Draugr

Draugr (Draug singular) are the rotten bodies of the disrespected dead⁠⁠.Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 1, p.12DFRPG: Monsters 1, p.23-24 They are capable warriors with supernatural strength, and will fight to the death if disturbed. Due to their being vengeful and undead, draugr tend to be unwilling to negotiate. 
== Tactics ==
Draugr primarily use melee attacks, striking with axe or sword. Some may open up combat with a hatchet or thrown spear. Draugr are unimpaired by darkness, and will easily notice light from a Delver's lantern, making stealth unlikely without equivalent vision magic. 
=== Detection and Misdirection ===
If combat is already opened, even the playing field by illuminating the tomb. Any and all quirks of the terrain--be they ingrown roots, loose bricks, or left-over traps--should be utilized against a draugr: While they may be familiar with their home cairn's layout, they are not known for versatility, and might be tricked, confused, or trapped by the cairn being used against them in a creative manner. In a situation where the cairn's door is already tricky to open and close, it may be best if the GM adjusts the draug's Move to a more modest, stalking speed. They retain their surprising agility while dodging, as their immense strength is more than enough to justify their movement.
=== Fire ===
When possible, use fire against a draug, as they are vulnerable to it. Try not to burn out all the air in the cairn, though.Are there rules for this in Underground Adventures..?
=== Holiness ===
Draugr are still undead, and are damaged, controlled, and turned by spells and abilities that work on undead. Spirit Empathy likely applies here.
=== Fanon: Mortal Wounds ===
Draugr armor bears the marks of the damage that killed them. While crushing and poison leaves their armor mostly intact, some have breaches in their mail, or arrows piercing through them--signs of their battle, and of their abandoned state afterward. These mortal wounds may be identified as a key weakness using Hidden Lore (Undead) or Theology.
For breaches in armor, these mortal wounds can be struck by impaling, cutting, and some crushing weapons, doing a flat x2 wounding instead of their usual modifier. For arrows, they can be grabbed with a grappling skill and yanked, doing the grappler's thrust+2 damage, with x2 wounding.
==== Mortal Poisons ====
There may be a chance that the draug in question died from poisoning (which would explain their anger at not dying in a fair fight). This may have a breach in armor from the not-quite-killing blow, or be some tiny wound that seems too small to have caused them to perish (such as from a blow dart). Medically-inclined characters can use Diagnosis to tell that it was likely poison, while Poisons may identify the poison specifically--this specific poison is the draug's Mortal Poison, and can still damage them despite their normal immunity to metabolic hazards.
==Locations==
=== Cairns ===
Draugr are primarily found in old tombs, barrows, and cairns, but some wander old battlefields where they died. Draugr rest for several hours a day in a sleep-like state, typically wherever they can remain motionless and be left alone. It is said that a sleeping draug wakes easily, but they do sometimes ignore mortals that leave them alone. It is often the disrespect of an adventurer's cairn-looting that causes a draug to rise to anger. 
=== Battlefields ===
When wandering battlefields, draugr are much easier to spot, although they prefer to travel at night, when they have the advantage of darkness. If downwind from a draug, you may well smell them before you see them. Draugr tend to be fairly independent, and will spread out into the countryside if not reluctantly sleeping in the same cairn. However, according to rumor, some draugr gather in groups during certain astronomical events. Silent as the grave, never carrying torches or lanterns. Some claim that on cold, clear nights, they watch the stars, groaning out slow, mournful songs.Fanon
==Draug Lords==
While many draugr are simply warriors of battles past, there does exist the rare Draug Lord, a remnant husk of a great thane or chieftain. These entities are particularly strong, skilled, and dreadfully cunning. Draug lords often carry powerful enchanted weapons. If they're far from home, they may well carry the heirlooms of clans that were never passed on.
===Historical Draug===
It is said that true draug could turn into a gas to escape their barrows, and grow themselves to immense size in order to crush their foes. These traits could make a draug lord particularly formidable.
== Roleplaying and Story Hooks ==
=== A Proper Sendoff ===
Draugr will sometimes refuse to stay dead if not properly destroyed. Solutions include removing the head, being burned to ash, and being placed in a proper tomb.
===The Old Pact===
While the average draug is completely unwilling to negotiate, they are sapient (albeit single-minded and ghostly), and may be negotiated with under the right circumstances. If there is any ancient pact that binds the draugr, it may still be called upon...
===The Selfish Dead===
While draugr are meant to guard their tombs from outsiders, it's not unheard of that they rise in anger against their own living kin. These "selfish draugr", whom drive out the mourning living from their cairns, are eventually bricked-up in said tombs in response. The old tombs are marked as unholy, and no one treads there... until some fool opens it up, and unleashes the horde into the land of the living. Remember, some "giant, stone puzzle-doors" are meant to keep the monsters in.
=== Bury Me Here ===
(add details about draug bullying locals into digging a hole)
=== Natural Enemies ===
(add details about an ongoing dispute between a dangerous draug and a dangerous ghoul or corpse-eater)
== Magic Items of Draug Lords and Great Warriors ==
* Sage's Band (for wisdom)
* Thrym's Axe (useless to the draug now, as they already love the cold)
* Normal axes with Dwarven modifications (allowing parrying after attacks)
* "Returning" weapons, like hatchets, axes, and spears, work well
* Certainly some sort of Bear Serk would be appropriate... 
* They're unlikely to have any "Holy Warrior"-type artifacts, as such tend to stay dead or become... something not quite draug-like.
== See Also ==
* Horde Zombie -- for regular, less dangerous undead
== Notes ==
==References==