What does Undead Hunger do?

[olimar92]

Not expecting much of a response, but I just want to know exactly how that feature works. Mummy has no Hunger, Ghost has a goal and Lich is just reading.

Do you go by starvation or thirst? Or do you just ignore it because they don't need food? Undead already have the chance of drowning, so I want to be extra clear on this.

[AestheticDialectic]

It makes you hungry

[breithauptclan]

It is for role-play.

Make of it what you will.

[Perpdepog]

Yeah. Undead hunger is more of a narrative hook than a mechanical one.

[Sorrei]

As the other says its more a Roleplay thing, a classic example would also be that as Vampire you need blood.

[Claxon]

IIRC correctly there are no mechanical penalties listed for failing to fulfill your hunger.

But it wouldn't be out of line for a GM to impose a penalty similar to what a normal person refusing to eat or sleep would cause.

[The Raven Black]

Whatever the GM wants / needs.

[Loreguard]

I would think it wouldn't be out of line to have your recuperating gotten from your state of quiescence could be dependent on sating your hunger within a certain amount of time. (i.e. you haven't 'eaten' for a weak... you find you are no longer healing as you rest, or reduce how much you recover each day)

I easily see how this would be something to go over with the involved players ahead of time so they can work out ahead of time how they plan to work through such requirements, and verify they would work with the GM. Things like 'void' healing might reset the recuperation clock, for instance, even if it technically doesn't reset their hunger. It might allow PCs to work out a schedule that allows them to operate, even without resorting to frequent sating of their hunger. Since they are already dead, the lack of food would not 'kill them' but simply keep them from recovering.

In some games you might even implement where extended hunger might cause an enfeebled, clumsy, or stupefied condition for the character if they go a rather extended amount of time. Especially, if the character otherwise might be granted more that the typical abilities due to fully enabling certain immunities not normally granted to undead PCs and such to give the player an alternate 'weakness' of sorts. If, of course, it makes sense for the campaign, and the players are good with it.

[Sorrei]

It also depends on how much the Thematic relies on it.
How big of a deal is the Undead Hunger, is a moral dilemma, a heavy burden, just a nuisance. Or just a cool asthetic or lore element.

[rainzax]

Perhaps "Undead Drive" would have been a more widely applicable title?

That said, they decided to draw a throughline, and "Hunger for Knowledge" or "Hunger for Power" do actually translate.