A stone shape spell either forces the dragger to drop any grappled or swallowed prey, or seals its maw shut (preventing use of its bite attack) for x rounds.
Split (Ex): A fully healed dragger of x or more HD can split into multiple draggers. The new draggers may have any combination of HD that totals to the HD of the original dragger, but each must have at least 2 HD. Each new dragger has average hit points for its Hit Dice. This process takes x rounds, during which the dragger may take no other actions.
"I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you." - Batman, Batman Begins "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." - Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight "Yeah, I can fly." - Tony Stark, Iron Man
Inside my hands these petals browned;
dried up falling to the ground,
but it was already too late now.
I pushed my fingers through the earth,
returned this flower to the dirt;
so it could live, I walked away now."
Rise Against - "The Good Left Undone"
1d4 rounds on the prevented bite attack. That's enough either to kill it or run away. Most likely, I'd see a dragger just disappearing into the earth if it's incapacitated like that.
For the split, we upped the base HD to 8. So let's go with
Split (Ex): A fully healed dragger of 16 or more HD can split into multiple draggers. The new draggers may have any combination of HD that totals to the HD of the original dragger, but each must have at least 8 HD. Each new dragger has average hit points for its Hit Dice. This process takes 1 minute, during which the dragger may take no other actions.
I was going to suggest 2 rounds, but 1d4 works too. If this creature were to get below 75% health with an enemy in it's maw it will flee into the earth. That can be flavor combat text.
"I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you." - Batman, Batman Begins "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." - Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight "Yeah, I can fly." - Tony Stark, Iron Man
Inside my hands these petals browned;
dried up falling to the ground,
but it was already too late now.
I pushed my fingers through the earth,
returned this flower to the dirt;
so it could live, I walked away now."
Rise Against - "The Good Left Undone"
Nit picking: Can we bold the "In the Realms" part. It just sort of blends together with everything else. Beyond that I don't see any typos or glaring errors.
Netherese Zombie
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any
FREQUENCY: Rare
ORGANIZATION: Nil
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Nil
INTELLIGENCE: Avg (8-10)
TREASURE: Nil
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil
NO. APPEARING 2d8
ARMOR CLASS: 6
MOVEMENT: 9
HIT DICE: 6
THAC0: 15
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2d4/2d4
SPELL ATTACKS: Raise dead, control undead
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Spell immunities
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil
SIZE: M (6’ tall)
MORALE: Special
XP VALUE: 650
Netherese zombies are undead creatures resembling normal zombies that move about the surface of Netheril on various errands for their master, the Lichlord. While a few of these creatures are independent of their creator, most are known to serve the Lichlord in one manner or another.
These undead are frequently encountered wearing the same clothing as they did in life. It’s not uncommon for Neth zombies to be wearing fine robes and jewelry, death shrouds, or other clothing that they happened to be wearing before they were converted into undeath. There’s a sparkling of intelligence in a Netherese zombie,.the last vestige of humanity left in its body. Each zombie speaks whatever languages it knew in life (typically common) and also communicates telepathically with the Lichlord.
Combat: Neth zombies typically attack in force, seeking to overwhelm any opposition quickly. While a few servants of the Lichlord have been known to hurl daggers or flaming oil, most Neth zombies prefer the direct approach. Once a direct attack fails, however, the Lichlord is quick to inform other bands of his zombies to attack with ranged weapons, wait until night to attack, or simply ambush opponents. Netherese zombies are turned as spectres and attack during their normal Initiative (they don’t always attack last in a round).
While engaged in melee, these zombies seek to pummel or claw their opponents to the ground. The Neth zombie that defeats an opponent can then choose to raise dead on that creature, transforming him into a Netherese zombie in 1d4 turns. As the transformation comes to fruition, the skin slowly turns a pale white, fingernails become sharp, and the eyes sink in a bit.
A successfully cast remove curse versus 12th-level magic stops the transformation, returning the victim to the ranks of the dead. From there, a normal raise dead or resurrection spell can be used to bring the creature back to life as described above after being defeated in combat.
Zombies of Netherese variety can also control nonthinking undead (skeletons, normal zombies, and others) within 30 feet. Such control is equivalent to that of an evil priest who successfully controls undead.
Neth zombies are immune to sleep, charm, hold, death magic, poison, and cold-based attacks. A vial of holy water inflicts 2d4 points of damage.
Habitat/Society: Most Netherese zombies are loyal servants to the Lichlord. These creatures roam the lands of Netheril searching for new recruits to add to the Lichlord’s army of undead. Each zombie possesses a burning desire to kill any human it encounters.
Neth zombies retain most of their Intelligence (10 maximum) and the ability to speak. They also keep the personality and memories that they had in life, typically using these to their advantage in service to the Lichlord. Overall, creatures retain two-thirds of the abilities they had in life (so a fighter with 18 Strength would be reduced to a Strength of 12).
All of these undead answer only to the telepathic will of the Lichlord, though he may from time to time appoint a wraith or spectre to command in his stead.
Ecology: As zombies swell their ranks with those they defeat, it becomes increasingly difficult to oppose this wave of undead as it ravages the countryside. In short order, entire villages are absorbed into a growing mass of destruction that sweeps up anything it encounters. Fertile fields are trampled flat by their passing, and animals flee as they approach.
Originally appeared in How the Mighty are Fallen (1996).
"I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you." - Batman, Batman Begins "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." - Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight "Yeah, I can fly." - Tony Stark, Iron Man
Inside my hands these petals browned;
dried up falling to the ground,
but it was already too late now.
I pushed my fingers through the earth,
returned this flower to the dirt;
so it could live, I walked away now."
Rise Against - "The Good Left Undone"
Hmm, so will this be a standard monster or do we create a "Netherese Zombie" template? I can see arguments either way.
Guess it'll be easier to stat them up as a regular monster.
Medium-sized Undead, obviously.
6 Hit Dice.
Same physical stats as a human zombie, but intelligent, probably something like.
Str 12, Dex 8, Con -, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 10.
What martial proficiencies will they have? I was thinking they might keep the weapon & armour proficiencies they knew in life, not just the simple weapons all Undead know, to give them a slight "template" flavour.
A +5 natural armour bonus would give them AC14, the equivalent of the AD&D version's AC6.
Their undead powers seem pretty straightforward - standard Undead immunities, spawn more Netherese zombies from humans they slay, rebuke non-intelligent Undead as a 6th level evil cleric.
"I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you." - Batman, Batman Begins "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." - Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight "Yeah, I can fly." - Tony Stark, Iron Man
Inside my hands these petals browned;
dried up falling to the ground,
but it was already too late now.
I pushed my fingers through the earth,
returned this flower to the dirt;
so it could live, I walked away now."
Rise Against - "The Good Left Undone"
Shall we go through the Zombie's SRD writeup, making changes as we go?
Zombies
Zombies are corpses reanimated through dark and sinister magic.
Because of their utter lack of intelligence, the instructions given to a newly created zombie must be very simple.
Chopping and changing some text from the AD&D description.
Netherese Zombies
Zombies are corpses reanimated through the dark magic of Netheril's Lichlord. These undead are frequently encountered wearing the same clothing as they did in life.
There’s a spark of intelligence in a Netherese zombie, the last vestige of humanity left in its body. Most Netherese zombies serve the Lichlord in one manner or another, but a few are independent of their creator. Regardless of whether they follow a master, each zombie possesses a burning desire to kill any human it encounters.
That's fairly straightforward, it's the "Creating a Zombie" were the trouble starts.
Creating a Zombie
"Zombie" is an acquired template that can be added to any corporeal creature (other than an undead) that has a skeletal system (referred to hereafter as the base creature).
Reading between the lines, it looks like they mainly turn humans and their kin into Netherese zombies. Shall we restrict the template to Humanoids. I think I'd rather make it Humanoid or Monstrous Humanoid, like the Vampire template.
Creating a Netherese Zombie
"Netherese Zombie" is an acquired template that can be added to any Humanoid or monstrous humanoid creature, referred to hereafter as the base creature.
The Size and Type entry looks a bit trickier. I'm thinking it should gain the augmented subtype, since it retains much of the intelligence they had when alive.
Size and Type
The creature’s type changes to undead (augmented humanoid or monstrous humanoid. It retains any subtypes except alignment subtypes and subtypes that indicate kind. It uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Now here comes a tricky bit: Hit Dice. Do they keep class levels or not?
I think that's a good point to stop throwing out proposals to let the arguments commence.
Well, I vote we ditch the "2/3" as powerful bit (except perhaps for ability penalties or certain types of special abilities?). Since the original text makes it sound like they may keep class abilities, I also vote to keep class HD.
Well, I vote we ditch the "2/3" as powerful bit (except perhaps for ability penalties or certain types of special abilities?). Since the original text makes it sound like they may keep class abilities, I also vote to keep class HD.
I was thinking that Netherese zombies just have Undead hit dice, but keep their languages and weapon proficiencies. I have a feeling these are more like Vampire Spawn than Vampires, lacking most of the intelligence and abilities they had in life.
Or, maybe we could have them lose some of their class levels (say -5 class levels?) and if they have any left they can become "independent" Netherese Zombies. Thus, a 5th level fighter becomes a standard 6HD Netherese Zombie, but a 6th level fighter becomes a Netherese Zombie with 1 level of fighter. That would be fiddly in practice, but it allows to have "rank and file" zombies without having to bother with working out their 2 levels in Commoner or whatever, plus "personalities" that used to be the local notables.
"I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you." - Batman, Batman Begins "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." - Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight "Yeah, I can fly." - Tony Stark, Iron Man
Inside my hands these petals browned;
dried up falling to the ground,
but it was already too late now.
I pushed my fingers through the earth,
returned this flower to the dirt;
so it could live, I walked away now."
Rise Against - "The Good Left Undone"
Zombies (and similar undead) generally get physically stronger, rather than weaker.
Zombie: A zombie’s Strength increases by +2, its Dexterity decreases by 2, it has no Constitution or Intelligence score, its Wisdom changes to 10, and its Charisma changes to 1.
Corpse Creature: Modify the base creature as follows: Str +4, Dex -2, Con -, Int +0, Wis +0, Cha +0.
"I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you." - Batman, Batman Begins "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." - Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight "Yeah, I can fly." - Tony Stark, Iron Man
Inside my hands these petals browned;
dried up falling to the ground,
but it was already too late now.
I pushed my fingers through the earth,
returned this flower to the dirt;
so it could live, I walked away now."
Rise Against - "The Good Left Undone"
Me too. These are probably more closely related to the corpse creature template than the zombie template.
OK, I can go along with that. In that case we'd want them to get bonus levels in Undead to put a standard Netherese Zombie's Hit Dice up to 6, which suggests adding 5 HD to a standard 1st level Commoner.
I'd think we'd want it to scale with the size and base HD of the original creature, something like:
A Netherese Zombie keeps any class levels it possesses and gains additional levels in Undead equal to the base Hit Dice (sans class levels, minimum 1) of its base creature, plus additional levels in Undead according to its size using the following chart:
Diminutive or smaller - no extra HD for size
Tiny - +1 Undead HD
Small - +2 Undead HD
Medium or larger - +4 Undead HD
So, a human 1st level Commoner (Base 1 HD, Medium-sized) would become a 6HD Netherese Zombie as desired - 1HD of commoner, plus its base 1 HD, plus 4 HD for size, while a Kobold (1HD Small) would become a 4HD Netherese Zombie [base 1*2 plus 2 for size] and a Gnoll (2HD Medium) becomes an 8 HD Netherese Zombie [base 1*2 plus 2 for size].
A high level adventurer (say a 9th level fighter) would just get an extra 5HD of Undead on top of their class HD, or +3 HD if they're Small.
At the larger end of the scale, an Annis (7HD Large creature) becomes an 18HD Netherese Zombie - double its original HD plus 4 for being Large.
We may want to apply a cap to the extra Hit Dice, or creatures with a lot of base HD could become extravagant. (E.g. a Gargoyle advanced to 12 HD would become a 28 HD Undead, which seems a bit too much!).
Last edited by Cleon; 5th October 2009 at 11:50 PM..
If we're keeping Int 10 (and presumably some cap on other mental stats), that would maybe be enough of a penalty but would gimp casters too much I think. Let's just ditch the 2/3 thing or come up with some creative SQ, like a restriction on actions (not as severe as a normal zombie, though).
Maybe the reason the standard Netherese zombie has 6HD is just that they're usually made from people with levels?
Do we want to give them some kind of penalties to account for the 2/3 power schtick?
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