The Undead

[Mesh Hong]

Evilgenius, the Necrohemoth is a winner and would make a good starting point for a level 10 or 11 encounter.

The group I DM for have only reached level 8 so far so I dont really have any experience of paragon level play, but it all looks very reasonable to me.

good stuff.

note: Spormine's campaign is only at level 2/3 at the moment so I am not sure how useful it will be to him, but anyway its useful to me

 

[Rechan]

EvilGenius, I love the 'writhing limbs', how it imposes a -2 to the attack.

Mesh Hog, you are consistently putting out awesome stuff. I am particularly fond of the radiant aberration Savior on the first page, whose name escapes me at the moment.

The bully is nice; the trip/wallup looks harsh, but it is two attacks in one (with the chance of missing). Love the intimidating stare.

 

[Rechan]

General question for Sporemine: What incentive do the PCs have to stay in the city, vs. fleeing for the less havoc-filled countryside?

Are there any intelligent undead that aren't out to just eat their faces? NPCs, even monstrous NPCs, willing to chat or negotiate would really break the pace. Maybe a vampire or lich, who doesn't see the PCs as a threat (Given their low level). They could even offer some minimual benefit (a low magical item perhaps) if the PCs are willing to do a task or two for them.

To break up the monotony of zombies looking to eat your face (or skeletons looking to claw you apart), I highly recommend the use of the Mad Wraith. Love those guys. Don't neglect Spectres and Ghosts, either!

 

[Rechan]

A monster idea I've had for a while:

An intelligent skeleton. He kills a target. Once dead, he takes the captive and climbs into their body. Their skeleton is consumed by his (basically healing him), while their flesh act as as a 'shell'. His tactic is to act like a living individual, and at 1/4 HP, he 'plays dead'. Then crawls out, finds a new body to steal, and comes after the PCs again.

The problem though is that his skeleton doesn't grow; if he gets someone too big, then the flesh is saggy and hangs off of him. If they're smaller, the skin is tightly stretched. He also carries a signature weapon; not necessarily magical, but he uses the same weapon (or same type) in every battle. This might make the PCs think the item is possessed.

This guy at least in my mind is a one-of-a-kind sort. An accident where he was exposed to a lot of necromantic power, or a necromantic artifact/magical item breaks, and shards of it get lodged in his skeleton.

 

[Mesh Hong]

Thanks Rechan, its always nice to get some feedback.

An intelligent skeleton. He kills a target. Once dead, he takes the captive and climbs into their body. Their skeleton is consumed by his (basically healing him), while their flesh act as as a 'shell'. His tactic is to act like a living individual, and at 1/4 HP, he 'plays dead'. Then crawls out, finds a new body to steal, and comes after the PCs again.

Thats a great idea for a creature, once something falls over (dead) in the middle of combat PCs rarely take any notice of it.

The only issues I can see are when teh combat is over and the PC start their usual round of looting they may take the 'signiature weapon' and they should get some sort of check to notice that something isn't as it seems with the 'corpse'.

It would have to be a perception, heal or religion roll with a hard difficulty. My concern would be that PCs being PCs they would probably spot it and the game would be up.

Maybe it could be a 'spirit' that temporarily flees to the shadowfell say for a maximum of 1 hr before it re-inhabits its bones. I think it would have to be tied to a specific skeleton so it would work as you intended, and it would give the PCs a way to defeat it once they caught on. (ie destroying the bones utterly)

 

[Mesh Hong]

Here is another random undead creature.


Restless Spirit


These unhappy dead are usually tied roughly to the area where they died. All they want is to pass on and leave the material plane, unfortunately the only way they have of expressing this is through violence and a terrible wailing cry.



Restless Spirit Level 3 Skirmisher
Medium Shadow Beast (undead) XP 150

Initiative +4 Senses Perception +2
Aura of Sorrow (fear) aura 2; Living creatures inside the aura take a -2
penalty to Will defence
HP 35; Bloodied 17
AC 17; Fortitude 15, Reflex 16, Will 15
Immune charm, disease, poison;
Resist insubstantial; Vulnerable 5 radiant
Speed 6 phasing

[FONT=D&D 4e icons]M[/FONT] Spectral Swipe (Standard; at-will) ♦ necrotic
Attack +6 vs. Reflex; 1d6+2 necrotic damage; on hit target loses 1 healing
surge

[FONT=D&D 4e icons]c[/FONT] Wail of Anguish (Standard; recharge [FONT=D&D 4e icons]56) [/FONT]♦ necrotic, fear
Close blast 3; attack +5 vs. Will; 1d10+3 necrotic damage; on hit target is
immobilised (save ends)

Phase Shift (Minor; recharge [FONT=D&D 4e icons]56) [/FONT]
Restless Spirit becomes invisible until it makes its next attack

Grateful Dead (Immediate Reaction)
Any living creature that kills a Restless Spirit whilst inside its aura gains a
+1 bonus to all attacks that lasts until the end of the encounter

Alignment Unaligned
Str 10 (+1) Dex 17 (+4) Wis 12 (+2)
Con 14 (+3) Int 14 (+3) Cha 14 (+3)

 

[evilgenius8000]

Evilgenius, the Necrohemoth is a winner and would make a good starting point for a level 10 or 11 encounter.

The group I DM for have only reached level 8 so far so I dont really have any experience of paragon level play, but it all looks very reasonable to me.

good stuff.

note: Spormine's campaign is only at level 2/3 at the moment so I am not sure how useful it will be to him, but anyway its useful to me

Ooops! I hadn't realized we were developing for a specific level range. I'll sift through my creative banks and see what I can come up with for the heroic tier... Which I probably should do, considering my current campaign is heavily disease/necromancy themed (what with the PCs going against the cults of Falazure and all).

 

[Rechan]

Thats a great idea for a creature, once something falls over (dead) in the middle of combat PCs rarely take any notice of it.

The only issues I can see are when teh combat is over and the PC start their usual round of looting they may take the 'signiature weapon' and they should get some sort of check to notice that something isn't as it seems with the 'corpse'.

Well, signature weapon could be just an exotic type of weapon. Like say, a kukri, scimitar, a certain (purely aesthetic) style of mace. And even if the PCs take the weapon, the guy might just go buy himself a new one. The point being he always uses it, whether they loot it or not.

Also, I would give the PCs perception or heal checks after the guy is bloodied. Because he's taking wounds that would have much more significant an affect on someone ("You cleave his throat, and you can see his windpipe. He doesn't seem concerned with this").

Otherwise, I would just let him make stealth checks. Or possibly bluff checks, vs insight. Given that he is dead, and so it shouldn't be too hard for someone who's undead to play dead.

 

[Sporemine]

I like the undead children, the restless spirit and the necrohemoth.

The abberant savior is called the arri-vastril

A great signature weapon would be an exicutioner's blade (high crit, brutal 2, 1d12 damage)

At the moment i'm working on an encounter called void fields. It will be completed sometime soon. I will post it if I can figure out how to. (help would be good)

There is no incentive to stay in the city (currently) and the pc's are working on fixing up and fortifying an old house they found. They are finding a stable food and water source, a place to store loot and a fallback point. It is about 10 miles from the city. They just went to de-body the river and are working on a way to plant corn and vegetables as a steble source of food. They spotted (very luckily) a herd of rothe (small cow-like creatures usually found in the underdark [sidequest here we come]) on their way up the river and are looking for a way to take them back and pen them in so that the undead don't eat them while the party is away raiding. I still use the 3.5 alignment system because it works better than the new one. My party alignments are: TN, CE, NE and CN. They are the kind of people who will burn down a building full of undead attack survivors for no better reason than to create a barricade for escape, a new base of operations, to kill somebody they don't like, to attract attention or purely because they can. The wizard has a tendancy to burn pretty much anything that moves. (The fake death skeleton will be completely destroyed and burned even after that.) The starlock will come as close as he is possible to smiting without actually being a cleric. And the fighter has, strangely not destroyed anything recently but I think the +1 sacrificial exicutioner's blade I gave to him is keeping him happy. Once they have built up their defenses they will go to the city to do some looting and to kill things. They need no plot hook, the mention of treasure will put them in the city and keep them there. The only reason they will go home is to drop off treasure and gather supplies. They currently have in their posession a +1 hide armour of impalement (cursed) and will probably either wear it or realise it's true nature and trick somebody else into wearing it.

I still need small encounters for in the city and near the house so anything is welcome.

Keep the good ideas coming.

-Sporemine

 

[Rechan]

I think some non-undead monsters could easily be utilized. I mean, how are non-undead monsters reacting to this?

A hag or devils could be using this opportunity to snare people. "I'll give you power to avoid/escape/seek vengeance on the undead. It won't cost you... much."

Demons (or other entities) might be attracted to the place, either because they're working for Orcus, or they just want to revel and enjoy the carnage.

Same thing with entities that might feed on entropy (suffering, anguish, terror, etc). They're not exactly causing any more damage, necessarily.

Scavengars (like gnolls) might be attracted to the amount of corpses (like the bodies they're fishing out of the river). They just want easy food.

Something might consider the House/farm-area its territory, and the PCs are on its hunting grounds. Or it could be a little more tyrannical; "You will give me tribute in payment for being on my land."

Cultists of Orcus might be moving into the area. I mean, this is a big event, no doubt, and they might see this as a Sign. The Ashen Covenant (eDragon) wants to overthrow the Raven Queen, and install Orcus as God of the Dead; one faction believes doing this requires converting more people to undead than those who are alive. Those fanatics might see this as the First Step.

A necromancer might be looking to ride in and steal some of the undead for an army. Or investigate some new breeds. He might even hire the PCs to take him into the city, so that he can take notes/look for prime subjects/do research on the Rift. The PCs suddenly playing Zombie Kidnapper, hunting undead, might be an interesting turn of opportunity.

More social monsters might consider this the opportunity to move into a city. Something like a Medusa might move into a fancy mansion, confident she can petrify anything problematic. She might even hire the PCs to clean the mansion out first, look for weak spots where things might get in, fortify the place properly, etc.

Is the rift to Negative Energy plane, or is it just to the Shadowfell? Because if it's the latter, than things that aren't necessarily undead could have been released. Shadar-Kai, who are used to the dead, could have come over. They could be doing various rituals around the city in order to spread the necromantic taint, or perhaps they are intentionally trying to pave the way for something Bigger and Badder coming through.