Phaedrus said:
If a person rises as a mindless undead, is his soul trapped, or does it go on to its eternal reward? Is there an official stance on this? How do you define it in your game?
I ask b/c if the soul is trapped then destroying undead becomes more urgent--I must destroy this zombie so the soul can travel on. If not, eh, no big deal. If yes, Necromancy becomes truly evil, instead of just distasteful.
I assume that in the case of intelligent undead the soul is definitely trapped. If so, what tremendous power wights & wraiths (et al.) have--they kill you then trap your soul as you rise to serve them.
Your thoughts?
Well, for a cleric or any other holy person, Id say that they'd think it was trapped, which by would make it more important to them. And depending on the game, wizards might think the same thing. Either way, where ever the soul is going, its not getting there untill the undead is laid to rest.
Wizards might have a more scientific view, and say that when its dead its dead, and reanimating it only turns the matter back on, not the power by which it was started with.
For the other side, it might be that No, the undead has no soul, its just that whoever has activated it, has turned on its mind enough so that it can be used. This would make it a reason for the church, who would see this as evil and a mortal sin and other such horriors. The wizards might still dislike it becasue, I mean, its undead...and prob a realm of magic that is looked down upon.
Or, it might be that only smart undead, those who are aware of themselves, might be the only ones who still have a soul, and some how it got trapped.
I would say, that all of the above may move into the game, so that life after death is kept as a mystery