legit to have skeletons only attack if someone crosses threshold

[Mark1733]

Sorry if this sounds like newbie DM stuff, but I just want to make sure that I am setting this up correctly. Can I have mindless undead guards like zombies and skeletons that don't attack until someone crosses the threshold of a room they are guarding, right? And this can be simply a command or instruction, and not a magical trap that alarms or otherwise causes the undead to attack. I don't want read magic to pick up either. Thanks!

 

[Sunseeker]

"Mindless" doesn't necessarily translate to "stupid". "Mindless" just means "doesn't think for themselves", animated undead tend to operate under specific programming, "guard this room", "destroy that wall". If their animator is not present to issue them new commands, then they will only do as much as they're programmed to to.

I suppose we could argue that in areas of high necromantic energy(such as the tomb of an ancient lich or other evil being), where you have "naturally" occurring undead that they might fall into the category of "attack anything in sight until dead". But in the cases of ancient burial tombs, I think we can bet on more specific programming.

 

[Savage Wombat]

It certainly never stopped any module designer I've ever read. One necro supplement created a "Handle Undead" skill for people who wanted their skellies to perform complex instructions.

 

[GMMichael]

Without orders (simple ones), I see skeletons following two patterns:
1) lay around looking dead, then kill stuff.
2) stroll around until something living is found. Then kill it.

Skeletons have no eyes. I picture them as having "lifesense," which is a sort of ethereal sense that makes living things particularly bright. Skeletons love to put out the lights. Also, lifesense doesn't go very far, kind of like darkvision, tremorsense on soft ground, and "scent" (which only reaches in front of one's nose).

 

[Dwimmerlied]

[MENTION=83142]Obistahr[/MENTION]; absolutely. No need for further triggers. In fact, I think your example is likely the most common way in which they are used. Re; detect magic. Instantaneous spells such as Create Undead have a one-off magical effect that creates changes, and then the magic is gone, so detect magic won't rat out your skeletons if they were created this way.

Hopefully this is all the information you need, and good luck with your encounter; I hope your ambush suprises and terrifies your players!

For a deeper consideration; If your undead were in fact commanded by, say, a death cleric, the ability to detect them with Detect Magic might be debatable. Effects created by supernatural abilities may be, according to FAQ, subject to Detect Magic spells, because they are magical in nature. I'd imagine that the question of whether this would work for the command undead supernatural ability should rest on whether the magic that enables command is instantaneous or not. I can certainly see evidence for it having a longer than instantaneous duration; the command spell has a delimited duration, for example.

What can I say? I have a lot of time on my hands this afternoon...

 

[Mark1733]

undead triggers

Thanks to everyone for all the great replies. I like the"lifesense" concept considering the actual sensory organs don't work our exist with undead. as such there really isn't a way to hide from them, if they are within "range". Which is what I let the rogue in the group do.

[MENTION=83142]Obistahr[/MENTION]; absolutely. No need for further triggers. In fact, I think your example is likely the most common way in which they are used. Re; detect magic. Instantaneous spells such as Create Undead have a one-off magical effect that creates changes, and then the magic is gone, so detect magic won't rat out your skeletons if they were created this way.Hopefully this is all the information you need, and good luck with your encounter; I hope your ambush suprises and terrifies your players!For a deeper consideration; If your undead were in fact commanded by, say, a death cleric, the ability to detect them with Detect Magic might be debatable. Effects created by supernatural abilities may be, according to FAQ, subject to Detect Magic spells, because they are magical in nature. I'd imagine that the question of whether this would work for the command undead supernatural ability should rest on whether the magic that enables command is instantaneous or not. I can certainly see evidence for it having a longer than instantaneous duration; the command spell has a delimited duration, for example.What can I say? I have a lot of time on my hands this afternoon...

 

[PureGoldx58]

I think the most important thing to say right now, is that as a DM. You don't really have to explain yourself unless it is something far off insane like a fireball identified as such not allowing a save because of space. (Had that happen once, I rules lawyer raged for a bit).

You especially don't have to explain something like why the skeletons just hung out and waited until they walked in the door. They could just be given a kill command and can't have seen them until they walked in the door.

That said, I think a lot about undead, because I have a druid/cleric who loves undead as a weapon.

 

[Grazzt]

Sorry if this sounds like newbie DM stuff, but I just want to make sure that I am setting this up correctly. Can I have mindless undead guards like zombies and skeletons that don't attack until someone crosses the threshold of a room they are guarding, right? And this can be simply a command or instruction, and not a magical trap that alarms or otherwise causes the undead to attack. I don't want read magic to pick up either. Thanks!

Yep. You're the DM. You can easily do that.

 

[Ahnehnois]

"Mindless" doesn't necessarily translate to "stupid".

I have no contribution to this thread other than to point out that I find this sentence hilarious, independent of context.

 

[Tuft]

I have no contribution to this thread other than to point out that I find this sentence hilarious, independent of context.

I think a degree of observer interpretation is involved in the term "stupid": My Roomba runs arond my apartment in essentially a random pattern. I know this very well, but still I cannot help but to think "that was stupid" and "that was clever" anyway when observing it...