Ideas needed - undead character template

[Dirt]

In my current campaign, one of the most colorful PC's passed away (we even took a whole gaming session playing out the funeral).

In my campaign, I allow a character to be raised once only. Well, now I find myself regretting that rule. So, it has been a few months now since the character died, and I want to bring him back as a free-willed undead.

The PC's will be contacted by someone that they know, who would like them to discretely look into the disappearance of their former companion's corpse from the crypt. They will later discover that their companion's body wasn't taken, but that he walked out of his own accord (this will be after much questioning, mysterious clues, and strange happenings in the poor district of town colloquially known as the Gauntlet).

So, now that we know a little of the story, I need some suggestions for a custom undead template. I'd like some suggestions on the special abilities, benefits, and harmful traits. Obviously, we have the typical immunity to charm and mind control, immunity to poison and disease, immunity to critical hits, harmed by positive energy, and healed by negative energy...but what else? Any other suggestions? Oh...I should also note that I don't plan on him opposing the group. In fact, I intend for him to join the group again. So, keep that in mind when making suggestions for special abilities...

Help me brainstorm!

Thanks in advance!

 

[alsih2o]

i have always been fascinated with the "can rreattach a limb by holding it to the stump for x minutes" and with undead they could do it with any dead things body part.

if they find him after some trouble he could have a gnoll leg and a minotaur ear or some such

 

[Darklone]

The Villain Design Handbook from Kenzer has a lot of nice undeads templates... I'll have a look at it as soon as I get home.

 

[Aeolius]

How did the PC die?

The obvious choice would be to have the PC return as a ghost. Other options might include having the PC's remains incorporated into a flesh golem, or using the bone creature template in BoVD. Perhaps a covey of hags animated the corpse for their own purposes. Perhaps the PC was transformed into a petitioner in the afterlife and then found their way back to the PMP.

Or, perhaps he was only "mostly dead".

 

[diaglo]

take a look at the spellstitched template in the MMII.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Why extra special abilities. Only apply the base undead rules, maybe with the addition that all former HD are converted to d12 (to make up the loss of Constitution)

Maybe the Ghostwalk Book/Campaign Setting(?) might offer some advices to you.

Mustrum Ridcully

 

[Li Shenron]

Why not just making him a ghost? Do you necessarily need him to be material? If you don't, I would make him a ghost (same alignment as when alive) with one special ability only, probably the less evil ones such as Telekinesis or Frightful Moan.

If you plan to have is as helpful NPC it should be fine. If you want it to be a PC, and +5 LA is too much (which anyway is the same even if it has 3 special abilities instead of 1) don't give him the +4 Cha and decrease the LA by 1 or 2. In any case, a Ghost is effectively immortal, so LA doesn't mean much, and you need good DM's ideas to let a PC play it (I haven't seen Ghostwalk).

Of course, just don't mind my comments if you have already decided you want it to keep his body but if you already told the players that the body disappeared, you can say the ghost returned because someone stole its corpse and he wants it back, or maybe he just moved it to a another place by himself...

 

[Dirt]

For aesthetic purposes, I plan to keep the body. The character was an interesting (and eccentric) one. He was formerly a slave of a drow household when he escaped. He was branded with the house symbol on his bald scalp (as a sign of ownership). He took to scalping his defeated drow enemies and wearing their scalps on his belt. Later, when we was finally killed by a priestess of that drow household, she scalped him and left his body. So, this new undead character will have a nice section of his scalp missing.

 

[Dirt]

Why extra special abilities. Only apply the base undead rules, maybe with the addition that all former HD are converted to d12 (to make up the loss of Constitution)

Because the base undead rules are boring. I'd like the character's return to be memorable. So, I'd like suggestions on just personality quirks and strange abilities as well. Creature's shying away from him or aversion to bright light would be just as welcome. I'm just looking for other ideas here to make the character and the experience more unique.

 

[Dirt]

The player is perusing the Ghostwalk setting tonight for ideas, and I'll crack open the Villian Design Handbook tonight (I knew that I should have looked at that earlier).