Tuyewera

The tuyewera is a horrible type of undead monster created by evil clerics in remote jungle villages. The cleric takes the corpse of a man slain by death magic spells and ritually removes the legs at the knees. The tongue is also severed. The cleric then enchants the corpse, bringing the ancestral spirit of a wizard or priest into it, which gives the corpse a horrid animation.

The tuyewera moves about on its hands and leg stumps. It is as intelligent as a man and has the following thieflike skills: MS 50%; HS 90%; OL 50%. It serves as a thief and bodyguard to the cleric in addition to being an assassin.

Combat: A tuyewera can use a weapon in melee, but it is restricted to using weapons that can be held in one hand, since the other hand is needed for balance and movement. If disarmed, a tuyewera will strike with its gnarled hand for 1d4 points of damage. Furthermore, each successful hit by the hand has a 25% chance to inflict a fatal disease on its opponent (as per the spell cause disease).

The deadliest attack of the tuyewera is its ability to drain breath. If it encounters a sleeping, unconscious, or helpless person, a tuyewera can suck the breath out of the victim's mouth, thereby slaying him. This requires one full round, at the end of which the victim must roll a successful saving vs. death magic with a -4 penalty. If he fails to save, he is instantly slain, but if he successfully makes his saving throw, he falls into a deathlike coma for 1d4 days.

As undead, tuyeweras are immune to all mental attacks, cold, sleep, and fear. Holy water inflicts 2d4 points of damage per successful attack with a full vial. Tuyeweras are turned as spectres, but an evil cleric cannot take control of a tuyewera away from the cleric who created it.

A special enchantment goes into the making of a tuyewera that renders it immune to all weapons (turning and destructive magic such as fireball are still effective). However, dispel magic removes this enchantment for 1d4 rounds. Clerics who create tuyeweras keep this counterspell handy just in case they meet someone else's tuyewera.

Habitat/Society: The spells and counterspells used for creating tuyeweras are granted only by the deities of evil witch doctors in tropical lands. Such spells are not normally available to PCs who do not visit these lands. It is recommended that PCs be unable to create such monsters, but they should be able to use the counterspells to make tuyeweras vulnerable to attack.

Ecology: As created undead, tuyewera have nothing to contribute to the ecology. They are little more than despicable machines made to do their misguided masters' bidding. They eat nothing, and there is no known use for their parts once they are slain.