Special Conversion Thread: Moldvay's Undead

[Shade]

Do we want to take some artistic liberties and extend the energy drain to create lesser vrykolakas, or should we note that it creates free-willed wights? The latter option just seems...odd.

Ability Focus for fear sounds good to me as well.

 

[freyar]

Having energy drain create regular vrykolakas is ok by me if all agree. But I'm not sure that a greater vrykolakas creating wights is any weirder than a succubus doing that.

 

[Shade]

No, probably not. Although "In a short time, the original vrykolakas can gather a large and dangerous train of followers" and "The great vrykolakas is usually accompanied by 1-6 ordinary vrykolakas under its control" could imply that it has an easier time creating spawn.

I have no real preference. Anyone feel strongly either way?

 

[Cleon]

Ability focus for fear makes sense.

Per the original text, create spawn only goes with Oppress Sleeper. I guess the energy drain just creates wights like normal.

Ability Focus (fear aura) is a neat compromise, I'll back that.

As for the energy drain gaze / create spawn question, I don't like the idea of it creating more vrykolakas with its gaze attack. I'd prefer if it just created corpses, although I'd be alright with it spawning wights.

Hmm, would the energy draining gaze give any undead it hits temporary hit points like an energy drain spell does? I hope not, or it would make them really nasty with a posse of lesser vrykolakas (and maybe wights) to act as cannon fodder.

 

[freyar]

As long as the gaze is just a negative level gaze and doesn't cite the spell, it shouldn't grant any temporary hit points to undead (that is, the spell does that but not generic negative levels). Plus undead are immune to the gaze since it allows a Fort save!

The thing with wights is that energy drain that kills a character always creates spawn or a wight. From the SRD:

A character with negative levels at least equal to her current level, or drained below 1st level, is instantly slain. Depending on the creature that killed her, she may rise the next night as a monster of that kind. If not, she rises as a wight. A creature gains 5 temporary hit points for each negative level it bestows (though not if the negative level is caused by a spell or similar effect).

My bold there. So either we specify something, or victims become wights (assuming there's no preventive magic used first).

 

[Cleon]

As long as the gaze is just a negative level gaze and doesn't cite the spell, it shouldn't grant any temporary hit points to undead (that is, the spell does that but not generic negative levels). Plus undead are immune to the gaze since it allows a Fort save!

The thing with wights is that energy drain that kills a character always creates spawn or a wight. From the SRD:

My bold there. So either we specify something, or victims become wights (assuming there's no preventive magic used first).

Well, I've already said I have no objection to it creating wights.

As for the energy drain write up, I prefer having creatures slain by that SA sometimes becoming wights, not invariably doing so.

 

[Shade]

OK, so we're agreed on sticking with wights. Now, should they be free-willed or under the vryk's control?

 

[freyar]

Let's just leave off the create spawn text, so they follow the default rules (ie, free-willed wights).

 

[demiurge1138]

Agreed to free willed wights.

 

[Shade]

Updated.

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