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DM advice: Necromancers, Undead, and Attunement
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<blockquote data-quote="Hawk Diesel" data-source="post: 7261598" data-attributes="member: 59848"><p>A human hireling is different. They are not a slave to the player's will. A human hireling could decide they don't want to fight to the death, or that the bargain that keeps them with the party is not good enough, or they could decide to slink away in the night with that item they were given. The same cannot be said for a skeletal minion.</p><p></p><p>And yes, while there technically is no distinction made between an intelligent creature attuning something and just a creature, the description of attunement seems to indicate that whoever is attuning the item must be able to learn about its nature in some way. It must be able to sense out the magic and learn to use it, which may also include the use of command words and such. Most undead minions (zombies and skeletons) cannot speak. Also, they cannot learn or understand, nor do they have any kind of will to exercise upon magic to guide or focus it (This makes sense to me as a fan of the Dresden Files). Undead minions cannot act independently and they cannot execute more than simple commands. They can't problem solve or develop tactics outside "Stay here and hit things that try to pass" or "go hit that thing" or "go pull that lever." Their level of intelligence is such that it allows them understanding of rudimentary commands and ability to identify what they see to some extent, and assess threat to some extent, but from my perspective anything more complex is beyond most undead minions. </p><p></p><p>A ghoul or ghast is a different story, and maybe some exceptions to skeletons and zombies (Eberron's Karnathi Skeletons/Zombies anyone?). But overall, I would say there is something lacking in most skeletons and zombies that is significant enough to prohibit attunement. But that's just my take.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hawk Diesel, post: 7261598, member: 59848"] A human hireling is different. They are not a slave to the player's will. A human hireling could decide they don't want to fight to the death, or that the bargain that keeps them with the party is not good enough, or they could decide to slink away in the night with that item they were given. The same cannot be said for a skeletal minion. And yes, while there technically is no distinction made between an intelligent creature attuning something and just a creature, the description of attunement seems to indicate that whoever is attuning the item must be able to learn about its nature in some way. It must be able to sense out the magic and learn to use it, which may also include the use of command words and such. Most undead minions (zombies and skeletons) cannot speak. Also, they cannot learn or understand, nor do they have any kind of will to exercise upon magic to guide or focus it (This makes sense to me as a fan of the Dresden Files). Undead minions cannot act independently and they cannot execute more than simple commands. They can't problem solve or develop tactics outside "Stay here and hit things that try to pass" or "go hit that thing" or "go pull that lever." Their level of intelligence is such that it allows them understanding of rudimentary commands and ability to identify what they see to some extent, and assess threat to some extent, but from my perspective anything more complex is beyond most undead minions. A ghoul or ghast is a different story, and maybe some exceptions to skeletons and zombies (Eberron's Karnathi Skeletons/Zombies anyone?). But overall, I would say there is something lacking in most skeletons and zombies that is significant enough to prohibit attunement. But that's just my take. [/QUOTE]
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