So I want to make a zombie character...

[Denaes]

I wanted a zombie of sorts... not quite like a Night of the Living Dead brainless zombie... maybe something similar to the Crow where I can still act like a human (not invincible or supernaturally enhanced per se), but I definately want to look dead and be undead.

Well we're running in Eberron loosely, starting about level 9-12 (not 100% sure yet) and playing a neutral party. Maybe evil alignments, but we're opportunists taking care of a multi-way war to our best benefit.

So far there is an Ogre Barbarian (not yet created). I was drawing a blank, but the GM and I are zombie movie nuts so I was like "how about an undead intelligent zombie type?"

I checked out Libre Mortis and I'm confused by it pretty much. Is that book 3.5 or 3.0? It doesn't seem to jive with 3.5 stat blocks that I can tell, because I never owned a MM book for 3.x - I just ran games without it.

Lets say I'm going to create a human fighter who was raised from the dead by an Evil Necromancer to save him from our party and for some strange reason (because I'm a PC dammit!) I was intelligent still and had self control and just stabbed the Necromancer.

According to Libre Mortis, the alignments and things like free will & being mindless are pretty much mutable for a player. You can be a Neutral Good ghoul or a zombie with a good sense of humor and is a strong zombie rights activist. because you're PCs and playing a mindless CR 1/2 zombie would pretty much stink.

So starting off with a level 1 and moving upward: Level 1 Fighter, zombie stuff is here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/zombie.htm.
This has notes on how to make a standard (non-pc) zombie which mentions class progressions, but not really how to make things more PC.

Would this have an ECL of +1 to start off as a zombie human? You'd have 2d12 hp, but no con bonus. +2 armour, 1d6 slam damage, DR 5/slashing, poor reflexes (one action, move OR attack). Gains Toughness. No skills, +2Str, -2Dex, no con, 1Cha, 10Wis.

The ability scores don't seem to jive with being a PC very well and the no skills, no feats makes sense for the first level but do you advance as normal afterwards?

There are 1 or 2 templates in Libre Mortis I might like to apply to the character: Fast Zombie & Indistructable Zombie (seems to help balance the fact that a zombie is dead at 0 or -1 hp and the lower HP).

If something else fits a Player undead corpse with intelligence & free will and works with a party of Breathers and interacting with breathers (ie, the the Ghasts stench would not work) then I'm open to suggestions. The way this game looks, we're supposed to be characters who are pretty capable and strong. I'm not looking to min/max for the best benefits, but just get something that represents my concept.

 

[Targos]

If you're using Eberron material/setting check out the Karnnathi skeletons and zombies. They are intelligent, but don't offer advancement or level adjustment. They're both undead with the appropriate damage reduction, but don't have any bonus feats. (Their 2 feats are from their 3 HD.) Racial mods for the skeleton are +4 Strength & Dexterity, -8 charisma +4 natural armor. Its the same for zombie except they don't get a dex bonus, but are not limited to single actions like regular zombies. Climb, jump, listen, search, & spot are racial skills. The skeleton looks between with the +4 dex and immunity to cold it gets. Now just to figure out the level adjustments and advance by character class.

 

[IcyCool]

I checked out Libre Mortis and I'm confused by it pretty much. Is that book 3.5 or 3.0? It doesn't seem to jive with 3.5 stat blocks that I can tell, because I never owned a MM book for 3.x - I just ran games without it.

Yes, Libris Mortis is 3.5. Also, check out the Necropolitan template in that book. I think it might just be what you are looking for.

 

[JimAde]

Libris Mortis is 3.5. You could probably use either the Wight or Vampire Spawn class progressions provided there. They give you the undead creature's abilities over several levels, so if you take all the levels of the class you end up looking pretty much like what's described in the MM. If you're primarily interested in just being undead, you can either just take a single level of one of those classes (which gets you the undead type but not much in the way of special abilities) or check out the Necropolitan template (also in Libris Mortis).

 

[Denaes]

So Libre Mortis is 3.5? I find it odd that they were so generic/vague about using undead templates for characters when there were like 30 writeups in a book they're most likely to be used as PCs.

Well I'll check out their ECL costs for the different undead types. So far the most promising are the Eberron Zombies, the Ghoul (class or ECL template) and I need to look into that Necropolitan template.

I think I want to go with an unarmed (natural weapons) character... So that seems like fighter. The Monk (saying I could swing a Lawful character) still wouldn't work because... well I don't know why. I wish there was a normal unarmed fighter that didn't turn supernatural.

Thanks for your help guys. I'll look over Libre Mortis when I get home tonite and see what needs of my are filled

 

[IcyCool]

So Libre Mortis is 3.5? I find it odd that they were so generic/vague about using undead templates for characters when there were like 30 writeups in a book they're most likely to be used as PCs.

Generic/vague? Howso? They gave specific savage species progressions for most of the common undead. I'm confused here. Could you explain what you mean?

Thanks for your help guys. I'll look over Libre Mortis when I get home tonite and see what needs of my are filled

Necropolitan is +0 LA, with no racial hit dice.

 

[frankthedm]

Necropolitan is +0 LA, with no racial hit dice.

BUT you have to loose a level to death first.

 

[IcyCool]

BUT you have to loose a level to death first.

Very true.

 

[Denaes]

Generic/vague? Howso? They gave specific savage species progressions for most of the common undead. I'm confused here. Could you explain what you mean?

Can't explain 100% here as the book I'm borrowing is at home, so I'm going on memory.

But the undead writeups I saw didn't have PC template instructions. Thats why I didn't think it was 3.5.

Like here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/ogre.htm

The Ogre flat out says what a PC gets because it's considered "PC friendly". In a book about undead which devotes a decent focus to playing undead, I'd assume to see those "<undead> As Characters" templates for easy Drag & Drop for the undead presented in the book and all of the popular/common undead.

They said there were two options for PCs: Templates & Undead Levels. The templates just seemed to mention a type of undead and what the ECL was, not an explicit writeup of player bonuses/benefits. The few Undead races there were didn't cover the basics - player zombies are far more a staple of Roleplaying than all the other undead sans vampires.

At least a note about the other common undead like zombies would have been less generic/vague "we know you want to play an undead character, a zombie won't be a good choice becuase of X, Y, Z - but these undead are very similar but sentient and more PC friendly"

In the hour I was looking at the book they had the few undead classes and a lot of undead statblocks and templates for them, but no notes on how to apply those templates to the stat blocks AND make them into PCs. They didn't effect the # of hit dice and I think that was the only thing that modified the ECL.

But that statement and what I'm gleening from the book are based on an hours reading and flipping. There could be more there or it might be a book with a focus on playing undead - but only specific examples and you're in the dark for the rest.

 

[IcyCool]

But the undead writeups I saw didn't have PC template instructions. Thats why I didn't think it was 3.5.

I may be mistaken here, but no book has PC template instructions. If you want your PC to apply a template, you go through the same process as an NPC/monster, except that you apply LA instead of CR.

They said there were two options for PCs: Templates & Undead Levels. The templates just seemed to mention a type of undead and what the ECL was, not an explicit writeup of player bonuses/benefits.

The level progressions not only make playing those undead PC-friendly, they make playing those undead available as options to 1st level characters. And if a creature or template doesn't include an LA, then that means the creature or template isn't intended/is too powerful for PCs.

The few Undead races there were didn't cover the basics - player zombies are far more a staple of Roleplaying than all the other undead sans vampires.

Except, of course, that zombies are mindless. Which is why they aren't suitable for a PC.

In the hour I was looking at the book they had the few undead classes and a lot of undead statblocks and templates for them, but no notes on how to apply those templates to the stat blocks AND make them into PCs. They didn't effect the # of hit dice and I think that was the only thing that modified the ECL.

You appear to be confused as to how playing a monster character works. Your ECL is the sum of your Class levels + your Racial Hit Dice + Level Adjustment(LA). Templates rarely, if ever, increase the number of hit dice, but they usually have a Level Adjustment.

I could go into more detail on this if you like.