Undead World

[Strolen]

A gestalt entity composed of the consciousness of a number of the undead.  Their bodies rot away but their minds remain and pool together by a shared rage and hatred of those still "alive".

There was more to this post but this portion is along the lines of what I was thinking when reading it.

The brainless undead: for some reason I pictured a big crater that these zombies would, at some point, accidently fall into and not be able to get out of. Could be a herding point when they become unmanageable as well. I think the undead with intelligence may get annoyed with the crowds of wandering useless corpses that would start to infest the place over time. So they simply herd a number of them into one of the many pits around the city. Might be the same place that dead undead (?) get thrown as well. Undead aren't sanitary but it could be the rotting corpses laying around would get annoying enough to want to move. On this tangent there probably are bodies laying all over the place.

Anyway, my thought was that it would be a pit of agony, moaning, clawing to escape undead that don't have enough brains to climb, but enough to claw the walls. This clawing may even form other caves and such, but anyway, just thinking of a place to put all these undead that are utterly useless to the undead society.

But what if, brainstorming off CirrusWinds idea, this groaning mass did rot and start combining and mixing in such a way that the undead intelligence (what little there was) would combine into a giant sliming blob that could escape the confines of their pits. The mindlessness and because it is a blob would make it difficult to destroy, could ingest anything in its path and absorb it, perhaps even gaining the intelligence of those it consumes and combining it. So smart people would only insignificantly add to its intelligence but add it would.

Anyway...

[CirrusWind]

Great and disgusting idea.

[CirrusWind]

To be wounded in Undead World means to be weakened forever. If you are sewn and nailed together, your Hit Points may increase beyond your former maximum. But this is only armor, that protects the magic hidden inside. If you are wounded enough, then you will be weakened again. (DM should note the number of Hit Points at arrival, and may assign penalties as the magic gets weaker.)

Reading back on some older material and I had an idea for this.  How's about, undead characters have a set amount of natural hit points (those they have when they arrive) and by sewing together or otherwise rebinding possible wounds, they don't actually gain back or add to any of their original hit points but gain a new category of hit points which is something along the lines of armor.  Any new damage taken is first subtracted from these "armor" points (of course, a called shot or damage to a specific body part would be calculated different). Thoughts?

[manfred]

Thank you for good old Blob, Strolen! It fits greatly in the way I imagine Undead World...

And yes, CirrusWind, this is like it should be.


Wow, continue your work people... I relax while you complete my work.

[manfred]

A pit may also serve as a way to punish some Undead. Throwing into a crater, and burrying so one alive is possible. Or throwing one into a mass of clawing Mindless Ones, or into a pack of imprisoned hungry ghouls is another kind of execution.


Note: Most but the best-enspelled and lucky Undead bodies decompose slowly, especially in this world, with its winds and sandstorms. It seems that all will become skeletons in the end, one day, unless they find a permanent shelter. Many create a hole for themselves, some block the entrance once they do, and fall asleep.

[Barbarian Horde]

What the ...

Charisma for Undead? How can THAT work?

To the Living, Undead do not have any charisma, they are simply d**n ugly. (Please ignore vampires and similar, its about most lower Undead.) But we have a society composed of free-willed Undead only. Social interaction will happen, and some are heard and seen more than others.

To re-work Charisma for Undead, we must consider their society and social-being, and to do it, we must delve a bit in their emotional baggage. Please note that Undead are somewhat emotionally-impaired. Were they not, they would probably all be dead now, or mad from this world, from commiting suicides to blind killing-sprees.


Negative emotions?

Undead, even those with free will, are not friendly creatures. The transport to Undead World was but a traumatic event. Most of the Undead were torn from their master and commander. All of them were pushed forward with a burning hatred to the Living. There are no Living nearby, the hate grows weaker, and Undead begin to remember their former lives, and their masters.

Pain and Fear: Undead do not truly feel pain. There are exceptions, like holy water and the Sun. No holy water, Sun is the only thing Undead fear. On the other hand, it is the fastest way to die. Some sources of pain and fear can but come from their background, when they were still Living. In Undead World, many old memories awaken again. See also Self Preservation as a possible source of fear.

Hate: No Living to hate. As before, sources of hate can come from the background, too.


Positive emotions?
Not many.  If you rediscover parts of your past, you may remember things that used to make you happy. Some of them may be possible to repeat in Undead World, at least partly. Thus if you find someone doing some nonsensical activity, it may be trying to find the joy from the living days again. Many Undead try to return to jobs they had in Life. Some succeed, few are truly happy, or at least content.

(Reminds me of a particular zombie, that used to be a trapper, most probably. These days you can discover his work, as you fall into a hole and your foot gets stuck. This is a BIT dangerous, of course, if you don't manage to get free till sunrise.)


Self-preservation
Common Undead are weakly equipped in this regard, but Undead World changes much. The freedom gained here, and returning memories make them feel a bit different, almost like having value, and in few cases having found The Meaning Of Life.

It should be noted that combat is deadly, and chances to recover are few and limited. Any conflict, even with much weaker foes can damage you. While the wound may be not big, it may be beyond repair or healing.


Why do anything, anyway?
Once there is some shelter from the Sun, Undead don't need anything tu survive. (survive ) Some of them, mostly the Mindless Ones, do exactly that: nothing. It is easy to stay in your hole, maybe remove the dust swept in from time to time. Some fresh or old philosophers live similarly, having finally found the time to ponder all those big and little problems of Life (and of Undeath).

A little problem is with adventurers:
 Gold?   Too few valuables.
 Killing monsters?   YOU are a monster.
 Fame?   Very funny, my friend.
 Girls?   There are some, but would you really want...

What remains is the urge to do something, just anything, not having the boring life like everyone else. It was one of the reasons most adventurers started. Now, even former farmers may want a change.


Social-being.
Undead are not social. Distrust is the most common feeling if you meet someone unknown. Many simply ignore you, unless there is some reason to hear.


Charisma
Charisma is based mainly on pysical fitness, and how preserved the Undead looks. A missing limb, or many wounds (even stitched together) lower it. Whatever makes the Undead look more able to survive Undead World, improves his Charisma. Thus, weapons do help in more ways. A quality sword makes everyone listen to you. A preserved zombie with good rag-armor and an old sword can have the Charisma of a paladin. (Ironic if it was a paladin before.) Having a lot of animals/servants improves Charisma, too.

Still, most Undead value their freedom and peace, and if you are known to them as a breaker of these things, all things that improved your Charisma lower it now instead

[CaptainPenguin]

Huh?

[manfred]

Well, it looks OK to me.

But then again, I am probably weird.

Any more coherent objection?

[CaptainPenguin]

The undead charisma thing did make sense to me. I was wondering what Anonymous was trying to say there.

[Cheka Man]

This is a great and orginal world-a world of the Undead.Thank you for creating it.