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| Psionic humanoid undead immortal outsider. (Art: Brian Bolland) |
Inter-dimensional alien super-fiend.
Declared life to be illegal (as it is the living who exclusively commit crime). Carried out summary execution of his entire home world - billions of lives. This was centuries before he started dimension hopping.
Doesn't care whether yours is a fantasy, historical or sci-fi setting - you're all lawbreakers (especially the elves).
Looks like a zombie or mummy dressed in a mockery of a Mega City Judge uniform. He doesn't need to wear anything, he chooses to - his office has standards to uphold.
An immortal spirit, Judge Death can partially or totally possess a living being, or reanimate a handy corpse, but only a vessel properly treated with the Dead Fluids allows him to bring his full abilities to bear.
All details preceded by an asterisk (*) are even more optional than the rest.
Hit Dice: as an undead type that you think best represents the temporary host body and/or the power and threat of Death in relation to your setting, system and table (I'm imagining Judge Dredd and Judge Anderson as min. 4th level characters).
As a zombie-type, Juju (3+12) or Lord (6) works; Lich (11) or Mummy (5+1) fit his appearance in the comics.
As a villain, he's at least Vampire/Mind Flayer tier (8+4).
*He can use d12 for hp instead of a d6/d8.
Treat an improvised/untreated corpse host as a Zombie (2 HD).
Armour Class: Unarmoured as Plate (his uniform is equal to Leather, but does not stack).
*Or as undead type for Hit Dice.
Invulnerable Monster: immune to normal weapons, bullets, crits, impales, massive damage effects.
Undead, clearly. *Immune as undead type for HD.
*Immune to charm, sleep, feeblemind, polymorph, cold, lightning, death spells (including reversed healing).
*+2 or better weapon to bypass Invulnerability, and these sever limbs on a crit/nat 20.
Half damage from all attacks.
Attacks with Filthy Claws for d4 hp each vs. metal armour (including the thick animal/monster hide equivalents of Chain and Plate); d6 otherwise.
*Save vs. disease if you've been wounded to see if you contracted Mummy's rotting disease (your preferred iteration).
He can wield weapons, use devices, grapple, throw objects etc. *and Cleaves like a Fighter of equal level vs. low-level opponents.
Grasp Heart: his signature move - phasing his hand into your chest and squeezing.
Automatic vs. helpless victims or if he rolls 4 more than the number needed to hit (*or three consecutive hits, or a crit) - auto-kill on Death's next action if he wants to (and he really wants to).
*Save each round he holds your heart or take d4 non-lethal hp and 1 Strength damage. He knows if you're lying to him, and can read your surface thoughts if you're below 4th level.
If Death suffers damage in the interim or he chooses to, you are released.
Stench of Death: as a Troglodyte, and if you crit fail, you're sick as if poisoned by a Giant Centipede.
*Make three saves in a row or roll a crit, and you're immune to the effect for the rest of the encounter.
Mournful Charm: as a Vampire, one target per round, by gaze, gesture or communication.
*50% per appropriate time period he cannot resist the urge to pass sentence of death on a helpless target.
*Superhuman Strength: equivalent to an AD&D Vampire (18/76 Exceptional Strength), or your setting/system maximum for humans, or the bonus increment above this.
Making him fully and messily capable of grasping your heart without using his special ability.
You Cannot Kill What Does Not Live: as long as his host body has hit points remaining, it regenerates 1 hp per ten-minute turn.
*Severed extremities do not regrow but can be reattached or replaced, Frankenstein-style.
At 0 hp (or at will), taking a full round, Death abandons the host in gaseous form (as a Vampire).
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| One of his catchphrases. Art: Frazer Irving |
Effectively indestructible, this form can use Stench of Death as a touch attack, exercise Mournful Charm, or attempt to possess a new host (automatic vs. helpless target; otherwise use your preferred possession sub-system).
Clerical Turning works like a Holy Symbol vs. Vampires against his gaseous form only.
A dissolve result vs. undead type by HD will drive Death from a host not yet treated with the Dead Fluids, and is no more effective than a Holy Symbol vs. Vampires against his gaseous form.
Vulnerabilities: Takes full normal damage from fire.
As an Invulnerable Monster, he's immune to normal damage, but not non-lethal/secondary effects, so can be pushed, pulled, grappled, entangled, tripped, thrown, disarmed, knocked back, knocked down, skewered and pinned to objects, dismembered, buried in cement, locked in a lead box and dropped into the Marianas Trench etc.
Effectively helpless for 1 round when changing to gaseous form - this is your best opportunity to stop him getting away and taking a new host.
An interpretation of the comics would suggest trapping him in a Gelatinous Cube is an option.
I don’t know enough about D&D-adjacent psionics to comment specifically, but Judge Death appears to be (normally) vulnerable to psionics (for an entity of his status) - including telepathy, as a sapient being.
Can be fooled (at least once) by feign death or similar.
Living Hosts are fragile and will deteriorate - mentally, physically and spiritually - the longer Death maintains a hold on them. They share none of Death's immunities/resistances or special abilities, unless/until treated with the Dead Fluids.
Commentary.
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| More classic catchphrases. Art: Alex Ronald; Colours: Gary Caldwell. |
It's been established that he was once Sidney D'Eath, son of a serial-killing dentist, whose wholesale genocidal tendencies showed long before he turned undead, but there are various other iterations.
In the primary 2000AD timeline, Death is both an apocalyptic supernatural threat and not entirely to be taken seriously. Sometimes works for me - this juxtaposition is a common tonal feature of the Judge Dredd setting. Dead Fluids flow frequently.
Judge Dredd: Lawman of the Future (1995 movie tie-in comic): Death is the undead alternative-universe Judge Dredd (apparently the original idea for the 2000AD archetype). Has a soulgem that powers his suite of special abilities. No Dead Fluids.
Judge Dredd: Final Judgement (2012 movie tie-in comic): He appears to be Sidney D'Eath from the primary (movie) universe, while also being an entity from a parallel universe of perfect entropy. No Dead Fluids, but plenty of stuff I liked.
Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham and Die Laughing: I have finite tolerance for the zany comedy antics of Judge Death in the mainstream 2000AD strip, so these two crossovers are a low point from my perspective. Visually interesting, though. Can't remember if any Dead Fluids.
Fall of Deadworld: Kek-W and Dave Kendall's non-stop parade of death metal album covers, telling the tale of how Death's homeworld was turned into Deadworld - and what the Dark Judges were doing before they turned their attention to the primary 2000AD universe. Absolutely saturated with Dead Fluids.
For Brits of a certain era, compare with Joey Boswell (Peter Howitt, not Graham Bickley) - another black leather-clad sex-symbol who announced himself with 'Greetings'.
