tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652670152568310161.post6842406772834255286..comments2023-04-28T07:41:43.778-06:00Comments on Musings on DragonQuest: Undead in DragonQuestPhergushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06029828649840210384noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652670152568310161.post-87969312666002045512017-07-14T11:11:39.352-06:002017-07-14T11:11:39.352-06:00Animation of the Dead is a terrible spell for all ...Animation of the Dead is a terrible spell for all the reasons you listed.<br /><br />Concentration spells in general are poorly defined in DQ.<br /><br />I don't think that there is much risk of Adepts getting undead armies with the spells as written. The most they can have is 23. While that would certainly be a nuisance to an experienced party it wouldn't be much of an actual threat.<br /><br />I'll try and set aside some time to go over the priest skill.Phergushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06029828649840210384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652670152568310161.post-59789475271086510742017-07-14T10:54:13.991-06:002017-07-14T10:54:13.991-06:00Well once an Adept knows a spell they can go up in...Well once an Adept knows a spell they can go up in it without outside help. It's that initial spell acquisition that I wonder about. You can say that the Powers of Darkness grant them those spells as part of the whole transformation into their undead state but that kind of ties the Celestial Magics college to the Powers of Darkness. That I'm not so sure about.Phergushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06029828649840210384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652670152568310161.post-29179200234798362002017-07-14T10:08:55.212-06:002017-07-14T10:08:55.212-06:00Phil,
I dislike the Animation of the Dead Ritual t...Phil,<br />I dislike the Animation of the Dead Ritual the way it is written. It is in need of revision to make it a more practical spell.<br /><br />I think a more effective means of preventing an Adept from having a skeleton/zombie army is to also cap the number of undead that are under the adept's control to their WP score in addition to 1 skeleton or zombie per rank.<br /><br /><br />Additionally what does it mean by maintaining concentration for up to a week? Does that mean not sleeping for a week? If so good luck with that, most Adept's do not possess the high WP, FT, and EN to stay up that long. It also means IMO of reading the rule that you can't perform the ritual to reset the clock on the same skeletons/zombies already in your control as I don't see how one can maintain concentration while attempting to perform a new ritual.<br /><br />Of course, the priest skill I've been adapting has another means for making and binding lesser undead. Could use your thoughts over in the GM's group if you have the time.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13376126237743428044noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652670152568310161.post-20367665203896885042017-07-14T09:36:23.283-06:002017-07-14T09:36:23.283-06:00One of your questions you posed was how do greater...One of your questions you posed was how do greater undead become Adepts. Not sure how much I like this thought myself but perhaps greater undead gain ranks in their magic skills as they exist through full lunar cycles i.e. as they age.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13376126237743428044noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652670152568310161.post-32788464117175042362017-07-14T09:35:27.798-06:002017-07-14T09:35:27.798-06:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13376126237743428044noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652670152568310161.post-30652607600352383292017-07-14T07:35:34.031-06:002017-07-14T07:35:34.031-06:00Same as you are doing it, I handle the drain and w...Same as you are doing it, I handle the drain and weapon damage separately as well. Though it can actually make the attacks more deadly in that the weapon damage might knock them out of FT and then the subsequent drain could kill them if they had already taken EN damage. A combined damage total would have only removed the FT. Never done it that way but I can't say that I would consider it wrong.<br /><br />re: parry-riposte - I generally let PCs learn the hard way the first time. :)<br />Phergushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06029828649840210384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652670152568310161.post-53570029597544158402017-07-14T07:24:48.587-06:002017-07-14T07:24:48.587-06:00Ah. There it is. That's curious but not atyp...Ah. There it is. That's curious but not atypical for the published DQ adventures. Most were written by people that didn't know the rules. I'd say that setting them at R3 or less makes no sense at all. I don't know if this was the thinking behind the R8/R10 requirements but if their spell power also waxes/wanes then having their median spell rank be an 8 or 10 would allow for the spell rank to do the same. Maybe. Phergushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06029828649840210384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652670152568310161.post-66672460258540981942017-07-13T10:46:41.250-06:002017-07-13T10:46:41.250-06:00Thanks now I get to re-correct my adventure writeu...Thanks now I get to re-correct my adventure writeup. But thanks for pointing this out. It makes my undead touch attack bonus thought moot. <br /><br />I was able to get a little gaming in with my nephew and neice a couple of weeks ago and my nephews character got wacked hard with a wight with a broadsword. For awhile, I thought things might be headed for some loss in PCs but they recovered.<br /><br />How do you adjudicate damage and stun effects when greater undead use a weapon. IMO, the attacks should be handled separately to determine stun effects to properly account for armor PF and the fact that the touch damage is unaffected by armor.<br /><br />Since undead touch attacks may not have a very impressive strike chance one other consideration is the parry-riposte rule. Obviously, it would not be prudent to attempt to parry-riposte an attack from a wraith or spectre. In fact they cannot succeed in doing do, I do think the PCs should be allowed to attempt it with no warning). It may be judicious though to parry-riposte a poor attack attempt from a swordwraith or juju zombie.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13376126237743428044noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652670152568310161.post-37019438469108499892017-07-13T08:07:33.811-06:002017-07-13T08:07:33.811-06:00Phil, yes it is buried. The Wulgreth's Tomb E...Phil, yes it is buried. The Wulgreth's Tomb Encounter Table on page 28 has a note in it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13376126237743428044noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652670152568310161.post-967996264606500932017-07-12T15:18:29.759-06:002017-07-12T15:18:29.759-06:00Well in Section 65 under the Weapons description s...Well in Section 65 under the Weapons description says, "Monsters always add their Manual Dexterity to their Base<br />Chance with any natural weapon whether Ranked or not" and I think the case can be made that undead are monsters...<br /><br />I always give them the MD bonus. As you say, it's not like the defender can deflect their attack. Indeed a defender that does try to parry is looking at taking another D10+2 from Wights. Same for using a shield. If the undead misses by <= the shield defense then they touched the shield and, again, the defender takes the drain attack. You can't keep them from closing with you into Close combat as that requires the use of a Ranked weapon which once again has no effect on them but does hurt you if you actually touch them with it. Want a TPK? Send a Wraith or Spectre against a party that doesn't have 2 or 3 offensive Adepts.Phergushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06029828649840210384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652670152568310161.post-27755162633850658102017-07-12T15:01:18.538-06:002017-07-12T15:01:18.538-06:00I can't find that reference. The Ruined Tower...I can't find that reference. The Ruined Tower encounter has a wight which has R10 in all spells plus her 2 night-gaunt children which most likely have none.Phergushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06029828649840210384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652670152568310161.post-44616784196679581152017-07-12T14:41:25.925-06:002017-07-12T14:41:25.925-06:00Very relevant topic for me while working on an adv...Very relevant topic for me while working on an adventure with alot of undead. Coincidentally, I corrected a bunch of undead NPC writeups today on their touch attacks today as I had denoted their attacks to be unranked and was improperly adding in MD to their SCs.<br /><br />Having rank in unarmed combat would entitle undead to add in their MD to the SC per rule 17.1. Should a small modifier of +10% be added for touch attacks? A defender can't deflect a touch attack from undead with their weapons as they can with other unarmed attacks from living creatures. Thoughts?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13376126237743428044noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652670152568310161.post-15008932799403180502017-07-12T14:09:12.345-06:002017-07-12T14:09:12.345-06:00Hi Phil. There is at least one tidbit on greater ...Hi Phil. There is at least one tidbit on greater undead and their magic ability that I recall from The Enchanted Wood. There is a random encounter table that denotes the greater undead will be no more than rank 3 adepts.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13376126237743428044noreply@blogger.com