Special Conversion Thread: Moldvay's Undead

[freyar]

Want to go with Power Attack, Cleave, and Great Cleave?

You know, maybe barb wasn't such a great choice. What happens to the rage with Con -?

 

[GrayLinnorm]

Actually, I don't think making this a template was a great choice. Scott said that he didn't think every undead needs to be a template.

 

[Shade]

Want to go with Power Attack, Cleave, and Great Cleave?

Sure.

You know, maybe barb wasn't such a great choice. What happens to the rage with Con -?

That actually makes it a perfect choice, as it forces us to address that question. We could add a note to the fury of the grave ability stating that creatures with rage/frenzy swap out their daily uses for an equivalent number of uses of fury of the grave. Alternatively, we could state that they use their Charisma rather than Constitution for any rage-like ability.

 

[freyar]

Hmm, multiquote not working today; have to do it manually.

Actually, I don't think making this a template was a great choice. Scott said that he didn't think every undead needs to be a template.

Not every undead, just most! More seriously, I could see the argument that the normal ch'ing shih could be just a monster, but I think the "greater" variant kind of screams template.

That actually makes it a perfect choice, as it forces us to address that question. We could add a note to the fury of the grave ability stating that creatures with rage/frenzy swap out their daily uses for an equivalent number of uses of fury of the grave. Alternatively, we could state that they use their Charisma rather than Constitution for any rage-like ability.

Let's swap it out. So, in the fury of the grave description we should say "If the creature has a rage or frenzy ability, these are replaced with the same number of daily uses of fury of the grave." Sound right to you?

 

[Shade]

Not every undead, just most! More seriously, I could see the argument that the normal ch'ing shih could be just a monster, but I think the "greater" variant kind of screams template.

I'm generally of the mind that if it used to be another creature, then it at least should be considered as a template, while the undead of unknown origins or that spontaneous arise from negative energy, etc. should be standalone creatures.

Let's swap it out. So, in the fury of the grave description we should say "If the creature has a rage or frenzy ability, these are replaced with the same number of daily uses of fury of the grave." Sound right to you?

That seems reasonable. Barbarians need their own specialty undead.

 

[freyar]

Does our barbarian need anything else, or are we basically ready to move on (once the change to fury is made, that is).

 

[Shade]

Updated.

 

[freyar]

I just noticed in the template "Fury of the Grave" entry that the "fury" is called a "rage" in the last couple of sentences. Once that's fixed, I think we're done.

 

[Shade]

Fixed.

 

[freyar]

Looks pretty much done. Did Moldvay do any more?