Khisisi (7-8)

While mummy guardians are undead crafted from the corpses of sacrificed-usually unwilling victims-and retain only fragments of their memories, a mummy pharaoh is the result of a deliberate embrace of undeath by a sadistic and cruel ruler. The transformation from life to undeath is no less awful and painful, but as the transition is an intentional bid to escape death by a powerful personality who fully embraces the blasphemous repercussions of the choice, the mummy pharaoh retains its memories and personality intact. Although in most cases a mummy pharaoh is formed from a particularly depraved ruler instructing their priests to perform complex rituals that grant the ruler eternal unlife, a ruler who was filled with incredible anger in life might spontaneously arise from death as a mummy pharaoh without undergoing this ritual. Depending on the nature of the ruler, a mummy pharaoh might have spellcasting or other class features instead of its Attack of Opportunity and disruptive abilities-the exact nature of the abilities the ruler had in life can significantly change or strengthen the mummy pharaoh presented here (which represents the least powerful variety of this deadly undead foe).

While many cultures practice mummification of the dead for benign reasons, undead mummies are created through foul rituals, typically to provide eternally vigilant guardians.