Post/Author/DateTime	Post
TheChilliGod 09-07-05, 05:24 AM	To start off, here's the relevant backstory of my campaign. At about our second session the party wizard, a necromancer previously devoted to Wee Jas, went completely nutty and swore allegiance to Orcus, demon prince of the undead. This necromancer, after deserting the rest of the party (effectively NPC'd) managed to conquer a orc and kobold outpost. He spent the next few days preparing for a ritual that will allow Orcus to enter the Material Plane. The PC's will enter just as the ritual begins, which gives two outcomes. The first is that the party succeeds in disrupting the ritual, at which point Orcus will be mad and simply suck out the life force of the necromancer, so the soul leaves the body to be forever in Orcus' possession. After a certain time period, say, a year, what sort of undead would result from this turn of events? I was thinking Bodak here, but I'm not sure. The second outcome is that the party fails, and the ritual is completed. Orcus will enter the material plane and possess the necromancer's body, shoving the soul out instantly and forcefully. Orcus, then in the necromancer's body (and making sure not to utterly destroy it), retreats and the PC's go unconscious from the sheer power and their low level, ending up somewhere else that is irrelevant. As with before, after a year, what sort of undead would form from this? There is no body this time, so a Bodak's out, but I'm not sure what else would suffice. I'm not looking for a target CR of any sort, and the MM, Libris Mortis, MMII and (though it doesn't belong to me) MMIII are available to me. Any suggestions?
Mac Daddy 09-07-05, 06:43 AM	At about our second session the party wizard, a necromancer previously devoted to Wee Jas, went completely nutty and swore allegiance to Orcus, demon prince of the undead. This necromancer, after deserting the rest of the party (effectively NPC'd) managed to conquer a orc and kobold outpost. Good man! If he were here right now, I'd shake his hand! I suppose that he could become an undead avatar of the god Orcus and roam the earth, killing everything in his path. Otherwise, just a possessed dead body.
Phrennzy 09-07-05, 11:41 AM	To start off, here's the relevant backstory of my campaign. At about our second session the party wizard, a necromancer previously devoted to Wee Jas, went completely nutty and swore allegiance to Orcus, demon prince of the undead. This necromancer, after deserting the rest of the party (effectively NPC'd) managed to conquer a orc and kobold outpost. He spent the next few days preparing for a ritual that will allow Orcus to enter the Material Plane. The PC's will enter just as the ritual begins, which gives two outcomes. The first is that the party succeeds in disrupting the ritual, at which point Orcus will be mad and simply suck out the life force of the necromancer, so the soul leaves the body to be forever in Orcus' possession. After a certain time period, say, a year, what sort of undead would result from this turn of events? I was thinking Bodak here, but I'm not sure. The second outcome is that the party fails, and the ritual is completed. Orcus will enter the material plane and possess the necromancer's body, shoving the soul out instantly and forcefully. Orcus, then in the necromancer's body (and making sure not to utterly destroy it), retreats and the PC's go unconscious from the sheer power and their low level, ending up somewhere else that is irrelevant. As with before, after a year, what sort of undead would form from this? There is no body this time, so a Bodak's out, but I'm not sure what else would suffice. I'm not looking for a target CR of any sort, and the MM, Libris Mortis, MMII and (though it doesn't belong to me) MMIII are available to me. Any suggestions? Wait. At first I thought it was a high power campaign, what with rituals to bring forth a demon lord. (Kudos on NPC'ing the necro, BTW.) But now it seems that they are low level. How exactly is this low level wizard copmpleteing a ritual to summon Orcus? That destroys all credibility. I'd substitute a much lower level demon. If any low level Necromancer (not even a cleric or summoner specialist) could call up Orcus on a whim, he'd be out running through the streets of Waterdeep, playing tag with Khelban.
dok 09-07-05, 12:46 PM	In order to maintain any sort of continuity/credibility, I would suggest using an Aspect of Orcus, found in the Miniatures Handbook. It's meant to cover exactly this sort of situation: where a powerful agent of Orcus shows up on the Prime. It's not Orcus, it's just a low-powered (CR 9) lesser avatar.
TheChilliGod 09-07-05, 03:46 PM	Y'know what? I never actually thought about that. Heh. :blush: Aww, I'm a moron. Okay, I might as well scratch Orcus and just replace him with a lower-level demon. A Vrock, probably, or an Aspect of Orcus as has been suggested. (even though I don't have the Miniatures Handbook). Maybe even something from a splatbook, I dunno. The PC's ain't supposed to fight the demon just yet, but this ritual is supposed to be a turning point in the game. Suggestions would be nice for this too, I guess. I'm open to ideas. Mind you, whatever's summoned will possess the summoner's body, with not much of a way out, so it's not total freedom. ...Um... So, hows about my original question, then? Or should I just make the lost soul of the necromancer a simple Wraith for a year after the ritual? (it is a bit generic, but I haven't found anything better)
dok 09-07-05, 05:56 PM	If you don't want to use an Aspect, a Zovvut (MMII) should work pretty well as a BBEG for a while. Same CR and a really scary gaze attack.
Norhg 09-08-05, 03:22 AM	His shade could become a shadow, his spirit a ghost and his body a wight. The necromancer's soul might be fractured and broken after the ritual. It incarnating multiple undead is a reasonable consequence. Anyway, this is a little unorthodox. Might be preferable to you, it would be for me.
MidnightLightning 09-08-05, 08:57 AM	If you don't want to use an Aspect, a Zovvut (MMII) should work pretty well as a BBEG for a while. Same CR and a really scary gaze attack. Pardon my ignorance; what's a BBEG?
SmiloDan 09-08-05, 09:20 AM	Big Bad Evil Guy (or Gal). It took me about a year and half to figure it out. How about a Ghost?
dok 09-08-05, 01:32 PM	BBEG: Big Bad Evil Guy. The main (or at least a very major) villain in a campaign.
TheChilliGod 09-08-05, 03:33 PM	If you don't want to use an Aspect, a Zovvut (MMII) should work pretty well as a BBEG for a while. Same CR and a really scary gaze attack. Zovvut... Ah, that is perfect for the product of the ritual! 1/3 empty monster slots down! His shade could become a shadow, his spirit a ghost and his body a wight. The necromancer's soul might be fractured and broken after the ritual. It incarnating multiple undead is a reasonable consequence. Anyway, this is a little unorthodox. Might be preferable to you, it would be for me. It could work, I like the sound of a trio of the dead. But only if the necromancer fails the ritual, since if it succeeds, then the body will belong to a Zovvut. But it'll be great for if the ritual fails; 2/3 monster slots down. How about a Ghost? I was going to make the soul a ghost, since the necromancer would have been vastly betrayed by the demons. ("I give you power beyond your wildest dreams! NOT! *stab*") But I wasn't too sure if that was a valid reason for becoming a ghost, because of that 'soul being shoved out of a body' thing, that may have warranted something a bit more... sinister. That's why I asked if a wraith would be appropriate. --- Okay, I got my demon, I got the result of failure, now I just need what would happen if the ritual succeeded and the resulting demonic force subsequently shoved the necromancer's soul out of his own body and stole the body, leaving behind one ticked-off soul.
FrznFury 09-09-05, 01:27 AM	The ECS has rules for possession... **: 2 cents
Shedeo 09-09-05, 02:03 PM	Kudos for the NPC indeed. I would ( since I love undead ) suggest that in this instance, with a low-level campaign, you use the evolved wraith from Libris Mortis. I know that the description says that it takes a long time, but in this instance he could have become an evolved undead because of his mere brush with the demonic energies of Orcus. That's just my idea for it. That and the evolved wraith pic they give in the book just looks plain cool.
R.M.G.C.L.F. 09-09-05, 06:52 PM	I think he would need a good number of cleric levels to summon Orcus. Arcane Necromancy doesn't let you tap directly into the power of a god.
Kohdok 09-09-05, 07:01 PM	Vrocks are servants, mostly, and don't make the most believable summons. However, a Glabrezu would be both appropriate and fun! Glabrezu's tempt people, so this Wizard might have fallen to the temptation of a Glabrezu (Or maybe a Succubus). You can make it so that the Glabrezu is summoned onto the material plain, summons a Vrock to keep the players busy, then Greater Teleports away. A Spectre might work, instead of a ghost. Sounds like a violent expulsion to me, so a Spectre would be perfect (They make a spectre mini, actually)