What They Don't Tell You About Mummies - D&D

lych 'dom is the general way that a powerful individual will seek to retain this existence on the material realm this is the way to do it if you wish to stay alien to gods who might be able to help you but what if you were to simply ask for assistance specifically from a God of death first of all let's dispel the obvious misconception a mummy is not just an undead in bandages in reality a mummy is technically simply a preserved body anybody that has been preserved whether intentional or unintentional from rotting is a mummy now a body that has been preserved as a mummy can be raised as an undead creature of course however the results that you will get are actually different depending on the magics that you use for example you can actually create a normal zombie out of a mummy if you use the spell animate dead or if you use the spell create dead you could create a ghoul out of a mummy these two undead would be undead in rags yet not technically actual mummies anymore as far as the stat blocks for these monsters are concerned if you however want to create a mummy mummy well that's a whole other thing before we go too deep into the weeds here let's first go over to the master manual and see what they actually tell us about these monsters okay so from the get-go we're told the long burial rituals that accompany a mummies entombment help protect his body from rot in the embalming process newly dead creatures organs are removed and placed in special jars and its corpse is treated with preserving oils herbs and wrappings after the body has been prepared the corpse is typically wrapped in linen bandages so to create an undead mommy it says here that it happens when a priest of a death God or other dark deity ritually imbues a prepared corpse with necromantic magic the Mummy's linen wrappings are inscribed with necromantic markings before the burial ritual concludes with invocation to darkness I say mommy indoors in on death it animates in response to conditions specified by the ritual down here it continues saying that a mummy obeys the conditions and parameters laid down by the rituals that created it driven only to punish transgressors it also says here that following a mummy's touch victims body rots from the outside in until nothing but dust remains interestingly enough it says here that rare magic can undo or the spell the ritual that gave rise to a mummy allowing it to truly die however they don't actually tell you what kind of magic unfortunately but it does say that you can send the mummy back to rest by undoing the transgression that cost it to rise in the first place very interesting down here it says that mummies can actually speak though they seldom do it some surface undead repositories of lost lore and can be consulted by the descendants of those who created them now on the other side we get some info on the mummy Lords the more powerful versions it says here that the ritual to create a mummy can be increased in potency it says that the mummy Lord that rises from such a ritual retains the memories and personality of its former life and it's gifted with supernatural resilience lastly it says down here that is part of the ritual to create The Mummy Lord the creatures heart and viscera are removed from the corpse and placed in canopic jars as long as the shriveled hearts remains intact a mummy Lord cannot be permanently destroyed it says down here that the mummy Lord will simply reform back 24 hours later now of course we get there stat block and everything telling their strengths and weaknesses and some of their abilities including their rotting fist but hey let's just go and talk about what the Monster Manual does not tell you about mummies for starters let's talk about that rare magic that the Monster Manual alluded to they said right here that rare magic can actually undo or dispel the ritual that gave rise to a mummy the spell is actually believe it or not raised dead we were told in both the first and second edition that I raised dead spell cast upon a mummy will actually bring the creature back to life just how they used to look like and with their memories intact however and this is the big caveat here the rules for the spell still hold raise dead cannot regenerate lost organs so the mummy was prepared manually and had his organs removed then this spell wouldn't work instead something like worser Shin will have to be used a revival spell that does restore body parts the other main restriction of these spells also need to be taken into consideration raised dead only brings a person back that has been dead for no longer than 10 days whereas resurrection will only bring back someone who has been dead for less than a century even true resurrection has a similar restriction if the mummy happens to be older than 200 years then you will have to resort to a wish spell which also will bring a mummy back to life this is merely one of the many differences that exist between an undead mummy and will a normal undead a normal undead rots its body parts are constantly falling off its body missing big chunks until eventually it'll end up being a simple skeleton mommies do not rot and because of this they actually smell quite nice thanks to the spices and herbs used in the embalming process they actually smell like a traditional kitchen spice cabinet we should say dead tail for an adventurer that they are actually very close to a dangerous mummy but this is not the case for every single mommy see there are actually many ways of creating one of these creatures that the monster mantle does not tell you quote mummification is the state of a corpse in which bacteria and fungi are unable to grow and cause decay this preserved state can occur naturally in the proper conditions or can be imposed upon the corpse artificially and the quote see there are actually three settings that produce mummies fairly consistently in a natural way quote the hot climate and salty sands of the desert are ideal conditions to preserve a corpse buried in the sand a corpse loses all moisture in a matter of weeks another ideal condition combines the freezing temperatures and dry winds found in many glacial and mountain regions the bitter cold prevents decay as the dry winds slowly dehydrates the corpse living a fries fried mummy a corpse can be frozen without being dehydrated but a mummy created in such a fashion is subject to decay if temperatures rise above freezing one last natural mummy type that bears mention is the bug mummy peat bogs found in most temperate coastal regions are ideal for mummy creation peat bogs are highly as beds of decaying moss a corpse left in the cold wet peat is preserved as its muscle dissolves and his skin cures into a leathery texture buried in the acidic peat the bones of a corpse lose calcium living them spongy their sole to soften a deformed mummy and quote as you can see you can have mummies that are not wrapped up in linen like the traditional Egyptian kind this is why you can find actually plenty of mummies all across Pharaon regardless of the fact that you don't have cultures up here embalming corpses all you would have to do is cast a level 9 version of the create on dead spell upon any of these mummified corpses in order to create yourself a real on dead mummy you're seeing the spell on a corpse that has not been properly mummified will not work all this being said the embalming process for artificially creating mummies is also interesting so let's go ahead and cover that - I have noticed that you guys actually do enjoy me describing the rituals in detail so I'll try and do that a little bit more in the case the embalming style is more efficient than any of the natural ways simply because it just lasts longer a cadaver that has been mummified by the snow will not last very long outside of the snow before it starts to rot and once a your mummy starts rotting it starts losing its power the whole point of a mommy versus a regular on dead is that they last for centuries before losing their bodies and they don't need to eat like a ghoul or a zombie does they don't need blood like a vampire they don't need souls like a lit does a mummy simply exists without any form of requirements and his body will last him many many lifetimes a mummy also maintains a big part of its intelligence and his ability to speak in essence they are incredible undead creatures to use and with the artificial embalming process they last almost forever so this is how you do it quote the first step is to wash the corpse in palm wine although any disinfecting alcohol suffices the brain and internal organs of the corpse are then removed and quote now some processes have you removed the heart while others demand that you keep it inside of the body but regardless it is believed by all that the heart is vital for the rebirth of the body the rest of the organs on the other hand will simply be safeguarded in canopic jars one jar for the liver one for the lungs one for the stomach and one for the intestines quote it is believed that each jar represents a different God and they are faced in one of the four cardinal directions some sages claim that these jars store an animated mummys lifeforce much like a liches phylactery but this is a misconception that has cost many a tomb robbers his life and quote after you remove the organs you clean the body once more using palm oil then you open the abdominal cavity in order to insert bags of incense and spices quote salt is then packed around the body to dehydrate the corpse an average human corpse requires 400 pounds of salt to dehydrate the corpse is left in the hot drive room until mummified a process that generally takes thirty five days according to the ancient method the mummy is rubbed with frankincense and miR and wrapped in strips of linen held in place with a liquid resin these linen are often inscribed with spells to protect the mummy in the afterlife gold caps on the fingers and toes are the finishing touches prior to the rituals and spells allowing the mummy to live again and quote keep in mind that this process is mostly only known by very specific cultures and it is mostly learned through gods of death what's particularly interesting is that there is even an older version of the undead mommy a version that has the capability of lasting even longer than a regular mummy what is known as a clay mummy quote for this type of mummy the skin is carefully removed from the mummy to be used later and the internal tissues fat muscle organs are discarded after being stripped of all flesh the skeleton is meticulously cleaned and then reassembled with supports sticks tied to the bones reeds are stuffed into the skull and clay is molded around the skeleton to replace lost tissues skin is then reapplied over the clay and painted black with a water sistent pigment and quote because the skin is applied on the outside and then painted over it might not look that much different from a traditional mummy except that it doesn't have any bandages mummies are cool and the way that they're created is interesting but that's not where the real power lies in this undead technology the real power is within the mommy lords now the difference between these two is pretty obvious and I'm not even talking just about the stat block they're normal mommy is very obviously an undead monster it can speak sure but it is for all intents and purposes a slave it is forced to do the bidding of the creator or to respond in whatever way the ritual that created it wants it to respond a mummy Lord on the other hand is its own being the personality of the person that became it it's still the same it's memories are still intact and its power is overwhelmingly high see and this is the bomber here we don't really know how a mummy Lord is actually truly created at least in terms of the specific rituals involved this is because the process is done for the most part through the use of Gods generally speaking this wouldn't be the sort of thing that a person or a group of people could do on your own it's likely that the production of such an undead state of being probably requires multiple uses of many different level mind spells at the same time which only a god could really do the fact of the matter is that the only ones that go through this on that process are high-level priests which means you must be very close probably to your god for it to allow you this blessing and oh boy is it a blessing you keep your personality your memories your intelligence your blast with a supernatural body that will resist rot in decay for at least 500 years and for most forever and you will get to keep the powers granted by your God as a priest for all that time this is like becoming a litany to consume souls in fact I think the best way of putting it is that a mummy Lord is to a priest what a lich is to a wizard but hey maybe even better now let's go over what the Monster Manual does not tell you about mummy Lords by far the coolest part of the monster mind only glad to tell you is their special ability to control and create mummies the control part is pretty straightforward Vader mummies or mummy Lords can simply control them via telepathic commands unless of course they are under the control of a different mummy Lord the cool part is how they actually create them see any person struck by a mummy becomes afflicted with mummy rot an extremely powerful disease you're essentially rot from the outside and until there is nothing left of you but dust the effect is generally very powerful but easily cured if it was produced via a normal mummy the problem arises when a mummy Lord produces it because then well you know what I'll explain it in a bit the point is the mummy rot is technically different between the two mommies but using this special rod the Lord can actually magically create mummies if a person is afflicted by the mummy rot of a mummy Lord the Lord can mummify the person by wrapping him up in powerful magically binding bandages the process of doing this however is very delicate and takes a very very long time approximately about 12 to 18 hours in fact and if the mummy Lord is disturbed or interrupted during the process then the whole enchantment is ruined this is why the person who is already inflicted by the rot is typically either held via a domination spell or charmed so that they cannot resist but once the mummifying process is finally complete and the person is firmly held in bandages he will no longer be able to escape at that point quote if nothing happens to free them they will die of the mummy rot just as they would have elsewhere upon their death however a strange transformation takes place rather than crumbling away into dust these four Souls rise again as normal mummies obviously this process is too time-consuming to be used in actual combat but the greater mummy will often attack a potential target in hopes of capturing and transforming it into a mummy all mummies created by a greater mummy are under its telepathic command and quote the older a mummy Lord is the more powerful it becomes and the more mummies that it can telepathically hold in its command this is actually something really cool about the mummy lords that the Monster Manual neglected to mention mummy's just like dragons actually become stronger the older they get increasing in potency in almost every single regard because greater mommies maintain their personality and memories you will always see them wear the regalia of their former lives especially the religious artifacts of their priesthood which of course they will need in order to cast their spells what's interesting however is that the divine power invests that in them in order to turn them into a greater mummy is so strong that they actually regenerate by holding these religious relics for example a mummy Lord who was transformed by set a greater God in the Maharani pantheon in the Forgotten Realms will regenerate health when holding a religious artifact of set - an adventurer it will look like a regenerative ability similar to that of a vampire except that this one is merely for holding the divine relics of their faith this is one of the many reasons while you will always see greater mummies always wearing their religious regalia they needed for defense conversely if the mommy Lord was transformed by an evil God then touching any form of good religious artifact will harm them in the same way this is exclusive to the mummy lords though normal mommies will not be harmed by opposing religious items on the other hand though normal mummies are actually hurt by holy water whereas mummy Lords are not I should also mention in the second edition Monster Manual we're told that mummy Lords lose their vulnerability to fire and instead become vulnerable to lightning attacks though we're not really given a reason why in fifth edition they are still vulnerable to fire so I'm not really sure what to make of that but I figured I would bring it up all we're told is quote unlike normal mummies these foul creatures are immune to non magical fire the enchanting process that creates them however leaves them vulnerable to attacks involving electricity and quote what's very interesting is that the mummy Lords were for the most part weakened for fifth addition compared to the previous editions it is no secret to anybody that the developers for a fifth edition generally made things a lot more manageable than they used to be and greater mummies ended up suffering a lot in that regard see in the fifth edition Monster Manual D mommy rots from the mommy Lord can be easily cured by just using a simple remove curse in the altar additions however you could only cure it if you use the high level spell regenerate see the thing was you could actually stall the disease by using cure disease on yourself every single day essentially just treating yourself and preventing the medical disease from becoming worse but you would have to deal with it until you eventually got the regenerate spell that would cure it altogether the disease was also made more dangerous as it would attack three of your stats every single day instead of just your hitpoints quote the person weakens and skin begins to flake off of the body there will be shaking and convulsions that accompany it this shaking is constant which makes spell-casting and spell amorous ation impossible normal healing is useless when inflicted the only form of magical healing that has any effect is the regenerate spell cure disease will merely halt the infection but not stop it the lost strength points Constitution points and charisma points cannot be regained back short of a wish spell the body of a person who dies from mummy rod begins to crumble into dust as soon as death occurs the only way to resurrect a person who dies with the rot is to cast both a cure disease and a raise dead spell within an hour of dying if this is not done the body and spirit within it are lost forever and quote hey guys what's going on as you can tell I am very sick but hey I still have to thank my awesome patron supporters that I I couldn't be doing this without them so an enormous shout out to Ricardo fan Daniel Luna doctor cowbell skit Savoy major fail gaming Berry mask ant 5e magic shop Daniel Umar Morgan Johnson sak Powell Simon Holman rusty rain biotech no frag and mediocre at best for supporting me on patreon to the $25 level if you would like to support me as well then please head on over to patron comm slash mr. Rex to support guys thank you so much for watching make sure to go ahead and check out my playlist for all of the DMD videos that I have done they're all amazing we have tons of lore tons of story related stuff I think that you're gonna have a blast if you like this video anyways my voice is is getting destroyed as we speak so I'll just go ahead and see you guys next time bye bye [Music]

Channel: MrRhexx

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Keywords: mrrhexx, rhexx, dungeons and dragons, d&d, mummy, mummies, mummy lord, greater mummy

Id: bFH9rY0v8mA

Length: 20min 9sec (1209 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 23 2019