Topic: Have you used undead in your campaign?

[Druss_the_Legend]

zombies and vampires are two monsters I will be using more and more in my campaign due to the fact an evil necromancer type is the main protagonist - PCs have come up against zombies but not vampires yet.

Do you stick to the monster stats in the rulebooks or do you modify them for your game?
undead can be very nasty and potentially drain experience levels right?

party are all level 6. wondering what power level to throw at them and whether i need to modify then undead so they dont get totally destroyed - esp vs vampires
thoughts?

[intothatdarkness]

I've used undead, but I also changed the concept of some of the undead based on my setting. Ghosts, for example, often didn't realize they were dead, so they were reasonably harmless unless the party messed up and let them know they WERE dead. Then they'd attack all-out. My most common undead were skeletons and Chaos Warriors (not exactly undead, but close enough). I also had wights show up a fair amount depending on where the PCs happened to be (ruins from the setting's previous civilization tended to have clusters of them).

In terms of power level, I started low and worked up to find the proper balance. In RM it's always easy to ramp up the threat, but it can be hard to bring it back down after you accidentally wiped out half the party. Since my undead also tend to come from specific locations, the more powerful or higher-level ones were usually closer to the source of power and pushed the weaker ones out.

I never used vampires, so I don't have much experience with balancing them. I also divided undead between created undead (those done by necromancers and evil clerics) and natural undead (most ghosts and other undead resulting from traumatic events or other things).

[Spectre771]

I use lots and lots of undead.  The way I explain it to the players "undead are like New York subway rats.  They are everywhere, you will probably run into them, but it's easy enough to avoid them, but every once in a while, you come across a big one with something to prove."

As for stats, I use the stats as written only as a guideline.  The book will usually give you 3 sets for like levels 1, 5, 10 ,or in Elemental Companion - young, mature, old.  I extrapolate the stats if the party level falls in between written stats.  I like the baddies to be challenging to very-challenging, but I want the parties to survive.  Of course a crit or a fumble can derail those plans.

I've always regarded the stats in the book merely as guidelines or suggestions.

[jdale]

I don't have any true undead, doesn't fit the setting. I use terms like ghouls and wraiths for terrible scary creatures that people tell stories about, and they are scary (especially wraiths), but they are living creatures. Wraiths have Camouflage (in the sense of the spell, +200 stalking when stationary and +50 moving) which gives them an almost-true reputation for invisibility, use magic, and eat raw human flesh. But if they kill you, you're just dead.

The GM of the game I play told us there were no undead. They only existed in legends. Obviously this was only true until suddenly it wasn't, and we were running away.

[Cory Magel]

I've been playing with the idea of separating 'Undead' from 'Unlife'.

Undead are not inherently evil and are your pretty run of the mill ghosts, spirits stuck somehow, maybe good spell casters that have extended their existence in a Lich or something.  Unlife are actively trying to destroy the living world and inherently 'evil'.  I'd treat them a bit like an element (Fire, water, earth, wind).  'Created' undead is kinda would depend on who created it, how, and why.  If you had a friendly Lich creating skeletons, they'd be undead constructs.  If you had a powerful entity of unlife creating them, they'd emanate that (fear, dread, foreboding, whatever) and be more dangerous.  This all would have some impact on certain spells, holy items/weapons, etc.

[Ruffie]

I have used undead and am using undead as part of our current campaign. The undead I use are sometimes out of practical use. A ship adrift at sea for hundreds of years would have undead roaming it. Next to that there are two major evil factions in our world. The order of Gix is one which is trying to ressurect their dead God and are experimenting a lot with undead and creating undead. At lower levels this started with raising zombies but as they are becoming more powerful and adept at creating them they are creating more powerful ones. I really like the bloodbeasts which worsen wounds and can drain a party quickly f their health.

In stats I usually use the ones from creatures and monsters. If the level of the undead is far beyond my group I'll lower the number in the encounter.

[intothatdarkness]

I've been playing with the idea of separating 'Undead' from 'Unlife'.

Undead are not inherently evil and are your pretty run of the mill ghosts, spirits stuck somehow, maybe good spell casters that have extended their existence in a Lich or something.  Unlife are actively trying to destroy the living world and inherently 'evil'.  I'd treat them a bit like an element (Fire, water, earth, wind).  'Created' undead is kinda would depend on who created it, how, and why.  If you had a friendly Lich creating skeletons, they'd be undead constructs.  If you had a powerful entity of unlife creating them, they'd emanate that (fear, dread, foreboding, whatever) and be more dangerous.  This all would have some impact on certain spells, holy items/weapons, etc.

This is similar to my concept of natural versus created undead. The ghosts above are natural undead in my game...they were created by a particular situation and can provide information like you suggest if the party approaches them correctly. Some skeletons and lesser undead are similar. Liches in my world tend to originate with spell casters who've made a pact with the dark power in my setting, so they are almost inherently evil (Tainted) and act accordingly. Any skeletons they create are considered created undead and behave as commanded.

[EltonJ]

I might be using Undead.  In my proposed RMSS/FRP campaign, which is set in Eberron by the way, there are powerful forms of zombies and skeletons created by the necromancers of Karrnath.  Then there is a death knight in Karrnath, based off of Lord Soth from Dragonlance, but loyal to his king.

The king of Karrnath, King Kaius III, is a vampire.  Although I'm still debating on where to set my Eberron campaign.

[pastaav]

I have used a fair deal of undead in my games over the years. Remember that just because an entity has a certain power does not mean it must use it against the players all the time. Undead beings that are not random encounters will have plans about things to do and taking out the players just because it is able does not need to be part of those plans.