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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 4435381" data-attributes="member: 58197">The purpose of stating that it's free-willed is to prevent the creation of enslaved undead armies using a single wraith.In previous editions, a lot of undead had spawn capacity, and many of them automatically had control over their spawn.&nbsp; The result of this was that a single undead - particularly wraiths, with their 1d4-round spawn time - could start a chain reaction and spawn a whole army in a matter of hours, with the original undead as supreme commander.&nbsp; If that wasn't bad enough, all you needed was a way for the PCs to get that first undead under their control, and they had a legion of wraiths at their beck and call.One of the most badass characters in 3.X was a 14th-level evil cleric.&nbsp; All you had to do was find a wraith, command it using Rebuke Undead, take it to a major city, and set it loose on the populace.&nbsp; Presto, instant horde.&nbsp; By the time anyone realized what was going on, you'd already have an army of incorporeal life-suckers numbering in the thousands.&nbsp; The city's high-level defenders would be swarmed under.4E has clearly taken steps to prevent this.&nbsp; Most undead no longer spawn; from what I can see, only wraiths and vampires still have spawn abilities.&nbsp; And the undead that do spawn are engineered so they can't create vast armies of slaves.&nbsp; Wraiths can chain-spawn but don't control their offspring.&nbsp; Vampire lords control their spawn, but must create each spawn personally.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 4435381, member: 58197"] The purpose of stating that it's free-willed is to prevent the creation of enslaved undead armies using a single wraith. In previous editions, a lot of undead had spawn capacity, and many of them automatically had control over their spawn. The result of this was that a single undead - particularly wraiths, with their 1d4-round spawn time - could start a chain reaction and spawn a whole army in a matter of hours, with the original undead as supreme commander. If that wasn't bad enough, all you needed was a way for the PCs to get that first undead under their control, and they had a legion of wraiths at their beck and call. One of the most badass characters in 3.X was a 14th-level evil cleric. All you had to do was find a wraith, command it using Rebuke Undead, take it to a major city, and set it loose on the populace. Presto, instant horde. By the time anyone realized what was going on, you'd already have an army of incorporeal life-suckers numbering in the thousands. The city's high-level defenders would be swarmed under. 4E has clearly taken steps to prevent this. Most undead no longer spawn; from what I can see, only wraiths and vampires still have spawn abilities. And the undead that do spawn are engineered so they can't create vast armies of slaves. Wraiths can chain-spawn but don't control their offspring. Vampire lords control their spawn, but must create each spawn personally. [/QUOTE]

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