Ideas needed - undead character template

[Czhorat]

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.

Why not do something with this? Perhaps he can be missing some knowledge skills and/or memories that he had in life. In exchange for this, you could let him "borrow" the memories or selected skills of enemies he defeats by wearing their scalps. You might even want him to have some kind of a sixth-sense leading him back towards his scalp. If you're feeling generous (and are getting tired of having an undead in the party) re-attaching his old scalp might even make him raisable again.

The scalp-memory thing isn't a particularly flashy ability, but it can be a bit powerful if you allow ALL of a subjects memories. You might want to limit it to one particularly important event per scalp or give a knowledge-based or mental skill instead.

 

[Czhorat]

Oh NO! A double post!

 

[Czhorat]

Even worse! A triple post! Good luck...

 

[Tewligan]

Well, I'm the player of the soon-to-be-undead character. My character was/is an 8th level ranger/1st level cleric. I'm thinking that it might be appropriate for him to lose his spellcasting abilities - I don't know how inclined his good god will be to grant spells to an undead, even if it is an undead with a heart of gold. If it helps the brainstorming process for any of you good folk out there, two of the things he hated most in life are drow and the undead(!) Since he was killed by a drow priestess and came back as an undead, he's going to have some issues to deal with. Does anyone know offhand if the revenant got converted to 3E and, if so, where it might be found? That oughtta be good for some ideas of what to do with this character.

 

[Dingleberry]

There are numerous undead templates in Savage Species. IIRC, there's also a short prestige class in SS that permits a converted undead to recover previous abilities.

 

[Aeolius]

There are numerous undead templates in Savage Species. IIRC, there's also a short prestige class in SS that permits a converted undead to recover previous abilities.

Granted, an emancipated spawn character has to have been originally created by an undead's spawn ability (vampire, shadow, etc). I'm placing a village of emancipated spawn in my undersea campaign.

How about a huecuva?

 

[Wraithdrit]

The Revenant is indeed in 3rd edition. It made its way into the FR material and then into the FR Adventure City of the Spider Queen. It is in fact a MAJOR part of City of the Spider Queen, once you really get into things. The CotS version of the Revenant is said to be updated over the first version published in the FRCS (or whichever book it was in...)

 

[Wraithdrit]

Just looked up the basics of a Revenant are:
Vengeful Strike (usable only on the killer)
Paralyzing Gaze (also only on the killer)
Damage Reduction
Turning Immunity
Fast Healing
Extra Immunities
Find the Guilty (help find the killer)
Undead
bonus str, bonus cha, no con score (HD become d12 of course)

 

[Tewligan]

Just looked up the basics of a Revenant are:
Vengeful Strike (usable only on the killer)
Paralyzing Gaze (also only on the killer)
Damage Reduction
Turning Immunity
Fast Healing
Extra Immunities
Find the Guilty (help find the killer)
Undead
bonus str, bonus cha, no con score (HD become d12 of course)

Daaamn, he's got a lot more stuff than I remembered. Too much, really. I'm thinking maybe fast healing and something minor in exchange for losing clerical spells might be reasonable.

Oh, and I did actually think about the huecuva, Aeolius. However, it takes a huge hit to intelligence, and this character wasn't exactly the brightest bulb to start with. Hmm, this'll be tricky - I certainly don't want him tricked out with so many bells and whistles that he's overpowered, but I don't want a shambling moron, either. Maybe just end up with basic undead traits tacked onto him, and some minor flavor stuff. I'll check the Villain's Handbook for ideas when I get home.

 

[theT0rmented]

There are about a dozen undead templates in Terrors of the Dead Lands, from athas.org. You might find one in there that's interesting.