Undead question

[Dax128]

Does anyone know if there is a range of how far undead can be from a necromancer? One of my players is going evil cleric with animate dead, and wants to know if while in town he can keep his skeletons out of town so not to raise issues.

[koluminar]

That should be no issue. But if there is no cleric to tell the skeletons what to do. They're gonna start wandering off.

I would make sure there is some kinda intelligent lieutenant keeping the rabble in check. Or put me all in a barn. Something they can't escape from... Kinda like Hershel did in walking dead with his family and friends got turned into zombies. Kept their asses in a barn. Similar idea here, lock em up, and come back for em later.

[Milo v3]

Quote:

But if there is no cleric to tell the skeletons what to do. They're gonna start wandering off

Unless he says "Stand on that spot".

[Lost In Limbo]

Animate Dead wrote:

The undead can be made to follow you, or they can be made to remain in an area and attack any creature (or just a specific kind of creature) entering the place.

So having them stay in one place is reasonable, just be careful about leaving them out in the open where a hunter might see them or they might be attacked by wild animals or suchlike.

[CampinCarl9127]

There is no max range. But unless he can communicate with him they will only follow their last order, which can get problematic if the situation changes. Non-intelligent undead with no leader cannot adapt to new situations.

[koluminar]

Hence the barn idea... I think it's solid gold. Or like I said, get a loyal undead lieutenant

[Baval]

As others have said, the key here is their orders. They dont have a range, but theyre mindless and due to their negative energy, hate all life. At the same time also due to being mindless they cant understand anything more than a single concise sentence at a time.

Therefore, the player needs to find a way to keep them out of trouble while hes gone. "Remain motionless" would probably do it. The key is that they will attempt to kill any life they see in any method still available to them. If you just say "stay here" for example they might shoot at things they see with bows or throw things at them, or kill things that get too close.

That said, this is only relevant if youre trying to find excuses to make trouble for his undead, most people just paraphrase the orders they give their undead and assume their characters are knowledgeable enough to give the proper command. If this is the case for you, then "stay here" would be enough.

[Ajit Shyama, Shadow Caller]

How about "Stay here, play dead"?
Then people are just going to wonder about the pile of corpses, not about the group of zombies standing around... On the other hand, animals might try to chew on them.

[BLloyd607502]

As far as he fancies really. One thing to remember though is communication, unless he's very, very creative communicating over long distances or to large hordes is going to be a pain.

My advice, use fireworks to send orders.

[VRMH]

Lost In Limbo wrote:

they might be attacked by wild animals or suchlike

Ajit Shyama, Shadow Caller wrote:

animals might try to chew on them

According to the Handle Animal skill, animals don't voluntarily attack the undead. So that at least isn't an issue.

[Dax128]

Thanks for the advice. Appreciate it, how would he make a lieutenant if he wanted to? Read where one necromancer put his skeletons in a bag of holding after making sure they couldn't rip it lol.

He's going as a cleric of nethys to be true neutral and have access to undead stuff. He started good, but he is obsessed with greed and has done some questionable actions during the everflame setting we've been running, hes even gone as far as triggering traps for loot, and trying to kill someone for their weapon. So rather than have him start over I'm willing to revamp him through an up coming plot point.

It should be interesting since the party wizard has a background where she was manipulated as an apprentice by a necromancer so not sure how she's gonna react to him using spells like this.

[Vahanian 89]

If he makes intelligent undead they might take the time to flee from his control so keep that in mind as well. But normal undead, given a command to stay or defend wont move.

[TxSam88]

Get a portable hole, store them in it when you go to town.

[alexd1976]

I supply them with shovels and have them make a pit... then a small group buries the majority, and I have the remaining ones cover themselves in leaves and detritus to 'guard' the mass grave.

when you are done, they dig 'em up and off you go!

[Baval]

alexd1976 wrote:

I supply them with shovels and have them make a pit... then a small group buries the majority, and I have the remaining ones cover themselves in leaves and detritus to 'guard' the mass grave.

when you are done, they dig 'em up and off you go!

this is clever, but it does raise the issue of if you get into a fight and need your undead in a hurry most of them are buried.

I use the "lay here and remain motionless" command myself to make them look dead. Worst that typically happens is someone comes across "a cave filled with skeleton", i hear about it, and i pretend to investigate and move them somewhere else. If it goes really well i can even convince the town that I dealt with a Necromancer before he was able to raise an army and attack the town and get a reward.

[Goth Guru]

If anybody comes near your pile of corpses, they will attack. There may be some more bodies for you to animate.

[Milo v3]

Goth Guru wrote:

If anybody comes near your pile of corpses, they will attack.

Not necessarily true. Even if you take the "or they can be made to remain in an area and attack any creature (or just a specific kind of creature) entering the place." line as the only option. Just tell them to only attack blue humans with five arms or something.

[Baval]

Goth Guru wrote:

If anybody comes near your pile of corpses, they will attack. There may be some more bodies for you to animate.

the key is "remain motionless" instead of "stay here"

Its very hard for most undead to attack while not moving their arms or heads or anything.

Another fairly foolproof variation is "do not acknowledge any presence but my own" which will force them to pretend they dont see anything but you. combine it with "lay here" and it even gets around the problem that might arise of a nitpicky DM saying "if someone tries to move your undead it will fight back in order to remain in the spot you told it to"

[kinevon]

Baval wrote:

Goth Guru wrote:

If anybody comes near your pile of corpses, they will attack. There may be some more bodies for you to animate.

the key is "remain motionless" instead of "stay here"

Its very hard for most undead to attack while not moving their arms or heads or anything.

Well, giving commands to a lich is going to be an issue, in any case. If it has Silent Spell and Still Spell metamagics, there is not much you can do to keep it out of trouble.

[Baval]

kinevon wrote:

Baval wrote:

Goth Guru wrote:

If anybody comes near your pile of corpses, they will attack. There may be some more bodies for you to animate.

the key is "remain motionless" instead of "stay here"

Its very hard for most undead to attack while not moving their arms or heads or anything.

Well, giving commands to a lich is going to be an issue, in any case. If it has Silent Spell and Still Spell metamagics, there is not much you can do to keep it out of trouble.

I prefer not to command undead with minds, but its actually easier. They can understand complex orders and assuming you have full control or make the charisma check, a "remain hidden from all but me and kill nothing. reveal yourself when i return" command is enough. It cant really pervert that order in any way to get you in trouble, and is smart enough to carry it out.

[Milo v3]

kinevon wrote:

Well, giving commands to a lich is going to be an issue, in any case. If it has Silent Spell and Still Spell metamagics, there is not much you can do to keep it out of trouble.

Thankfully you cannot animate lich with animate dead.

[Baval]

You could also add it to the pile and safeguard it with "remain motionless, dont cast any spells or make any hostile actions, you may act only to defend yourself if your existence is in danger"

and as a bonus, you can also add to your mindless undead "lay here and remain motionless unless the Lich is moving" to allow your entire horde to defend itself if the Lich deems it necessary.