Game Discussion Board

Okay a word of warning -- which I will start off by saying: I do not care if you read the Monster Manual or even memorize it -- just be warned that the information found within may or may not be applicable -- I do this for 2 reasons (1) I have encountered players that had the MMs memorized and used that information meta-gaming style (2) I do not always agree with the MM guidelines as that is not how I want a particular creatures to be -- so often I change them some how.

For instance Dragons in my world ARE extremely dangerous to encounter and there is good reason they are feared by many. Also as you have learned the common Zombie and Skeleton that you see in Monster Manual are not actually undead they are just animated corpses which means you cannot Turn them any more than you could Turn an animated chair. Undead in my world ALL have a connection to the Negative Plane in some way as such they can drain physical stats. However you do not have to worry about losing levels as that will never happen -- and you only have to worry about permanent HP & Attribute drains if you cannot get it Restored within 1 weeks time

Also keep in mind this basic concept -- Zombies and especially Skeletons do not have functioning sensory organs -- so you cannot blind them, deafen them, or any of those things further they can sense something it just has not been accurately determined what it is they can sense nor how. Still in that regards it is known that Feign Death does work so that ought to be some clue to there sensory powers.

So then the animated corpses would not radiate evil as an undead would, correct?

Jesus! Stat drains? That's really taking me back!

That is correct the animated zombie and or skeleton have no minds no souls no alignment -- any more than an animated chair would -- they are for all intense and purposes just constructs not really undead

Now on the other hand undead well they do radiate this aura even the most minor of them because of that direct connection they have to the negative plane

Yeah well I find the stat drain is inline with undead far more than level drains -- as I could never figure out how having your life essence drained (which is what they called it) effected your memory (which they did not state it did) so I altered to be a life/physical drain and this was potent and scary enough to not need to do level drains -- although I will have to double check 5e to see if it has either -- also not all undead have this quality as it depends on the measure of connection certain undead do not possess the draining quality due to the nature of their undead state

I hate that. I almost kicked a player out of a campaign when he complained about an encounter was too high CR for the party (then don't fight them you idiot, go around as I planed). So I am total with you here.

Kendra had an in-game conversation about undead weakness to holy water, but that was to start an in-game-conversation about the challenges ahead.

@runekyndig my statement about the monster manual was directed at your comment about holy water and such --- as I had not even seen that post when I posted mine -- mine was just a general warning because I did not want unexpected expectations when the group started encounter critters in game

also I have posted a thread outlining the Coinage of the Realms -- with a complete list (I believe) of all the names the various coins may have

A question: can we assume holy water affects the undead as described in the Monster Manual? I think the PCs, being higher level, would know in general what works against certain types of creatures; for example, silvered weapons against lycanthropes and running water against vampires.

Oh yeah the normal things outlined affect things normally -- which is to so basically positive energy things adversely affect negative energy things always -- that include spells -- as has been updated in some of the necromantic-positive & negative spells already posted. The only thing -- I put forth was that normal zombies and skeletons are no longer considered undead they are constructs made up of rotting human flesh and bones or just bones and as such have no connection to the negative energy plane and other than not being undead any more are just pretty much the same -- note I will be looking at Animate Undead and Animate Object to better theme them as these seem a bit off thematically

So technically the spell "Animate Undead" only animates a pile of bones or a corpse which is really no different than "Animate Object" as such Animate Undead is just a Transmutation spell -- again I will be addressing these spells when I get to them because thematically the are off IMO -- Now "Create Undead" on the other hand actually does what it says it does in that it transforms a corpse into an actual undead creature thus creating that negative energy connection that once created continues to exist until destroyed

Hey if a thread gets going a bit to fast let us know we can slow down a bit -- I just have a tendency with conversations to move forward as things fairly fluid -- still there is an art I agree to being able to post to a conversation without breaking its flow and yet participate in the conversation -- you just kind of have to post time lineyish --- break your post into sections -- that way you can fully participate without slowing anything down but I would much rather slow things down than exclude anyone

I'm usually quite content to be excluded from conversations, actually. :D Especially with a lot of people participating - it gets hard to keep track sometimes if a lot of posts happen in-between, and sometimes it's easier to just observe. And it makes sense for a dialogue to focus on main participants!

...also, I'm not good at dialogue. XD Don't feel obligated to slow down for me, at least as long as there's nothing important for Egret being discussed! :P

Well, even if it isn't dialogue, there's always third person interior thoughts and stuff to post. :)

I concur with Bedzone if you have never done it you might give it a try it not only augments the story but it keeps you involved in the action so-to-speak and maybe its a bit tough to begin with but you eventually get the hang of it -- that is how I began -- just started doing it with others and then also paid attention to how others might do it until I found a method that I liked -- still if you do not want to dive in ;) I understand not everything is for everybody but really I know the water will be cold at first but after plunging in the body adjusts fairly quickly

Yep and you never know that added flavor may have results now and/or later as to me that is basically role playing your character and I keep those things in mind as I move things forward -- but then again I generally let the dice (or in this case that pseudo-random number generator) to make certain decision -- so had you gotten a note worthy roll on the performance that would have mostly gotten some kind of result and even a 10+ would have probably been noted but had you not gotten that 15+ on your history check you would have had penalties on your performance check or course with a 20+ on the history check I would said yeah you just strangely happen to know that song making your other check easier. So frankly you did good for not knowing the language nor the actual song ;)

Honestly, I think posts with only character thought need good balance as to when to use them. No one else except yourself is going to be invested in the character enough until at least some group bonding, and the abudance of inner monologue will be out of place and not exciting for the others to read if utilized too often.

Also, I was pretty sure I was doing this already?.. Apparently, I was doing it badly if you think I'm not doing it. XD In my defence, Egret doesn't exactly care for socializing and cultural oddities, so the only things he's gonna be thinking about the inn are probably about his previous travels or something along these lines.

Oh no no you did just fine -- I was not talking directly at you just in general in response to what Bedzone had said is all --- please if you feel a negative angle has been put out there do say so -- now if it that was how it was received then I will apologize as that was never the intent and I think Bedzone was only trying to encourage you to stay involved as all -- I think like me they may have experienced folk that comment like that and then kind of check out because they feel they are being left behind -- and we were not trying to do that either

We will eventually get to understand one another it just takes communication and patience -- so again I think your posting has been quite good so please do not think otherwise --- and by all means play within your character concept -- but remember we do not know what that is unless you reflect on that some how ;) -- we just got a bit thrown by the OOC was all

Ah, no, that's okay! I wasn't taking it as a critique, it was more of an observation. XD Same as my comment about the pacing, actually! If I ever feel left behind, I'll make sure to let you know, but I'm okay with being less involved in dialogues, truly. Just let me do some druiding when it gets to fighting, and I'm set. ;D

Also, thanks for the compliment, haha! :D It's been quite a long time since I properly played with anyone (meaning just RP, I actually never played tabletop RPGs), nice to know I'm doing well anyway~

Yep yep thanks DM for clarifying my intent too. Hope it came across as encouraging! For PbP I admit I enjoy reading both the narration, the interior thoughts as well as the dialogue of other characters. You're right in that lengthy interior monologues don't do very much, and player-knowledge vs character knowledge I wouldn't be able to act on it. I do read very carefully into description of character behaviour and action though, even if the character doesn't speak.

Thanks again for speaking out, I appreciate how different players bring different approaches to PbP, it certainly has some differences from tabletop sessions.

Hey I know non-combat is not for everyone but you will find that out of combat role playing can be as important as in combat stuff but I will flow with whatever the players want to do -- so if you all want to get down to the action just speak up here so I know what the majority wants to do.

For the record, I'm fine with non-combat roleplaying. I have a background of early versions of D&D where there was little role-playing so I find it a great change of pace.

Yeah the thing I found that I liked most about PbP was that you had a lot more time to explore your character which is another way of saying you got to do more role playing but I also understand that DnD is a lot about the action as well -- so I try to keep a good mix of the two