Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Behind the Spells: Animate Dead
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Crothian" data-source="post: 3182536" data-attributes="member: 232"><p>There seems to be a little less to this PDF then the others in the series. It has the same very good introduction and telling of how the spell came to be. But there is less mechanics in here and those I feel are a little more of the high point of the series of books. The series of books though each take a single spell and really bring it to life. The book gives context and depth to spells that while cool and neat just seem to be in a vacuum as players everywhere just accept that they have always been there and never wonder around how and why they are. There are also adventure hooks in here for the clever DM. They are not obvious but without the story about each spells creation there are ideas and plots that can easily come to life in someone’s campaign. </p><p></p><p> Behind the Spells Animate Dead is another is this long line of PDFs. Each one is short being only about a half dozen pages. This one is five pages in length. They have no art but a decent lay out. Each has information on the history of the spell as well as a few mechanical bits that can new rules or new versions of the spell. </p><p></p><p> The book starts off with the story of Kritak a gnoll shaman. He had some issues with his pack leader and that eventually led to the animate dead spell. It is a nice story and certainly one that can be used for plots in a campaign especially if one uses a lot of gnolls. </p><p></p><p> One of the new mechanics introduced is kind of weird. The idea is that one caster can steal the undead controlled by another caster. It is a neat idea that involves the blood of the person trying to steal the undead. The control is just temporary and could make for some interesting adventures and combats as a cleric or some such takes some of the undead the evil necromancer and turns them on him. It is an interesting idea that I think could be a lot of fun. There is also rules for what do do with excess created undead. The creator can basically give those undead to an ally caster who will then have control of them. </p><p></p><p> There is one alternate spell in the book and it is Corpse Soldiers. It is a mid level spell that allows one to create a lot more undead and amass a small army. They are slightly more powerful then normal and this makes a good spell for a higher level necromancer to use. There is also a weapon enchantment which causes monsters killed by the weapon to rise as undead. Both of these are fun and can really enhance a game.</p><p></p><p> Animate Dead was never one of my favorite spells. However, this book builds on it and I think makes it more fun. It gives it a bit of depth and provides some good behind the scenes ways to make the spell more useful. As usual with the book I am left wanting more. Their small size makes them easy to use and fast to read.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Crothian, post: 3182536, member: 232"] There seems to be a little less to this PDF then the others in the series. It has the same very good introduction and telling of how the spell came to be. But there is less mechanics in here and those I feel are a little more of the high point of the series of books. The series of books though each take a single spell and really bring it to life. The book gives context and depth to spells that while cool and neat just seem to be in a vacuum as players everywhere just accept that they have always been there and never wonder around how and why they are. There are also adventure hooks in here for the clever DM. They are not obvious but without the story about each spells creation there are ideas and plots that can easily come to life in someone’s campaign. Behind the Spells Animate Dead is another is this long line of PDFs. Each one is short being only about a half dozen pages. This one is five pages in length. They have no art but a decent lay out. Each has information on the history of the spell as well as a few mechanical bits that can new rules or new versions of the spell. The book starts off with the story of Kritak a gnoll shaman. He had some issues with his pack leader and that eventually led to the animate dead spell. It is a nice story and certainly one that can be used for plots in a campaign especially if one uses a lot of gnolls. One of the new mechanics introduced is kind of weird. The idea is that one caster can steal the undead controlled by another caster. It is a neat idea that involves the blood of the person trying to steal the undead. The control is just temporary and could make for some interesting adventures and combats as a cleric or some such takes some of the undead the evil necromancer and turns them on him. It is an interesting idea that I think could be a lot of fun. There is also rules for what do do with excess created undead. The creator can basically give those undead to an ally caster who will then have control of them. There is one alternate spell in the book and it is Corpse Soldiers. It is a mid level spell that allows one to create a lot more undead and amass a small army. They are slightly more powerful then normal and this makes a good spell for a higher level necromancer to use. There is also a weapon enchantment which causes monsters killed by the weapon to rise as undead. Both of these are fun and can really enhance a game. Animate Dead was never one of my favorite spells. However, this book builds on it and I think makes it more fun. It gives it a bit of depth and provides some good behind the scenes ways to make the spell more useful. As usual with the book I am left wanting more. Their small size makes them easy to use and fast to read. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Behind the Spells: Animate Dead
Top