to aid them. For the most part, grave risen are actually pretty content to just chill out in their resting place, enjoying the, and I quote, "serenity of death that lingers in the air". Okaaaaay...

Erm, anyway, the only time the grave risen get particularly ornery is when those pesky mortal lifeforms happen to bumble along and disturb their Undead Zen or whatever you'd call it. Oddly enough, in spite of their reverence for their own state of undeath, a living creature killed by the grave risen has its body mutilated and unceremoniously buried. Odd, that.

I like undead and I like variety, so I'm yoinking this one to use in the future. Also, you may disagree, but I really do like the concept they've got going on for these guys and their Undead Zen. I'd just strip the part where they attack people or mutilate corpses and bury them unceremoniously, and they're good to go.

Grimstalker
Oh hey, another Fey! Yay! The grimstalker (known by others of its kind as the banaan) is specifically a CR 5 Fey that resemble claw-bearing elves made out of wood. They are feared and revered as expert assassins, their claws leaking with poison and their control of plants allowing them to control things such as scythe or hangman trees to do their bidding. They aren't particularly fond of people entering their woods, either, so pretty much the only individuals that aren't attacked by grimstalkers are evil Druids.

I am so tired of evil fey. So tired.

Hanged Man
Unsurprisingly, the CR 3 hanged men are undead who wrongfully died by, you guessed it, experimental surgery.

Seriously though, they've got some rope-dragging tricks, but hanged men aren't anything to really write home about as-is. Eh.

Those mad doctors will never, ever learn.

Hoar Spirit
The undead apparition of one who died from extreme cold. It does pretty much what you'd expect. It is worthy of note, however, that there appears to be a bit of a Take That in the imagery: namely, the illustrated hoar spirit is that of an elven warrior wearing the stereotypical "chainmail bikini".

I find the mental image incredibly hilarious and will most definitely use it in the future. I do wonder if I can actually play it for drama rather than easy comedy...

Just bumping this to state that the Let's Read isn't dead, but a lot of stuff has been going on in my life, and the general lack of response means I'm not really going to justify forcing myself to churn out a post here when my mood would be better suited trying to attain happiness.

I don't know how receptive you are to constructive criticism, but if you would care for a suggestion, a potential reason you aren't getting much responses is because your wit has been in decline lately. I mean, sure, there might be a percentage of people who read this to know what the book is about, but I assure you that a great deal of readers (like me) come here for the witty MSTing of the book's contents, which you're rather good at. Feel free to vent your frustrations on the book in the wittiest way you can. That will help you regain your readership.