DevDiary 14 Undead Faction Expansion - Battle-Modders/mod-reforged GitHub Wiki
Dev Diary #14 - 30-Mar-2026
Uberbagel & LordMidas
To witness a wiederganger attack is to witness the torrents of a flood batter the walls of a dam. Endless hordes unnaturally resistant to martial blows stress the limits of the strongest warriors. When led by a Necromancer, the torrents gain speed and never lessen. Shrieks of spirits unnaturally tied to this earth follow closely, testing the hearts of men most hardy while ghost hounds stalk and strike from the periphery. The truly unfortunate hear the dirge of a Klagmutter, their reality becoming nothing but the deepest sorrow and total loss of hope.
As with all faction expansions we do, we aim to allow these factions to scale enough to enable and keep late-game campaigns interesting. To this end we have added a new Fallen Knight unit into the wiederganger progression line who takes the place of the vanilla Fallen Hero. This allows us to make the Fallen Hero a new, higher tier unit. The Fallen Knight to Fallen Hero upgrade is pretty simple, as they gain hitpoints, combat stats, better equipment and some additional perks.
Showcase of Fallen Knight and Fallen Hero
We have added two enemies you might recognize from their art, which has been provided and improved upon by the original creator.
Half ethereal spirits whose demonic baying shudders the soul with unstoppable doom. They move fast, flank your formations and possess strong debuffing capabilities. Those who strike these demons have their sword arm filled with numbness due to some mysterious interaction with an ethereal mist that enshrouds these creatures. Their ethereal bites completely ignore armor and those who find themselves in the jaws of one of these hounds feel their whole body subsumed with the chill of death. They are rumored to be occasional companions of Alps.
The revenant of a woman scorned or wronged, Klagmutters are the very embodiment of grief and despair. Their wails test the resolve of all men around them, inflicting those who waver with a grieving malaise that takes root in their minds. In order to purge this revenant from this plane one must overcome one's deepest demons and face one's greatest fears, for only those with ironclad resolve will be able to pierce the veil of whimpers that surrounds these Klagmutters.
Showcase of Klagmutter and Hollenhunds
Unfortunately for the living across the land, Necromancers have begun pushing the limits of their nefarious magics. While one would think that reanimating human corpses would have been far enough for these wicked individuals, some craved more and turned their attention to a far stronger race: the Orcs. Orc physiology is different from that of a human and perhaps requires a deeper and stronger grasp of the profane rituals to reanimate and control. Nevertheless, after years of study and experimentation some necromancers managed the feat and the knowledge soon spread across their dark cults. While still not necessarily common, a sellsword such as yourself will surely come across this new breed every now and then.
Wiederganger Orcs are in some ways similar to their human counterparts. They're slow, dumb and predictable. However, they are much more difficult to take down. Being a hulking mass of rotting muscle allows them to take much more punishment than what would have killed a living orc. Mercifully, they're too slow and mindless to charge or break through your lines. Strangely, necromancers specializing in human or orc necromancy tend not to work together, though some have been found with both human and orc puppets. Many of these like to use wiederganger orcs as bodyguards likely due to the race's particular physical advantages.
Perhaps due to the occult techniques required to reanimate an orc, these abominations are never found outside the company of a Necromancer. Wiederganger Orcs come equipped with mostly the same equipment as their living counterparts, but their equipment is often damaged.
Showcase of Wiederganger Orcs
We wanted to make Necromancers feel more personal and full of character with this update. For this, we have increased the chance for Necromancers to spawn as champions, so you will encounter named necromancers more often and, in some cases, earlier in a campaign. To make these fights more interesting and challenging, especially in the late game, champion necromancers now come with the Wither ability that players may be familiar with from the Lorekeeper fight. With the extra Action Points Necromancer Champions already get, Wither becomes a formidable debuffing tool in their hands.
Withered effect
We have added a new weapon for Orcs called the Skull Crusher. A massive two-handed club topped crudely with metal scrap. Far oversized compared to human maces, expect Berserkers to cave in the chests and bash the skulls of your men with this new invention.
An Orc Berserker with the new Skull Crusher
In vanilla the zombie faction has 4 tiers of locations: Hideout -> Graveyard -> Necromancer's Lair -> Ruins or Crypt. The Ruins and Crypt have the same difficulty. The highest tier of the zombie faction only has about half the strength of the highest tier Ancient Dead location. This means that this faction has trouble scaling well into the late game, especially with all these new higher tier units that we have added. Therefore, we have adjusted the tiers to now be: Hideout -> Graveyard -> Ruins -> Crypt -> Necromancer's Lair and have increased the difficulty and loot of the Crypt and Necromancer's Lair locations. This means that the zombie faction can now provide more challenging and interesting fights in the lategame as well.
Anatomists can craft the Potion of Serenity from the ethereal remains of a Klagmutter. This concoction permanently stabilizes a man's humors to make his mind far more resistant against negative emotions while strengthening positive ones. As a result, the drinker gains a 50% chance to reroll all failed morale checks while also overcoming any obstacles to reaching Confident morale.
Geists and Klagmutters drop the Geist Tear item. One of these tears, combined with Hollenhund Bones, can be used to craft the Phantom Draught which is a potion that makes your body's quick movements feel significantly lighter giving you bonus melee defense and ranged defense for one battle.
A fiery concoction that scrubs the throat when swallowed but grants vigor unlike anything you've ever ingested. This potion is crafted using Sulfurous Rocks, Serpent Skin and Hollenhund Bones and grants the drinker an additional Action Point and immunity against all natural and unnatural cold effects for one battle.
A fragile pot filled with finely ground dust of the remains of nightmarish creatures. Crafted using Hollenhund Bones, Petrified Scream and Glistening Scales. Can be thrown at a single target to inflict them with Grave Chill (the same effect that the Hollenhunds inflict upon their victims with their attacks).
