Special Conversion Thread: Moldvay's Undead

[Cleon]

Sorry, I forgot about that. Looking back, I like it, and would like to limit the fleeing to 1 minute.

Good!

I'd rather change their alignment to "always chaotic evil" or "always evil, usually chaotic". They are cruel and anthropophagus, so I can't begin to imagine a good-aligned ghula (shudder). Since ghouls are "always chaotic evil", I think that works fine.

I beg to disagree. According to Islamic theology, all genies have souls and are capable of becoming Muslims. There is at least one story about a hero being attacked by a band of murderous ghuls who defeats them, and the ghuls later convert to Islam.

Also, in some tales ghuls are more mischievous (or malicious) tricksters than cannibal murderers, such ghuls may like to get folk lost in the desert but they do so to laugh at them running around in circles rather than because they want to eat them.

So I'd really like to keep the "Often chaotic evil" and the potential for neutral or even good ghuls.

They've got free will and don't have the Evil subtype, so shouldn't be stuck in an alignment straightjacket.

 

[freyar]

Fleeing for 1 minute is good. I guess I can see non-CE ghula, but only if we loosen up the flavor text a bit.

Then I think it's done, unless you want to put in a throwaway line or something in the org about taking over gnoll tribes.

 

[Shade]

Per the RAW, even the "always" restrictor still allows for the rare exception.

I still don't like the idea of good-aligned ones, but will agree in the interests of moving on.

Updated.

Here's the next one...

Ghost-Stone
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any, often subterranean
FREQUENCY: Very rare
ORGANIZATION: None
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Shadow activated
DIET: Living beings
INTELLIGENCE: Average
TREASURE: 50% E
ALIGNMENT: (Any) evil
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 3
MOVEMENT: None
HIT DICE: 20 (stone only)
THAC0: Not applicable
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-20
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Blood drain
SPECIAL DEFENSES: None
MAGIC RESISTANCE: See below
SIZE: L (10. tall)
MORALE: Fearless
XP VALUE: 4,000

Ghost-stones are just that: stones inhabited by ghosts. A powerful, evil individual may choose to send his malicious spirit into a specially prepared stone upon his death. The person prefers an undead existence to risking the punishments of the netherworld. The ghost-stone is often placed so that it guards the treasure the evil person hoarded in life; the treasure may actually be concealed within the stone itself.

Combat: If the shadow of a character falls upon a ghost-stone, that person is trapped. The individual can still fight and cast spells, but is unable to move more than 10. away from the stone. The ghoststone uses the shadowy connection to drain the victim.s blood, doing 1-20 hp damage per round automatically.

There are two ways to destroy a ghoststone. If the stone holding the evil ghost is completely hacked apart, the spirit is forced to depart and undertake its long delayed journey to the netherworld. An exorcism spell has the same effect. The ghost in the stone can be pacified if its name is known. A simple command of: .[Ghost.s true name] be still, and at peace. calms the angry spirit even if its treasure is taken. In a campaign, the DM has the option of revealing the ghost.s name to the PCs, perhaps making the answer a puzzle or riddle.

Since ghost-stones look like any other stones, they normally attack with surprise. The first indication of trouble is when a character.s shadow gets automatically trapped. If the characters have some reason to be suspicious of that particular stone, the DM should allow a saving throw vs. wands to the PC. Any character who strikes the ghoststone physically, without first choosing an attack angle that guarantees that his shadow will not fall upon the stone, could end up trapped also. Each person in addition to the first gains a saving throw vs. wands to avoid entrapment. Only one person at a time will be drained of blood, however. Other trapped individuals are simply unable to move away. If the ghoststone survives attacks against it, it eventually drains all of its victims of blood.

A cleric has the same chance to turn away the spirit in a ghost-stone as he has to turn a ghost. If turning is successful, the ghost-stone releases all victims currently being held. It will not attack unless it is itself attacked, or if a character tries to steal the treasure the ghost-stone is guarding.

(Note that the .Habitat/Society. Category is meaningless for the ghost-stone.)

Originally appeared in Dragon Magazine #162 (1990).

 

[Cleon]

Fleeing for 1 minute is good. I guess I can see non-CE ghula, but only if we loosen up the flavor text a bit.

Then I think it's done, unless you want to put in a throwaway line or something in the org about taking over gnoll tribes.

Well I was thinking the following would have loosened it up enough and covered the humanoid tribes, but Shade's left most of it out of the Update:

Ghula are not irredeemably wicked, a significant minority are not evil and have conquered their lust for humanoid flesh. Most non-evil ghula are Chaotic Neutral pranksters who delight in tricks and petty theft, although their jokes can turn very dangerous if they are angered. A few ghula are even benevolent creatures who help lost pilgrims, only terrorizing wicked or impious folk. Some reformed ghula have taken up a Good- or Neutral-aligned religion.

Good-aligned ghula (and some neutral ghula) have a fear of sacrilege instead of an evil ghula’s fear of sanctity; they recoil from unholy symbols or blasphemous prayers and blasphemies, and refuse to step upon ground that has been desecrated.

Even evil ghula are not invariably hostile. They will associate with humanoids who share their malevolent nature, usually bandits or malevolent spellcasters. They expect their friends and allies to share their taste for humanoid flesh, anyone who refuses to join in their feast will become a meal rather than a guest. A few powerful ghula rule over entire tribes of humanoid cannibals in small, hidden kingdoms. Such “civilized” evil ghula often use id moss to drug strangers and slaves into idiocy, the witless captives are then fattened up with rich foods before being roasted and eaten.
​

As for the org line, I'd be fine with adding a tribe.

Organization: Solitary, company (2-4), band (5-20) or tribe (1-20 ghula plus 20-200 humanoids, often gnolls)

 

[Shade]

Added all that. On to the ghost-stone now?

 

[Cleon]

Added all that. On to the ghost-stone now?

I'm happy now.

The ghost stone doesn't have much to work with. They just trap a victim and drain their hit points unless the stone is destroyed, exorcised or turned.

They could almost be a hazard.

Can you think of anything that would jazz it up a bit?

 

[Shade]

Maybe treat the stone as a pseudo-phylactery/offensive magic item? The ghost could function similar to a normal ghost, but could move its stone around to gain tactical advantage of its shadow-leeching powers.

 

[freyar]

These are weird. Rather than movement, though, I'd rather give them some ghostly abilities, like weak telekinesis, or SLAs. Is that what you mean, Shade?

 

[Cleon]

Maybe treat the stone as a pseudo-phylactery/offensive magic item? The ghost could function similar to a normal ghost, but could move its stone around to gain tactical advantage of its shadow-leeching powers.

Having it move the stone would stretch it too far for me. I wouldn't mind having a ghost that's tied to the stone (maybe it must stay within the stone's shadow-leeching radius?), but it needs an ally or possessed victim to move the stone around.

 

[freyar]

Yes, I'm not fond of actually moving the stone. Smaller objects, maybe. We did some kind of "half-ghost" recently with this type of minor telekinesis, I think, but I can't recall the name.