In my Age of Worms campaign I have Filge as a recurrent villain and the Alchemist class seemed such a nice add-on to his necromatic ways.
This then got me thinking...
The Alchemist, in my mind, is screaming out for a Create Zombie formula.
It really is.
Differnt formulae for standard, fast and plague zombies.
What do people think?
*EDIT*
For those who don't know Filge uses glass syringes to inject his potions.
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In my Age of Worms campaign I have Filge as a recurrent villain and the Alchemist class seemed such a nice add-on to his necromatic ways.
This then got me thinking...
The Alchemist, in my mind, is screaming out for a Create Zombie formula.
It really is.
Differnt formulae for standard, fast and plague zombies.What do people think?
You too? Filge makes for a great alchemist, and I also thought about re-statting him... :)
Heck, I actually played Filge as a PC when I played through Age of Worms. I played as a straight Death Master from Dragon Magazine, but that's beside my main point:
I would suggest if you did a formula like that you could make it act like an animated object of the appropriate size instead of a true zombie to make it a bit more sciency then magical. If it had the standard or similar duration it'd probably be balanced as is. Maybe with an added Speak With Dead effect to try to probe the creature's memories.
I loved Filge as written and his method of potion delivery via syringes plus other bits and pieces in my AoW campaign sort of suggested a zombie formula.
As a BBEG the Alchemist armed with his zombie potions would make a really interesting opponent. It may seem a bit naff but Resident Evil style T-Virus outbreak anyone?
EDIT
The supposed dead party fighter makes a re-appearance with a strange waxy visage instead of his usual healthy ruddy glow. And his voice seems to be comming from his backpack...
New Discovery: Re-Animation Elixir
Injected into a corpse less than 24 hours old this Elixir re-animates the remains as a mockery of life itself. The Alchemist may re-animate any corpse this way up to half his class levels in HD. Hit Dice gained from classes gained in life are not concidered. Its stats remain the same except for constitution which it is no longer treated as having. The corpse does not need to be whole for the Elixir to work.
For every hour since the creatures death it re-animates with 1 point of intelligence less that it originally had and it loses an additional point per hour. These points can not be regained even if the creature is truly brought back to life with Wish, True Ressurection, etc. The recipient of the elixir may not even realise that it has died...
Once the creatures intelligence reaches zero it becomes a standard fast zombie.
The creature so animated gains the undead template
Opinions please.
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New Discovery: Re-Animation Elixir
Injected into a corpse less than 24 hours old this Elixir re-animates the remains as a mockery of life itself. The Alchemist may re-animate any corpse this way up to half his class levels in HD. Hit Dice gained from classes gained in life are not concidered. Its stats remain the same except for constitution which it is no longer treated as having. The corpse does not need to be whole for the Elixir to work.For every hour since the creatures death it re-animates with 1 point of intelligence less that it originally had and it loses an additional point per hour. These points can not be regained even if the creature is truly brought back to life with Wish, True Ressurection, etc. The recipient of the elixir may not even realise that it has died...
Once the creatures intelligence reaches zero it becomes a standard fast zombie.
The creature so animated gains the undead template
Opinions please.
Oh, that sounds nice! Reminds me of my old man, Papa Asgetrion! :)
Oh, that sounds nice! Reminds me of my old man, Papa Asgetrion! :)New Discovery: Re-Animation Elixir
Injected into a corpse less than 24 hours old this Elixir re-animates the remains as a mockery of life itself. The Alchemist may re-animate any corpse this way up to half his class levels in HD. Hit Dice gained from classes gained in life are not concidered. Its stats remain the same except for constitution which it is no longer treated as having. The corpse does not need to be whole for the Elixir to work.For every hour since the creatures death it re-animates with 1 point of intelligence less that it originally had and it loses an additional point per hour. These points can not be regained even if the creature is truly brought back to life with Wish, True Ressurection, etc. The recipient of the elixir may not even realise that it has died...
Once the creatures intelligence reaches zero it becomes a standard fast zombie.
The creature so animated gains the undead template
Opinions please.
I'm really surprised that Paizo didn't have a re-animation elixir from the off given their love for HPL.
So Asgetrion is my proposal full of cheese or nicely creepy?I was thinking perhaps to play test it on a PC and drop the permanent INT loss...
Any feedback is nice if you think its cr@p say so but offer a reason why.
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Oh, that sounds nice! Reminds me of my old man, Papa Asgetrion! :)New Discovery: Re-Animation Elixir
Injected into a corpse less than 24 hours old this Elixir re-animates the remains as a mockery of life itself. The Alchemist may re-animate any corpse this way up to half his class levels in HD. Hit Dice gained from classes gained in life are not concidered. Its stats remain the same except for constitution which it is no longer treated as having. The corpse does not need to be whole for the Elixir to work.For every hour since the creatures death it re-animates with 1 point of intelligence less that it originally had and it loses an additional point per hour. These points can not be regained even if the creature is truly brought back to life with Wish, True Ressurection, etc. The recipient of the elixir may not even realise that it has died...
Once the creatures intelligence reaches zero it becomes a standard fast zombie.
The creature so animated gains the undead template
Opinions please.
I'm really surprised that Paizo didn't have a re-animation elixir from the off given their love for HPL.
So Asgetrion is my proposal full of cheese or nicely creepy?
I was thinking perhaps to play test it on a PC and drop the permanent INT loss...
Any feedback is nice if you think its cr@p say so but offer a reason why.
I know 'Magic of Faerun' had oil that let you animate corpses as zombies. APG might very well have something like that, too.
It's nicely creepy (although the wording in some phrases is different from the core conventions) -- you could play up some kind of visual effect such as hair and pieces of flesh starting to fall off as hours go by. Or the skin tightening or going pale/waxen and a think film growing over eyes?
It may not be a nice effect to happen for PCs (a trusted NPC and a remote and/or creepy location might be the best option, IMO -- or an inn, where that NPC starts killing guests during the night). On the other hand, there *are* comparable effects and spells, so don't feel shy about using it on PCs, at least after a fair fight (if you plan on having a PC kidnapped for story reasons, I suggest that you should let them rescue him before he turns into a zombie).
If it happens it will be in my Age of Worms campaign...Naughty Filge!
And I will give them a chance.
Hair falling out, finger nails breaking off, teeth dropping out and the flies...lots of flies...
Modified
New Discovery: Re-Animation Elixir
Injected into a corpse less than 24 hours old this Elixir re-animates the remains as a mockery of life itself. The Alchemist may re-animate any corpse this way up to half his class levels in HD. Hit Dice gained from classes gained in life are not concidered. Its stats remain the same except for constitution which it is no longer treated as having. The corpse does not need to be whole for the Elixir to work.
For every hour since the creatures death it re-animates with 1 point of intelligence less that it originally had and it loses an additional point per hour. These points can be regained only through the Regeneration spell. The recipient of the elixir may be Ressurected in the normal way.
The recipient of the elixir may not even realise that it has died if killed through non-violent means. If it does realise the recipient spirals into insanity and rage. Within a short time they become comatose
On very rare occasions (DM dependent) the victim doesn't lose intelligence. Such creatures usually come about after the re-animation elixir has been injected into a creature that has died non-violently. These poor souls are generally unaware of their undead status until the creeping realisation that they no longer feel hungry and can not sleep. Wounds do not heal, neither do they bruise. Spellcasters lose any spells memorised before death and can not regain them since they can not rest.
Once the creatures intelligence reaches zero it becomes a standard fast zombie.
The creature so animated gains the undead template
I like this a lot, I'm a big fan of the Re-animator movies and the original book by H.P Lovecraft, and all things horror in general. I'm envisioning an alchemist devoted to the study of necromancy, creating undead monstrosities by injecting corpses with strange alchemical concoctions and tossing around bombs dealing negative energy damage. Even developing unique mutagens that's slowly turning him into an undead himself. I can see a whole series of new discoveries that would fit this concept.