Special Conversion Thread: Moldvay's Undead

[Shade]

Yes, minus the Strength score, of course.

 

[freyar]

Oh, good. Incorporeal critters with Str kind of bother me.

Ready for homebrews?

 

[Shade]

Sure! Added.

 

[freyar]

Do the victims get the "weapons count as chaotic and evil aligned" bit? Also, they need to be vulnerable to turning. Finally, I think it's reasonable to give them Con-based ghoul fever due to the festering flesh in their teeth, but that's negotiable.

 

[demiurge1138]

No to ghoul fever, yes to weapons counting as the proper alignment.

 

[freyar]

Fair enough.

 

[Shade]

Agreed to aligned strike.

How's this?

Vulnerability to Turning (Ex?): A spirit-ghoul victim may be turned as if it were an undead creature with +2 turn resistance.

A spirit-ghoul is the end result of a human victim's possession by unknown demonic entities. Once so possessed, the victim becomes immune to sleep and charm spells, and has paralyzation powers like normal ghouls.

Give 'em just immunity to all mind-affecting spells and abilities, or all undead immunities?

Such spirit-ghouls look just like normal ghouls, and the two can often be found together in a pack.

Organization: Solitary, gang (1 plus 2–4 ghouls), or pack (1 plus 7–12 ghouls)?

 

[freyar]

Vulnerability to turning looks right, though perhaps we could say that, rather than destroying a spirit-ghoul, a turning check that would destroy the spirit-ghoul instead ends the possession and returns the possessed creature to its natural state. Or perhaps we should list this whereever we do the possession. Or both.

I'd say just mind-affecting and I guess sleep effects. A lot of the undead immunities seem to come with having no Con, and I'd rather not include those.

Organization looks good.

Edit: rather than a boost to Wis and Cha, why doesn't a spirit-ghoul victim take the spirit-ghoul's mental stats?

 

[Shade]

Great ideas all around.

Shall we work on the possession mechanic? We discussed it a bit upthread, but never put it into an actual ability format.

 

[freyar]

Sounds good.