Necromancer's Legacy 2: Q&A

[Clay_More]

I am getting a little uncertain that there are any presidented cases where weapon abilities have increasing efficiency according to the other abilities of that weapon.

I actually had another consideration. I was thinking that...

Maybe weapons that augment undead abilities, like the cold aura of a lich.

One that decelerates rot. Nice for ghouls, intelligent zombies, and any other ones that constantly rot.

Might be better abilities for other items than weapons and armors. I am again, not sure, but I believe most weapon abilities have had a direct influence on the fighting aspects of the weapons. They could easily be made into abilities that could be placed on rings or amulets though. But, from what I can see from DMG, weapons have abilities that increase their combat-effectiveness and armors have abilities that increase protection...

 

[Kitsunekaboom]

Hmm alright, so how about more weapons that mimic the attack abilities of various undead. The Ghoul Venom one, a sword with Liches Aura, a Bodak's Death Gaze, the Trap Essence ability of a Devourer, etc. Not sure how interesting an idea it is but it is enough that I will probably write one or two up. Players running into vampires with Ghoul Venom swords, Liches with a Trap Essence sword, intelligent zombies with a Lich Aura (hmm might make any player run away

Idea for an armor, Ghoul Skin, among other things (unsure what yet) protects one from being attacked by a Ghoul unless you attack first, and protects from the paralytic and stench properties of Ghouls and Ghasts.

 

[Clay_More]

Well, using undead abilities wouldn't be a bad concept as a basis. Some of them would require a little altering to fit well, but good idea. I already saw that they had put Ghoul Toxin as a poison in the "Undeads" book, so it could be a weapon power as well. There was a weapon in Necromancers Legacy that had Filthy as its power, enabling it to induce Filth Fever in targets.

Ghoul Skin sounds kewl, a little groce though Nice trinket for a rogue, sneaking around an undead encampment. As I see it, Ghouls rely alot on smell to determine enemies, so it wouldnt render you invisible, the Ghouls would merely think that you are a Ghoul yourself. Perhaps a Bottle of Ghoul Stink you could pour over you, to get a Ghoulish Smell going (would have to expose you to disease though).

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hi Clay_More mate!

Not sure if this has been indirectly suggested before but what about a Weapon Special Ability that spawns any fallen victims as Ghouls (as per their create spawn ability). Its also pretty easy to see variations on this for different undead types.

 

[Clay_More]

It has already been talked about The discussion on that subject is though, as far as I see it....

1: Will the undead animate within a few rounds (thus making the ability directly usable in combat) or after several hours, thus making the weapon something more usable for spreading general mayhem with undeads than for direct combat usage?

2: How many HD can be animated? Should it be a fixed number of HD or could it be dependant on the weapon plus (such as, 5 HD for each plus of the weapon).

3: Will the undead be under the wielders control or not?

Off course, I was thinking that you could make two versions of each ability, according to question 3. That is, a weapon which allowed the wielder to control the undead and one that didn't allow him to control them. Off course, the price would be different.

Edit: UK, you must have some good, Evil inspired weapon abillities lying around, necromantic ones even. I saw the huge, friggin amounts of em posted on your last IH thread.

 

[Saepiroth]

+2; of Undead Swarm (minor)

any creature dropped or slain by a weapon with this effect reanimates as a zombie 4d12 hours later. the zombie is uncontrolled and remains in the area that it was slain, until a small or larger living creature approaches within 100 feet of the corpse. the zombie will then attempt to slay the creature, and will follow it for up to 4d12 hours in order to do so.
this reanimation can be prevented by anything that would prevent a victim of a Ghoul's 'create spawn' attack from becoming a Ghoul.

Prereq; Animate Dead



+3, of Undead Swarm (Major)

identical to Minor Undead Swarm, except the raised creature returns as a Ghoul, not a zombie.

Prereq; Create Undead -OR- Control Undead



+2, of Undead Bodyguards (minor)

Any creature dropped or slain by a weapon with this effect reanimates as a zombie 1d10 rounds after it's death.
It raises under the control of the weapon's weilder, and will faithfully enact any verbal order issued with the weapon in hand. if the weapon is lost, all undead produced by it will continue with their last order until the weapon is grasped and a new order is provided. if the weapon is destroyed, all undead created by it instantly collapse into dust.

reanimation can be prevented by anything that would prevent a victim of a Ghoul's 'create spawn' attack from becoming a Ghoul.

this weapon can control up to 8 HD of Undead.

Prereq; Animate Dead



+3, of Undead Bodyguards (Major)

Identical to Minor Undead Bodyguards, except this weapon creates Ghouls and allows control of up to 12 HD.

Prereq; Create Undead -OR- Control Undead

 

[Clay_More]

Good stuff Saep, I think you are right on target.

I think that having Control Undead for prerequisite for a spell that actually doesn't control undead at all is weird, otherwise its fine (talking of Major Undead Swarm). I presume you made that choice since it would allow wizards to create the sword as well, which is a good argumentation and I am hard stressed to find a spell that could replace it....

It can easily be upgraded into other kinds of undeads.

How about this for an additional ability...

+1; Undead Army
Doubles the amount of HD that can be controlled with the Undead Bodyguards ability.

Prereq: Weapon must have the Undead Bodyguards ability (which ensures that the creator also has some required necromantic spell).


I think youre estimate of controlled HD and round before animation are right as well. Even though, I would prefer to call the Undead Bodyguards for Animating instead, perhaps. Undead Swarm sounds fine though.

I think that Minor Undead Swarm might be a +2 as well. Even though the undead are not under the wielders command, he can create far more of them. Someone with such a weapon that, for example, ambushes a caravan, would create a host of zombies that would plague that trade route for day, even weeks.

 

[Saepiroth]

It can't be "Animating", because there is already a Shield special ability called "Animated".

and I don't think an "Undead Army" ability would be appropriate if it doubled the power of the weapon. I based the HD controlled off of the advancement for Zombies and Ghouls, and if it got much higher it would start skewing power/CRs. limiting it to around six controlled each prevent someone from cluttering the battlefield with zombies.

I think that enhancement should only increase the amount controlled by a given amount... maybe by 6 HD on the outside. any more, and it gets too strong.

 

[Clay_More]

True, there already is an ability called Animated, could get confusing. Even though I like the ability as you wrote it, Im still not completely content with Undead Bodyguards... what about Undead Entourage?

The thing I was thinking about when I suggested Undead Army was the following. The ability of animating undead will most probably not result in the person wielding the sword constantly travelling with additional undeads. Travelling around with zombies is rather slowing, even though ghouls do not suffer from this in the same extent. Any form of transportive spells will have difficulties handling an entourage. Also, some places might not accept characters travelling with undead. Thus, much of the use of the weapon would be by animating undead directly in combat, which is also why the animation time is measured in rounds, not minutes or hours. Yet, the numbers of targets that can be turned might not be so large and there might not be enough time for there to be animated large numbers of undead, thus the Undead Army ability wouldn't come into effect that often.

 

[Saepiroth]

yeah, but it still increases the strength of the bonus by a really significant margin; raising it from the strength of a level 6 cleric-in-a-sword to that of a level 12. that's why i thought that using a set amount would be better than an outright doubling.

mostly, i was trying to make it balanced for PCs, too. I was just considering that you could have a pretty hefty entourage for a +4 equivalent weapon... and giving an effective +6 CR for 32,300 and change seems to be a bit much. besides, any self-respecting evil zombie master would have no problem clearing out a few remote homesteads to bolster his undead army.

Regardless, it's your book. Do what you want with 'em, they were just ideas. A name's a name's a name, it doesn't matter .