Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon 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 Next
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
*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!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
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
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Horror Help
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="Kaisoku" data-source="post: 5326239" data-attributes="member: 58447"><p>Well, hundreds of minions is good as a horror environment, but rarely good as the "goal". They should be in the way of the goal (getting somewhere, doing something, protecting someone, etc).</p><p></p><p>If you decide you want to make them scarier or more effective, remember that Aid Another bonuses stack, and when you have a bunch you can surround players and have one grapple or attack roll being assured of landing (+14 bonus from 7 others aiding the 8th).</p><p></p><p>Or, you could run the skeletons as a swarm. Mindless undead (as shown in most horror shows) tend to not care about defending themselves or fighting space... they'll pack right in next to each other to get at things.</p><p>This is better represented as a swarm of medium sized creatures.</p><p></p><p>It also helps with running tons and tons of creatures at once. They would have an AC based on armor (natural or otherwise), but no dodge bonus (hitting fish in a barrel situation). Damage might destroy an individual skeleton or so, but that just means the other skeletons move in to replace it.</p><p>The swarm itself attacks anyone inside it's area or one square next to it. Those inside the swarm are attacked with higher attack bonus and damage over those next to it (to indicate the strength of being surrounded and being pressed on all sides).</p><p>The best part is you can have it grapple victims, preventing movement (or forcing them to move with the swarm), causing even greater damage from the force of attacks. Going prone in the swarm should have some major effect as well (or getting pinned), such as a DC fort save or be staggered from the weight of bodies pushing down on you.</p><p></p><p>Moving through the swarm requires some kind of effort (limited to 5' movement with a Strength check?, or use overrun or acrobatics checks instead/to move further, etc). Damaging the swarm down to 0 health causes it to "break up", so that it's only a normal skeleton in each square of the area it original took up as a swarm.</p><p></p><p>The main problem I see with "undead for horror" is the whole Channeling aspect. How scary is a swarm of undead if you can let them get close and then just annihilate them with a 30' burst, multiple times a day.</p><p>Limiting that in some way feels too much like deus ex, or a contrived limitation, but allowing it trivializes the combat quite a bit.</p><p>Or it can... I guess if you have multiple waves, and they are actually capable of hurting the PCs, the cleric might keep them on hand for healing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Kaisoku, post: 5326239, member: 58447"] Well, hundreds of minions is good as a horror environment, but rarely good as the "goal". They should be in the way of the goal (getting somewhere, doing something, protecting someone, etc). If you decide you want to make them scarier or more effective, remember that Aid Another bonuses stack, and when you have a bunch you can surround players and have one grapple or attack roll being assured of landing (+14 bonus from 7 others aiding the 8th). Or, you could run the skeletons as a swarm. Mindless undead (as shown in most horror shows) tend to not care about defending themselves or fighting space... they'll pack right in next to each other to get at things. This is better represented as a swarm of medium sized creatures. It also helps with running tons and tons of creatures at once. They would have an AC based on armor (natural or otherwise), but no dodge bonus (hitting fish in a barrel situation). Damage might destroy an individual skeleton or so, but that just means the other skeletons move in to replace it. The swarm itself attacks anyone inside it's area or one square next to it. Those inside the swarm are attacked with higher attack bonus and damage over those next to it (to indicate the strength of being surrounded and being pressed on all sides). The best part is you can have it grapple victims, preventing movement (or forcing them to move with the swarm), causing even greater damage from the force of attacks. Going prone in the swarm should have some major effect as well (or getting pinned), such as a DC fort save or be staggered from the weight of bodies pushing down on you. Moving through the swarm requires some kind of effort (limited to 5' movement with a Strength check?, or use overrun or acrobatics checks instead/to move further, etc). Damaging the swarm down to 0 health causes it to "break up", so that it's only a normal skeleton in each square of the area it original took up as a swarm. The main problem I see with "undead for horror" is the whole Channeling aspect. How scary is a swarm of undead if you can let them get close and then just annihilate them with a 30' burst, multiple times a day. Limiting that in some way feels too much like deus ex, or a contrived limitation, but allowing it trivializes the combat quite a bit. Or it can... I guess if you have multiple waves, and they are actually capable of hurting the PCs, the cleric might keep them on hand for healing. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Horror Help
Top