Hey yall,
so I'm learning more and more about the system and my current area of research is the undead. I have a few questions here:
1. Can Undead be brought back as undead after they were slain? I know some undead are either destroyed upon death while others have abilities that bring them back automatically, but what about your generic zombies/skeletons? Can you keep raising the same ones?
2. Raise Dead states that your target has to have been dead for no more days than your caster lvl and that is does not work on the undead (you need resurrection for that). What if the undead is slain and still within the time-limit? This kind of ties in with the previous question and, I think, depends on whether or not a slain zombie becomes a "normal" corpse again.
3. I would assume that weaker undead still rot unless you cast something like Gentle Repose on it. Does this decay affect the undead in your game somehow? Would their physical stats start to deteriorate?
Once they are destroyed they become corpses again. It is up to the GM whether they are intact enough to be eligible to be animated again.
The Restore Corpse spell can be used to repair any damage that might have been done when the undead was destroyed. Then they can be animated good as new.
There are no mechanics for corpses getting "weaker" if they are raised and then destroyed as undead. There are also no mechanics indicating that undead creatures disintegrate or turn to ash when they die. In fact, the Raise Dead spell indicates that when undead are destroyed they leave behind corpses that are valid targets for bringing back to life, so they much be at least intact enough for that.
Some undead, like Vampires dying in sunlight, are special cases.
Once they are destroyed they become corpses again. It is up to the GM whether they are intact enough to be eligible to be animated again.
+1. Basically it depends on when they originally died.
The Restore Corpse spell can be used to repair any damage that might have been done when the undead was destroyed. Then they can be animated good as new.
There are no mechanics for corpses getting "weaker" if they are raised and then destroyed as undead. There are also no mechanics indicating that undead creatures disintegrate or turn to ash when they die. In fact, the Raise Dead spell indicates that when undead are destroyed they leave behind corpses that are valid targets for bringing back to life, so they much be at least intact enough for that.
Some undead, like Vampires dying in sunlight, are special cases.
+1.
Once they no longer have enough flesh to be made into a Zombie they can only be brought back up as a Skeleton. Hence the existence of Restore Corpse. Once they lack enough bones to be brought back as even a lowly skeleton then they can only be brought back as incorporeal undead as that doesn't need a body anymore, just 100% spirit.
FYI - my gaming group jokes about the downgrading of undead all the time. It is hilariously morbid when you get into it.
I've always read "destroyed" to mean just that. No more corpse left. Usually described as collapsing into dust ala Buffy.
Not at risk of death from massive damage, but is immediately destroyed when reduced to 0 hit points.
If you want to go strictly by RAW that's fine, but I think of destroyed as "unusable" not "turned to dust".
I think they simply said "destroyed" because it would have been inaccurate to say "killed" (referring something that is already dead and talking about "killing" it could also be confusing).
Destroyed probably does not mean "I stuck my dagger in the zombie's eye and it crumbled to dust and blew away in the breeze.". It probably just means "I stuck my dagger in the zombie's eye and it fell to ground, just a dead corpse and no longer undead".
Of course, this is just one interpretation and any GM is going to have his own.
Me, I often describe destroying undead as seeing them fall apart, but usually only when the attack is powerful and/or destructive - a solid hit with a bludgeoning weapon that drives a skeleton into -HP, especially lots of -HP, might just send bones flying across the room. Less destructive attacks, or barely reducing it to 0 HP, I'll usually decsribe as just knocking off a rib or punching a hole in the skull, etc., but the skeleton falls over and stops moving. Based just on the way I describe it, a necromancer might have trouble animating undead that have been massively damaged - but that's just my narrative there.
To slightly necro (hah) this thread again, I'm running it in a way that the extend of the destruction depends on how it was destroyed. As some of you mentioned, a brutal enough strike may turn a zombie into a fleshy goo, or scatter a skeleton's bones in all directions of the wind, thereby making them "uncomplete corpses", which do not qualify for a reanimate.
Also, the controlling necromancer must keep in mind that the mindless undead he creates are just that - mindless, so they may be prone to... accidents.