Hollow Undead (3.5e Monster)

''The undead warrior moved as he did in life, just as nimble and dangerous without a hint of the usual zombie slowness. Its eyes burn with madness and the need to take your life and make it his own.''

Hollowed out darksign undead, the following are semi-special hollows with a few more tricks than the standard hollow. They are all generally weak, but torch hollows have known to deal surprising amounts of burst damage and the knights are well protected in their breastplate armor. All the above hollows are presumed humanoids, but darksign undead don't differ between humanoid species.

Hollow warriors make up the conscripts and generic warriors and guardsmen. Torch hollows meanwhile wear no armor and seem weaker. For the most part, they are. However they are absolutely deadly with a torch in hand, and were created from the rioting commonfolk in the days before their turning. At last, the baller knights were once proud soldiers to a kingdom known as "Baller" but they too fell to the curse. They retain their fighting prowess, and are the most well equipped of the mooks.

All of the above hollowed undead have long lost their last humanity. When they die, they will die for good. They are attracted to the living in an effort to gain humanity through their deaths, but they barely remember how, that is how far gone they are.

Combat
Though feral and insane, the hollow warrior, torch hollow, and baller knight all retain some semblence of tactics. The warrior fights as well as any NPC, while the torch hollow often hangs back and looks for an opportunity to come charging in and getting in one deadly hit. The baller knights are usually defensive, parrying attacks and making vicious counterattacks. They can be persistant pursuers if they believe they have the advantage and the enemy is running.

Hollow warriors typically are equipped with a longsword, longspear, or battleaxe, and a light wooden shield. They also pack crossbows and alchemical items such as alchemist fire.

Baller knights typically use either a longsword and heavy steel shield, or they go with a buckler and a rapier.

Berserk Rush : The true reason torch hollows are so feared is not for their strength or their ability to use a torch as a weapon, but their berserk rush. As a full attack action they make charge an opponent. If they hit, they get another attack at -2. If it hits, they get another attack at -4, -6, and so forth until they miss. Fortunately they must wait at least 1d4 rounds before trying this again.

Great Leap : A torch hollow can use it's Dexterity instead of its strength for Jump checks, and always counts as having a running start.

Defensive Stance : A baller knight can take a defensive stance as a swift action where they ready their weapon to parry. Attacking a baller knight in defensive stance triggers an attack of opportunity. All of its attack rolls take a -2 penalty, except for attacks of opportunity. The stance acts like a martial maneuver, and lasts until it changes stances.

Offensive Stance : A baller knight can take an offensive stance as a swift action where they attack aggressively. In offensive stance they gain an extra attack at -5 on a full attack. This does stack with haste, unlike most extra attacks. The stance acts like a martial maneuver, and lasts until it changes stances.