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Opinions/Suggestions wanted!
by a strange twist of fate (a.k.a. DM fiat) my previously dead PC is now back as an undead PC (juju zombie template).
It wasn't my idea but something the DM came up with.
We're both excited to see how this unexpected change will work... I've got some cool ideas on how to play him (btw, he's a monk). We are in the Skulls & Shackles campaign, which helps mitigate most of any potential alignment issues of being undead.
As a balancing factor, I will always be one level behind the rest of the party and at the moment, my hit points are about half the weakest PC. Why is that? good question. It's because I have a penalty to my charisma, which affects my hit points as an undead (and I'm a level behind).
SO.... this thread is just to see what the incredibly clever PRPG community can come up with on how to pimp out my undead monk to make him the biggest, baddest pirate the seas have ever seen.
Currently the PCs are level 4. My monk is level 3.
Got ideas on how to make him awesome? Then let's hear it.
Ready, Go!
I've got some ideas. For example, when I can afford it, getting a 'hat of disguise' for those times I might be around people (in port?) that are not part of my crew.
I'm eager to see what the forums come up with.
It dosent really help you but if I ever had the chance to play an undead at medium/highish level I would deffently try to aquire a lifedrinker blade. Kill things by negitave levels! Useless for a monk and useless at your level :( other ideas, since you don't breath, try sinking to the bottom of the port and climbing up the opponets anchor. Try and grapple someone and yourself overboard with a reposition maneuver. Use the ocean and the airless crushing depths as your ally.
So, why were you Fiat'd into being Undead? Was it a "I died, we didn't have access to Raise Dead, so the GM brought me back this way" thing, or was it just "Bam! You're Undead!".
If the latter (hopefully it's not), this won't help, but I'd try to petition your GM to let you swap your old Con score with your Cha score, so your HP doesn't sink to "About as tough as a wet noodle" levels. If necessary, remind him that as an Undead, you die at 0 HP and have no unconscious/knocked out stage, so having a major penalty to HP every level is going to result in you inevitably dying (permanently) again the next time you get hit after level 6 or so.
If that's impossible, I'd start investing in a Headband of Alluring Charisma instead of one of Inspired Wisdom. Yeah your Stunning Fist DCs and Ki Pool wouldn't be impressive, but at least a stiff wind wouldn't kill you.
And how low HP are we talking exactly?
Because having a penalty to HP as well as being a level behind is going to be less of a balancing factor and more of a "This character is boned" factor.
I focus on this because blending in is the least of your worries. Being an Undead may actually be an advantage for a pirate crew, and it gives a few distinct and cool abilities that might not be apparent in a regular game (aforementioned seabed walking, for example).
Definately talk to your dm about swaping your former con for your charisma. That hp penalty along with the level penalty is going to be painful.
Cha boosting items become critical especially if gm won't allow you to switch con and cha. Your going to need ways to hide in plain sight. Non detection, undetectable alignment(maybe not for skull and shackles), hat of disguise, gentle repose, ranks in disguise and bluff might help. Or your going to need to hide constantly. With low con your going to need to either hang back in melee or stay to the fringes and keep mobile.
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I fully realize that as undead I probably smell like dead flesh, but there is nothing in the bestiary that says zombies, juju zombies or other undead suffer any stealth penalties for their stench. Thus I don't see any need for gentle repose. Zombies don't slowly turn into skeletons so I'm not worried about my flesh falling off.
I believe the DM is keeping the "why" I am undead as a secret for now. That's fine. I'm sure he has a story element to it down the road. I'm probably cursed. Only he knows. The chance to play an undead monk in an evil pirate campaign just sounded like too much fun when he offered it to me.
I am worried about the lack of hit points. We did discuss that undead are normally destroyed at zero (0) hit points. The DM says he has plan for that and I shouldn't worry. Maybe the "curse" provides a way around that issue. I can still die (again) and I certainly feel vulnerable.
I am considering some sort of charisma boosting item to help with my HPs. I'd hate to pass on raising my wisdom since wisdom boosts my ki pool and my AC.
You're right that being undead provides plenty of advantages, especially in this pirate campaign. Right now the DM is imposing a one level penalty to make sure I don't become overpowered.
Trying to use disguise and bluff are not going to work because my charisma is so low.
here are my stats. I'm happy with them. I think they're probably too good for a level 3 character. Keep in mind that in addition to the undead traits, I also gained +3 natural armor, +4 strength, +2 dex, and the rest of the juju zombie template including the toughness feat and improved initiative feat (pretty sweet for a melee character like myself).
current stats: (charisma was my dump stat)
Str: 20 +5
Dex: 18 +4
Con: 0 (was 14)
Int: 8 -1
Wis: 18 +4
cha: 5 -3
At level 3 my hit points are currently: 21
Everyone else in the party is level 4 and has 40-50 HPs
hit point breakdown:
monk d8: 8
cha penalty: -3
favored class: +1
toughness: +1
total: 7 hp per level x 3 = 21
Note: the DM is experimenting with HPs and giving all the PCs max hit points at every level. Basically the concept is that if the PCs have more HPs he can beat on us harder ( and I think most of the bad guys might have max hps too but that just makes combat longer).
Right now my thought is crank up my armor class so I don't get hit and thus the lack of HPs won't hurt so bad.
My armor class is 23, pretty good for a level 3 character.
+1 bracers of armor
+4 for wisdom bonus (monk)
+4 dex
+1 dodge
+3 natural armor
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10 base
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23 armor class
One of the posters suggested I use poisons, but I'm not sure how that would really work for me as a monk.
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I fully realize that as undead I probably smell like dead flesh, but there is nothing in the bestiary that says zombies, juju zombies or other undead suffer any stealth penalties for their stench. Thus I don't see any need for gentle repose. Zombies don't slowly turn into skeletons so I'm not worried about my flesh falling off.My thought with this were to hide that you were in fact undead. If thats not a priority then don't worry about it. I'm going to be playing a vampire in a roleplaying heavy campaign were we do have to hide in plain sight so that was my thought process.
You're right that being undead provides plenty of advantages, especially in this pirate campaign. Right now the DM is imposing a one level penalty to make sure I don't become overpowered.
Doesn't seem fair especially with how bad the disparagey between your hp and others in the party. The max hp really puts you be hing the eight ball because of that cha.
Trying to use disguise and bluff are not going to work because my charisma is so low.
Still recommend you talk to the dm about getting some relief from that low score.
In the long run I think bumping HP will give you better returns then pumping AC unless your prepared to go all out on AC(things are still going to hit you and if he's giving you more hp to take a greater pounding I doubt a high AC will save you.
I too would be interested in how a 3rd or 4th level character became a juju zombie.
At level 3 my hit points are currently: 21
Everyone else in the party is level 4 and has 40-50 HPs
Yeah buddy you NEED some Cha items at the very LEAST.
21 HP is getting close to minimum damage range for CR 6-7 creatures.
You can't really crank up your AC into no-sell range as a Monk without serious investment from level 1 on, and Crane Style.
There is no penalty to stealth for stench as far as I know, and I don't believe JuJu zombies stink anyway.
Unfortunately, a Hat of Disguise can't make you look like another creature type. You can change your clothes and stuff though with it, so you could have it change you into full-body covering cloaks and stuff. The good news is, the Hat of Disguise can make you look like any other kind of Undead if you wish. Up the intimidating factor by changing into a vampire or something instead of a zombie if you want.
IMO that's what you should probably do with your appearance whenever possible. Don't hide it, use it. Your pirate crew will become more feared and notorious (logically, anyway) if you're said to have a ruthless undead crew member.
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Evil DM in question here!
Bloodwort really really loved this character! Imagine the General from Planet of the apes with an eye-patch and undead, it is awesome! and I had the wonderful idea of having him become Cursed. I believe I told him he figured out that he was cursed. He just has no idea how or why. The party has had some GREAT evil interactions with each other and bringing "Rex" back was priceless!
He came back During the most important fight in Skulls and Shackles book 1. One of the other pc's thought he was there to kill her! It was awesome!
I have been letting the pc's play at max hit points, and I have not been maxing the monsters hps. When all the players are playing evil or neutral they do not always work together and may inadvertently cause each other to have certain hardships resulting in encounters being MUCH MUCH harder than they should be.
I also told him that he cannot die(he forgot but I reminded him at lunch today) He regenerates 1 hp/min no matter what(barring disruption/disintegrate) So even if he goes down in combat he will not die. Part of the curse. It may suck for a while if he goes down early, but he normally kills/disables fast enough it won't matter.
Also with his great AC at this level he is near impossible to hit anyways.
Luckily I have thought of a way for him to get his old con score switched to his charisma score through some evil ritual they may or may not be found on some sort of treasure map. I don't just want to switch it for free as I see the ability to have some fun story/adventure with it. After all the Shackles would be an awesome place to be an immortal evil undead monk pirate.
I offered the same deal to another character that died at the same time but he was not interested. So I ha to change the curse to something that only affected Rex!
So far Skulls and Shackles has been an absolute blast to run and we are all thoroughly enjoying it!
Neat!
And I never saw this as something an evil DM would do (being an undead PC after dying is usually only not preferable to death if there are Paladins around), if that's the impression you got. I was just pointing out that without specific caveats (which you provided) or a higher Cha score, he'd be re-dead in no time.
It will be ugly if he comes across a paladin though! Muhahaha....
The only thing ugly about my PC "Rex" encountering a paladin will be the paladin's vision of my backside running away.
Make Captain Barbossa. Please. Please.
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The OP should take levels in Negative energy Cleric (Cleric of Urgathoa would fit both mechanically and thematically) or Oracle (better after the WIS-CHA switch though). Touch attacks could be awesome for a monk if he can use them with his unarmed attacks.
Tactically, with his immunities and no-death thing, he can become the ultimate killer of enemy casters.
Evil DM in question here!
Bloodwort really really loved this character! Imagine the General from Planet of the apes with an eye-patch and undead, it is awesome! and I had the wonderful idea of having him become Cursed. I believe I told him he figured out that he was cursed. He just has no idea how or why. The party has had some GREAT evil interactions with each other and bringing "Rex" back was priceless!
He came back During the most important fight in Skulls and Shackles book 1. One of the other pc's thought he was there to kill her! It was awesome!
I have been letting the pc's play at max hit points, and I have not been maxing the monsters hps. When all the players are playing evil or neutral they do not always work together and may inadvertently cause each other to have certain hardships resulting in encounters being MUCH MUCH harder than they should be.
I also told him that he cannot die(he forgot but I reminded him at lunch today) He regenerates 1 hp/min no matter what(barring disruption/disintegrate) So even if he goes down in combat he will not die. Part of the curse. It may suck for a while if he goes down early, but he normally kills/disables fast enough it won't matter.
Also with his great AC at this level he is near impossible to hit anyways.
Luckily I have thought of a way for him to get his old con score switched to his charisma score through some evil ritual they may or may not be found on some sort of treasure map. I don't just want to switch it for free as I see the ability to have some fun story/adventure with it. After all the Shackles would be an awesome place to be an immortal evil undead monk pirate.
I offered the same deal to another character that died at the same time but he was not interested. So I ha to change the curse to something that only affected Rex!
So far Skulls and Shackles has been an absolute blast to run and we are all thoroughly enjoying it!
This is so incredibly awesome, you have no idea.