What is it about the undead
that bring about such fanaticism in Geek Culture? People love zombies and
vampires and imagining scenarios. Books such as World War Z or the upcoming movie Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter or even Shaun of the Dead wouldn’t be as popular as they are if it were not
for our oft outspoken love of all things macabre.
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| May of the Dead Blog Carnival, check it out! |
In gaming the undead hold a
special place in my heart. When I think of Dungeons and Dragons of any edition
I see in my mind’s eye Vecna, Liches, decrepit Skeletons, conniving Vampires,
and dangerous Ghouls. For me what brings about this love of the undead is that
I enjoy a deadlier game. I want there to be risks when I play and when I DM. I
want there to be fear at that table, I want my characters and players alike to
embrace that fear as they swing their axes or cast their mighty spells towards
these creatures. Let’s be frank, the undead are terrifying and that’s great!
Where these vile abominations
come from is irrelevant, really. Whether these creatures come from some
mystical and powerful source or find their motivations simply driven by the
need to consume and destroy or by jealousy, the undead indeed have a deep-set
place in our collective Geek psyche.
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| I wouldn't want to run into any of these guys... |
It’s no secret that I like my
games deadly and fast and filled with fear. I just waxed poetic about it a few
lines above, after all! But what really is it about the undead that strike me
as being deadly? Early in my D&D career I had the opportunity to play in
the Ravenloft setting with a wonderful DM. I saw the undead as they were, dark
and depressing. Strahd’s love across the centuries was enlightening to the
darkness in the villain’s heart yet it did not stop my group from destroying
both him and his minions with the legendary Sunsword.
The dead need to be feared.
They are filled with negative energy that drains and sucks the life out of
creatures that encounter them. Gone are the days of Level Drain and Ability
Score Drain and also gone are the days of the Ravenloft setting. Now, don’t get
me wrong, I love 4th Edition, I’m a diehard about it. I understand
(some) of the principles behind the design philosophy for the edition and
that’s great. Even Ravenloft has seen some 4e-inspired love by way of the
fantastic D&D Adventure Systems board game. But that’s not enough, not by a
longshot, not for me.
Let’s bring back that fear of
undeath, because frankly it doesn’t exist in 4e. Let’s make Vampires and Ghouls
something to genuinely be feared by player and character alike.
Fair Warning, Here be Dragons: This
is a Legend4ry take on the undead in 4e that strays from the design philosophy
behind the edition. Much of the influence behind this comes from previous
editions and many Fourthcore-inspired monsters. As such, this is not a rules
variant for everyone.
Below I present some variant
rules and monsters that embrace the inspiration from older editions and the 4th
edition design philosophy. To me, that’s what Legend4ry D&D is all about.
First up is the concept and
definition of both Level and Ability Drain in 4e terms:
Next is the way one afflicted
with said terribleness can cure themselves:
And finally are two beasties
that will leave your party in utter terror; the Maydeath Ghoul and the Maydeath
Wight:
I’ve also compiled all of this
in an easy to view pdf here.
I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading
a deadlier take on the undead in a 4e game as much as I have had creating it. If
you’ve enjoyed this series of bringing older edition version of monsters into
the realm of 4e, be sure to check out my next post regarding the horrendous
Vargouille.
Until next time,
-blob
Disclaimer: All art in today's post comes from the Wizards of the Coast art archive. All charts and stat blocks come from this guy.
You can follow me on Twitter @Sorcerer_Blob or via the hash-tag #legend4ry. You can also find my blog and others at the Fourthcore Hub and at the RPG Blog Alliance.
Be sure to check out the other May of the Dead Carnival blogs located here!
So, that's brutal.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't use it in every campaign, but I could see putting together a balls to the walls, AD&D styled Fourthcore dungeon crawl with these powers.
Yeah, it definitely is brutal! Even I wouldn't use it in every campaign. Pretty much the setting you've just described would be the ideal time to use it (if at all), or perhaps even in a Ravenloft conversion.
ReplyDeleteAn update: I'm running an old-school inspired dungeon crawl currently and about to throw the Maydeath Ghoul into it.. I'm excited and scared for my players!
ReplyDelete