Undead
Undead is the fourth in a series of campaign neutral d20 System fantasy supplements by AEG, a series that also includes Dungeons, Evil, and Dragons. Undead has campaign avdvice, ideas, and rules variants for undead creatures and those that deal with them in a fantasy setting.
A First Look
Undead is a 128-page, perfect-bound softcover book. The cover is a dark bluish-gray and has a design similar to Evil and Dragons. The color cover picture depicts a headless undead creature wielding a flail, with some sinuous creature next to it.
The interior is black and white. The interior artwork serves a primarily decorative role. The illustrations are of generally good quality.
As with the prior books of this series - and unlike other AEG lines - the typeface in the book is rather large, with the exception of some boxed text in the last chapter. The margins are thin, which serves to make up somewhat for the large typeface.
The book is priced at $19.95. This is moderate to good for d20 publishers for a product in this range. Mongoose's Seas of Blood and Atlas Games' En Route have a similar size and price per page, and it is better than Wizards of the Coast's classbooks.
A Deeper Look
Undead is arranged into six chapters:
Chapter One: That Which Cannot Live, That Which Cannot Die
Chapter One is almost entirely exposition. It discusses the nature of undeath and immortality, classifies the sorts of creatures that become undead, and lays out some theories behind the game mechanics of the d20 System regarding undead creatures. Perhaps the most interesting part of the chapter is the various societies and campaign ideas presented in the boxed text, such as the city of Balthezar, in which the nobility consists entirely of undead.
Also discussed are some organizations and situations regarding undead. For example, ghoul warrens are touched upon, as are various organizations that dabble in the undead or seek to destroy them. Some of these have prestige classes representing them in Chapter Two.
Chapter Two: Hunters of the Dead
Chapter Two contains a majority of the character-making, mechanical material in the book, and is the longest chapter.
The chapter introduces one new Craft subskill, autopsy. Some guidelines are given for a character using the skill to determine the cause of death of a character. The guidelines are fairly good, but I am given to wonder why it was classified under Craft and not Profession, unless the author wanted it to be based on Intelligence instead of Wisdom. The only classes that do not get Profession are barbarians and fighters, which I do not see as particularly missing this skill. Further, I can see Wisdom, being the basic stat for perception in the game, as the governing statistic, so it seems that Profession would be perfectly appropriate.
In addition to the new Craft subskill, there are a number of new uses for old skills. Examples are using Heal or Knowledge (arcana) to treat the victim of an attack by an undead creature so they do not rise as such a creature. In a similar vein, Knowledge (religion) can be used to do proper burial rites, which reduces the effectiveness of animate dead on the recipient of the rites. I appreciate that the AEG books have taken to this approach, as it prevents the glut of skills that stem from creating new skills too readily.
A small selection of feats is provided for battling undead. Examples are Stout Hearted, which helps the character resist permanent energy drain, and Death Angel, which allows the character to take advantage of critical hits and other conditions to which undead are normally immune.
The most extensive - and probably most creative - section of the chapter is the prestige classes. Fourteen new prestige classes are presented, all of which deal with the undead or are commonly taken by undead creatures. The prestige classes are:
- Champion of the Dead: The champion of the dead is a lieutenant appointed by a powerful necromancer or lich to command other undead creatures. The champion of the dead may or may not be undead itself, and the possibility exists that such a creature could eventually become a threat to its master.
- Chirurgeon: The chirurgeon is an arcane spellcaster that specializes in grafts and the creation of flesh golems and corporeal undead. The abilities sound like they would make an interesting villain that could be the basis of an adventure.
- The Dying: The dying is a bold experiment: a character that has been touched with a curse that will eventually be his doom. A character with this prestige class cannot expend XP toward any other purpose. Each level he gains, he comes closer and closer to death, slowly losing attribute points and suffering other maladies - but he gains other abilities that will serve him in his grim final struggle before he dies. This one has a lot of roleplaying potential, but may require a little tweaking from the GM.
- The Exorcist: The exorcist is a prestige class that specializes in warding off undead spirits. They have many techniques for getting rid of such creatures, but some of them are not too pleasant for the victim of a possession.
- Faith Hunter: The faith hunter is a character specialized in the hunting of one sort of undead creature, but not too bad at hunting some others.
- Hunter of the Fallen: Another "hunter of the dead" type class, the hunter of the fallen is somewhat less specialized than the faith hunter.
- Knights of the Eternal Eye: A knight of the eternal eye makes the ultimate sacrifice for a cause: undergoing transformation to undeath. Knights of the eternal eye are not necessarily evil to begin with, they merely are extremely devoted to their cause. As they advance, however, their undead nature tends to get the best of them and slowly turn them toward evil. This would make a nice tragic hero-turned-villain type character.
- Paladins of the Pale: This class represents a paladin who has had a brush with death or other harrowing experience that has left her somewhat jaded. Her experience, however, gives her a better understanding of the undead and new methods of combating them.
- Puppet: One of the more interesting classes, the puppet is a character who has fallen under the permanent domination of an undead creature. Puppets gain great resolve against anyone but their masters, who hold the puppet's life in their hands; puppets are also empathically linked to their masters, much as a familiar is bound to their master. Eventually, puppets can gain the abilities to use their masters' supernatural or spell-like abilities, but only at their masters' pleasure.
- Raider: The raiders are an exceptionally stealthy cabal of undead creatures, though the description does not explicitly state that they must be undead. Raiders act as slippery agents of darkness that can quietly gather information and sabotage their enemies' efforts.
- Risen: Somewhat similar to the knight of the eternal eye, the risen is a character that becomes undead. In the case of the risen, the character rises again to fulfil a dying wish; however, like the knights of the eternal eye, they are slowly twisted toward evil.
- Sacred Therugist: Sacred therugists are arcane spellcasters who use their abilities to combat undead. They gain access to additional spells that help them combat undead, and they can alter their spells to be more effective against undead.
- The Unbeating Heart: The unbeating heart are cultist assassins devoted to a deity of death. Unbeating hearts draw power from the death of others and gain powers that let them more effectively operate as assassins if undead.
- Wasteland Druid: Perhaps the most bizarre - and interesting - class of the bunch. The wasteland druid hails from a devastated land, and has altered her view of the natural order to include undead. Wasteland druids slowly acquire access to spells not normally allowed druids and learn to adapt their wild shape ability to undead forms.
There are some unusual classes here, and some of them overlap; however, there are some very interesting classes here. Classes such as the knight of the eternal eye, the chirurgeon, the dying, and the wasteland druid could be the inspiration for moody adventures in and of themselves. For the first time since the Book of Eldritch Might, the selection of prestige classes made me want to stop reading, put down the book, and make up some NPCs.
There are some classes that do things mechanically that I consider flawed. The biggest annoyance seems to be with saving throws. For example, the knight of the eternal eye and the risen lack a saving throw advancement, on the assumption that undead creatures do not need to make Fortitude saves. This is not true, though. Though undead are immune to most effects requiring Fortitude saves, effects that can affect objects can affect undead. Accordingly, undead saves are still appropriate. Similarly, the puppet has no Will save advancement, apparently on the assumption that they are too weak willed. I found that inappropriate as well and think that they should simply get a weak Will save.
A section entitled Hunter's Kit provides a rundown of some common items and spells and how they can be used to combat the undead. A few new items are mentioned, such as Jolan's universal unguent, which can restore damage from or protect against a variety of undead attacks.
Chapter Three: Beyond the Flesh
Chapter Three deals primarily with magic, both divine and arcane. It introduces some new deities that are concerned with death and the undead for use in your game. The new deities are divided into two camps: those concerned with death itself and those concerned with undead. The former group includes Ral sul Vadoch (king of the dead), Lochai (the deathbringer or reaper), Necury (the guide or messenger of the dead), and Shofayt (the judge of the dead). The latter group includes Demortus (lord of the corporeal undead), Gnawbone (the ghoul king), Necronius (the vampire king), and Selina (lady of spirits, incorporeal undead).
Domains are defined for each of these deities, including some new domains. The rot and plague domains are reprinted from AEG's Evil. New domains introduced in this volume are rulership, spirit, and undead. For some reason, several domains possessed by these deities from the PHB are also reprinted here. I did not mind the reprint of the stuff from Evil, as it is brief and all readers do not necessarily own it. I found the reprint from the PHB a bit of a waste of space, since you pretty much need it to play.
The chapter introduces several new spells that are of use either by necromancers or undead, or against them. Examples include animation field (creatures that die in the area are animated as zombies after 1d4 rounds), feign life (gives an undead creature the appearance of life), and hold undead (immobilizes undead creatures).
The chapter also introduces new magic items and artifacts. The magic item section is split into two subsections, one describing items for living creatures for use against undead, and the other for items forged for the benefit of undead. The items all have a paragraph or two of background before delving into game mechanics. Sample magic items are the medallion of courage (grants a bonus to Will saves against undead abilities) and the cloak of darkness (gives living creatures merely a bonus to Hide checks, but undead creatures with vulnerabilities to sunlight may be able to bypass those penalties).
The artifacts section introduces several artifact level items. All of the items have a background associated with a powerful lich named Arksar, either used by him or against him. Most of these items would be treated as major artifacts per the DMG and (as is usually the case with such items) may require some DM adjudication and adjustment.
Chapter Four: More Than Flesh
Chapter Four has a narrow focus: undead character archetypes, from avenging undead to zombie servitor. There is little in the way of game mechanics here. The notes on each archetype include a general description of the archetype, how it can be utilized in a game, and notes on roleplaying. This section can be used both as a source of inspiration for undead PCs, or as ideas for the GM to use in creating undead NPCs.
Chapter Five: Beyond the Pale
As with the previous chapter, this chapter is rules-light. The chapter discusses considerations behind making a campaign involving or composed entirely of undead PCs, including such ideas behind the setting and the situation of the campaign. The advice offered is sound, but this seems like a section that could have used some rules insight, such as how to balance undead characters.
Chapter Six: Secrets of Undeath
The final chapter is composed entirely of exposition regarding the methods by which liches and mummies are made in the game. Nothing struck me as especially disappointing here, but nothing struck me as all that useful either, unless you are seeking inspiration for running a campaign that involves one of these events.
Conclusion
I think that the prestige classes and other game material are probably the strongest part of the supplement. This material in particular contains a lot of good character and campaign ideas, and many of the presented classes could be the seed for an interesting PC or compelling villain.
The book is a little heavy on the exposition for my tastes. Further, I did not find the expostion quite as interesting and useful as that in earlier AEG d20 books such as Dungeons and Evil. To its credit, Undead is probably the best organized of these books to date.
-Alan D. Kohler
Go to forum!
(Due to spamming, old forum discussions are no linked.)