Undead Monsters

[Scot Storm]

Hello darkwalkers of the FOS,
My name is Storm and I would like to open a general discussion of the Undead. Today I wanted to talk about the drowned. A medium Undead with about 150 hps AC 19 and special abilities such as unholy toughness and great cleave. These monsters "lost their lives in the watery deep". What is cool about this particular undead is that it gives off and aura emaninating drowning. All creatures withun 30 feet of the drowned suffocate as if they were underwater.Reply if you used this undead in your campaign.

[Spiteful Crow]

I haven't used it yet, but I thought it'd be great to use in Saragoss.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Where's this from? I'm running a seagoing game with undead, this may be good to know more about.

[Malus Black]

Monster Manual III.

[Scot Storm]

Yeah Monster Manual III.

Hit Dice 20d12=20 (150)
Initiative +5
Speed 30 feet 6 squares swims 30 feet
Armor Class 19(+1 Dex, +8 natural), touch 11 flat footed 18
Base Attack /Grapple + 10/+17
Attack Slam +12 melee(1d8+12)
Full Attack 2 slams+ 12 melee(1d8+12)
Special Attack Drowning Aura
Special Qualities Darkvision 60 feet, fast healing 5, undead traits, unhloy toughness
Saves Fort +6 Ref+9Will+12
Abilities Str25, Dex 13, Con--, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 12(Charisma 12 looks like an ugly F#$%@#&.)
Skills Hide +20, Listen 14, Moves Silently +20, Spot +18, Swim +18
Feats Alertness, Cleave, Great Cleave, Improved Initative,Natural Attack
slam, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack
Enviroment Any
Organization Solitary or Pair
Challenge Rating 8
Treasure None
Alignment Chaotic Evil
So thats it Deep Shadow
It's a hunched over gray humanoid with long black hair and yellow teeth

[Scot Storm]

Hello DarkWalkers of the FOS, This Storm back with another Undead Monster. THe Bone Claw. It'a another undead taken from Monster Manual III. I really think this monster is cool because they say it could have been created from Liches or Necromancers who created them in their laboratories. THe BoneClaw has three claw like fingers and likes to "bludgeon their victum. They are highly intelligent. How have they been used in your campaign or story.

[Lord Cyclohexane]

Hmmm, it does sound interesting, if you used the rules in VRGttWD to take it <i>down</i> in power to something usable (I can't see myself ever using a 20 HD monster, personally). I think I'd also change the "Everyone in 30' drowns" to a gaze attack that causes drowning.

"Well, shure I can tell you, I were there when it happened. This young bedraggled man come walkin' down the road there, coming from the north. I were stopped 'n talkin' with Clarissa, the victim. He dragged himself up, back bent from the weight a' his soaked clothes, and asked me fer directions to the Mandra's place.

"Now Clarissa, she ain't never had nothing nice t' say t' nobody and this time weren't no different. Most of us just let 'er go, but this lad just fixed 'er in 'is gaze, these watery blue eyes like I never done seen before. She shut up for a half-second then belched forth 'a stream of water from 'er lungs that didn't never stop. I tried ma' best t' help 'er, but when 'er eyes rolled back up in 'er 'ead, I knew she were done for. By the time I looked up, lad done already up and gone.

"You wanna know the weird thing, though? I know for a fact this happened back Monday, seeing as that were when the sprouts came up. But ol' Tom, he swears he saw this same boy, ragged, bedraggled, hair black as coal and eyes blue as the sea, walking up the road when he went to market on Thursday last.

"And thinkin' about it, didn' seem strange at the time, but like I said, that boy come from up north. Weird thing, though, was it was a perfectly sunny day, so there's no sense in him being drenched, 'specially seein' as how the river's down there south a' town..."

[alhoon]

Hmmm, it does sound interesting, if you used the rules in VRGttWD to take it down in power to something usable

I agree, but I disagree with the gaze attack.

Medium Undead (Restless Dead)
Hit Dice 6d12 (39 hp)
Initiative +5
Speed 30 feet 6 squares swims 30 feet
Armor Class 19(+1 Dex, +8 natural), touch 11 flat footed 18
Base Attack /Grapple + 7/+11
Attack Slam +7 melee(1d8+6)
Full Attack 2 slams+ 7 melee(1d8+6)
Special Attack Drowning Aura, The special ability for VRGttWD that I describe below.
Special Qualities Darkvision 60 feet, fast healing 2 (when in water only), undead traits, damage reduction 5/wood
Saves Fort +2 Ref+3 Will+5
Abilities Str 18, Dex 13, Con--, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 12
Skills Hide +6(+10 underwater), Listen 6, Moves Silently +6(+10 in water), Spot +6, Swim +14
Feats: Improved Initative, Power Attack, improved grapple
Enviroment Any Aquatic
Organization Solitary or Pair
Challenge Rating 4
Treasure None
Alignment Chaotic Evil

The fast healing works only when the undead is in water (at least 1' deep).
The aura for drowning has a 30' radius and a Fortitude save (each round underwater) DC 14.
The undead has some skill affinities (to match the skills above )
Also it has the special ability from VRGttWD that when it punches someone, he/she must make a fort save (DC 14 in this case) or feel drowining (a -2 to hit rolls for some time).

Craving: To kill the breathing land dwelers. Prefers to grapple them, drag them underwater and have the aura do its work.

Weakness: It cannot willingly move more than 60' from a body of water at least 1000 sq feet in size and at least 2' in each side and 2' deep (a river would do if long and deep enough)
Weakness 2: A board that floats save lives after a ship has sunk. A wooden raft never sinks. A wooden club is more lethal against this undead. That is why it by-passes its damage reduction

Sounds better?

[Scot Storm]

The way I figure it, I would go as far as saying the gaze and the aura would suffice becacuse in one sense it would eminate an evil choking aura but the gaze brings a cool element because the individual(s) are screwed either way if they came into contact with a drowned or restless dead.
Storm

[Scot Storm]

I forgot to mention you must have to make a savings throw against what to determine if you don't die like Lord Strahds choking fog around Castle Ravenloft.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

It might actually be creepier if the aura only makes a person feel like they're drowning, incapacitating them as they gasp for breath, and probably imposing fear -- or perhaps horror, since there'd be time to think about what's happening to you and really freak out -- checks, in the process. Actually drowning someone as a special attack could be induced by gaze or touch, or the creature could simply haul the choking, helpless victims of its aura into the water with it.

[Lord Cyclohexane]

I happen to agree with that last notion. Have the aura work like a typical paralysis aura, say normal DC Will save causing paralysis for 1d4+1 rounds. Why is the person paralyzed? Because the person is so freaked out by the feeling of drowning that (s)he can't do anything but focus on trying to catch his/her breath.

I figure a drowning gaze attack, however, at much higher Will save but working mostly like a <i>finger of death</i> spell, 1/day.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

There's a lovely little spell called Drown in the BoVD. Sor/Wiz3 conjures water direct into victim's lungs. Fort save to avoid. Fort save every 2 rounds to expel the water. You can hold your breath to avoid drowning, but while you do, you can't cast or talk and take a -2 penalty on most things. If you fail to hold your breath, you start to drown (As per DMG).

IMC, one of my PC's found a nice little trick to get out of it, though. He had a polymorph self spell already active. As soon as he started to drown he said, "OK, I turn into a fish."

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Ouch, the mucked-up physiology of that spell description just gave me a headache. If the water's already in your lungs, holding your breath won't do a thing except keep it there.

Sorry, sometimes the biology professor in me rebels against stupid misconceptions about how the body works....

[Nathan of the FoS]

There's a lovely little spell called Drown in the BoVD. Sor/Wiz3 conjures water direct into victim's lungs.

Shouldn't it be called "Pneumonia", then?