Topic: Created undead and regeneration

[Jengada]

I've rarely used undead, but am about to dump them on my PCs in quantity. Reading the Create Undead spells, it says the duration is Permanent and that they can be "Dispelled, Repelled, or just smashed into little pieces."
I don't have it handy right now, but if I recall, in Creatures and Treasures, undead that go below 0 HP drop, but they will regenerate with time and later be able to fight again. Is there some exception that says cleric-created undead are truly dead at 0 HP, or will they, too, regenerate slowly?
I've got a necromancer in the woods who animates animal corpses, and I'm wondering if, over time, they'd just be building up and building up, regenerating after they get knocked to 0.

[Ginger McMurray]

That's right. Burning them stops the regeneration process. Also holy or slaying weapons. Other methods are at the discretion of the GM so you're free to toss something in if you're concerned about it getting out of hand, though burning should do the trick.

[Jengada]

That's right. Burning them stops the regeneration process. Also holy or slaying weapons. Other methods are at the discretion of the GM so you're free to toss something in if you're concerned about it getting out of hand, though burning should do the trick.

I'm still deciding whether this is a bug, or a feature, in this particular scenario. There's some advantage to a bunch of uncontrolled undead rabbits and voles running around, but it also means this necromancer could have scads (=10**6) of undead critters accumulated over the years, overpopulating the area. Plus, if I want consistency, what I do here will affect things in other areas and times in my world.

[Ginger McMurray]

I don't think it's either. If there's a massive up swell in undead you'll see lots of powerful people getting concerned. Astrologers and Seers will be looking for the source. Big dudes with swords and staves will come looking to shut it down.

[Jengada]

I don't think it's either. If there's a massive up swell in undead you'll see lots of powerful people getting concerned. Astrologers and Seers will be looking for the source. Big dudes with swords and staves will come looking to shut it down.

The setting for this necro is very remote and desolate so it's entirely plausible she and her zombies haven't been discovered yet. The PCs would be the first BDWSS (dudes including the party's 2 female tanks) to come across things. The PCs will have to decide how far to go after the necro, given they're on a major (time-sensitive) quest to begin with.
The necro is a shaman who began trying to give life, after years of wondering why it was so easy to take life, and why she could heal but not create life. It's her slippery slope to where she's discovered she can make life-ish things. Her clan drove her out, and she's holed up in her domain and no one has gone there for a few decades.

I'll have a few random shamblers for the PCs, but the necro would probably have taken to limiting the undead running around in her own turf, to keep uncontrolled undead from attacking her all the time.

[Ginger McMurray]

That sounds like a sweet plot hook for them to circle around to later. Maybe they could alert the authorities?

[Jengada]

That sounds like a sweet plot hook for them to circle around to later. Maybe they could alert the authorities?

Possibly, they have good connections with the nearest churches. Most likely, they'll take out the necro now. But if they don't, maybe their interaction convinces the necro to be more aggressive, and they leave a bigger mess than they found. That would be very much in their wheel-house.

[Peter R]

I had the same situation but I placed it on an island to the point where there was nothing living left. This was of course by design.

[Soulcleave]

I have a similar character in one of the small towns of the area.  She sees herself as defending the town by finding predatory monsters and summoning undead to defeat them/drive them off.
  She also has a thing for the paladin in town who has set up shop and has just learned there are occasional undead he needs to Eradicate.
  He is actively looking for the source of the undead.