Undead Question

[survivesurvivor]

New player here, sorry if this has been covered in any books!

Is there a rational behind denying sneak attacks on undead from rogues?? Do they see/sense the area around them extra well or something??

Another related question stemming from there. Zombies still have icky eyeballs and gooey skin plastered on them, so if I poke those eyeballs out, can they still see??? I find it weird, since skeletons/mummies obviously have no visual-sensory organs yet seek out poor adventurers just fine. Does this extend to zombies as well? If I wail at them long enough for the flesh to flake off, do they become skeletons?

May be getting a little morbid here, but those questions are absolutely repeating in my mind! Oh well, that's another item to chew on in your head when you're on the treadmill, i guess.

 

[Turjan]

Is there a rational behind denying sneak attacks on undead from rogues?? Do they see/sense the area around them extra well or something??

A sneak attack is very efficient because it allows the rogue to hit a vital spot, llke a major blood vessel or joint. If you think of a skeleton, there are no vital spots to hit. Those bones are held together by negative energy, and you have to smash everything equally for the skeleton to fall apart. It's the same for zombies, even if they look as if their bodies still served a function, which is not the case.

Zombies still have icky eyeballs and gooey skin plastered on them, so if I poke those eyeballs out, can they still see??? I find it weird, since skeletons/mummies obviously have no visual-sensory organs yet seek out poor adventurers just fine. Does this extend to zombies as well? If I wail at them long enough for the flesh to flake off, do they become skeletons?

No, see above. All that icky an gooey stuff is only for decoration. D&D zombies don't have any special organs, like skeletons, and you have to hack them to pieces in order to stop them.

And welcome to the boards .

 

[Vanion]

A sneak attack (when flanking a foe) works on the premise that you're able to target a particularly vulnerable point of a creature's anatomy. When flanking or behind a foe, you're presented opportunities to strike the kidneys, the spine, the back of the skull (and therefore the back of the brain, which controls all motor functions, and of course the brain stem, which a person can't live without), an unblocked shot at several key arteries and nerve clusters, etc.

The reason a rogue or barbarian becomes better at avoiding sneak attacks with improved uncanny dodge is becuase they're coordinated and aware enough to face opponents on all sides - however, as soon as this character is rendered prone, stunned, disabled etc, those weak points on their body become fair game once more. That's also the logic behind giving sneak attack to any prone or helpless opponent regardless of whether you flank them or not - the throat, groin, femoral artery, eyes etc all become vulnerable and the person no longer has the ability to defend attacks made at these locations.

An undead creature simply has no vulnerable points, same as a construct or elemental. Hack off a zombie's head, and you're now facing a smaller zombie. Nothing short of complete and utter dismemberment and destruction of the corpse can break the necromancy that binds it to move and act.

Like a skeleton, a zombie does not see through its eyes. It has some limited awareness provided by the animating magic, but otherwise its parts are just for show. None of them actually work. Even if the eyes did work, the brain is no longer functional, so there is simply nothing that interprets the signals sent up the ocular nerve. The energy used by an undead creature and their ability to interact with the world derives purely from the magic that is used upon them. Beyond the constraints of size and anatomical shape, the corpse itself makes little difference on a zombie's actual behaviour or capabilities.

 

[survivesurvivor]

Ooh cool, thanx for the quick replies!

That makes undead pretty cool, but i guess that makes them a little weird too. Does that mean that slashing weapons theoretically do not work on them? Chop them up and the forgotten hands and bits come creeping up on you again since the magic in them are still functional?

Theory of Undead Magics

When an inanimate object once occupied by a living soul and is that soul's original containment object (thus, not including magic jars and such) is subjected to a series of necromantic rituals, that object is filled with negative energies which grants it locomotor functions and varying degrees of intelligence, which are not concentrated in any discernable physical aspect of the object.

These energies possess a capacity to be aware of inhabited object's surroundings and do not utilize any sensory organs which the living soul may have made use of before its departure in the object. Any damage dealt to any delicate portions of the object's anatomy would not incapacitate said energies in any manner, save for cosmetic marring.

Upon reduction of any portion of the object to a suitably small mass, the negative energies are released and that object or portion under scrutiny loses said abilities granted by the released negative energies.

Hence, the most effective and straightforward method of defence against a said animated object would be forces which separate the animated object into suitably small masses, or by the decomposition of object (via processes such as combustion) since it would decompose said object into minute portions of carbon which are unable to contain said negative energies.

An attempt to make it plausible!

 

[the Jester]

Think of it this way: a sneak attack or critical hit is a blow to the vitals.

No organ is vital to undead (excepting special cases, such as a vampire's heart and wooden stakes). Pierce a zombie's heart? It don't matter to zombie. Shoot an arrow in his eye? If it still has 1 hp, it doesn't even notice.

 

[Qlippoth]

"Look--there's one of them now!"

Almost Halloween!