Hot answers tagged undead
38
Yes, this spell will control a lich.
Control Undead states:
This spell enables you to control undead creatures for a short period of time. You command them by voice and they understand you, no matter what language you speak. Even if vocal communication is impossible, the controlled undead do not attack you. At the end of the spell, the subjects revert ...
23
tl;dr
The weakness that prevents vampires crossing running water is derived from Bram Stoker's Dracula, but found only in D&D 3.0 and 3.5.
Advice from AD&D suggests that vampires should charm people and use them to circumvent weaknesses.
What is the history of the D&D Vampire's "running water" weakness?
The D&D vampire seems to be ...
18
You are the GM. There are some important rules to go by before you consider the rules of the game.
Will the players enjoy facing against the villain?
Will you enjoy playing this villain?
If the answer to both the above is yes, you can go ahead with this. The only problem is if adding all the stuff on will make the NPC more powerful than you expected. ...
18
There's no fictional reason why the blinding effect wouldn't be effective on zombies and skeletons: they have to visually sense you somehow, and there's nothing in their descriptions that indicates that they have the power to see through barriers and obscuring effects.
Rule-wise, glitterdust doesn't make any special exceptions for undead of any kind, and ...
17
This answer depends a lot upon the method you use to animate him. Your options are basically these:
animate dead – Core and lowest-level, but applies the very-weak Skeleton or Zombie templates.
Ritual of Crucimigration – From Libris Mortis, this applies the quite good Necropolitan template. On the other hand, it’s a voluntary ritual that ...
14
Undead can benefit from magic items like any other creature.
The only exceptions would be items that have conditions they don't meet or do things that don't apply..like CON bonuses. They could technically wear items boost their immunities but it would be a waste in most circumstances (poison/disease/etc).
Turn/Rebuke resistance would obviously be a ...
13
"Doctor, it hurts when I do that."
"Well then, don't do that."
It sounds like whatever's going on goes way beyond normal resurrection rules (RAW you can't rez aa vampire, they're already dead). Consider not killing them! If you get them to retreat to their coffins, seal them in and put them into an infinite prison of your choice (You know, like you see in ...
13
This seems to be a case of the creature description being based on a development version of a spell that was changed before publication, but the bloody skeleton's ability wasn't updated to match. Or the design notes for the bloody skeleton read something like "or 0 hp on blessed ground" and the developer that actually wrote the text didn't do due diligence ...
12
I'm sure I'll be corrected if someone can find an official source, but I don't think this is defined anywhere rules-wise. My initial reaction is that there'd be memories, but they are probably incomplete. As a DM, I'd probably look for what'd make the best story based on what happened and what I'm working on for my PC storyline. If I had to punt on a ...
12
The HD for the created skeleton or zombies is based off the creature's original HD. When the template is applied to a creature, you use the creature's HD (minus any class levels) and raise them to d12s. From the SRD entry for Skeleton:
Drop any Hit Dice gained from class levels (to a minimum of 1) and
raise remaining Hit Dice to d12s.
So, for ...
11
(Overhauled for initial misread, my apologies!)
Create undead does not specifically state that the soul/undead/etc is of the original creature; it just states that a dead body is required.
This leaves it a little open to interpretation as to where that hapless soul is going to come from to fill that corpse that's being filled.
However, more powerful ...
11
Just use flesh to stone and then rock into mud, scoop them into a pot and plant a tree in them.
Doing it that way stops resurrection because
The subject, along with all its carried gear, turns into a mindless, inert statue. The creature is not dead, but it does not seem to be alive either when viewed with spells such as deathwatch.
They could be be ...
10
No, potions of healing don't hurt undead (unless you hit them really really hard with the vial).
Monsters and NPC usually have 1 healing surge per tier, and potions are one of the few ways they are able to tap on them. Some humanoid monsters from early monster manuals have the Second Wind power explicitly listed in their stat block (most template-created ...
9
I don't think the evil nature of the spell is too much of a problem. It should add conflict to the party for sure - the Paladin should oppose evil acts. Habitual, unrepentant use of evil necromancy may eventually drive a wedge between the characters and split the party.
More immediately, the paladin may feel obligated to seek legal recourse on behalf of ...
9
As a fallback against them coming back once they're dead you can always try a wish spell to stop them coming back once you've killed them.
However, if it is True Resurrection that is bringing them back, there is a gotcha;
Even true resurrection can’t restore to life a creature who has died of old age.
Now given that these are Drow anyway this is a bit of ...
9
I have never seen anything official, but if I were a DM in that situation I would say it would depend on the type of undead. Something like a vampire or other form of sentient undead would probably retain full memories. If they spent time as something that was non-sentient or barely-sentient like a skeleton then I would say they would probably have only ...
9
First off, dandwiki has a bad reputation. I'm not sure who this is with, but I'd personally suggest using d20srd instead.
Here's their excerpt on Incorporeal Creatures (as a subtype):
Incorporeal Subtype
An incorporeal creature has no physical body. It can be harmed only by
other incorporeal creatures, magic weapons or creatures that strike as
...
8
I believe it depends entirely on the type of undead and how they were created. Liches very explicitly keep the same soul they started with. Vampires and mummy lords seem to as well. I have always viewed lesser undead, even those with some intelligence, as having no soul at all.
As Rob mentions create undead is mildly ambiguious, but my interpretation is ...
8
If it doesn't specify a damage type and doesn't specify that it's [Mind-Affecting] then it's just normal damage. It'd work against undead, and it'd even work against doors and walls or whatever if you really wanted.
In this case, you're probably psychically altering the density of your weapon at the right moment to add more damage on impact, or using ...
8
If you're playing 1e, then this is completely up to the DM to announce whether the Paladin's God would judge the Paladin for permissiveness or tolerance. Like others here, I would definitely think alot of this has to do with the God of the Paladin. More importantly, and bluntly, it would depend on the player playing the paladin. If that player insists it ...
8
Mechanically, becoming undead in that manner is just the addition of a template. There's nothing about losing or gaining a template that alters your class levels, so if there is no specific rule otherwise, being brought back alive will preserve them. In essence, you were the same person while undead, just, err, "modified".
If the undead creature was not ...
7
Yes, the seventh level spell Control Undead can control a lich, as long as it fails its SR and will save. This is like how say any living guy can be controlled by the fifth level spell Dominate Person.
If you mean an evil cleric channeling and using Command Undead, the answer is yes there too, but you have to have more cleric levels than the lich's HD ...
7
Put a stake in its heart and shove it into your bag of holding or other portable storage device. Since it is dead it can't do anything itself to resurrect. Since there is a stake in its heart, it shouldn't be able to return to life, since it would just die again from the stake. Since you are taking the staked vampire with you, nobody else should be able to ...
6
I’m about 80% sure the rules never actually clarify this point. I suggest that such characters should come back as normal for a character who had died when the undead creature they were was destroyed. This is mostly because losing a ton of levels effectively takes a character out of a game, and is therefore bad for metagame reasons.
5
He would be moved away.
But only if his Wizard fellow considers him an enemy... (see the Target entry for the Spirit RendDDI power).
The RevenantDDI is, in fact, considered an undead creature because of its Undead trait:
Undead: You are considered an undead creature for the purpose of effects that relate to the undead keyword. You are also considered a ...
5
The other problem with any resurrection spell - 'convince them it's their allies' may not work, as many vampires, especially a vampire cleric, may very well be perfectly fine with their current state of being - in other words, they may not want to be alive, regardless of who's doing the returning to life. They may wish to remain undead.
That said, the tips ...
4
Starting with the poll at the bottom of Turning and Churning, it appears that Turn Undead was essentially the same through D&D, AD&D, and 2nd Edition D&D, with changes for 3rd and fourth edition.
Looking then at the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons® Player's Handbook Turning Undead Section we see the baseline rules for that edition.
If the ...
4
You might talk to your GM and party about this. If you keep getting attacked by an endless stream of vampires, maybe there's something story-related that you have to do in order to stop the vampires from coming back. Maybe you have to make a deal with the death god, or possibly another god that can stop the vampires from coming back. Maybe you have ...
4
I think that your question is not really if an intelligent undead has a soul but if he/she retains his/her memories.
Skeletons and zombies are just mindless, animated bodies, but intelligent undeads do retain their memories: there are plenty of examples of vampires and liches continuing their lives in their castles without people (almost) noticing the ...
4
The CR 12 example Lich has a Will Save of +11. DC Target for the spell will be 10 + Spell Level (7) + ability mod (say 4) so 21ish. So yes a party of 13th level or better has a 50/50 chance of using Control Undead on an equal or lower encounter.
Shame it will not happen. The party meeting a CR 12 Lich would probably be 7 level or so and stand no chance of ...
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