Brazer Blog
Player and Game Designer, Dale McCoy of Jon Brazer Enterprises blogs about his play experiences and design choices.
[Pathfinder] Opposite of Undead
Posted 2nd February 2010 at 09:40 PM by dmccoy1693
When Pathfinder changed the way Turn Undead worked to Channel Energy, it caused positive energy to harm undead and heal living and negative energy to do the opposite. IIRC, the reasoning is is that undead are "powered" by negative energy and the channel of energy work either for or against that energy, depending on the energy type being channeled. That's all well and good, but the first thing I asked myself was, "So what kind of undead is powered by positive energy?" This sounds prime for a whole new class of monsters.
I've been struggling to figure out a basic type of positive undead. To give you an example of what I mean, normal undead have, IMHO, two basic types: ghosts and zombies. Everything else from there is a modification of either of these classic types of undead. Vampires are the soul reattached to the body, but require the life of another to stay attached. Wraiths are the id part of the spirit and are pissed off. But what should the basic type of a positive undead be? Reattaching the soul to a dead body and requiring it to feed on other that are alive is ... not a positive thing.
Today I stumbled upon an interesting definition of undead. "The undead are people who shouldn't be alive, but are still living through the use of excessive amounts of plastic surgery." Reference link. Well, that doesn't exactly apply, but with a bit of tweeking, you get my own definition: "The undead are people who shouldn't be alive but (roughly) appear so." That definition is a great starting point to come up with an opposite of undead. The one I am using is, "The 'positive undead' are people who should be alive but are not and refuse to move on." Not perfect mind you, but it is a starting point. As far as basic types go, I have a few ideas.
Dale McCoy is President of Jon Brazer Enterprises. Visit our website to find out about our upcoming Pathfinder Compatible release: Book of the Faithful: The Worshiping Swords.
I've been struggling to figure out a basic type of positive undead. To give you an example of what I mean, normal undead have, IMHO, two basic types: ghosts and zombies. Everything else from there is a modification of either of these classic types of undead. Vampires are the soul reattached to the body, but require the life of another to stay attached. Wraiths are the id part of the spirit and are pissed off. But what should the basic type of a positive undead be? Reattaching the soul to a dead body and requiring it to feed on other that are alive is ... not a positive thing.
Today I stumbled upon an interesting definition of undead. "The undead are people who shouldn't be alive, but are still living through the use of excessive amounts of plastic surgery." Reference link. Well, that doesn't exactly apply, but with a bit of tweeking, you get my own definition: "The undead are people who shouldn't be alive but (roughly) appear so." That definition is a great starting point to come up with an opposite of undead. The one I am using is, "The 'positive undead' are people who should be alive but are not and refuse to move on." Not perfect mind you, but it is a starting point. As far as basic types go, I have a few ideas.
Pulled a spirit that left its body before the body died, but is now unable to return to the body.These are not even to the stage of working titles yet. This is more like spitballing at this point. Variations on these themes could be:
Soulless a living body without a spirit inside it.
Hermit Crab a spirit that took up residence in a living body without a spirit.Like I said, this is just spitballing at the moment. What do you think of this concept? Is this something you would be interested in your game?
Duel Spirited a unified body and spirit where a second spirit took up residence.
Reclaimed a living body that lost its spirit and it later came back (think lazerus).
Dale McCoy is President of Jon Brazer Enterprises. Visit our website to find out about our upcoming Pathfinder Compatible release: Book of the Faithful: The Worshiping Swords.
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Tags: jon brazer enterprises, pathfinder, undead
Total Comments 4
Comments
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"The 'positive undead' are people who should be alive but are not and refuse to move on."
You mean like a ghost? I think your definition has too much overlap with existing concepts of the undead. Any spirit disembodied, or any animated body that has been 'dispirited' is going to fall into traditional undead in my opinion. Any 'half way state' is going to be undead.
The 'resurrected' are the closest I think you come to true opposites of undead, but really, anything that has died but lives is more like 'undead' than its opposite. The 'resurrected' differ from the undead mainly in that they enjoy a real life rather than the semblence of it, and are, like the living 'positive powered'.
I would think the opposite of the undead are the 'never living' who persist in living despite the fact they have not yet been born (and hense, unlike the undead, have also never died). Think perhaps 'spirits of the not yet concieved'. This works for certain cosmologies where there is a queue of not yet living spirits hanging around somewhere to supply future bodies.
Presumably, some of those spirits could get bored.Posted 4th February 2010 at 10:57 PM by Celebrim
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My thought on ghosts is that they are suppose to be dead. But you are probably right. There might be to much overlap with that.
I am not sure about the "not yet born" idea. It definitely fits the concept better. I'll have to think about it more (see if I can make some fun and interesting monsters with that idea). Thank you for sharing that idea.Posted 5th February 2010 at 05:26 AM by dmccoy1693 - Surely all living creatures are the opposite of undead ?Posted 5th February 2010 at 04:55 PM by Nedz
- I disagree. I think that dead is the opposite of living. Undead are an abomination to the living and the dead by being neither one nor the other. They exist in a nebulous state, having one foot in two worlds.
Describing something is just as much an exercising in defining what it is as it is defining what it is not. The flavor description of undead "once-living creatures animated by spiritual or supernatural forces." (PFRPG Bestiary). Dead are not animated so they are different than undead. An "unborn" (anyone have a better term than that?) would be a "not yet living creature animated by spiritual or supernatural forces."Posted 5th February 2010 at 06:01 PM by dmccoy1693
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