Roleplaying examples of a perverse and depraved intelligent undead

[Starchild7309]

Ok so I feel like I have a pretty dark and creative mind, but I am not reaching the level I want with an NPC. I have an intelligent undead who my party almost has to work with, but since they sometimes just act like sheep and go along with whatever they are told, I want to have this character be so revolting they at least question it.

The NPC is a Tainted Sorcerer Necropolitan...I have already considered, while she doesn't "need" to eat she enjoy eating intelligent creatures, she wears trophies taken from victims, she loves torture, sacrifice, and self mutilation....but I want only the darkest of you out there to send me some ideas as to what other depraved things she could be involved in.

The campaign is heavily r/ping so i love flavor. I don't want to have her outwardly harm the PCs, just do things that should disturb them.

Since some of the themes can be adult oriented instead of posting here, please just send me a private message with any concepts you may have.

[atemu1234]

Play it as a kind of hannibal lecter style guy. Have him remark to a member of the party that they're courageous- he'd enjoy eating their heart. It's in the little, creepy bits that true roleplaying genius is found.

[Phelix-Mu]

...but I want only the darkest of you out there to send me some ideas as to what other depraved things she could be involved in.

*steps forward*

Alright, I am, hopefully, not "the darkest...out there," but I do have my moments.

A good place to start is creative use of Necrotic Cyst. It creates an undead tumor in a target. Undead cancerous flesh is a good place to start.

Secondly, let's get a human element. There are some classic examples of things that people care about; babies, pregnant women, innocent children, the elderly. All useful fodder. This example will use the special ingredient "innocent children."

Thirdly, we need mindscrew. Mindscrew is my favorite element, and a classic of horror and suspense. The key is that something that is normally just gross or unnerving can really bore into a person's mind and cause a very special brand of horror when used in an unexpected way. The mindscrew of today is sibling love.

Alright, now we need an evil, and thoroughly gratuitous, plan. The ingredients are necrotic cysts, innocent children, and sibling love. Let's have some fun.

1.) The evil undead lady likes playing with people. It's like playing with food. Or more accurately, getting food to play with itself. She likes making the people dance to her tune while unwittingly doing her work for her. Lately, it's been a band of street urchins that live in the city. These street children make a living begging money, picking pockets, and otherwise surviving by the skin of their teeth. A real sympathy case.

2.) The children seemed lonely. Evil lady wanted to "fix" that. She made them a friend, a kind of "big brother." Well, it's more of a big brother undead cancer sentient tumor, but...meh...details.

3.) The evil lady makes all of the children (via magic...what else?) believe that they have a big brother that helps and protects them. Big brother is always on their lips, and they clearly love and cherish their memories of him (which are all false). In reality, a bunch of necrotic cysts have all been linked together telepathically, and they now manipulate the children to do terrible things, all in the name of "big brother." The children are unaware of this, and collectively hallucinate the existence of an actual big brother.

4.) The band of children, now her willing toys, are used to do various things that are totally unnecessary to the evil lady, but entertaining to watch. From "finding" dead bodies (of people the children killed while under the domination of their necrotic cysts, which of course they don't remember), to theft, extortion (mainly of pedophiles), to cannibalism, the evil lady tries to come up with a new bit of "sport" to occupy the children every week.

*cracks knuckles*

Alright, that is 15 minutes of effort from me. Anyone up for Round Two?

[iceman10058]

check out BoVD for good ideas. you could have her experiment on living people, doing human centipede kinda stuff, of people with different numbers of limbs cut off awaiting undead grafts to be placed on them.

[Asrrin]

When the PC's meet the undead, they are greeted by a some sort of manservant or maid. Someone who has been pressed into the service of this undead lady. They are obviously terrified but are forced to pretend there is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. The (essentially a) slave instructs the PCs that Dinner will be served that evening and that the Undead hostess will give them the details of their quest then.

During the dinner, the undead lady goes on and on about how fine the dining is. How the wine was a rich flavor and the meat is absolutely succulent. The PCs notice that either the slave is missing or has been replaced with someone else. If questioned on it, the hostess replies that the slave, "helped prepare the menu for this evening and is otherwise indisposed of."

At some point the PCs should stumble into an area where they found out the true horror that has befallen them. You can guess who was actually for dinner that night, and the realization of what the PCs just ate...

[MrNobody]

Secondly, let's get a human element. There are some classic examples of things that people care about; babies, pregnant women, innocent children, the elderly. All useful fodder. This example will use the special ingredient "innocent children."



I second this. Do you want something truly revolting? Think about a taboo and break it.
No, don't simply break it. You have to shatter it, to make sand out of hit, then fuse it, make fine glass and use it for a window for your own personal "tower of evil".

That said, the weaker are the best way to start: children, expecially those who are not born yet!
The princess is pregnant? Scry on the fetus, magic jar him and give the princess the worst "nightmare pregnancy" that you can!
The town he wants to attack has a lot of sensitive target? Let's choos an hospital or, better, an orphanage, maybe with a blast+raise undead combo: they weren't loved by anyone, even by the mother that gave them birth. This made them "not living" before he actively killed them.

And this only for the "killing" thing.
Sacrifice? Offering an unicorn is classic, but how about a newborn one... maybe while his mom watches... and after that you make a stew out of both of them... family finally reunited.
Torture? Physical, psycological... you can do better! Spiritual torture! Create/conjure/find and command a few Quells (Libris mortis) and have them persecute in their sleep some newly invested clerics and paladins: they will lose their divine power without even knowing why, withount doing anything! Maybe he could also send them nightmares of their angry deity... poor, poor them!

Trick people into incest, make it public domain and throw entire families (expecially if rich, aristocrathic and powerful) in caos!

And this is only a little bit of what you can do!

[mabriss lethe]

Why do I immediately think of Richard in Looking for Group?

[Bonzai]

1. Casting animate dead and awaken undead on a child. Then start referring to it as your daughter, and insist that it calls you Mom. Proceed to treat it as a real child, and totally be a messed up obsessive parent to it. Things like lovingly feed it even though the food falls out her ripped open stomach, or obsessively comb her hair even though it's falling out of her rotting scalp.

2. Randomly eat the flesh of various fallen enemies, and then start referring to the living party members as "meat".

3. Describe death to your fellow team mates, in a very cold, clinical, and detailed way that shakes their belief in there being a true afterlife.

4. Be very detached and ambivalent about life and death. Mutilate corpses, and insist that it makes no difference what you do with the corpse. It's just inanimate matter now. Just like they soon will be. Some one is injured, be blasé about it, as they are going to die some time.

5. Buy and adopt random pets, keep them around for a while, feign affection for them, and then brutally murder them in front of others. Again claiming that it doesn't matter... it was just a dog, or a cat, or a hobo, etc...

6. Handle their food and water...with your bare undead hands.

7. Start inappropriate and aggressive advances on a party member. Start by going for a nice passionate kiss, and then claim your in love. No, not in a childish/immature way, but as a dark psychotic crazy ex girlfriend way that no one finds cute or funny. As some one who desperately wants to feel something, anything again.

8. Stare off vacantly while jabbing your arm repeatedly with something sharp (hopefully not enough to overcome dr), and just keep saying "Dead.....Dead.... Dead..." over and over.

9. Collect trophies. Various bits and pieces of enemies, and display them in jars and racks and fetishes. Take them out from time to time and talk to them.

10. Excessive cruelty and sadism against your enemies is always a good stand by. Don't let a prisoner telling you all they know stop you from enjoying yourself.

Hope this helps!

[Starchild7309]

I just want to thank you all for your great ideas....if you got any more they would be appreciated....Some of the ideas so far I can use....currently the party is on an deserted island(or so they think). The undead is working with them to remove the "blight" from the island in a tropic area. I was thinking she would be carrying around this rotted maggot covered human arm that she would just snack on from time to time. She is undead, but its a relatively noew thing to her, so she still pretends to sleep and eat, even though its not necessary. They are scheduled to fight a large creature right before nightfall the next session. I was planning on having her gut the large creature and use its body cavity as her tent for the night. She would wear small trophies she took from foes(fingers, ears, tongues, etc.). She is very "close friends" with one of the PC so I would have her lick his wounds, try to lick the other members wounds. She enjoys the power of being undead, but misses and even regrets the loss of sensation and life so she tries to recapture that by any means necessary, even though its unattainable. She may try to bed some of the PCs. I like the idea of referring to everyone as meat. She will definitely be a pyschopath.

[Red Fel]

I just want to thank you all for your great ideas....if you got any more they would be appreciated....Some of the ideas so far I can use....currently the party is on an deserted island(or so they think). The undead is working with them to remove the "blight" from the island in a tropic area. I was thinking she would be carrying around this rotted maggot covered human arm that she would just snack on from time to time. She is undead, but its a relatively noew thing to her, so she still pretends to sleep and eat, even though its not necessary. They are scheduled to fight a large creature right before nightfall the next session. I was planning on having her gut the large creature and use its body cavity as her tent for the night. She would wear small trophies she took from foes(fingers, ears, tongues, etc.). She is very "close friends" with one of the PC so I would have her lick his wounds, try to lick the other members wounds. She enjoys the power of being undead, but misses and even regrets the loss of sensation and life so she tries to recapture that by any means necessary, even though its unattainable. She may try to bed some of the PCs. I like the idea of referring to everyone as meat. She will definitely be a pyschopath.

The thing is, the NPC you're describing currently comes across as "creepy." Not terrifying, not disturbing, just creepy. So she munches on rotting flesh. So she sleeps in a giant corpse. So she wears trophies. Lots of non-undead PCs do this too. I had a lycanthrope who had these habits. The party Cleric would get mad at him and make him sit in a corner. It's not that intimidating.

What you want is the uncanny valley. Let me explain. Monsters are monsters and people are people. When monsters act like monsters and people act like people, it's normal, and generally not disturbing. (With the exception of monsters who are disturbing by their very nature. Half-daelkyr, for example, are freaky as anything.) What you want is to cross that line. That's where the uncanny valley comes in.

The uncanny valley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley) is, in essence, the phenomena of a thing-that-is-not-human resembling humanity, but not quite making it. As a non-human thing, such as a doll, robot, or clown, becomes more human-like, we (as humans) become more comfortable with it. We accept it. However, just before it fully resembles a human, while there's still a tiny detail separating the thing from being truly human, our comfort plummets violently. Because it seems so like us, but it still clearly isn't. That's where the true discomfort lies.

The creature you're describing is clearly a monster. She eats flesh, she takes trophies, she's going to be a psycho. She's a monster. Trying harder to show that she's a monster doesn't accomplish anything; we already know what she is. What you want to do is emphasize her humanity. Make her as human as possible, to the point where the party almost forgets she's undead.

And then do something horrifying like pick up and eat a puppy whole.

It doesn't have to be a pronounced action. You don't have to go around kicking babies for fun and profit. Richard is an amusing caricature, but he's a caricature; he's funny, not disturbing, due to his played-up monster antics. You want those antics to be downplayed.

The creepiest thing is to have a person who is perfectly normal in almost every way, but that one tiny detail is hideous and alarming. Bring it in just as the PCs are about to forget what they're dealing with. Do that, and they'll never be at ease, never be at comfort; they won't know whether to treat her as a friend or an enemy. That uncertainty, that state of limbo is one of the most disturbing things to which you can subject them.

That, or have a random PC wake up in the middle of the night to find her sitting over them, staring. Just staring.

Or licking their legs.

[Zweisteine]

It's not hard to get PCs to distrust NPCs. The easiest way i to have a traitor. If one doesn't work, two will.

The next best way is bad advice. The NPC says "go down the east tunnel at the fork, and there will be no monsters." Actually, the east tunnel suddenly ends with an Otyugh hole. The west tunnel had a couple rats.

[iceman10058]

Why do I immediately think of Richard in Looking for Group?

that is an exelent example of what he is looking for! why didnt i think of it, and how to build him....

[Coidzor]

There is a feat known as Lich Loved. Or possibly Lich-Loved. From the Book of Vile Darkness, at least originally.

Obviously there must be some undead doing the loving there, and there's nothing that quite says perverse and depraved in the way that an undead that likes getting it on with the living does.

A Hedonistic Necropolitan might be the most direct route for such. There's a goddess from Pathfinder, Urgathoa (http://pathfinder.wikia.com/wiki/Urgathoa), who would at the very least be quite squicky if one knows what she's like and one adds in the knowledge of her as an actively sexual entity.

Edit: An... interest in Daelkyr Half-Bloods (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?323220-Creepiness-in-the-Daelkyr-Half-Blood-race) may also be a very quick ticket to creepy town, but would take a while to introduce to this character as it seems to have unfolded thus far. And require Daelkyr Half-Bloods and Breed Leeches.


1. Casting animate dead and awaken undead on a child. Then start referring to it as your daughter, and insist that it calls you Mom. Proceed to treat it as a real child, and totally be a messed up obsessive parent to it. Things like lovingly feed it even though the food falls out her ripped open stomach, or obsessively comb her hair even though it's falling out of her rotting scalp.

Vampire Leetle Girl! (http://youtu.be/Pcd-oT4vv18?t=1m35s) Or, better yet, a combination Vampire/Slaymate that doesn't realize its situation. If that's not creepy...

[Jergmo]

While previous posters have, indeed, come up with some really dark and twisted stuff, what I'm asking is, what effect will that really have on your players? Will they appreciate it, or will the sheer extent of atrocious behavior seem cartoonish to them?

There is another way to approach the situation; not in the sheer extent of the atrocities of the character, but in the "Uncanny Valley". The undead do not sleep, and their souls are in a twisted state. This has always implied to me that they suffer from a brand of psychosis, or are otherwise insane and calculating.

Have the character try their hardest to appear and behave normal, and have them fail miserably. They should not simply feel fear or disgust, they should feel deeply uncomfortable on a psychological level. Make the undead character evoke the same response as a smiling clown doll with large, glassy eyes, with its blood-red lips and death pallor flesh!

Edit: On the note of the last post before mine, I've had ideas about a female lich who is desperately vain and in denial about the change in her appearance. Both the idea of a hedonistic undead and an undead embedded in the Uncanny Valley would be just... wonderful together.

[BWR]

Check out Toben the Many from "Van Richten's Guide to the Walking Dead". Bascially he's an intelligent zombie whose victims become part of his hive mind, and he absorbs their memories. He visited an orphanage once. Best of all, his bodies don't immediately appear to be undead, so you can never be quite sure (without magic) whether someone is their normal self or part of Toben.
He likes to visit orphanages.

[Frozen_Feet]

Have the undead behave like a completely normal person, just one who is bit of a love-maniac and constantly flirts with and makes indecent suggestions to the player characters. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gZEu1DR2KY)

Then, if or when one of them dies, have it drag around their corpse and be very touchy-feely with it, declaring "now we can be together forever!" :smallamused: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l914ibJRoQI)

"If I had a heart, you'd make it pound" - bone joke! YOHOHO!

[Mootsmcboots]

Have her carry around a "toothpick", which is actually the pinky finger bone of some child.

Or have her carry a pet. A series of dead birds maybe. She keeps them in random pockets. maybe a pair of them with odd names. Like Stacey and Reginald. One could be missing it's beak, the other it's wings. She could pet them/mutter to them. She does their voices.

Or have her carry a pouch of children's eyes around her neck, she takes them out when she wants to see the world through the eyes of a child. Or to snack. Or make them the eyes of a man, he tried to seduce her. He said he only had eyes for her. She said thank you and tore them out of his skull.

Have her carry a bunch of salt, she could throw it at some people she encounters, babies for example. Cause you know, seasoning. Who knows when she might run into that person again.

She could carry a human arm around as a back and other refinement scratcher.

Have her talk about people in her past fondly. Ultimately leading to how delicious they were. Best baby legs I've had in years! Or show up with a random bucket of baby limbs,roasted. Like a bucket of KFC

I could go far darker, but I hate saying those kinds of things out loud. Victims, ahem I mean people might over hear/read this. Don't need to make things more difficult on myself.

[atemu1234]

1. Casting animate dead and awaken undead on a child. Then start referring to it as your daughter, and insist that it calls you Mom. Proceed to treat it as a real child, and totally be a messed up obsessive parent to it. Things like lovingly feed it even though the food falls out her ripped open stomach, or obsessively comb her hair even though it's falling out of her rotting scalp.

Totally stealing this for my campaigns. Thanks. It'll be awesome. A lich woman with an awakened slaymate... chills. She'll use little names for it, calling it "honey", "sweety", "darling". It'll freak my PCs out.

[Coidzor]

While previous posters have, indeed, come up with some really dark and twisted stuff, what I'm asking is, what effect will that really have on your players? Will they appreciate it, or will the sheer extent of atrocious behavior seem cartoonish to them?

Less is more, as long as what there is gets through to them.


There is another way to approach the situation; not in the sheer extent of the atrocities of the character, but in the "Uncanny Valley". The undead do not sleep, and their souls are in a twisted state. This has always implied to me that they suffer from a brand of psychosis, or are otherwise insane and calculating.

Have the character try their hardest to appear and behave normal, and have them fail miserably. They should not simply feel fear or disgust, they should feel deeply uncomfortable on a psychological level. Make the undead character evoke the same response as a smiling clown doll with large, glassy eyes, with its blood-red lips and death pallor flesh!

Edit: On the note of the last post before mine, I've had ideas about a female lich who is desperately vain and in denial about the change in her appearance. Both the idea of a hedonistic undead and an undead embedded in the Uncanny Valley would be just... wonderful together.

I like the way you're thinking here. :smallamused:

[atemu1234]

Maybe have it dig up the bodies of children, sewing them together to try and recreate a child it lost, and have it be looking for specific traits, so that if it sees a PC with the kind of ears their child had... all in all, interesting.

[The Oni]

I think the idea of this character using human remains as mundane implements is fantastic. Moreover, if she's ever confronted about it, she's genuinely surprised that everyone seems to have a problem with it. Her reasoning, of course, is "Well, they're not using it anymore" and "It would be irresponsible to waste it."

[Frozen_Feet]

More like "but you are dressed in dead animals too!" :smallamused:

[mabriss lethe]

I think you could take the idea of the vain lich a step in the right direction by going full on Silence of the Lambs with it.

You, as the DM, know that she's wearing a full bodysuit made from the carefully preserved flesh of another woman, chosen for her beauty. She has a whole wardrobe, in fact, and is constantly looking for "The perfect dress for every occasion." However, Never tell your players what's going on. Give a few hints


-She looks almost human, but off. Her skin is a little strangely colored, but maybe that's just her makeup, and there's just something about the eyes that don't look right. They're always so bright and clear and...glassy.

-She has a penchant for "nudity." She'll occasionally appear wearing nothing but the skin suit, knowing it's so cunningly wrought that people would be hard pressed to realize exactly what it is.

-Her behavior is also a bit off. She constantly compliments other women about their skin and complexion, even caressing or pinching cheeks. Whether or not they subsequently go missing is your call.

-Her perfume is a heavy fragrance that's familiar, unsettling, and completely out of place... Though the players can't quite grasp why. A knowledge check would tell them it contains several herbs and flowers also used in obscure embalming rituals of long dead cultures.

[Zalphon]

Sir Gregory Mirth, (Fallen) Paladin of Pelor

You look upon me with those condescending eyes for I live no longer. My flesh tearing away from my bones that seem to grow even more brittle with every passing night. But am I a monster? I am no monster--no--not a monster at all.

It was he who turned away from me. He's a liar. A deceiver. All I ever did was serve, so diligently and loyally. I was such a good little thrall. Ignorant of my own slavery, but I was so happy. But piss on Pelor, piss on his lies.

I will not live in his lies any longer. I will not allow any to hear those untruths that he utters so freely. My gums black and my teeth have yellowed, but I am no monster. No, he is the monster and I will be the savior.

You look upon me as a monster as I pluck the bits of their flesh from my teeth. But I am no monster--no--not a monster at all. I gave them the courtesy of a true death as I gnashed their flesh and swallowed it down. Not even he, who I had devoted my entire life to, would kill me as they ripped the flesh from my gut and sunk their teeth into my flesh.

I rip their bodies apart with my claws and gnaw into their still-beating hearts, but I am no monster. I am salvation. For I am death. Death is sanctuary from the lie that is life. Death is peace. Death is everything I know not, because Pelor allowed it to be stolen from me.

The concept above is a soliloquy from Mirth. And I believe it shows a depraved side in how he rationalizes ripping apart people. How he views it as him saving these people, but it is also quite clear that he is intelligent.

It's not as great as the "Mother" Undead (which I will be using) or the "Beautiful Skin" Undead, but it might function.

[atemu1234]

If it's using the bodies of people as mundane implements, maybe it should have the graft flesh (undead) feat. She could have eyes of fear and flame, zombie arms, etc., etc.

[Starchild7309]

Well I appreciate all the hard work and thought you all put into my question, it seems though it was a waste. The creepy undead was destroyed about 3/4 of the way through the session, thus ending the need for much of this. Luckily, I will be creating another undead that's much less insane and vulgar and going with a much more calculating and sinister one. While the last was a necropolitan sorcerer that regretted her transformation, longing for the sensation and joy of life and striving hard to regain it through severe acts, the next will be a highly skilled, highly intelligent graveborn ghoul rogue or scout.

This one while looking like a ghoul behaves just like you and me except when there is food around....although for him, thats most of the time traveling with a bunch of living creatures. Oh the hilarity that will ensue when someone wakes up to him gnawing on their leg.