Ecology of the Undead

[Urbannen]

I thought you became a ghoul if your Constitution was reduced to 0 by ghoul fever.

 

[candidus_cogitens]

Incidentally, just the other day I went through the list of undead to figure out which ones of them had souls. This is important in my campaign because the souls of the dead usually stay in the Region of the Dead, unless they are turned into undead or (rarely) raised. Anyway, here's the list . . .

Soul-less: Mummy, Skeleton, Zombie.

Depraved: Wight, Wraith, Bodak, Allip, Devourer (Ethereal plane), Ghoul,
Ghast, Mohrg, Shadow.

Souled: Vampire, Lich, Ghost, Nightshade

As you can see, most of the undead fall into a middle category, which I called "depraved," meaning that they still have souls, although they are thoroughly twisted and corrupted to the point that there is little connection (in terms of memory and personality) between the present creature and the living creature that once was.

 

[Voadam]

In basic D&D you could be turned into a vampire by being bitten by a vampire bat!

 

[Voadam]

Ghast - As a Ghoul gains power and mastery over its inhuman 'hunger' it becomes a Ghast. (Ghast IMC are slightly more powerful than standard)

Sort of like a ghoul prestige class? Check out mine at www.atlas-games.com under the Fantasy Bestiary previews, the ghoul and ghast preview.

 

[Voadam]

Denizens of Dread the Ravenloft 3e monster book has a bunch of neat undead with different origin conditions.

Into the Green by Bastion Press surprisingly has a number as well.

 

[SpuneDagr]

Hey Tonguez.
Good stuff. I like the idea that a ghoul never really died.. just sort of lost its humanity.

candidus_cogitens
What about
Soul-less (that is, just the body)
Depraved
Souled
Soul (just the soul)

 

[SpuneDagr]

double post
Double Post
DOUBLE POST
DUH-BL POOOOOOOOST!!!!

 

[Amal Shukup]

I want to make a comprehensive list of undead and their method of creation. For example, if someone dies with unfinished business in this life, they become a ghost.

Mongoose's Slayer's Guide to the Undead had some interesting material concerning the 'origin' of undead creatures - mostly having to do with Orcus, who 'rewards' evil with the 'gift' of undeath.

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/detail.php?qsID=48&qsSeries=Slayers%20Guide

Devourer's for instance, can arise spontaneously from the souls of people who 'fed' upon onthers in life - through manipulation, emotional blackmail, profiting from other's suffering etc. Upon death, some such souls manage to 'escape' into the Astral, where they eventually adopt the form of a Devourer and feed on the life-force of others. Others are created by Orcus directly, etc. etc.

Similar origins are postulated for most of the types that later 'Spawn' new creatures. A form of negative energy infection...

Amal

 

[kigmatzomat]

Lots of 'em do that. How does one spontaneously become one when they die?
The first shadow had to come from SOMEwhere.

In my game world the gods of war, strife, and strength were having a good time whaling way on eachother one saturday night. A maggot found its way to a particularly large pool of divine blood and consumed it, becoming sentient and of limited divinity.

The hell-maggot sought out smaller prey and discovered that it enjoyed the texture of dead flesh but preferred the "spice" of screaming prey being consumed alive. It used some of its power to create the physical undead. Different undead had different "flavors" (pork/chicken/fish/beef/lamb) ensuring they spawn independently to have a ready supply.

The death god decided that killing this thing and sending it to the land of the dead would be bad. He took the souls of particularly vicious beings that would normally be punished and turned them into his enforcers to deal with the corporeal army. Not having enough evil souls handy, he had his incorporeal creatures gather some of the living and then launched an assault. While the maggot was distracted by the war, the death god constructed a prison around the maggot, sealing it away.

Now all the corporeal undead are the spawn from the deserters of the maggot's army while the incorporeal are the results of the evil spirts the death god didn't bother to regather.

(BTW: the maggot is modeled on a souped up Avolakia from MM2)

 

[candidus_cogitens]

Mongoose's Slayer's Guide to the Undead had some interesting material concerning the 'origin' of undead creatures - mostly having to do with Orcus, who 'rewards' evil with the 'gift' of undeath.

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/detail.php?qsID=48&qsSeries=Slayers%20Guide

Devourer's for instance, can arise spontaneously from the souls of people who 'fed' upon onthers in life - through manipulation, emotional blackmail, profiting from other's suffering etc. Upon death, some such souls manage to 'escape' into the Astral, where they eventually adopt the form of a Devourer and feed on the life-force of others. Others are created by Orcus directly, etc. etc.

Similar origins are postulated for most of the types that later 'Spawn' new creatures. A form of negative energy infection...

Amal

I noticed that Gygax, in that link Amal gave, has grouped the undead into those without will and those with free will. It's very similar to the distinction I was seeking above when I suggested soul-less, depraved, and souled. It seems they have grouped the depraved and the souled together as having free will. I found it interesting that they included mummies in this group. I thought mummies were just animated corpses. I guess they have some intelligence though, even if they do not have any connection to the soul that once inhabited the corpse.