Special Conversion Thread: Moldvay's Undead

[demiurge1138]

Use the hunefer's skills, but remove Spellcraft and Jump.

Feats: Ability Focus (curse), Cleave, Combat Expertise, Improved Critical (slam), Improved Trip, Power Attack

I like a court of kas, myself. And I think they should speak Common, Infernal, Draconic and regional tongues.

The mention of "any three magic items" screams "double standard" to me.

Demiurge out.

 

[Shade]

That all sounds good, except I think we should replace Knowledge (the planes) with Knowledge (history) and maybe (religion) with (nobility and royalty). Thoughts?

Double standard makes sense, considering they were rulers.

 

[demiurge1138]

The knowledge swaps make good sense to me.

Demiurge out.

 

[Shade]

Updated. Are we missing anything?

 

[freyar]

Looks good. No real need for a cap, other than the original text.

 

[demiurge1138]

I think we're done here.

Demiurge out.

 

[Shade]

Le Grand Zombi means "the great zombie." Le Grand Zombi would be a kind of king of the zombies. Unlike normal zombies, Le Grand Zombi would be intelligent and could even cast spells. It has been speculated that Le Grand Zombi is actually a kind of lich, the spirit of an extremely powerful magic-user/cleric who specialized in necromancy (magic dealing with the dead).

Le Grand Zombi
FREQUENCY: Unique
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: -3
MOVE: 9"
HIT DICE: 13 (65 hp)
% IN LAIR: 25%
TREASURE TYPE: E
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-20
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Spells
SPECIAL DEFENSES: +1 or better weapon to hit
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 25%
INTELLIGENCE: Supra-genius
ALIGNMENT: Neutral evil
SIZE: M
PSIONIC ABILITY: 200
Attack/Defense Modes: All/all

Le Grand Zombi looks like the worst moldering zombie. It is able to control all skeletons and zombies (and all their undead variants), being a sort of lord of the undead. Le Grand Zombi's main attack form is its ability to cast spells as if a 22nd-level magic-user/cleric. Instead of choosing 84 different spells, it is easier for the DM to consider Le Grand Zombi to have any
first-through sixth-level magic-user or clerical spell it needs. Higher-level spells for Le Grand Zombi follow:

Seventh-level clerical
Destruction
Unholy word
Wither

Seventh-level magic-user
Mass invisibility
Phase door
Power word, stun

Eighth-level magic-user
Mind blank
Power word, blind
Trap the soul

Ninth-level magic-user
Imprisonment
Energy drain
Power word, kill

In addition, Le Grand Zombi has all the monster summoning spells (I-VII). The spells will only summon variants of skeletons and zombies as shown below:

Spell Summons
I 2-16 skeletons
II 2-12 zombies, skleros, or shock bones
III 2-8 dry bones or hungry dead
IV 1-6 bloody bones
V l-4 walking dead
VI 1-4 gem eyes
VII 1-2 lesser colossi

If Le Grand Zombi attacks physically, it does 1-20 hp damage, but it prefers to use spells. Le Grand Zombi can only be hit by magical weapons, has 25% magic resistance, 200 psionic ability points, and all psionic attack and defense modes. Le Grand Zombi is in the "special" class for a cleric's chance to turn it away.

Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #138 (1988).

 

[demiurge1138]

Yikes. He's a tough customer. We'll have to give him more hit dice if we're keeping the 22nd level casting for two classes. And he's psionic! Although, really, I think we can sweep that part under the rug without much fuss.

Alternatively, we can stick to the original hit dice, and give him lower level casting. Much lower level, like maybe 7th-9th for both classes. At that level, I might be okay with letting psionics back in... but Le Grand Zombi is going to be really tricky to run in a game.

Demiurge out.

 

[Shade]

Let's raise the HD to allow for that level of spellcasting, but rather than giving it 22 levels in both classes, how about letting it cast as a 22nd-level sorcerer, and include appropriate cleric and domain spells as arcane spells?

 

[freyar]

Let's raise the HD to allow for that level of spellcasting, but rather than giving it 22 levels in both classes, how about letting it cast as a 22nd-level sorcerer, and include appropriate cleric and domain spells as arcane spells?

Sounds like the right approach. Do you think 20 HD? Do we want to keep or ditch the psionics?

Too bad summon undead isn't in the SRD, but we can mention that he uses a "variant summon monster" and put in a sidebar.