Monster Monday: Draugr - Hulking Undead Viking

Today's Monster Monday is a draugr, the powerful undead of norse folklore that can enlarge itself and crush a horse to death.

photo by Geoff Dallimore, via Wikimedia

A burial mound - probably chock full of draugar

I recently returned from honeymoon in Iceland, where I spent a lot of time reading about Icelandic mythology and folklore (because that's what you do on honeymoon).  It reminded me of my pledge in a previous article to "stat up a real draugr for a Monster Monday sometime."  Draugr, you may have noticed, have already been statted up for Pathfinder twice (once in Bestiary 2 by Paizo, once in the awesome Tome of Horrors by Frog God Games).  The problem with these is that they have almost nothing to do with draugr legends.  The draugar of Bestiary 2 are just waterlogged zombies that nauseate with their attacks.  At least they pay lip-service to their viking origins by giving them greataxes, which, while not strictly Viking weapons, are at least more Vikingy than the cutlasses the Tome of Horrors draugar are armed with.  "Yarr, matey, I be a draugr!  Bring me Cap'n Jack Sparrow!"

I suggest calling those draugar 'drowned dead' to distinguish them from the scarier, more well-researched draugar I'm about to present to you.  The draugar you find in Icelandic sagas and folklore are more than just waterlogged zombies - in fact, all the draugar I know of stalked the land, not the high seas.  Draugar can change their size to become massive, are strong enough to break every bone in a horse's body, and are devilishly hard to get rid of.  They are solitary undead, but they can make their presence known across whole communities with their deadly hauntings.  Only the bravest heroes dare pit their strength against a mighty draugar and live to tell the tale.

The following text in gold is available as Open Game Content under the OGL. Open Game Content is ©2015 Jonah Bomgaars.

Draugr             CR 7

XP 3,200

CE Medium undead

Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +4

Aura fear (30 ft., DC 17)

DEFENSE

AC 20, touch 14, flat-footed 16 (+4 Dex, +6 natural)

hp 75 (10d8+30); regeneration 5 (fire)

Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +6

Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4;

DR 5/magic; Immune cold, undead traits

Weaknesses sunlight powerlessness

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.

Melee 2 claws +14 (1d6+7 plus grab)

Special Attacks constrict (1d6+7), draugr curse (Will DC 17, target suffers from light sensitivity and takes a -4 penalty to Strength in direct sunlight), rend (2 claws, 1d6+10)

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 10^th)

   at will – enlarge person (self only)

STATISTICS

Str 25, Dex 18, Con -, Int 5, Wis 8, Cha 14

Base Atk +7; CMB +18; CMD 32

Feats Catch Off-Guard, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Power Attack, Toughness

Skills Climb +15, Intimidate +7, Perception +4, Stealth +8

Languages Common

SQ dead weight, lair

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Dead Weight (Ex)

A draugr weighs four times what it did in life, making its body very difficult to move.  This grants the draugr a +4 bonus to its CMB and CMD. 

Draugr Curse (Su)

When a draugr is destroyed, it can curse the one who dealt it the final blow.  An example curse is given in the stat block above, but the GM may choose a different effect, such as: ‘target becomes nauseated at the smell of red meat’, ‘target’s move speed reduced by 10 ft.’, ‘target takes 1d4 Strength damage per day,’ or a similar effect.  Curses can be removed through remove curse and similar effects. 

Lair (Su)

A draugr’s burial mound is treated as if it were under the effects of a desecrate spell as long as the draugr exists.  Characters attempting to consecrate the burial mound while the draugr still exists must succeed at a DC 17 caster level check, with success suppressing the desecrate effect for one day. 

ECOLOGY

Environment any

Organization solitary

Treasure standard

A draugr is a powerful undead spirit - the walking corpse of a man so evil that death could not stop him.  These hulking, greenish-skinned brutes smell of the grave, and their strong thews and hideous claws threaten death.  Draugar delight in haunting the living, often enlarging themselves and riding the roofbeams of nearby farmhouses at night or crushing people and livestock to death.  They tend to pick off isolated individuals and try to lure others to their burial mounds, where their power is greater.  Most draugar eschew weapons, preferring to wrestle their enemies and crush them with their brute strength. 

   Legend tells of even more powerful draugar - called draugr jarls - that have the ability to turn into clouds of dust or take the shape of a flayed bull.  Such draugar may have class levels (often in fighter or barbarian) and an expanded array of supernatural and spell-like abilities.

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With regeneration 5 (fire) and DR 5/magic, draugar are pretty hard to kill.  Combine that with their impressive Combat Maneuver Bonuses, their fear aura, and their desecrated lairs and these undead wrestlers should be a tough nut to crack.  I wasn't exaggerating when I described them as 'hulking' in the title.

Promotional art for "The Incredible Hulk" vol. 3, #92 (April 2006) by Bryan Hitch

My favorite ability of theirs, though, is the curse they can pronounce on the one who kills them.  In Grettir's Saga, the draugr Glam curses his opponent Grettir to never get stronger and to die of loneliness.  I gave a number of possible curses that a draugr could bestow and left the door open for GMs to come up with their own, which I think can make the aftermath of a draugr fight a really fun roleplaying opportunity.

"You have killed me, Björn Strongclaw, but now you shall walk no more in the sun!"

-your horse-wrestling d20 despot