Journal Short Circuit's Journal: Joe the Zombie 9
So in the D&D 4e game I ran last Saturday, the PCs had knocked an NPC (who'd earlier been flippantly addressed by another NPC as "Joe", because he was a spontaneous tavern patron bit character who I didn't intend or expect to be important.) unconscious (0 hp) and laid him on a table. Then they tried blasting open a door, triggering a level 7 Necrotic damage trap. (This is the D&D 4e equivalent to 3e's negative energy.)
The unconscious NPC was within range of the blast, was killed by the necrotic blast...and was pumped sufficiently full of necrotic energy to be brought back as a zombie. Checked the rules on zombies, and discovered they follow the orders of whoever "created" them. Which I ruled to be the PC that blasted the door.
So now that PC has a pet Zombie named Joe, which we're handling as though it were a Ranger's animal companion. He told me the first thing he's going to do is find a way to get the zombie to stop rotting...
Wait a while (Score:1)
He'll turn into a skeleton eventually, right?
Pickle or salt him. It won't stop the rot, but should slow it down.
Re: (Score:1)
Actually, there's a spell called "Gentle Repose" that preserves corpses. (I forget how long.) His PC just needs to find out about it and find someone who will cast it for him. (Which is an odd problem for that character, due to in-character short-term misalignment with his diety in the pursuit of long-term correct-alignment goals.)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, it seems like a big burlap sack full of salt he stays in now and then would work. Maybe the zombie could be ordered to pick flowers to carry with him as the party wanders along, just so the stench isn't so bad?
Here Joe! (Score:1)
Good boooooy! Sit. Down. Roll over. Play dead. Oh, wait...
Re: (Score:2)
Hehe; awesome....
Nice... (Score:1)
I've yet to check out 4th edition. What are you thoughts on it. Is it worth it?
I've been working on a campaign for a while. I haven't fleshed out the mobs for 3.5 edition since I am mainly working on storyline at the moment. Would it be worth picking up the 4e books and doing it that way, or just staying with 3.5e?
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
It takes a while to settle in to, and there's a bunch of stuff that they dropped between 3.5 core and 4e core that's still being added back as supplement material. (i.e. Bards and half-orcs.) I keep expressing my disbelief that something isn't in my core books, and one of my more hip players say, "Oh yeah, they're adding that in $supplement, you can download the beta PDF."
Some of the cool clever things you could do in 3.5 mechanics aren't possible under 4e mechanics; You'll want to read, re-read and re-rea
Re: (Score:1)
Interesting.
The descriptions I've read from others usually consider 4e to be more computer game friendly. Such that someone making an MMO or Baulder's Gate clone would be able to stay "true" to the game.
Are most/all skills combat oriented? Or do they still have the wide variety of non-combat skills?
Re: (Score:1)
Most of the skills are physical in nature. There are still Knowledge skills, though. Bluff got rolled into Diplomacy and Sense Motive got rolled into Insight (which handily doubles as Intelligence checks for players who are thicker than their characters). Spot and Listen both got rolled into Perception.
Interestingly, Insight and Perception were given special status as "passive" skills. Under any situation where you could "take ten" in 3.5, you're assumed to be always "taking ten" with Perception and Ins