This question in twofold. Part one is a general question. Who should die after Ilthane's raid on Diamond lake? I don't want to change the plot too much, but I also want it to have the maximum impact.
Part two is more campaign baised. In my world (which is based mostly around the age of worms,) Undead where a new development after the spellweaver gave the first green worm to Kyuss, and when Redhand succeded from the empire, leaving the throne wide open. In my campaign the prince made a pact with dark forces, giving him the lifespan of an elf, and the instant he made a pact with one of the demon princes (Orcus), Kyuss arose to deityhood. At that instant, many people who fit the “archetypes” of the dead died and rose again as ghouls, vampires or whatever. I don't want the “inconsistencies” in my campaign pointed out to me, I just want some advice. In Diamond lake, (and the Free City) who should be undead? I don't want all the undead to be evil, because that gives away too much about their alignment. I was thinking the chief of the watch should be a wight with fighter levels, and that's about all I have. Basically, I'm going to try to expose the players to undead, so that they can a) see that they're not all bad, and b) feel for them, because in stopping the age of worms most of the undead will either die or gain their lives back. Seeing how bad being undead is should make the PC's want to stop it.
Also, what is an Urguulasta (or whatever)? I mean, I have the fiend folio, but I'm trying to figure out what died to create it, or if it was made more like a construct.
To the first part of your question, as long as Allustan is alive, anybody else in Diamond Lake is fair game. The Governor-Mayor could be killed, and the mine managers could be trying to carve out political power from his holdings. Any of the mine managers could have been killed. The militia probably would be killed, as such a source of potential resistance should have been targetted by Ilthane.
As to the third, an ulgursasta is one of those undead that has no real mortal form. They could be undead purple worms, as Kyuss was fond of turning vermin into undead (like the Hounds of Kyuss, which are giant beetles). Alternatively, they could be the congealed mass of thousands of wicked souls, harnessed and treated with bizarre alchemical solvents to give them solidity. Ultimately, though, the knowledge of their creation was probably lost with Kyuss.
Creative Director
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Also, what is an Urguulasta (or whatever)? I mean, I have the fiend folio, but I'm trying to figure out what died to create it, or if it was made more like a construct.
The method for creating an ulgurstasta appeared in Dragon #276, but this information was cut from the description when it made the transition to the Fiend Folio (I assume for space reasons). For those who don't have access to this old issue of Dragon...
Vague notes surviving from Kyuss' time indicate that the process of creating an ulgurstasta is long and dangerous. The creator first digs a mass grave, 100 feet square and 20 feet deep. The grave is then filled with dead animal matter, which must be infested with carnivorous worms and maggots. This charnal pit ripens for several days until the putrescence reaches the consistency of soup. On the night of the next new moon, the creator must command no fewer than twenty undead with the capability to inflict negatvie levels to enter the pit. A gateway to an unspecified plane of great evil is opened and used to infuse the grave with negative energy, which instantly causes the undead in the pit to liquefy into the morass. Finally, the creator casts a series of unspecified spells (likely including polymorph any object and wish) on the contents of the pit. The result of this lengthy ritual is a newly formed ulgurstasta, a creature with an Intelligence score of 1 that obeys the vocal commands of its creator. It can think for itself only upon reaching an Intelligence score of 10. As a general rule, every thousand skeletons created by the ulgurstasta allows it to retain enough thoughts and memories to gain a point of intelligence.
Ilthane's raid is a good excuse for anyone wanting to run a Forgotten Realms Age of Worms to change Daggerford back to a more "Canon" state. If you assume the the Duke is actually still alive, but presumed dead, and replaced by the Lord Mayor, you can kill off anyone and any place that was implanted to the place, then have your PCs find out that the Duke is still alive and rescue him. Before they leave Daggerford for good, more or less, they can rescue the Duke and know that everything is all good before they confront the big baddies in the rest of the adventure path.
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Yuck. That's some deliciously twisted stuff. I think I'll include it to one degree or another in the Apostolic Scrolls.... Thanks, James.
As for the question, "Who should die?," it really depends on with whom the characters interacted during their time in Diamond Lake. Friends and enemies alike could be gobbled up or sizzled by Ilthane. Pick at least one with whom they had a close connection to really build up the emotion for the impending clash with the dragon. Depending on whether or not you've adapted the faiths in the city, the Heironean militia likely suffered massive casualties in defense of the town.
Our next session is with Auric's warband and the Ulgurstasta; this is the last set of encounters in Champion's Belt.
I'm also trying to decide who should die.
Exactly how much damage can Ilthane do in Diamond Lake? What sounds like a reasonable amount?
Personally I want to destroy as much as possible. The characters will be 11th level when they walk into their old home, and I want it demolished to shake things up. Fant manor is on the list, as is Allustan's home. I'm thinking of ruining everything except Neff's stronghold and the Garrison area; these are the two places designed to withstand an attack, and all of the townsfolk will flee there.
Assuming average damage, how many breath weapons would it take to level a typical building in Diamond Lake?
Thank you for the imput on this. But my primary question (the one I really wanted answered that is) is which NPC's should be undead. I mean, should Smenk be a ghoul? Should some of the guard be Swordswraithes? I haven't started running the campaign yet, and so I would like to know.
I plan on having many of the teams in the Champion's belt be undead. In HoHR I'm planning on making the drow into ghouls with fighter levels. My goal is to create an Undead infested land with the PC's feeling sorry for them.
In my campaign I've had the head priest of Hextor return as a
Hecuvah and the Faceless one return as a vampire.
You can have them start out as that.
Basicly if Hextor isn't happy with a follower's death he
might send them back to try again.
Followers of Vecna might be skelital warriors.
Skelital bird men would be very creepy.
The headbands needed to put them to rest would be on the other
side of the maze.
Make some halfling ghouls just so they can pop out of treasure
chests and holes in the walls.
This is what I call a Ghoul in the Box.
Ok, nice, but the problem with that is that the kenku's strategy becomes nonexistant.
On the other hand...
What if when they return to Diamond lake they find them reborn as undead...
Heh.
But my real question was more to the effect of which person in diamond lake should be undead? The Purple prose? *Shudder*
Ok, nice, but the problem with that is that the kenku's strategy becomes nonexistant.
On the other hand...
What if when they return to Diamond lake they find them reborn as undead...
Heh.
But my real question was more to the effect of which person in diamond lake should be undead? The Purple prose? *Shudder*
Skelital Warriors are sentient. They are cursed to serve
the possessor of their head band till said headband is destroyed.I believe their skelital form regenerates no matter what is
done to it.
I think they may be in the Fiend Folio.
Smenk's love of food and foul ways have damned him to be a ghast: always eating and never full, a wretched stink where once perfume was smelled. Sheriff Cubbin and the rest of his cronies were indolent and corrupt, more concerned with afternoon naps and bribe money than getting justice served, so they have been forever sentenced to a life as morghs, the weight of all the crimes commited by their lack of action stripping the flesh from their bones and bloating their intestines with bile. Purple Prose and her whores have transformed into incorporeal wraiths, the touch that once brought ecstacy to so many miners now bringing only crippling pain and a rapid demise.
Just think of the most hideously twisted poetic justice you can for their real or perceived sins, and go to town.
Meh... the problem with that is that morhgs are too powerfull for 1st levelers. I want to start the campaign with undead, although I may change them to those things eventually. Some of those are good Ideas.
Heh... an Alip upstairs tending the opium bar.
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Do what one of us might do if we were manufacturing the same sort of scenario:
1. Gather up all of your sourcebooks.
2. Sticky-note all of the undead, writing the CR and the specific affectations of the creatuers, included or implied in their descriptions ("ravenous", "savage", "brutal", and whatnot).
3. Revisit the Age of Worms adventures and Overload, sticky-noting the 'bad guys' and also making a record of their CR and behaviors/tendencies.
4. Match the two--undead and NPCs--as best you can, taking care not to turn things into "Dawn of the Dead" by overpopulating the campaign world with undoods.
You already seem to have some ideas of how you want to work this. Here's wishing you and your players some fun with this twist!
Thanks. Heh. I've got Libris Mortis... :P Ok. I'm planning on posting who I make undead in this place, as well as their class levels so that people can use them if they want.
Unfortunately, with that suggestion, only bad people can be undead. I want to emphasise that not all bad people are dead, and also that not all dead people are bad (although most are).
My list of non evil undead.
1. Revenants.
2. Vampires that have not slain a person.
3. Varient animate dead that uses a different energy source.
4. The Undying court from Ebberon.
5. Tomb guarding Elves in Forgotten Realms.
6. Some greater Mummies.
7. GhostLight Ghosts which are nonstandard.
8. Higher level Bonedance or Speak with Dead that is permanent.
Try to find Dragon 336, it has an article describing the "becoming" of most undead found in the MM.