From: timkin@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Tim Wilkin)
Subject: Re: Ideas - AD&D (I presume)
Organization: Monash University General Access Unix
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL7]
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 03:29:00 GMT

Ashraf Ghebranious (axg708@cscgpo.anu.edu.au) wrote:
: In article <1992Nov16.034239.18278@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au> timkin@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au (Tim Wilkin) writes:
: 
: >
: Come on Tim. What is it you are trying to say?

Well, actually I wrote a rather lenghty reply to your article on
AD&D ideas however, being the zombie I am (asleep at the keyboard) I
forgot to save before I posted and thus, you see before you the results
of my brain-dead stupor!!!

Read on for some of my ideas!

1) UNDEAD:

Undead seem to be a point of contention in every group I've played with,
and there have been a few!  As a DM though, this is my standpoint!

The ability to raise undead comes from one of three avenues.
a: An inate ability of certain undead lords
b: A spell of the Necromancy school of the arts
c: A God bestowed spell

Lets consider each in turn.

a: Certain Undead, like vampires, Lich etc can raise undead without much
   without much effort since they have an inate ability to do so.

b: Mages simple manipulate the substance of the universe to imitate the
   aforementioned ability.

c: Clerics are imbued with the spell _raise dead_ by their god, yet this
   is simply the God's power transferred into the mind of the cleric...and
   the God itself would therefore have an inate ability to mould the
   substance of the universe to do its bidding.

Therefore, we could imply that the raising of undead is much the same
for each of the cases although the method may vary!

On the idea of the Undead themselves I believe in the idea of
'recalling' the bodies original soul and binding it to the dead flesh.
This flesh is animated by 'magical' means (I don't necessarily mean by
spell) so that it can imitate the original being. Thus, the Undead
creature has limited functional ability.

Of course this might explain skeletons/zombies/mummies although
spectres/wraiths/banshees and other spirits are slightly different.

I consider them to be spirits bound to a specific location within the
Prime Material Plane and thus are useful in Castles, Dungeons, old
houses etc. This helps the party if they need to get away and not have a
horde of Undead spirits chasing them for eternity.

I consider the binding accomplished by power from the Negative Mat.
Plane and thus can explain the superhuman strenght of the 'flesh' type
Undead and also the energy/life drain of the 'spirit' type.

This leads to two ways of getting rid of undead. Remove curse and dispel
magic

In my opinion a remove curse spell is most effective in freing the
spirit so captured, however, the DM must take into consideration the
type/level of the original animator. Dispel magic though, would only
have the effect of disrupting the flow of negative energy into the
body/apparition. This would not destroy it as such but would enable the
rather lenghty procedure of remove curde to be performed on an
unwilling creature.

On the point of control, I think that overriding control is in the hands
of the animator (otherwise what fun would a Necro. have) yet some
control is in the hands of the Undead, dependant on level. A skeleton or
zombie might be given specific (but very basic) orders like '...stop any
creature, except me, passing this point...' whereas a higher level
spirit like a spectre might be instructed to observe and report any
comings and goings and/or to destroy any selected creatures.

Of course you might ask how do they detect them...???

With their basis in the Negative material plane the Undead would feel
the surrounding ether and detect abundances of other energy types...thus
invisibilty might not be useful (always a fun thing to do to a smart
arse thief!). This would explain why undead do not attack each other and
also seem to climb over each other in their lust for flesh.  Ths lust
could be a deep rooted desire by the soul to have real flesh instead of
the dead stuff or perhaps a desire to gain other etheric power to free
itself( misguided thought though!).

I know this is rather long and splotchy but its hard to think when your
brain says sleep.  Feel free to criticise any of this...its the only way
I can refine my ideas!!!

More to come later (when my fingertips recover!) on how I deal with
characted death!!!


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'Space...the final frontier'     : Tim Wilkin (timkin@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au)
'Yeah, but they haven't seen     : 
 my bedroom yet!'                : 
---------------------------------: YEAH, OK! SO I AM AN ASTRONOMER!
'Astronomy: A profession whereby : WHAT OF IT???
you get paid to dream about the  :
stars...Well, ok, so you get to  :
dream though!'                   :
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