[Scoop?] Libris Mortis: The Book of the Undead, from WotC

[Simplicity]

That sounds more like "not dead" than "undead". Is there a Latin word for undead? (Hypersmurf? Rasputin?) Or do you end up with something like "Book of Those Who Are Sort Of Dead But Not Really"?

Well, "un-" does mean not...
"undead" means "not dead."

I don't know of any word for undead.
There's a word for ghosts: "phasma".
It's not really appropriate.

"lemures" is another, but that gets confusing REAL fast.
"liber lemuris" sounds like a book of monkeys to me,
and if it's not that, then maybe it's a book of crappy devils.
(I'm not even sure what the genitive of lemures is...
It's a weird word, and it's been a while).

 

[frankthedm]

The Healed by negative energy feat- Do you still suffer from negative levels?

I don't think thats too good of a PC feat unless your group only has people willing to play a cleric if said cleric is evil. Good clerics had a decidely unfair advantage in the healing department in live PC groups thanks to swapping spells to heal. [In D&D CAUSING damage is cheaper than healing it on the most part.]

 

[frankthedm]

Actually, a big book of fey would be REALLY interesting, since I think they're one of the most underrrated monster categories around. Plus, there's high potential for beauty, magic, and witchery in such a tome....

In a high action game where players get save and negate against every effect fae tend to have, devoting a book to then seems kinda iffy.

Plus a D6 hit die and not being well known for a great con score doesn't help.


A Plant and Fae book might work.

 

[Nightfall]

If there are gods mentioned, Orcus better get a mention. He's been with undead since 1st edition and deserves the mention.

 

[Campbell]

Just for semantics sake, Undead means the oppisite of dead. If Undead referred to anything not dead, those polyhedral dice we all cherish would all be d12s. Since the exact oppisite of 'the dead' is 'the living' it appears 'Undead' must be a false moniker. Since undead are in fact dead, at least in the biological sense, despite any apparent movement or sense of reason, I don't take issue with The Book of the Dead as it were. Gee...Aren't semantics fun! Of course Book of the Damned might be a better title if we were to take a page out of Ann Rice's Vampire Chronicles. Of course that would start arguements over the state of an undead creature's soul which could be fun.

 

[Turjan]

Filthy, it's the Maleus Maleficarum. I have to say, it's a cheesy name. I translate it as "The Icky-Book of Icky-Bad Naughtiness".

At least this take on the "Malleus Maleficarum" (Hammer of the [female] evildoers) would be as bad latin as "Libris Mortis" !

 

[Kae'Yoss]

If there are gods mentioned, Orcus better get a mention. He's been with undead since 1st edition and deserves the mention.

Should be mentioned, Orcus. As the demon lord he his

But since he has allegedly created the buggers, he should get mentioned in any case. And I think he should write the forword.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Just for semantics sake, Undead means the oppisite of dead. If Undead referred to anything not dead, those polyhedral dice we all cherish would all be d12s. Since the exact oppisite of 'the dead' is 'the living' it appears 'Undead' must be a false moniker. Since undead are in fact dead, at least in the biological sense, despite any apparent movement or sense of reason, I don't take issue with The Book of the Dead as it were.

Strapping on "not" onto something doesn't necessarily make something into an exact opposite. If I say I'm not going to the shops today, it doesn't mean that I'm going to run away from the shops.

If the situation is binary, then not does in fact mean the opposite. However in D&D, there are more than 2 states of being. There is, in fact, living, dead, and something which is like dead, but isn't. It's alternately called being unliving or undead, which is a fairly accurate description of it.

I'd say that "not dead" would be a pretty good approximation for it.

 

[tarchon]

Just for semantics sake, Undead means the oppisite of dead. If Undead referred to anything not dead, those polyhedral dice we all cherish would all be d12s.

Way back, it did mean "alive," usually with the connotation of "barely alive," but Bram Stoker reinvented it after a long period of disuse. My personal theory is that he was using it as what he thought was a calque (literal translation) of nosferatu, though he was pretty much off base with it.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

At least this take on the "Malleus Maleficarum" (Hammer of the [female] evildoers) would be as bad latin as "Libris Mortis" !

The "misspelling" was on purpose, plus I haven't looked at/read the book in a long while...memory is weak, I'm zombie-safe, no nutrition up here.