Ancient Dead Energy Dilemma
- Stygian Inquirer
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 286
- Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2004 11:55 pm
- Location: Aurora, Ontario, Canada
Ancient Dead Energy Dilemma
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?
Information seems to come my way whether by chance or by fate, but all this means, is that I have yet to find out what will kill me and why. - The Stygian Inquirer
- Stygian Inquirer
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 286
- Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2004 11:55 pm
- Location: Aurora, Ontario, Canada
- Joël of the FoS
- Moderator
- Posts: 6665
- Joined: Sun Nov 30, 2003 1:24 pm
- Gender: Male
- Location: St-Damien, Québec
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
Joël
"A full set of (game) rules is so massively complicated that the only time they were all bound together in a single volume, they underwent gravitational collapse and became a black hole" (Adams)
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.
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...
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...
- Boccaccio Barbarossa
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 272
- Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2005 2:33 am
- Location: Montreal, QC, Canada
- Contact:
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.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...
I mean, you HAVE to knwo the guy made some mistakes!!!
Barbarossa Vineyards - Fine Brandies. The choice of true connaisseurs. (Located an hour's ride outside of Karina.)
A loose collection of writings about our (sometimes) ongoing campaign. http://ravenloft.inoveryourhead.net/
A loose collection of writings about our (sometimes) ongoing campaign. http://ravenloft.inoveryourhead.net/
- alhoon
- Invisible Menace
- Posts: 8829
- Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2003 6:46 pm
- Location: Chania or Athens // Greece
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.
"You truly see what a person is made of, when you begin to slice into them" - Semirhage
"I am not mad, no matter what you're implying." - Litalia
My DMGuild work!
"I am not mad, no matter what you're implying." - Litalia
My DMGuild work!
- Dion of the Fraternity
- Lurker Maximus
- Posts: 1091
- Joined: Fri Nov 28, 2003 4:20 am
- Location: Baguio City, Philippines
- Contact:
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.
Just proves that even the rules of Ravenloft can change, albeit in very, very subtle ways.
- Boccaccio Barbarossa
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 272
- Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2005 2:33 am
- Location: Montreal, QC, Canada
- Contact:
I just think that it has the potential for a nice surpruise for the PCs, even if it does maybe seem like a stretch...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.
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...)
Barbarossa Vineyards - Fine Brandies. The choice of true connaisseurs. (Located an hour's ride outside of Karina.)
A loose collection of writings about our (sometimes) ongoing campaign. http://ravenloft.inoveryourhead.net/
A loose collection of writings about our (sometimes) ongoing campaign. http://ravenloft.inoveryourhead.net/
- alhoon
- Invisible Menace
- Posts: 8829
- Joined: Thu Dec 11, 2003 6:46 pm
- Location: Chania or Athens // Greece
Deathless are also in the Book of Exalted Deeds.Boccaccio Barbarossa wrote: (though I haven't read the Eberron Setting...)
"You truly see what a person is made of, when you begin to slice into them" - Semirhage
"I am not mad, no matter what you're implying." - Litalia
My DMGuild work!
"I am not mad, no matter what you're implying." - Litalia
My DMGuild work!
- Scipion_Emilien
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 246
- Joined: Thu Jun 23, 2005 6:54 pm
- Jasper
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 562
- Joined: Thu Dec 18, 2003 7:10 pm
- Location: A cultural wasteland known as WV.
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.
"Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish it's source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings."
Anais Nin
Anais Nin
- Boccaccio Barbarossa
- Evil Genius
- Posts: 272
- Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2005 2:33 am
- Location: Montreal, QC, Canada
- Contact:
Cool. That I DO have occasionall access to...alhoon wrote:Deathless are also in the Book of Exalted Deeds.Boccaccio Barbarossa wrote: (though I haven't read the Eberron Setting...)
Thanks.
Barbarossa Vineyards - Fine Brandies. The choice of true connaisseurs. (Located an hour's ride outside of Karina.)
A loose collection of writings about our (sometimes) ongoing campaign. http://ravenloft.inoveryourhead.net/
A loose collection of writings about our (sometimes) ongoing campaign. http://ravenloft.inoveryourhead.net/