It's pretty clear that thralls are undead creatures, but how easy or difficult is it to tell them apart from more traditional forms of undead?
Can I have all of my thralls look like zombies, pulling themselves out of the earth? Like ghostly apparitions that appear out of thin air? Like vampire spawn floating in as mist and solidifying to corporeal form?
If I cast summon undead (or use a similar ability to create undead) and bring about another undead creature, will laymen be able to tell it apart from my thralls? What about skilled people; what check might they use; what might they learn?
The ramifications in terms of how NPCs react to a necromancer's thralls could be huge. For example, does the farmer know he can easily break a hole in the wall of thrall for his family to escape prior to making such an attempt?
Can I cast create thrall with Conceal Spell to make it look like traditional undead arriving on scene (such as the aforementioned unearthed zombies) with no apparent connection to my necromancer (who looks just like another panicked bystander)?
How exactly does the campaign world see necromancers and their thralls?
This raises some good points, how does a creature know those are Thralls and not just some not so fancy zombies you raises?
This raises some good points, how does a creature know those are Thralls and not just some not so fancy zombies you raises?
For all we know we're able to make them look like fancier-than-normal zombies.
A strong fighter might not hesitate to break through a wall of feeble-looking bodies, but he might give pause before trying the same against a wall of fearsome-looking undead warriors.
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Level-Based DCs, GM Core pg. 52
"Use these DCs when a PC needs to Identify a Spell or Recall Knowledge about a creature, attempts to Earn Income by performing a task of a certain level, and so on."
"A thrall is level –1 if an effect needs to refer to its level."
So it'd be a base DC 13 to ID one for Religion, and a DC 11 to a DC 8 for a Lore.
Level-Based DCs, GM Core pg. 52
"Use these DCs when a PC needs to Identify a Spell or Recall Knowledge about a creature, attempts to Earn Income by performing a task of a certain level, and so on."
"A thrall is level –1 if an effect needs to refer to its level."
So it'd be a base DC 13 to ID one for Religion, and a DC 11 to a DC 8 for a Lore.
I suppose that's one way to go about it.
I agree there's a major mechanical impact based on how well enemies of various intelligence levels measure a Thrall, and by what means. Even an RK check burns an action, which is too costly at higher levels. And would that RK check apply if you alter the appearance of the next Thrall? And then you whip out one with actual hp or Summoned.
Can you lock down a mindless creature by spamming Thralls?
Seems too OP, yet what's the meta that solves that even if we do allow sentient creatures to recognize a Thrall's frailty?
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
To me it comes down to a Recall Knowledge check. They can do Recall Knowledge about you (the Necromancer) to understand what thralls are and the likelihood that what you summon is one. Or they can Recall Knowledge on the thrall which will have a DC by level of 13 (lvl -1) to identify it.
If an enemy did this, as a GM I would probably let them do a Recall Knowledge against one of them and then be able to recognize any other thrall as a thrall (as no matter how hard you try, they won't look exactly like another undead) given they know what they are about now.
|
I agree there's a major mechanical impact based on how well enemies of various intelligence levels measure a Thrall, and by what means. Even an RK check burns an action, which is too costly at higher levels. And would that RK check apply if you alter the appearance of the next Thrall? And then you whip out one with actual hp or Summoned.
Can you lock down a mindless creature by spamming Thralls?
Seems too OP, yet what's the meta that solves that even if we do allow sentient creatures to recognize a Thrall's frailty?
A cornered animal will attack a thrall and rush through the opening.
I agree there's a major mechanical impact based on how well enemies of various intelligence levels measure a Thrall, and by what means. Even an RK check burns an action, which is too costly at higher levels. And would that RK check apply if you alter the appearance of the next Thrall? And then you whip out one with actual hp or Summoned.
Can you lock down a mindless creature by spamming Thralls?
Seems too OP, yet what's the meta that solves that even if we do allow sentient creatures to recognize a Thrall's frailty?
Mindless creatures are... mindless. Finding a strategy to distract a mindless creature from the party is only mildly easier with thralls than without. It also won't work on one of the biggest categories, undead, because they're more interested in attacking the living.
|
|
I suppose that's one way to go about it.
The other way that jumps to mind is to use Recognize Spell when the spell is cast.