Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Afarian 03-20-05, 10:05 PM	Edited... There are some days I swear I would give anything for a standard, run-of-the-Mill ressurection with an Exp loss. But my Dm likes to find more creative ways to bring me back to life. The first time I died, I was ressurected by the evil devil overlord we're currently doing quests for. He agreed to ressurect me IF I agreed to spy on my party and inform him of everything they did and all that happened. I decided I didn't have much choice so I agreed. Afterwards he informed me my character was now Lawful Evil and told me to keep it secret from all the PLAYERS and Characters. (the whole event happened in secret). So at that point I couldn't tell anyone even outside of the game about what happened but I figured it was probably better to not be seen as evil in party of mostly good and nuetral characters. On the plus side I didn't lose any exp at all Ironically, though the Half-orc got a run of the mill rez by the same NPC, BUT lost ALL exp for the whole session --even the parts he was alive for!! Second time I got killed by two raptors who decided to team up on me because I was the only one fortunate enough to have done any damage to them so far. With the charge and full attack ability they get they did a combined total of 37 dmg to my 20 hp Lvl 3 wiz/ lvl 1 rogue. So obviously I'm deader than a doornail. At that point I went to take a restroom break not really caring if my character came back or not (I was seriously thinking about quitting the campaign since my PC seemed to get screwed somehow every session) I returned admist calls of my fellow PC's claimin I was now Undead! Apparently the Cleric (played by a person who always seems to want to do things against the party's best interest, no matter what character he uses) decides he want's to use a potion of Animate Dead and make me his slave. I figured I would get at least a saving throw against something like that since you can resist being ressurected by certain people. Anyways, I got no option there and suddenly I'm a Curst! (Later, I found out it wasn't the cleric that made me cursed but some other mysterious, secret force at work---now I'm quite baffled!?) Now, I'm not sure how the DM is working this, but here is the basic Bad and good of the situation. Good stuff. 1. I guess I got a template but somehow the DM seems to letting me roll a d12 everytime I advance in level (no matter what class I choose), not to mention I got the max 48 hp now!which I guess is the max u can roll on 4d12 (I am 4th level) 2. I got +2 natural armor and a bunch of nifty abilities that mostly involve avoiding mind-affecting abilities. 3. Immune to Cold, Fire, Poison and Commanding by Clerics or Paladins and I regenerate 1 hp per level etc. 4. I'm actually not Evil, like most Undead seem to be. I think I'm CN, which is probably my favorite of the 4 alignments I've gone between during the course of this campaign 5. Despite dropping all my gear and money (see below) I'm still allowed to get armor and upgrade equipment from this point on. Bad stuff 1. I lost all of my spell-casting ability, effectively losing 3 class levels. 2. My feats that are completely worthless (being caster feats) if I still have them and since my INT was reduced to 8 all my Int based skills took serious hits (dropping from a +4 to -1 modifier) obviously most of my skills were int based and are now practically null and void 3. Against my will, or at least I had no choice----I dropped all my gear except my leather armor and my weapons. So my nice +2 ac bracer I was wearing on my arm--gone! Fortunately my PC was pretty broke trying to purchase basic spells which he got charged from double to 7x the normal price 4. At least one character will want to kill me (the monk, who considers undead to be unnatural and basically I'm an abomination to him) Important!! While I do appreciate your reactions and opinions, I'm not neccesarily upset with my DM. I mean YES, I did lose 10 pts in INT and spell-casting however, Curst can make excellent combat characters considering all the immunities and being practically (although not completely) unkillable. So with that in mind I would also appreciate on the following; 1. How to roleplay this character 2. Best class advancement 3. How to avoid/talk my way out of getting slain by the rest of the party (not that ALL want to kill me, but there is one person, who due to his beliefs might be inclined to want to kill me) Also Remember, IF I start a new character I start at LEVEL ONE!! That's right. Im 5th now but if I decide to restart it's all the way back to level one-00 xp. My stats right now are Str. 12 Dex 16 Con Nil Int 8 (was 18, after the +1 for 4th level) Wis 10 Cha 8 (was 14) P.s. On a side note, I actually don't want to quit now because the story just got really interesting and there's a lot of interesting twists in the plot and characters! We also all just reached level 5 and I rolled 11 for my HP~WOOT!
Jake Tewdric 03-20-05, 10:11 PM	Animate Dead makes mindless undead out of the corpse. That means that basically, you can't play that character. It would be kind of similar to choosing Teapot as the race for your character, you would have no mind, it is not an undead version of your character, for that you would need to be turned into a vampire or lich or other intelligent undead that actually keeps the stats they had in life.
Afarian 03-20-05, 10:20 PM	Animate Dead makes mindless undead out of the corpse. That means that basically, you can't play that character. It would be kind of similar to choosing Teapot as the race for your character, you would have no mind, it is not an undead version of your character, for that you would need to be turned into a vampire or lich or other intelligent undead that actually keeps the stats they had in life. I Apologize. I did forget to mention that the DM later told me that the cleric's potion actually didn't do squat!! It was some other mysterious force at work which the DM won't tell me anything about. But regardless all my stats are the same except my INt which dropped to 8 and my Cha which also dropped to 8 and of course Constitution which is nill ~
philnicau 03-20-05, 11:47 PM	there's a simple response to this you hand the dm your character sheet and say "this is no longer my character, its now your npc"
Mirikon 03-20-05, 11:59 PM	After reading through this thread, I have come to several conclusions: 1) Your DM is an ass, or is trying too hard to make things interesting. If it is the former, there is nothing you can do. If it is the latter, talk to him about it, and see if you can get him to tone it down. 2) You have been extraordinarily patient with him, and I salute you for it. 3) If the DM is simply an ass, or he does not improve, you should hand him your char sheet, and leave. You can find another game, hopefully with a DM that isn't trying to find new ways to screw you.
Deflare 03-21-05, 12:13 AM	My response would be to ditch that group; the players seem to be arses and the DM is being Chaotic Stupid, as all of the rules seem to depend on his whim. I can't think of any story good enough to put up with that. If you don't want to quit, then A) you're probably a masochist, and B) you probably want to have a nice, long talk with the DM about the fact that you don't like being yanked around. He's basically using you as a PC NPC- no purpose other than to further the story.
Phrennzy 03-21-05, 01:16 AM	Ugh - all this talk of walking out :rolleyes: I'm assuming you and the DM are friends. Talk to him. Tell him that playing an Undead is not fun for you. Print out what you wrote above. Go down your good/bad list with him. See what he thinks. Bottom line is that you need to have fun. This DM sounds like he is trying to be creative, and may have crossed the line with the undead. Tell him if you don't want to play an undead. If he says "tough", then tell him you refuse to play an undead - it's no fun for you - and suggest (nicely) that your PC either be killed and a new one created, or brought back to life (not undeath).
Kaldric 03-21-05, 08:07 AM	Curst aren't quite the normal undead - they're intelligent, they remember their lives. They are literally "cursed". Someone hits them with a curse, they pretty much stay the same, but lose their Con, and go to d12s, lose int/wis/cha, etc. The cool this about them is that they are, barring someone casting a "remove curse" on them, almost completely unkillable. Curst regenerate constantly, from just about anything except acid and disintegration effects. If reduced below zero, they go into a coma for an hour or two, looking completely dead, then start regenerating again. Must be disintegrated or completely dissolved in acid to be destroyed. So, you still technically have control of your character, and you're pretty much unkillable. Do what you want, either give up the PC, or start going nuts. Curst generally ain't too stable. Of course, your DM may be using variants, I may not remember the details perfectly.
ehrin 03-21-05, 08:45 AM	I always figure, if I am going to be railroaded, then I will at least run the train at full speed into the wall. Play it to the hilt. You are virtually unkillable. Tell the party, in character, that since you are, you should take the brunt of all the action. Then, push the others aside, and go for it. start fights. attack everything, monsters, NPC's, bartenders, children in the town, etc.. Drag the party into fights beyond their abilities: what do you care, you are dead anyway. Bring the whole town down on them, leave a trail of scorched earth behind you. Just make sure to constantly give credit to your party as you do, so that they are just as guilty as you. Want to really hurt the group? start destroying magic, and money: sure, you kill the BBEG, but you are undead.. what do you care about money and magic? Destroy the magic, throw the money into a deep well, etc... Every level you advance, you get more hit points. you don't need to eat, sleep, buy clothes, weapons, armor, magic, so what good does money do? It just slows you down. get rid of it. Same for magic.. who really needs it?
Phrennzy 03-21-05, 08:58 AM	I always figure, if I am going to be railroaded, then I will at least run the train at full speed into the wall. Play it to the hilt. You are virtually unkillable. Tell the party, in character, that since you are, you should take the brunt of all the action. Then, push the others aside, and go for it. start fights. attack everything, monsters, NPC's, bartenders, children in the town, etc.. Drag the party into fights beyond their abilities: what do you care, you are dead anyway. Bring the whole town down on them, leave a trail of scorched earth behind you. Just make sure to constantly give credit to your party as you do, so that they are just as guilty as you. Want to really hurt the group? start destroying magic, and money: sure, you kill the BBEG, but you are undead.. what do you care about money and magic? Destroy the magic, throw the money into a deep well, etc... Every level you advance, you get more hit points. you don't need to eat, sleep, buy clothes, weapons, armor, magic, so what good does money do? It just slows you down. get rid of it. Same for magic.. who really needs it? Oh my God! You've become a Terminator! (Insert Terminator music here)
FreeTheSlaves 03-21-05, 09:33 AM	there's a simple response to this you hand the dm your character sheet and say "this is no longer my character, its now your npc" Agreed, this guy isn't your character he's someone elses. If your DM doesn't understand this (and I don't think he will) you'd be better off not playing with him. IMX, the session you've just played is as fun as the game gets, don't think that the game gets more fun later on if you 'just put up with things'. (I am not ratting on higher level play, because it IS very fun, but the 'now' needs to be as fun as the 'later')
Afarian 03-22-05, 06:22 PM	Curst aren't quite the normal undead - they're intelligent, they remember their lives. They are literally "cursed". Someone hits them with a curse, they pretty much stay the same, but lose their Con, and go to d12s, lose int/wis/cha, etc. The cool this about them is that they are, barring someone casting a "remove curse" on them, almost completely unkillable. Curst regenerate constantly, from just about anything except acid and disintegration effects. If reduced below zero, they go into a coma for an hour or two, looking completely dead, then start regenerating again. Must be disintegrated or completely dissolved in acid to be destroyed. So, you still technically have control of your character, and you're pretty much unkillable. Do what you want, either give up the PC, or start going nuts. Curst generally ain't too stable. Of course, your DM may be using variants, I may not remember the details perfectly. That's pretty much how it is except I don't remember the book saying anything about Wisdom or Charisma reduction. However, I got my INt dropped as the book says and my Charisma but NO Wisdom penalty. I do like the practially unkillable part but I'm still not sure how ALL the Pc's will react once they find out. I'm not evil yet and irionically at least 2 other players in the group are. Some people mentioned killing him and starting another character. That's an option the DM said I could do it if I wanted. However, no matter what level you are when you die (you could be level 20!) you always start at level 1 when you start another character. So I'm 5 now--if I restart I'll be level 1 and almost everyone else will be 4-5! I think I'll play it out for now and see what happens. However, I would like suggestions on how a Curst would react and how to best Roleplay a Curst. One player says that with an INT of 8 I'm pretty stupid and can't speak correctly. Also I was thinking of giving him Rogue classes (since I already had one before I died) But the low Int score really hurts the skills that rogues need. What class do you think I should choose since he gets a D12 no matter what class he is.
Christman 03-22-05, 07:36 PM	Editing... If you're gonna play an undead that has it's memories, be an angry undead. Don't even worry about Class...go Fighter or Barbarian. Become what amounts to a walking wall of HP. Then start boosting your AC. Go out on "Personal missions" as the undead tank of doom and get...like...20k gold. Buy a couple Bracers of Armor and a Necklace of Natural Armor. Follow that up with a couple Rings of Protection. By the time you're done you'll have a good 35-40 AC and about 60 HP. Now...rejoin the party, play Mr. "You can't hit me for squat random monster!" and watch what happens. Just avoid clerics or anything with a turn/rebuke ability. Or get some items that give you turn resistance. As for low Stats, that's easily solved. Break into a couple libraries and read the tomes of "Random Stat up". Heck, you can't die...break into the Town Magistrate and steal a Ring of Three Wishes, then really mess with the DM. Wish One: "I wish that my body, while on this plane and in this time, WITH FREEDOM OF WILL AND BODILY FUNCTION, never decayed". Wish Two: "I wish that I had my old magical abilities returned to me permenantly." Wish Three: "I wish that my appearance was humanoid".
UltimateReality 03-22-05, 07:41 PM	One player says that with an INT of 8 I'm pretty stupid and can't speak correctly. Int of 8 is not speech-impediment stupid. I'd wait til it was 6 or less before I started looking at that. Anything with Int 3 or higher is sentient, and usually has speech (except for certain monsters). The average Intelligence score is 10. So you're a little dumber than average -- calculus and trigonometry kicked your butt in college. What are your Wisdom and Charisma scores sitting at, as well as your physical stats?
Cold Napalm 03-22-05, 08:24 PM	Okay dead characters start at level 1 no matter what...you DM is STUPID and an ARSE. Ditch him. Go bye bye...or use the curst character to get EVERYONE killed then die and everyone starts at level 1. Then tell the DM if he does anything so stupid again and if he does not repeal that stupid level 1 rule, it WILL be repeated.
Uberman 03-23-05, 02:53 AM	there's a simple response to this you hand the dm your character sheet and say "this is no longer my character, its now your npc" Best solution so far. Make a new character.
Afarian 03-23-05, 08:30 AM	Editing... If you're gonna play an undead that has it's memories, be an angry undead. Don't even worry about Class...go Fighter or Barbarian. Become what amounts to a walking wall of HP. Then start boosting your AC. Go out on "Personal missions" as the undead tank of doom and get...like...20k gold. Buy a couple Bracers of Armor and a Necklace of Natural Armor. Follow that up with a couple Rings of Protection. By the time you're done you'll have a good 35-40 AC and about 60 HP. Now...rejoin the party, play Mr. "You can't hit me for squat random monster!" and watch what happens. Actually, I already have 59 HP. I'm not sure if I mentioned it but I get to roll d12 for HP no matter what class I take (at least I'm pretty sure that's what he's letting me do) Just avoid clerics or anything with a turn/rebuke ability. Or get some items that give you turn resistance. I can't be turned,rebuked or commanded by clerics or paladins As for low Stats, that's easily solved. Break into a couple libraries and read the tomes of "Random Stat up". Heck, you can't die...break into the Town Magistrate and steal a Ring of Three Wishes, then really mess with the DM. while getting those tomes to get stats up is a good suggestion I don't think the DM is going make them that easy to get access too. Even if they would normally be accessible to something that can't be killed, I'm sure the DM would improvise and make it impossible for me to get random multiple stat boosts Wish One: "I wish that my body, while on this plane and in this time, WITH FREEDOM OF WILL AND BODILY FUNCTION, never decayed". Wish Two: "I wish that I had my old magical abilities returned to me permenantly." Wish Three: "I wish that my appearance was humanoid Again, I don't think any DM would make it that easy. At best I would go to 0 or less HP and go into a Coma and they might be nice and just throw me out into the wilderness BUT more than likely my punishment would be far worse.
zerpentor 03-23-05, 08:58 AM	solution is easy... "This character is nothing like the one I started and wanted to play. I retire this character and am making a new one"
sorvikcorsair 03-23-05, 09:17 AM	Something to look at if you want to keep playing the undead is asking the DM if YOU can do something with YOUR character. Since you had levels in spellcasting I would see no problem with this... Take a look at the Complete Arcane, add a Spellstitched template to your current undead. It makes sense since you did have magic. (And it gives you an easier time to get the group in trouble, a spellcasting undead is VERY rare and unheard of. So townsfolk would turn on the party in a split second)
TheBard 03-23-05, 09:41 AM	c'mon guys, what's up with you? This is a role playing game! Afarian, as I can see it, there's definatly something going on here. Some mysterious force making your character undead, being resurrected by this bbeg... Interesting. I would play this, no matter what! Since your feats are worth squat atm, deal with it. You're in a 5th level group and you have been provided with maxed out HP, so survival shouldn't be a problem. Furthermore, you regenerate. That's Nice with a capital N. Go with the story, but you should ask the DM if you still feel obliged to snoop on the party while you are undead. Play your character emotionless and dark, don't talk much und be efficient. Go into direct combat when you have to, sure, you won't hit much but you will be hard to kill. And let us know how this turns out...
Stafir Ortnev 03-23-05, 10:39 AM	Actually, on the still snooping bit. I think the DM was hinting that the BBEG was the one who made the PC into a curst. I say go with it..and play out a curst to its full extent. A note...a curst WANTS to be destroyed...but has a compultion that forces him to never say what he is, how to destroy him..or even to be asked to be destroyed. In other words..the DM has just given you a license to screw with the party and get them in trouble.
Alluvian 03-23-05, 03:38 PM	"All new characters start at level 1 no matter what" is one of the most idiotic house rules I have EVER heard. The standard operating proceedure in all my groups has been 1 level behind the party average. My current group we are starting EQUAL to the current group level but at the start of the level, not halfway through like the rest. A level 1 character in with level 5's is simply useless and will keep dying, insuring that you never ever catch up until all the other pcs also die and meet you at level 1. Then good luck for the DM to lower his bbeg down in level on the fly, or have to wait forever till you guys level up AGAIN to be able to fight him. In many ways your DM is being really stupid. let him know this. He has turned your character into an NPC. You have no choices on what you are or what you can do other than your combat options from the sound of it. What fun is that? Play some Temple of Elemental Evil on the PC if you just want dnd combat. Or show how stupid the level 1 rule is by going into a rage, turning evil and killing the party one by one. Hey, you never have to sleep again, should be easy. What character would not lose it? You are a mage, you worked your entire life for the skills you have. Now in one fell swoop you lose all your powers and your humanity? No, that is not a PC unless it was YOUR idea. You are an NPC. Don't kid yourself. Kill the rest of the party so they are all level 1 then restart your character at level 1 so you are all even again. Remind them that this was all the DM's decision.
Mirikon 03-23-05, 04:31 PM	I agree. Kill off the entire party. Start with the cleric, then go to the fighter. After that, the others should be cake.
Afarian 03-26-05, 12:46 PM	"All new characters start at level 1 no matter what" is one of the most idiotic house rules I have EVER heard. Or show how stupid the level 1 rule is by going into a rage, turning evil and killing the party one by one. Hey, you never have to sleep again, should be easy. What character would not lose it? You are a mage, you worked your entire life for the skills you have. Now in one fell swoop you lose all your powers and your humanity? No, that is not a PC unless it was YOUR idea. You are an NPC. Don't kid yourself. Kill the rest of the party so they are all level 1 then restart your character at level 1 so you are all even again. Remind them that this was all the DM's decision. Well the worst part is there are about 8-10 people in the group and we've been playing since last Aug/Sept. and just a few weeks ago most of us finally reached level 5! I don't know if that's really slow of if it's just because of the large amount of people we have in the group. The fact that we have at least 8 other people in the group would make it difficult to kill everyone in the party! Honestly I think I'll just play it out and see what happens. Right now I'm going to be chaotic Nuetral for the most part. However, If I did decide to go that route I would probably take my time and try to turn the party against itself which shouldn't be too hard because A. about 1/3 of the Party is Good, 1/3 is Nuetral and 1/3 is evill and B. The Evil Overlord got one of the Evil Npc's females pregnant so she would probably be on his side. Another Evil guy is clearly against the first Evil person and one of the Nuetral Characters was told by Bahamaut that he needs to choose between the sides of Good and Evil. I'm hoping I'm still nuetral but it's hard to tell at this point.
RogerWilco 03-27-05, 10:01 AM	I would play the character, advance in rogue (cool abilities, and still 7 skillpoints with int 8, your DEX is o.k.) Their main drawback is their d6 hitpoints, but you just solved that. I think however that this is not nice of your DM to do, he effectively destroyed your 3 levels of wizard. I think a crust would turn into some Chaotic Evil nastry in the long run. Start Coupe-de-Grace'ing PC's in their sleep. Tell it to your DM, using whatever secret method you have (we use written notes to the DM) and ask him not to tell any of the players (just like he asked you to not tell them that you're spying on them) The BBEG that resurrected you has no power of you anymore now you're dead. Keep acting like a spy, but send him random false information. I think the "start at 1st level" rule is extremely lame. I agree with the advice to start killing partymembers (secretly in their sleep), either your DM will need to come up with much more creative ways to resurrect people, or this rule will go into effect. He might actually think he has done you a service, compared to letting you start at level 1, but that's bogus, as it's a lame rule in the first place. In short: play CE and do all the nasty stuff you can think off.
snowlynx 03-28-05, 06:54 PM	It sounds as if the DM is trying to give you pieces of plot puzzle. (Then again, I don't know your DM). This being said, you should look into what it would take to restore you to your original form. (Ask the DM if your character would know of any methods to start!) I would go with playing this character, depsite the drawbacks- it sounds like at least you are a major part of his plot. You might ask for your equipment back from the cleric (or whoever took it) presuming you have your memories. If you must remake as a level one character, ask about remaking as a monster character- with a level adjustment so that your total ECL is no greater then 5. Your DM is being a little odd about making you start level one, and this might help you survive. Obviously, he has no issue with monsters as characters since you are one now, and you can explain this will help keep you from dying as a new level one character every session. If you pick a monster with racial hit dice, you are almost as well off as if you had classes those levels...
darksamuari 03-28-05, 07:30 PM	How about this scene. The party awakes to find you have been cooking. They sit down and you give them some meat and stuff. They ask what it is and you say(bluff) that you killed a boar early in the moring. They eat and you reveal that they just feasted on the cleric. I think that could get everyone mad.