D&D General have we had a player race of undead?

[Carlsen Chris]

Undead from birth is a contradiction.

Boring. This is fantasy after all. It can be whatever you want. It could be as simple as two undead loving each other very much and having a baby together. Why not.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

desire for action without consequences.

A pretty good definition of a monster.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Boring. This is fantasy after all. It can be whatever you want. It could be as simple as two undead loving each other very much and having a baby together. Why not.

Reproduction is a characteristic of living things. How are they undead, rather than simply not-dead?

 

[Vaalingrade]

A pretty good definition of a monster.

"I want to eat fresh, hot pizza without burning my mouth."

"Help, police!"

 

[Vaalingrade]

Reproduction is a characteristic of living things. How are they undead, rather than simply not-dead?

Self-Locomotion is also a characteristic of living things.

Undead play by their own rules.

 

[Voadam]

Reproduction is a characteristic of living things. How are they undead, rather than simply not-dead?

I believe you meant birth specifically here but your phrasing struck me as particularly off for D&D.

Possibly a majority of D&D undead specifically reproduce and create more undead through spawning. Vampires, Wraiths, Wights, Shadows. In older editions Ghouls and Spectres. It is one of their big horrific characteristics that is not uncommon for D&D undead.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Reproduction is a characteristic of living things. How are they undead, rather than simply not-dead?

I suppose they stop being undead and become unlife, like how life became more than just chemistry and pseudo-life like viruses?

I believe you meant birth specifically here but your phrasing struck me as particularly off for D&D.

Possibly a majority of D&D undead specifically reproduce and create more undead through spawning. Vampires, Wraiths, Wights, Shadows. In older editions Ghouls and Spectres. It is one of their big horrific characteristics that is not uncommon for D&D undead.

undead are like viruses they need something already built to make more of itself, these jump to cellular life they can build more of themselves

 

[Vaalingrade]

Viruses: also a thing that reproduces that isn't alive.

 

[MGibster]

where in mythology is undead pure hate the living kill on sight?

The Sumerians believed in a rather bleak afterlife where everyone, regardless of their actions in life, was consigned to an eternity of misery eating and drinking nothing but dust. In The Descent of Ishtar into the Underworld, when the gatekeeper refuses to open the gate for Ishtar to enter, she threatens to destroy the gate and "lead up the dead, that they may eat the living" if he does not allow her entry. He lets her in, because the destruction of the gate would be disasterous.

There's certainly a place for more benevolent behavior from the formerly living. In Roshambo, they summon the ghost of a slaim samurai to testify on his own murder, Hamlet's father tasks him with avenging his murder, and the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future seem to genuinely haver Scrooge's best interest in mind as well as concern for the lives he can affect.

 

[MGibster]

God, I hate zombie ghouls--they are freaking ghouls, Romero-clones-- fiction. They're such garbage monsters you have to start with them already having won so you can explain how an animal dumber than a lemming killed off an animal known for its automatic weapons.

I used to feel the same way, but then I saw the response many of my fellow Americans had to COVID, refusing basic safety measures like social distancing and mask wearing, and uddenly the Romero zombie apocalypse became much more believable.