Skyrim did the draugr dirty. There, I said it.
The lumbering dessicated corpses often found defending the barrows and catacombs of the Nords have little in common with their namesake, the horrifc monsters of Old Norse folklore. I'm here to set the record straight with a truly frightening, nigh unstoppable undead monster that you can unleash on your players. Is it balanced? Who knows? Has it been playtested? Absolutely not (yet). But it's just for fun so don't get too uptight about it.
Pictured: a loser.
So, what it Skyrim get right? Well in Scandanavian folklore, a draugr is an undead creature often found guarding treasure. They're physical beings, unlike ghosts, and they're pretty malevolent and violent. That's about where the similarity stops. Because, you see, unlike the draugr of Skyrim, which is basically a tough Nord-zombie you can beat to a pulp with relative ease, the folklore creature is something you run from rather than fight. Let's look at some of the stuff a real draugr can do:
Shapeshifting - Draugr could change size, sometimes growing into huge and bloated forms, which also made them incredibly heavy and strong. Imagine an undead, reeking, giant coming at you with ice-blue skin and hate in its eyes. If that wasn't bad enough, they also possessed the ability to take on horrific animals forms, such as a flayed bull or a great grey horse with a broken back. Why would it do these things? Because it's metal as hell and it wants to scare you. Draugr were keen on spreading fear, tormenting their victims and driving people and livetock mad. Add in that the draugr could "swim through stone" and you've got a monster that can walk right through the walls of your house if it wants to.
Weather Control - Snow, lightning, fog, unnatural darkness. The draugr has the weather under its command and it will use it against you.
Plagues and Nightmares - Some draugr were said to invade the sleep of their victims, while others brought disease to nearby villages. They could even curse you with bad luck or phyical ailments. If one of them gave you nightmares, they'd often leave behind some physical item as proof that it wasn't all just a dream.
Bloodthirst and Greed - The draugr of folklore weren't content to just chill in the cairn until some would-be adventurer came looking for gold. They went roaming about the land, destroying livestock, killing and terrifying people, and bringing back more treasure for their horde. In some stories they enjoy the taste of blood, in others they eat their victims whole.
Invulnerability - In some legends, draugr were completely unstoppable, akin to a natural disaster that you have no choice but to flee from. In others they can be killed only be a righteous man, or via decapitation. Prevention is better than cure and there were various methods to stop a corpse becoming a draugr: a pair of iron scissors left open on the body of the deceased, or tying their big toes together to prevent them walking. Sometimes rituals involved carrying the corpse through a doorway and then bricking it up to block out or confuse the spirit and prevent it returning to the body.
In short, the draugr was a terrifying beastie indeed. So what does this look like in DnD 5th edition?
Well, this:
As you can see, our draugr is a beefy boi, with a big HP pool, mid-range AC, some damage resistances and immunities. He can't be frightened (he IS fear) and he can't be charmed. There's no talking your way out of this one.
His spells are a mix of weather control, shapeshifting, and good old necrotic damage bursts, and he supplements these with a couple of nasty lair actions, in case you're stupid enough to follow him to his underground tomb.
But he doesn't rely on magic alone. This malevolent creature is no slouch when it comes to melee. He's got two Slam attacks, with a good chance to hit and similar melee damage to a Storm Giant. He can also boost himself via the Enlarge action (pinched from the Duergar). In short, he's not afraid to wade in and get his hands dirty, while keeping ranged characters at his mercy with some nasty magic options.
I didn't have a field for Regional Effects on this character builder but I'd recommend things like strange weather, unnaturally early sunsets, livestock mutilations, and tombs forced open and robbed of their trinkets. These are the signs a draugr has awakened and made its lair somewhere near.
You may notice that I've given him only one spoken language: Bothii, the language of the Uthgardt barbarians. This is because the Uthgardt are sort of a Norse stand-in in my version of the Forgotten Realms. Not many players will speak Bothii, which makes it all the more difficult to attempt to reason with this monster.
I haven't provided any kind of phasing ability to this draugr, so no walking through walls for him, but I have given him a burrowing speed, which he can use to create his lair.
In short, it's no mean feat to take on a draugr. Your party stand the best chance at victory if they can lure him out into the daylight, but even then, they'll have a fight on their hands! Like many powerful folklore monsters, thinking outside the box or playing some kind of trick may be the best way to go about dealing with this undead menace.
If you decide to throw this monster into the mix, please let me know how it went!
Until next time!