Magic Resistance. The mummy lord has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Rejuvenation. A destroyed mummy lord gains a new body in 24 hours if its heart is intact, regaining all its hit points and becoming active again. The new body appears within 5 feet of the mummy lord's heart.
Spellcasting. The mummy lord is a 10th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 17, +9 to hit with spell attacks). The mummy lord has the following cleric spells prepared:
Cantrips (at will): sacred flame, thaumaturgy
1st level (4 slots): command, guiding bolt, shield of faith
2nd level (3 slots): hold person, silence, spiritual weapon
3rd level (3 slots): animate dead, dispel magic
4th level (3 slots): divination, guardian of faith
5th level (2 slots): contagion, insect plague
6th level (1 slot): harm
Multiattack. The mummy can use its Dreadful Glare and makes one attack with its rotting fist.
Rotting Fist. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage plus 21 (6d6) necrotic damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or be cursed with mummy rot. The cursed target can't regain hit points, and its hit point maximum decreases by 10 (3d6) for every 24 hours that elapse. If the curse reduces the target's hit point maximum to 0, the target dies, and its body turns to dust. The curse lasts until removed by the remove curse spell or other magic.
Dreadful Glare. The mummy lord targets one creature it can see within 60 feet of it. If the target can see the mummy lord, it must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw against this magic or become frightened until the end of the mummy's next turn. If the target fails the saving throw by 5 or more, it is also paralyzed for the same duration. A target that succeeds on the saving throw is immune to the Dreadful Glare of all mummies and mummy lords for the next 24 hours.
The mummy lord can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The mummy lord regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Attack. The mummy lord makes one attack with its rotting fist or uses its Dreadful Glare.
Blinding Dust. Blinding dust and sand swirls magically around the mummy lord. Each creature within 5 feet of the mummy lord must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the end of the creature's next turn.
Blasphemous Word (Costs 2 Actions). The mummy lord utters a blasphemous word. Each non-undead creature within 10 feet of the mummy lord that can hear the magical utterance must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of the mummy lord's next turn.
Channel Negative Energy (Costs 2 Actions). The mummy lord magically unleashes negative energy. Creatures within 60 feet of the mummy lord, including ones behind barriers and around corners, can't regain hit points until the end of the mummy lord's next turn.
Whirlwind of Sand (Costs 2 Actions). The mummy lord magically transforms into a whirlwind of sand, moves up to 60 feet, and reverts to its normal form. While in whirlwind form, the mummy lord is immune to all damage, and it can't be grappled, petrified, knocked prone, restrained, or stunned. Equipment worn or carried by the mummy lord remain in its possession.
A Mummy Lord’s Lair
A mummy lord watches over an ancient temple or tomb that is protected by lesser undead and rigged with traps. Hidden in this temple is the sarcophagus where a mummy lord keeps its greatest treasures.
A mummy lord encountered in its lair has a challenge rating of 16 (15,000 XP).
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the mummy lord takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the mummy lord can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row.
- Each undead creature in the lair can pinpoint the location of each living creature within 120 feet of it until initiative count 20 on the next round.
- Each undead in the lair has advantage on saving throws against effects that turn undead until initiative count 20 on the next round.
- Until initiative count 20 on the next round, any non-undead creature that tries to cast a spell of 4th level or lower in the mummy lord’s lair is wracked with pain. The creature can choose another action, but if it tries to cast the spell, it must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, it takes (1d6) necrotic damage per level of the spell, and the spell has no effect and is wasted.
Regional Effects
A mummy lord’s temple or tomb is warped in any of the following ways by the creature’s dark presence:
- Food instantly molders and water instantly evaporates when brought into the lair. Other nonmagical drinks are spoiled — wine turning to vinegar, for instance.
- Divination spells cast within the lair by creatures other than the mummy lord have a 25 percent chance to provide misleading results, as determined by the DM. If a divination spell already has a chance to fail or become unreliable when cast multiple times, that chance increases by 25 percent.
- A creature that takes treasure from the lair is cursed until the treasure is returned. The cursed target has disadvantage on all saving throws. The curse lasts until removed by a remove curse spell or other magic.
If the mummy lord is destroyed, these regional effects end immediately.
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Posted Nov 26, 2020I think you're right!
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Posted Dec 17, 2020Yes, Matt and Marisha did all the pronunciation audio for dndbeyond.
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Posted Jan 8, 2021So :
87 HP, Fire vulnerability, +0 Dex save.
On a a CR 15 monster ??
Sure, it has advantage on saving throws, but it's not doing him much good with a +0 Dex save. This is gettig one-shot by the first Evocation Wizard that looks at him funny. So pathetic... It's a shame, because its abilities are awesome, but i can't see it survive more than a round at that CR.
I mean, AT LEAST give him counterspell, and ideally Legendary Resistances, otherwise it's just a joke.
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Posted Feb 10, 2021oh wow that is op
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Posted Feb 20, 2021To be fair, you can't do that until level 14. At that point, another level 14 wizard could probably one shot your pet with a 7th level fireball.
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Posted Feb 24, 2021i'm having the same thoughts. 93 hp with fire vuln the sorcerer in my party is going to obliterate it with scorching rays or a fireball, or hell even his fire bolt with 2d10 can cause stupid amounts of damage (Unlikely but up to 40! for a cantrip).
The CR upscale mostly comes from the legendary actions it has, the spells it can cast, its AC (17 is on the higher end for monsters that arent clad in metal) and also its massive damage per round and the potential to be cursed to death (If the party doesnt have a Cleric, Paladin, Warlock, Wizard), because if you play this in a remote location, and you probably would, then a cursed character is ,most likely going to just die off from the 3d6 per day even if they defeat the mummy.
this is a tough monster to balance in terms of CR because it has so many terrible strengths, 4 proficient saves, adv on all magic saves, spells that can have massive impacts (Hold person cast at 4th level can easily neuter all your big brawn adventurers quickly, fighters and barbarians dont tend to have high wis saves and the DC is 17). I just wonder if the fire vuln makes this too easy, but then again a party that just does not have magic weapons (like the game balance and bounded accuracy assumes) or spellcasters will be annihilated by the mummy lord.
I really want to send that at my level 11-12 party but the druid and sorcerer could just duo tag team his ass in like two rounds by spamming higher slots lol (Wall of fire + fireballs = ouchies)
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Posted May 1, 2021Stop, you're giving me terrible monster ideas
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Posted Jun 16, 2021While playing "Storm Lord's Wrath" I rolled for a Random Magic Item (Table C) to see what Aubrey had for sale at Peculiarities Shoppe in Leilon and got a Bag of Beans. Of course one of the characters bought it and proceeded to plant a bean on a field outside of town. He rolled a 93 which would have resulted on this:
A pyramid with a 60-foot‐square base bursts upward. Inside is a sarcophagus containing a mummy lord. The pyramid is treated as the mummy lord's lair, and its sarcophagus contains treasure of the GM's choice.
So I came here and read the monster and lair description. Realizing this would have meant not only the end for all 3 characters in the adventure, but the end of Leilon, it's vicinities, and the adventure as well, I decided to ignore and rolled again...
...65. [Facepalm]
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Posted Jul 12, 2021Magic jar
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Posted Jul 12, 2021Magic Jar on a mummy lord
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Posted Jul 21, 2021Just maximize and double the HP and remove the fire res. Better yet, make Negative Energy Flood convert the party’s healing for its own use. That should bring it (somewhat) up to scratch
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Posted Sep 16, 2021Any homebrew is up to the DM to approve. If by playable you mean as a character race, the racial bonus would be somewhere around +2 Str, +1 Wis. For the traits of course the heart, that's the whole thing with mummy lords, but make it so on a crit with a piercing attack the attacker damages the heart, and the heart's hp is player lvl*3. Next - give it resistance to necro, cold, an immunity to frightened, exhaustion and the vulnerability to fire. For the last trait let's say the cursed fist, but limited to 3 times/long rest, blunt damage the same as an unarmed stike and the curse's damage is 2d6 at lvl 1, 3d6 at 7 and 4d6 at 14. Theoretically you could make some of the legendary actions into usable abilities at some higher levels too, but in my opinion 2 race abilities + vulnerabilities and resistances is enough.
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Posted Oct 4, 2021I would swap out one of it’s 4th level spells with “Protection From Energy”, and have it cast that on itself right before a battle.
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Posted Nov 9, 2021Do to their immunities they could take on an infinite number of green dragons and never be harmed. As dragons do not have magical attacks and according to Jeremy Crawford their breath weapon is also not magical. They also are immune to exhaustion so they would easily just out live a green dragon.
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Posted Nov 19, 2021cleric with +5 effective character lvl. And u also dont rly get to use your lair much, since u r out adventuring. Its not that difficult.
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Posted Dec 3, 2021I ran a Mummy Tomb with a lvl 10 party of four and made it kind of a gauntlet. Lots of traps, hidden guards and good loot to boot to make it worth their trouble. Balancing for the boss battle was an issue as well, but removing the fire vulnerability and adding some needed HP helps. Maybe give it a legendary resistance if you really hate your players. I gave him a small horde of beefed up zombies and mummy "guards" then took a Minotaur Skeleton and gave it some more juice, mummy flavor & an artifact. The big magic item from the tomb was gonna be a Grovelthrash so figured a big baddie could be using it and protect the Mummy Lord too. Gave it a reaction to take the damage from an attack that hit the Mummy Lord if within 5ft. so it bear hugs to protecc. Also the rules say if you take treasure from the mummy lords lair you are cursed... I didn't apply that when they took items from previous rooms in the Tomb, but very well could have.
Used Silence at the start as the party was moving down the passage into the large ritual room at the end of the Tomb. Then used Insect Plague to separate the casters from the front line peeps. Casters didn't want to walk through and take damage and drop con spells, one managed to fly over using a warlock hover ability. But almost picked off both front line attackers. Had the monk missed the roll on harm they woulda been a lot worse off. He ended the fight with less than 10 HP left. The other front line character failed a save against the mummy rot and rolled a crit on their first death save and got SOO excited they had 1 HP and then remembered... ohh, I can't gain any HP so am just stable. OHH and they didn't destroy the Mummy heart (but took it to maybe trade with a Copper Dragon they are going to next) so they are all cursed and need to remove a curse from one player slowly dying of mummy rot.
Really can challenge some high level DnD players especially with the lair actions to fizzle out a spell or legendary actions to move 60ft after a turn. Also don't ignore the Rotting Fist attack for high level spells. Punish anyone that gets near or move to a player that is doing damage from the back line.
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Posted Jan 17, 2022Well any 15th level character + true polymorph = Mummy Lord. What happens next is kind of up in the air, do you advance as a "tenth level caster" or start from lvl 0-1. Are you limited to 20 total levels from 0, 10, or 15? Dealers choice ask your DM what happens.(clone your heart so you don't get dispel magic-ed) but congratulations you got a better lich than a Lich, 24hr rejuvenation vs 1d10 days and Rotting Fist? Sign me up
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Posted Jan 17, 2022Better yet, true polymorph and clone.
Wizards can totally be Mummies its not about the magic, it's about sending a message.
Not technically a level 10 Cleric, it's a level 10 Spellcaster that just so happens to cast spells from the cleric list. (The Dark God just gives it more power than Lolth gives her Priestess'?)
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Posted Jan 28, 2022Does the cursing effect continue/respawn indefinitely if the treasure is not returned? I would argue that it does. A REMOVE CURSE would certainly reset the curse but the individual would be cursed again (perhaps the following turn, hour, night, or whatever you decide) with the effects reset. "A creature that takes treasure from the lair is cursed until the treasure is returned" is in conflict with "The curse lasts until removed by a remove curse spell or other magic." so (to me anyway) until the individual puts the item(s) back, they could be uncursed but they would be re-cursed indefinitely.
While this might seem onerous, it keeps the players honest in their dealings with the mummy lord and encourages the players to finish what they started rather than simply become graverobbers extraordinaire using a 3rd level common spell. The disadvantage could also apply just against the mummy-lord (or whoever's tomb the thieves have stolen from).
It certainly makes the Mummy-Lord more worthy of its CR15 rating this way too... If you take his "stuff", you have to fight him at disadvantage to an end if you want to keep it.
Further, the fire vulnerability is a bit much... Instead, increase the fire damage die-type as a minor penalty (d6 becomes d8, etc). That minor change in damage seemed to always work for making mummies a bit more squishy without making them pushovers in the past games I have used it.
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Posted Jan 29, 2022strange question... but if a mummy lord rests with the party would it regain spell slots?
(i play a necromancer and if i take control of it and use its spells i want to know if itll gain it back. i think it should since its soul is still in the mummy lord but i need other opinions)