Special Conversion Thread: Moldvay's Undead

[freyar]

Actually, I was just wondering if we need to spell out the effects of spells like freedom of movement, freedom, etc.

Then maybe a homebrews with this and the stone phylactery, just to see where we are.

 

[Shade]

Yes, we should probably do so.

Added to Homebrews what we've got so far.

 

[freyar]

Let's look back at the original text. Emphasis mine:

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.

That suggests some edits. First, we should probably allow some other spells to break the connection to the phylactery. The DC = HD is probably ok, though, since it shouldn't be too hard.

Next, we should probably have turning affect the aura the whole time turning works. And blood drain should only work on one victim at a time; maybe it should be split out after all. If we can all agree on that, I guess it's about done.

 

[Cleon]

Let's look back at the original text. Emphasis mine:

That suggests some edits. First, we should probably allow some other spells to break the connection to the phylactery. The DC = HD is probably ok, though, since it shouldn't be too hard.

Next, we should probably have turning affect the aura the whole time turning works. And blood drain should only work on one victim at a time; maybe it should be split out after all. If we can all agree on that, I guess it's about done.

I don't mind exorcism breaking the shadowtrap but I think freedom of movement shouldn't have any effect on it.

We should limit the blood drain to one victim per round.

 

[freyar]

Except exorcism isn't core. We currently have dispel evil, but maybe we should just say "or similar spells" to "break" the phylactery.

I don't know how to avoid having freedom of movement affect it, unless we call it out specifically as not working. I'm fine with leaving it ambiguous if we can't agree, though.

 

[Cleon]

Except exorcism isn't core. We currently have dispel evil, but maybe we should just say "or similar spells" to "break" the phylactery.

I don't know how to avoid having freedom of movement affect it, unless we call it out specifically as not working. I'm fine with leaving it ambiguous if we can't agree, though.

We can just add freedom to movement to the "cannot escape by" list and dispel evil to the "suppresses shadowtrap" list. Might want to add a mention of the freedom spell.

We'll also need to change the blood drain text. How about giving the ghost a blood draining touch attack and allowing it to use it as a ranged attack against anything within its shadowtrap?

Revising...

Shadowtrap Aura (Su): A ghost-stone continually projects an aura to a radius of 10-feet that captures creatures' shadows. Any creature within the area that casts a shadow must succeed on a Will save or become tethered to the ghost-stone via its shadow. The save DC is Charisma-based. A ghost-stone's shadowtrap aura does not function in areas of total darkness.

A creature trapped by the aura may not physically move outside the aura's area (or be physically moved by others), but is otherwise unhindered. The shadowtrap area is under an effect similar to dimensional anchor: a trapped creature cannot escape via plane shift, teleport, or other forms of extraplanar travel, although a creature with the shadow jump ability or other mode of shadow travel (such as the shadow walk spell) may escape the area as normal for the spell or ability. A freedom of movement spell has no effect on a shadowtrap, but creatures under a freedom spell are immune to its effects. If the ghost-stone is successfully turned or rebuked, the shadowtrap aura is disrupted for 1 round, granting trapped creatures a chance to escape the aura. A consecrate, dispel evil or similar spell cast within the shadowtrap area also temporarily disrupts the aura for 1 round per caster level.

The ghost-stone can use its blood drain special attack (see above) to make incorporeal ranged touch attacks against a opponents within its shadowtrap.
​

Then we just need a blood-drain SA. Something like:

Blood Drain (Ex): A ghost-stone has an incorporeal touch attack that does 1d3 Constitution damage. It can use this attack as a melee touch attack or a ranged touch attack, but can only make ranged blood drain attacks against creatures trapped by its shadowtrap aura (see below). Each time it drains blood, the ghost-stone gains 5 temporary hit points.

 

[freyar]

Oh, actually, the dispel evil is in the Stone Phylactery SQ as a way to break the phylactery away from the ghost and prevent rejuvenation. So no need to add it to the aura bit. Though we may want to specify that breaking the connection of ghost to stone either does or does not turn off the aura.

Also, let's not make the blood drain a ranged touch. The ghost is free to move within the aura, so it can just be a normal melee incorporeal touch.

 

[Shade]

Oh, actually, the dispel evil is in the Stone Phylactery SQ as a way to break the phylactery away from the ghost and prevent rejuvenation. So no need to add it to the aura bit. Though we may want to specify that breaking the connection of ghost to stone either does or does not turn off the aura.

Also, let's not make the blood drain a ranged touch. The ghost is free to move within the aura, so it can just be a normal melee incorporeal touch.

Agreed to all that.

 

[freyar]

Can we get a homebrews update to figure out where we are?

 

[Shade]

Updated.