How do you kill an undead creature?

[Quasqueton]

Undead creatures are not vulnerable to critical hits. A stab to the heart is no more harmful to them than a stab in the arm. Even lopping off an undead creature's head is not necessarily "fatal".

So exactly what kills an undead creature?

A living orc has 4 hit points. A strike with a weapon that does 4 points of damage, disables the orc. A critical hit that does 14 points of damage (enough to take it below -10) can be described to stab it through the heart, lop off its head, disembowel him, or some other gruesome wound. We know what kills a living being.

A zombie orc has 16 hit points. A strike with a weapon that does 16 points of damage destroys the zombie outright. How do you describe this wound? The zombie may not even have a heart to stab, may already have a gaping hole in its head, and may already be trailing its entrails on the ground, before the first blow is landed on it.

Can you dissect a zombie without "killing" it?

A skeleton has no organs to puncture, slice, or spill. What kind of wound kills a skeleton? Can you disassemble a skeleton without "killing" it?

And how about incorporeal undead? How do you describe the destruction of a wraith or spectre?

Since normal biological functions do not keep an undead creature "alive", what makes one die? How do you describe "killing" undead creatures?

Quasqueton

 

[Jolly Giant]

For the "death" corporeal undead I describe it as a "falling apart"; it has sustained so much damage, the magic that animated it can no longer hold it together. As the body is destroyed, the magic is dispelled. I'm guessing that is how the designers imagined it too, since the books always refer to undead being "destroyed" rather than "killed". If they didn't, if they just meant to imply that you can't kill what's already dead, this is still the approach I'm using until someone suggest something better.

For incorporeal undead I describe their destruction simply with them disolving into nothing. Any items they might have (typically a ghost touch weapon) clatter to the ground. If I want to make things a little more difficult, I tell the PCs the weapon also vansihes... They've never guessed why yet, but in those cases the weapon has clattered to the ground on the ethereal plane.

 

[Zephyrus]

Undead are typically powered/animated by negative energy (or similar type of energies). So it would stand to reason (not always but hopefuly often enough) that the killing of undead may not be a measure of how much damage its 'body/essense' can sustatin, but how strong or saturated with this energy it is. How it acquires this energy can vary tremendously and likewise with the exact nature of the energy.

So when you smash a Skeleton with say 8 HP with a Maul and deal enough damage to drop it to 0. its more like your strike shatters peices of its body, enough to break/sever/destroy its undeath-fueling/animating connection.

When you stab at a Zombie repeatedly and it doesent die (but takes damage) your steadily destroying its hold on undeath. Eventually you may weaken its hold enough with repeated peircing attacks that it falters and falls. the animating energy giving out.

 

[Tonguez]

They're undead - thats just how it happens!

nah actually I tend to think of them being splattered!

A skeleton is smashed to peices and so has no means of movement, a zombie is splattered (has torso is violently removed so head, legs and arms are no longer linked). In these cases the creature may still technically be 'un-alive' but they are also no longer a threat, can't move and thus are for all intents 'destroyed'

Specters and Ghost are destroyed because their connection to this world is severed (and they are absorbed into the ghost plane).

The 'connection to this world' bit may also apply to Zombie etc. Aristotle thought that the 'soul' (Thymos) -as opposed to the Psyche- was a part of the physical self - it was the essence of an object. When the object ceased to be the essenc went with it
Same idea with the Ba of Egyptian thought

so Zombies still possess this 'essence' which is enthralled by the magic of its reanimation (Magic Jar) however destruction of the body means this essence is destroyed too

 

[Hanuman]

I tend to use a description that is based on the way vampires were smoked in the opening scene of "Blade".It works for both corporeal and incorporeal(makes players jumpy if they don't hear it).







Did you know? The names of the three wise monkeys are: Mizaru: See no
evil, Mikazaru: Hear no evil, and Mazaru: Speak no evil.

 

[VirgilCaine]

I tend to use a description that is based on the way vampires were smoked in the opening scene of "Blade".It works for both corporeal and incorporeal(makes players jumpy if they don't hear it).

And that looks like what exactly? I don't remember that exactly.

 

[Nightfall]

How do you kill something that's dead?

Burn it. Burn it alot.

If that fails, bash it into goo.

If that STILL doesn't work, then I suggest getting an exorcist.

 

[Ranes]

They shatter, splatter, burn, crumble, collapse, de-animate (all right, maybe not), disintegrate, explode, vapourise, melt and vanish. If it's corporeal and leaves an eye behind, its light goes out.

 

[Hanuman]

It looks like a internal immolation with cracks in the body showing the flames within until the undead explodes into a cindercloud of dust and ash (charred skeleton left behind if corporeal). I think they blew about a third of the movies buget on that first 10 minutes.

 

[VirgilCaine]

It looks like a internal immolation with cracks in the body showing the flames within until the undead explodes into a cindercloud of dust and ash (charred skeleton left behind if corporeal). I think they blew about a third of the movies buget on that first 10 minutes.

Ah, thank you.