D&D 5E The somewhat lost thrill about undead

[Lanefan]

Others have pointed out the potency of energy drain in making early-edition undead absolutely terrifying. I'm not saying D&D should go back to that, but I do like the idea that undead have attacks that rock players back on their heels.

PCs are used to being able to trust that their hit points buffer them from serious harm, and if something bypasses hit points, at least you get a save, and in the worst case a few nights' rest and a little cleric love will put you right. Powerful undead should have abilities that screw you over but good, and your hit points don't protect you, and you don't get a saving throw, and the effect sticks for a good long time--say till the next time you level up.

And remember, in 1e the various undead can wreck you in more ways than just by draining levels. Going just from memory:
- ghouls paralyze you (save applies)
- ghasts paralyze you (save applies) and weaken you via their stench (save applies I think)
- shadows hit your strength score for a while (one of the very few RAW 1e creatures that do ability damage)
- mummies rot your limbs away (save applies I think)
- ghosts age you, by a whole bunch
- ghosts also have some sort of magic-jar ability that I've never quite figured out
- coffer corpses (or something similar) can teleport you all to hell and gone, hopelessly splitting the party up in mid-dungeon
- revenants have some nasty ability, as I recall, but I don't remember what it is
- some intelligent undead (vampires, liches, etc.) can also be levelled, and hammer you with class abilities above and beyond what their normal "race" gives them.

Lan-"and there's probably more I've forgtten"-efan

 

[Aenghus]

Sure, but sometimes those adults still want to be thrilled... otherwise why would they also enjoy scary movies and rollercoaster rides?

Some people like scary movies, rollercoasters etc, others hate them and avoid them, most are in the middle. I'm in the latter group and can definitively say I don't high intensity thrills.

Scenarios with undead often use lots of undead and familiarity breeds contempt. If undead are scarily dangerous and the DM uses them, either they kill all the PCs or the surviving PCs find ways to survive against them.

All I can say is know your players and their limits - you can test their limits, but going too far is likely to be counterproductive.

 

[Rhenny]

Great thread. I love the ideas people are sharing.

To me, the longer term loss of max hp is very frightening.

In addition, as others have noted, the fearlessness and persistence of undead make them frightening especially if they appear in greater numbers. Also, if the players experience a truly gruesome scene - a comrade or loyal npc getting dragged away and feasted upon (like the example of game play in 1e book where a ghoul drags the PC into a small tunnel) that will spook them enough.

In one of my games a few months ago the party's gnome spoke with a rat and convinced it to scout ahead it didn't return. Later when wights and wraiths attacked the group, the rat returned as a rat wight. That was a funny yet poignant reminder that undead have unholy power that produces worse than death results. In this case, the quick transformation had more impact than if the victim rose as undead the next day.

 

[Dausuul]

Here's a thought: Introduce a new condition called "energy drained." Any time you are reduced to zero hit points by an undead's attack, spell, or other ability, you must make a Charisma save at DC 12 plus the undead's Charisma modifier. If you fail, you become energy drained. Energy drain can be removed by greater restoration; otherwise, it's permanent.

Energy drained characters have their maximum hit points reduced by 2 per level (this can never reduce your maximum hit points to less than your level). They have darkvision and are immune to disease. If slain, they rise the next midnight as undead of the type that energy drained them.

Energy drained characters are halfway between life and undeath, and may at the DM's discretion perceive things that normal characters cannot sense. When exposed to direct sunlight or when on holy ground, they feel a sense of oppressive heat. Unintelligent undead typically ignore energy drained characters unless commanded otherwise.

 

[Wangalade]

as mentioned previously, really emphasize their special abilities. each undead has its own. we used to play with zombies that were filled with maggots and if the zombie touched you, then the maggots would infect you and you would become a zombie. so we were always running from zombies, looking for barricades to hide behind or something that was highly flammable to burn them. the zombies were fairly easy to destroy, we were just afraid of melee combat with them and ranged didn't work too well because they are immune to piercing damage.

another thing that doesn't get used very often is the idea that undead don't just rise from the grave on their own. encountering low level undead like skeletons or zombies lets the pcs know that there was some necromancer or vampire or lich which summoned these undead. just knowing that there is a superpowerful undead out there, but only encountering low level undead can be very scary because you don't know when the vampire or lich will show up. high level undead should always be scary.