Mummy

"Before opening a sarcophagus, light a torch."

- X the Mystic's 7 rule of dungeon survival

A mummy was an undead creature created from a preserved corpse animated by the dark gods of the desert.

Abilities
Mummies caused fear in the living on sight, and any creature they touched was affected by a rotting curse called mummy rot.

Activities
Mummies were the undead guardians of tombs and vaults of honored dead (such as kings or nobility of the ancient world). They patrolled their homes with dedication, remaining alert for signs of tomb robbers or others who would desecrate their assigned lair.

Creation
The spell mummy creation animated a corpse into a mummy, but only for a short period of time.

Combat
Mummies were granted great strength. They also carried a virulent curse that acted as a disease, known as mummy rot.

Variants

 * Creature mummy: These were made of corpses of animals and non-humanoids, such as centaurs.
 * Bog mummy: corpses preserved through the natural action of bogs or swamps and animated through evil magic.
 * Clay mummy: Unlike standard mummies, clay mummies were vulnerable to bludgeoning weapons rather than fire.
 * Crawling apocalypse: A creature that resembles a giant mummified octopus.
 * Greater mummy: These were mummified priests of a god who were imbued with dark magic.
 * Hunefer: These mummies of demigods whose power has not utterly departed to astral realms.
 * Huecuva: Huecuva are created from divine or oath-bound creatures who have failed in their vows.
 * Ice mummy: A creature that succumbs to an ice mummy's rot freezes and shatters, melting into nothing at the first thaw.
 * Ka: A type of mummy of an ancient king, priest, or lord. Though much like a normal mummy, it inflicts no mummy rot, but curses.
 * Mummy lord: Mummy lords are often potent spellcasters. They are found as guardians of the tombs of high lords, priests, and mages.
 * Resurrected mummy: These mummies are formed from the wrapped corpse of a dead body, the ashes of a dead creature, and a necromancer's stone.
 * Salt mummy: Ancient corpses of humanoids preserved by being buried in salt. Salt mummies were generally very evil when they were alive.
 * Swarm-shifter: These mummies appear like a normal undead until their body explodes into a swarm of smaller creatures.

Habitats
Beyond the Prime Material plane, mummies could be found in the Domains of Dread.

Notable Mummies

 * Kesefehon, an elven commander of Myth Drannor who died of an unknown disease that turned him into a mummy after his death. In 1369 DR, he was trapped in his undead state inside his crypt in Myth Drannor's Polyandrium.

Appearances

 * Adventures:
 * Dungeon #19: "House of Cards" • Pool of Radiance: Attack on Myth Drannor • Shadowdale: The Scouring of the Land
 * Novels:
 * Canticle • Neverwinter
 * Video Games:
 * Pool of Radiance • Gateway to the Savage Frontier • Treasures of the Savage Frontier • Dungeon Hack • Al-Qadim: The Genie's Curse • Descent to Undermountain • Icewind Dale • Neverwinter Nights • Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark • Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear
 * Card Games:
 * AD&D Trading Cards • Dragonfire (Corruption in Calimshan)