Mmmm...Libris Mortis.

[Gothmog]

I just noticed something looking through Libris Mortis and MM III today. The Unholy Toughness quality given to some undead in MM III (which basically gives exra hp to undead equal to their HD x Cha mod) doesn't appear in Libris Mortis. Thats odd. I really like the Unholy Toughness quality, and hoped it would be expanded on in Libris Mortis. Oh well.

 

[Gez]

I believe Queen Petite was joking. The Roman version of Hades is Pluto, btw. He may have an alternate name, I guess.

Pluto is a Greek word. More precisely, it is Hades' nickname, "the Wealthy One", because his wealth (in souls) is constantly increasing.

Orcus is the latin name of Hades. He's more famous by his nickname of Father of (the City of) Dis, Dis Pater.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Any details on the new monsters and templates?

I'm wondering what the Atropal Scion is, I figure it's some kind of spawn of the Atropal from the Epic Level Handboook. And what's with the Slaymate, Forshaken Shell, and Brain in a Jar? Do they have reprints of the templates in Savage Species and Dragon Magazine, such a Wraith, Spectral, or Ghoul?

Are Forshaken Shells the Skinless of Ravenloft? Desicators the Vacuous from the Planescape Monstrous Compendium III? Are Necromentals a conversion of the Grave Elemental? Are Visages the servants of Orcus/Teneborous as they were in Dead Gods?

And finally what is there for variant undead in the book? Is it things like flaming skeletons, variant ghost abilities and other stuff?

Do they have a list of all undead creatures in other books, much like the Draconomicon had a list of all dragons in other books?

 

[Samurai]

What are the requirements for True Necromancer?

I'm a 4th level wizard-necromancer in our Thursday night game and I'd like to steer my PC in that direction. Going to buy Libris Mortis when it's available on Amazon.

Alignment: Any non-good
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Knowledge (Religion) 8 ranks
Feats: Spell Focus: Necromancy
Spells: Able to cast Summon Undead II as a Divine Spell, and Command Undead as an Arcane Spell Note: Summon Undead II is a new 2nd lvl spell in Libris Mortis, Command Undead is a 2nd lvl spell in PHB)
Special: Able to rebuke undead
Special: Access to the Death Domain

Altogether, these can be met after 6 levels, 3 as a Wizard/Sorcerer, 3 as a Cleric, if you planned on it from the start. If not, it could take several additional levels, though that would mean missing out on the highest levels of TrNec, including some of their most potent special abilities.

Since you already have more Wizard levels than you need, you'll now need to become a cleric with the Death Domain for 3 levels, and then enter TrNec at 8th lvl.

 

[Samurai]

Any details on the new monsters and templates?

I'm wondering what the Atropal Scion is, I figure it's some kind of spawn of the Atropal from the Epic Level Handboook. And what's with the Slaymate, Forshaken Shell, and Brain in a Jar? Do they have reprints of the templates in Savage Species and Dragon Magazine, such a Wraith, Spectral, or Ghoul?

Are Forshaken Shells the Skinless of Ravenloft? Desicators the Vacuous from the Planescape Monstrous Compendium III? Are Necromentals a conversion of the Grave Elemental? Are Visages the servants of Orcus/Teneborous as they were in Dead Gods?

And finally what is there for variant undead in the book? Is it things like flaming skeletons, variant ghost abilities and other stuff?

Do they have a list of all undead creatures in other books, much like the Draconomicon had a list of all dragons in other books?

Atropal Scions are undead aborted/stillborn godlings.

There are Savage-Species-like levels for undead, though I haven't compared them to see if they are idetical to previous iterations.

Forsaken Shells are undead empty skins.

Desicators are the salt-encrusted undead remains of a water elemental... they try to leech water out of anything they encounter.

A Necromental is a template that can be placed over any Elemental creature, making it an undead version. (There are also other examples of similar things, like the Desicater, which are more unique and interesting IMHO).

Visages were created by Orcus/Tenebrous. He has since discarded most of them.

Lots of varient abilities, including flaming skeletons, fast Zombies, haunting ghosts, savage vampires, etc. There are also several new templates, the coolest of which is Swarm-Shifter. It allows a creature to change into a swarm... a vampire may become a swarm of rats or bats, a mummy may become a swarm of beetles or scorpions, etc. 11 sample "Swarm Forms" are given, and more could be created.

There is a quick list of undead from MM, MM2, MM3, and FF.

 

[Timeboxer]

This is an extreme long shot, but I'm curious. Anything in there about the deathless?

 

[Nightfall]

Somehow I'm doubtful there's Deathless in this book. It seems most of the undead/unliving here are negative energy based.

They brought back Visages?! (I saw it just forgot about it's connection to Orcus...)

Anyway I'm sure Orcus will welcome them back...maybe.

 

[Eluvan]

Hmmm, all these delicious looking books I keep hearing about. I may have to break my boycott on WotC expansion books (got sick of feeling screwed over a while back, I think it was the Complete Divine that pushed me over the edge) and look more closely at some of these. I do like my undead...

 

[Samurai]

This is an extreme long shot, but I'm curious. Anything in there about the deathless?

I don't know what the Deathless are, off the top of my head, but I haven't seen any mention of them in LM.

 

[Nightfall]

Samurai,

They are a kind of positive energy based undead/unliving that I guess can be closely equated to being "spirits" even though they have similiar undead traits. (Not healed by negative energy but positive energy works on them in terms of healing them.)

Both Book of Exalted Deeds and the Eberron CS talk about them.