A dread warrior was a special type of enhanced undead created by necromancer Red Wizards of Thay[2] from the bodies of warriors shortly after their deaths.[4][6]
Description[]
Although undead, dread warriors were recognizable as the individuals they had been before death, although their skin would shrivel and their eyes would glow with a feral yellow light. They carried the same weapons and armor as they had wielded in life. Often, whatever injury had killed them was visible and grisly.[7]
Personality[]
Dread warriors had to be raised within one day of the subject's death.[3] Partly due to being created so soon after death, dread warriors maintained a minimal amount of intelligence and their warrior desire to fight.[4] They were capable of speech and even of thinking for themselves,[2] however they were by no means sophisticated and complex orders would confuse them.[4] As a general rule, a dread warrior could easily handle commands of up to twelve words long, but anything longer could lead to misinterpretation or worse.[3]
Combat[]
A risen dread warrior
Only experienced warriors could successfully be raised as dread warriors, and they retained the knowledge to wield the same weapons which they favored in life, although they lost most accuracy with missile weapons, and could do little at range beyond crudely chuck a spear.[3] They were also capable of using magical weapons and armor.[8]
In general, dread warriors were more durable, more dexterous, more intelligent, and more powerful than a normal zombie,[2][5] and were capable of rudimentary and unimaginative tactics.[5] They could be turned by clerics in a similar manner to shadows.[4]
Dread warriors could be enhanced to serve as a sort of familiar for a Red Wizard, allowing that wizard to see through its eyes, direct it in battle, and even to cast spells through it. This link could be suppressed briefly by spells like dispel magic or counterspell.[1][9]
Society[]
A pair of dread warriors
When not engaging in combat these undead were kept in "cold storage" within barracks and dungeons.[4]
Occasionally a dread warrior would break of the control its Thayan masters had over it,[4] or otherwise become separated from their masters if they become lost or discarded after chaotic fighting.[10] Whenever this occurred, a dread warrior would wander the countryside in a twisted caricature of their old lives. They would terrorize innocents, challenge passerbys to fights, and sometimes even break into homes to steal food despite the fact that they could no longer eat.[4] Such roving dread warriors could be found as far afield from Thay as the Ashanath.[10]
Dread warriors operated exclusively as soldiers within the armies of Thay. They were primarily the retinue of the Zulkir Szass Tam, who was reluctant to use them as domestic servants. He loaned a few of them to his trusted allies, a few of which were known to use them in such a way, but that almost always resulted in sharp rebukes from Szass.[4]
History[]
A dread warrior on the battlefield
Dread warriors were first created by Szass Tam, the Zulkir of Necromancy among the Red Wizards of Thay, when he developed the animate dread warrior spell in 1352 DR.[11][12] They were invented to lead armies of lesser undead[5] for the purposes of defending Thay and invading Rashemen.[3][4]
Myrkul's Legion, a force made up entirely of dread warriors, was unleashed upon Rashemen in 1357 DR. It was ultimately turned back, many of them falling to the nature spirits of the land and the spells of the Wychlaran. The magic of the nature spirits disrupted the necromantic spells within them so much that some dread warriors even turned on their own comrades, destroying entire companies, or more often simply misinterpreted orders.[4]
By 1368 DR, dread warriors formed a part of Cyric's Legion, one of Tam's largest military units.[3][4] During this time, Tam focused on increasing his ranks of these undead warriors in preparation for future conflicts, and would occasionally loan a few to his most trusted allies.[3][6] Into the 1370s DR, it was not uncommon for dread warriors to haunt the borders of Thay, especially in Thesk.[13]
After Szass Tam ascended to power in 1385 DR following the War of the Zulkirs, dread warriors continued to be created by Thayan necromancers. In the 15th century DR, dread warriors were common soldiers among the armies of Thay. They were usually commanding officers of the armies of more common undead, but also formed their own "Dread Legions."[2]
As of the late 15th century DR, Szass Tam had perfected the means by which a dread warrior could be made to act as a Red Wizard's familiar, and a number of these undead served Tarul Var in the Doomvault.[9] The rituals for creating dread warriors remained a Red Wizard secret.[1]
Notable Dread Warriors[]
Appendix[]
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See Also[]
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References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Kim Mohan, Mike Mearls (April 2017). Tales from the Yawning Portal. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 233. ISBN 978-0786966097.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Bruce R. Cordell, Ed Greenwood, Chris Sims (August 2008). Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide. Edited by Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, et al. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 274. ISBN 978-0-7869-4924-3.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 James Wyatt, Rob Heinsoo (February 2001). Monster Compendium: Monsters of Faerûn. Edited by Duane Maxwell. (Wizards of the Coast), pp. 46–47. ISBN 0-7869-1832-2.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 Jon Pickens ed. (November 1996). Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume Three. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 29. ISBN 0786904496.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Steve Perrin (1988). Dreams of the Red Wizards. (TSR, Inc), p. 59. ISBN 0-88038-615-0.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Anthony Pryor (June 1995). “Monstrous Compendium”. In Michele Carter, Doug Stewart eds. Spellbound (TSR, Inc.), p. 4. ISBN 978-0786901395.
- ↑ Richard Baker, Matt Forbeck, Sean K. Reynolds (May 2003). Unapproachable East. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 62. ISBN 0-7869-2881-6.
- ↑ Kim Mohan, Mike Mearls (April 2017). Tales from the Yawning Portal. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 115. ISBN 978-0786966097.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Kim Mohan, Mike Mearls (April 2017). Tales from the Yawning Portal. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 113. ISBN 978-0786966097.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Richard Baker, Matt Forbeck, Sean K. Reynolds (May 2003). Unapproachable East. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 127. ISBN 0-7869-2881-6.
- ↑ Anthony Pryor (June 1995). “Campaign Guide”. In Michele Carter, Doug Stewart eds. Spellbound (TSR, Inc.), p. 99. ISBN 978-0786901395.
- ↑ Richard Baker, Matt Forbeck, Sean K. Reynolds (May 2003). Unapproachable East. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 48. ISBN 0-7869-2881-6.
- ↑ Richard Baker, Matt Forbeck, Sean K. Reynolds (May 2003). Unapproachable East. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 186. ISBN 0-7869-2881-6.
- ↑ Matt Sernett, Erik Scott de Bie, Ari Marmell (August 2011). Neverwinter Campaign Setting. Edited by Tanis O'Connor. (Wizards of the Coast), p. 215. ISBN 0-7869-5814-6.