Mmmm...Libris Mortis.

[Gez]

I thought about adapting the Living Construct subtype to undead. Living Dead or whatever. So, some undead (vampires, maybe ghouls) would get this subtype, that would make them vulnerable to critical hits.

 

[Sejs]

Just a quick run-by before hitting the sack.

The anathema of all life is just misunderstood!

Yep! Because - get this - not all life is good, either. ^_^

 

[Gez]

IMC, negative and positive energy are more like yin & yang. There's both in all living, and unliving, creatures. They are not balanced, however -- a healthy person is about 90% positive, 10% negative. Invert those numbers for undead.

But both are necessary. An undead without positive energy cannot move. A living creature without energy cannot rest.

 

[Klaus]

I really liked the Buffy rationale over their rule. Translated to D&D it would be that hp represent an overall ability to turn lethal strikes into glancing blows. That's why Buffy beats the vampires up before bringing out the stake. She "softens" 'em up so that she can finish them off with a critical hit. Instead of having a flat chance that the critical wouldn't work (that tends to turn players off, IME), I'd restrict that to critical hits with a slashing weapon. If said critical does enough damage to kill the vampire, it goes poof! in Buffy-esque fashion.

In a similar vein (heh!), I'd stat a stake to be a piercing light weapon (1d4/x2) that has a threat range of 19-20 vs. vampires and bypasses its DR. I'd follow the same rules as for a head hit, except that if it reduces a vampire to 0 hp with a critical hit, the stake hits the heart, with the usual effects.

That makes easier to make a Buffy-like character, with Improved Critical (stake). The Slayer Scythe (that funky guitar-like weapon from the series finale) would follow the rules for a dwarven urgrosh, excpet that the spear-end is replaced with a stake end.

But now I'm just rambling...

 

[seankreynolds]

See also my variant rule for staking vampires here (it's near the bottom, just above the sample character).

 

[Nightfall]

No, it's just reprinted material, largely word-for-word...and truncated, of course because the entry is smaller.

Guess I'll have to wait for a Book of Fiends to get a good write up on Orcus.

That or hope GR gets a chance to licence Orcus into an adventure.

Mmm GR and Necro teaming up...god the possibility tingles my skin...

 

[Incenjucar]

That's interesting. It might be easier to just say they have 75% or 90% crit immunity (like the fortification ability), and assume that the crits that get through are head or heart strikes.

I've got to say, I like that idea. Never did make any sense that undead were -always- crit-immune, anyways. Not all of them are made up of unimportant parts or general 'material (psuedo-gaseous undead certainly have no vulnerable parts, such as wraiths, but something like a ghoul or a vampire is so much more organic in nature). And then you can have spells like "Heart-Seeker", which might reduce that crit immunity.. mmn.. yesss.. Bursting vampires... I like it.

 

[Felon]

Feh. Anyone know about when staking became accepted as a valid means to kill a vampire outside of its coffin? There's a reason that vampire-slaying kits came with a hammer, y'know!

Matter of fact, I think more folks should be made aware that the stake wasn't even intended to kill the bloodsucker, just to keep it pinned down like a butterfly so the fearless vampire killer could put an axe to it with a modicum of safety. Just seems kind of funny that now we just accept the stake as some sort of magical vulnerability when it was originally just a tool that served simple, sensible purpose.

So, anyway, who else thinks the half-vampire is pretty kick-ass for a mere +2 level-adjustment?

+2 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Cha, DR 5/silver or magic, fast healing, Improved Initiative as a bonus feat, a special attack of your choice, natural armor +2, resistance to cold and electricity 5, and a +2 to Hide, Move Silently, Listen, Spot, and Bluff checks all adds up to a pretty sweet deal IMO.

 

[Pants]

Guess I'll have to wait for a Book of Fiends to get a good write up on Orcus.

That or hope GR gets a chance to licence Orcus into an adventure.

Mmm GR and Necro teaming up...god the possibility tingles my skin...

BoF has very little info on Orcus. BoVD has much more.

Libris Mortis includes a truncuated writeup on Orcus (which is half a page or so), the Visages (old servants of Orcus), an Orcus related spell, and several other references to the pudgy demon prince. I'd say that BoF and LM have equal amounts of Orcus goodness, which is to say, they get a little bit of info, but not much.

 

[Nightfall]

Pants,


I meant the supposed 2005 release from WotC about Archfiends...

But I was aware that BoF from GR had very little on Orcus other than "name" and a few other things. Even so, BoF is a book I dearly love. Just not for the Orcus factor like I do in BoVD and now LM.