Café de Nuit

As stated in VRA in the Danse Macabre entry, Ancient Dead are based on positive energy. Does that mean that they are turned by evil clerics and rebuked by good ones? Are they healed by cure _____ wounds spells?

The ancient dead are effectively deathless (as described in Eberron and the Book of Exalted Deeds).

Thanks for the quick reply John, that answers my question completely.

For your info, in the otherwise uninteresting Slayers Guide to the Undead, Gygax correct this historical mistake and said the mummies energy is from the negative plane, as it is for all other undead.

Joël

Were I rewriting the Ravenloft core books now, ancient dead and mummies would both exist -- the former being deathless and the latter undead.

The twist on deathless in Ravenloft is that, in other words, the souls of the deathless are free to move on to their deserved afterlives (presumably in the Upper Planes), returning to their bodies only when needed. In Ravenloft, their souls have nowhere to go, so they merely "slumber" in oblivion.

The ancient dead of Ravenloft aren't inherently evil (unlike the undead) -- they just come by it naturally via their unnatural connection to a mortal existance and the denial of the promised afterlife.

I like that very much. Would it be all right for someone here (maybe me, but more probably someone else) to use that idea for a netbook article? Perhaps the twins will find that they have to actually amend Van Richten's notes (which might surprise them, as I get the feeling hero worship might tend to color their perceptions when it comes to Uncle Dolph's scholarship!).

ETA: Man, that sounds presumptious as hell. I think I was thinking that if you no longer feel inclined to write RPG material, be it for a netbook or professional publication, it'd be a shame to let that good idea lie fallow...

Brandi wrote:I like that very much. Would it be all right for someone here (maybe me, but more probably someone else) to use that idea for a netbook article? Perhaps the twins will find that they have to actually amend Van Richten's notes (which might surprise them, as I get the feeling hero worship might tend to color their perceptions when it comes to Uncle Dolph's scholarship!).

ETA: Man, that sounds presumptious as hell. I think I was thinking that if you no longer feel inclined to write RPG material, be it for a netbook or professional publication, it'd be a shame to let that good idea lie fallow...

But not altogether false. I don't like the twins very much. They've always struck me as rather naive... and stuck on Uncle Dolph, like you say.

I mean, you HAVE to knwo the guy made some mistakes!!!

Ancient being Deathless instead of undead? I use the rules of Ravenloft monsters (especially ancients and ghosts) in other worlds without borders and trapping. So that wouldn't work for me. . . I'll see what I can do about the deathless ancients. Perhaps I'll change the restless nature, perhaps I'll make ancients negative energy undead despite what VR said.

Having read Eberron, I personally love the idea of the Ancient Dead being deathless. Think about it: something from beyond the grave that derives its somewhat-life-force from the planar realm of positive energy, the nemesis of all undead.

Just proves that even the rules of Ravenloft can change, albeit in very, very subtle ways.

Dion of the Fraternity wrote:Having read Eberron, I personally love the idea of the Ancient Dead being deathless. Think about it: something from beyond the grave that derives its somewhat-life-force from the planar realm of positive energy, the nemesis of all undead.

Just proves that even the rules of Ravenloft can change, albeit in very, very subtle ways.

I just think that it has the potential for a nice surpruise for the PCs, even if it does maybe seem like a stretch...

And the idea of being deathless... like you have never died, but yet are not alive, as opposed to Undead which generally involve death and then "rebirth"... in a way. (though I haven't read the Eberron Setting...)

Boccaccio Barbarossa wrote: (though I haven't read the Eberron Setting...)

Deathless are also in the Book of Exalted Deeds.

A good cleric that made his check can command a deathless?

Kinda remind me of the Unsent from Final Fantasy X. Basicly they are people who refused to go to the other side when they died and now live in the shell of thier former body. The body does not rot or decay but any wounds inflicted on it must be stiched close as they can no longer heal any damage.

alhoon wrote:

Boccaccio Barbarossa wrote: (though I haven't read the Eberron Setting...)

Deathless are also in the Book of Exalted Deeds.

Cool. That I DO have occasionall access to...

Thanks.