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View Full Version : The Spreading of the Dread Plague [MitP II]



Icewalker
2007-04-06, 03:46 AM
First off, I would like to describe my poll, as it is somewhat confusing.
The first choice means exactly what it says, no to all, simple enough.
Second choice means enter Dread Zombies as a single creature.
The Third choice means enter Dread Zombies and their progression into Dread Beasts, but stop there.
The Fourth means all but the Dread General would be given.
The Fifth means you like the entire idea, and I should have titled it "Yes to all" because that is what it means.


There is a necromancer, a powerful invoker of dark magics, who also dabbled deeply into poisons and diseases. One day he decided to combine the two.
The result is The Dread Plague, a horrifying disease that rips across countries, spreading from person to person, making them all into massively violent undead beings, spreading their corruption. The Dread Plague rots their flesh until they become shambling bodies, trying to do nothing more than kill almost everything they see, often including one another, and spread the plague.


The Dread Being subtype:
Dread Beings, while undead, get full BAB, as fighter, instead of ½ BAB.
Stench: The horrible stench of the rotting flesh of dread creatures sickens even the most hardy people. Anyone within 10 ft of a Dread Being, or 30 ft if downwind, must make a Fort save DC 10 + dread being’s HD or become sickened for the entire time they remain within this area, and for an additional 1d6 rounds afterwards. They must also save against catching The Dread Plague, Fort Save DC 10.
The Dread Plague: All dread beings spread The Dread Plague by touch. Anyone touched by a dread being must make a save DC 12 + dread being’s HD or catch the plague.
The Dread Plague is a disease. Infection through being touched by a Dread Being or smelling it’s stench and losing it’s fortitude save. Once caught The Dread Plague has the following properties at first:

Incubation 1 day.
DC 15
Damage 1d3 con damage per day.
The creature affected gets a pallid color, and it’s fingernails begin to grow out slightly and meld with their fingers.

Once the infected being reaches ½ of the constitution they had before catching The Dread Plague, the effects change:
DC increases to 20
Damage 1d3 con, 1d6 int and 1d6 wis, 1d6 cha.
If int, wis, or cha reach 1 or lower, they revert to 1 and stop dropping, except int which becomes -, making the creature mindless. When both int and wis reach -, the creature gains an uncontrollable urge to destroy and kill anything they see (other than themselves), particularly living beings.
The creature’s skin begins to rot away in patches, and they gain the Stench ability and the ability to spread The Dread Plague by touch. They begin to grow claws, giving them a claw attack with damage 1d2.

Once the creatures constitution reaches 0, it becomes –, they gain 1d4 str and they become Dread Zombies. If constitution reaches 0 before int, wis, and cha reach 1, they all lower to 1 and stop dropping. They gain 2 claw attacks that deal 1d4 damage and qualify as light weapons, and the multi-attack feat, and their base land speed decreases by 10 ft.


The Dread Plague makes living beings into undead, but at no single moment does it pass the thresholds of life, death, and undeath. The creature fades from a living being into a dread semblance of their old form over a short course of time.


If a being infected by The Dread Plague has 1 HD, such as a commoner, they become 1 HD Dread Zombies, as listed below (ability scores an estimate for an average commoner twisted by the plague). If you had more than 1 HD when the plague changes you, such as a leveled adventurer, they convert into Dread Being HD as if you had progressed through Raging Growth. This means that if they have 5 HD before changing, they change straight into a Dread Beast, and if they had 9 or 16, they will become Dread Cheiftains or Dread Generals of the appropriate HD.

Dread Zombie
Medium Undead (Dread Being)
HD 1d12+3 (10)
Speed 20 ft.
Init: +0
AC 11; touch 10; flat-footed 11
(+1 Natural)
BAB +1; Grp +2
Attack Claw +2 (1d4+1)
Full-Attack 2 Claws +2 (1d4+1)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks Stench
Special Qualities The Dread Plague, Undead Traits, Raging growth
Saves Fort +0 Ref +0 Will +0
Abilities Str 12, Dex 10, Con -, Int -, Wis 7, Cha 1
Skills
Feats Toughness
Environment Usually city.
Organization Lone, Group (2-5) or wave (10-100)
CR ½
Treasure None
Alignment Always CE
Advancement 2-4 (Medium), 5-8 (Dread Beast, see below), 9-15 (Dread Chieftain, see below), 16-25 (Dread General, see below)

Stench and The Dread Plague are above.

Raging Growth: Dread Zombies attack everything they see, often even other dread beings, although sometimes they group together. For every 3 opponents who a dread being fights and kills (emphasis on fight: swatting a fly, etc, doesn’t count) they gain 1 HD.

When a Dread Zombie reaches 5 HD, it becomes a Dread Beast. It gains an additional 1d4 str, and 1d6 dex. It’s claw attacks increase to 1d6 damage, and it gains a bite attack at 1d6 as well. It’s base land speed increases by 10 ft. It also gains +2 natural armor bonus.

Icewalker
2007-04-06, 03:53 AM
Dread Beast
Medium Undead (Dread Being)
HD 5d12+3 (36)
Speed 30 ft.
Init: +1
AC 13 ; touch 11; flat-footed 12
(+2 natural, +1 dex)
BAB +5; Grp +7
Attack Claw +7 (1d6+2), or Bite +7 (1d8+2)
Full-Attack 2 Claws +7 (1d6+2) and Bite +5 (1d8+2)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks Stench
Special Qualities The Dread Plague, Undead Traits, Raging Growth
Saves Fort +1 Ref +2 Will +4
Abilities Str 14, Dex 13, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1
Skills
Feats Toughness, Multi-attack
Environment Usually city.
Organization Lone, Pack (2-5) or Slaughtergang (6-15)
CR 3
Treasure None
Alignment Always CE
Advancement 6-8 (Medium), 9-15 (Dread Chieftain, see below), 16-25 (Dread General, see below)

Stench and The Dread Plague are above.

Raging Growth: Dread Beasts attack everything they see, often even other dread beings, although sometimes they group together. For every 3 opponents who a dread being fights and kills (emphasis on fight: swatting a fly, etc, doesn’t count) they gain 1 HD.

When a Dread Beast reaches 9 HD, it becomes a Dread Chieftain, and undergoes drastic changes. They regain an intelligence score of 10, and their wisdom increases to 12. They cease to be mindless, and regain a will save. They also gain a charisma of 16, and the ability to Command Undead as a cleric of its level. They become far more intelligent, and the urge to kill anything they see becomes suppressible. While they still kill things when they can, they don’t have to kill everything, and will avoid fights they think they can’t win. Dread Chieftain’s also gain another 1d4 str and 1d4 dex. They lose their large teeth, and therefore bite attack, but their claws grow out and increase their base damage to 1d8. Their natural armor bonus increases to 4. They begin to command hordes of Dread Zombies, and sometimes Dread Beasts with their Command Undead ability, and attempt to lead groups of Dread Beings to spread the plague to other places.

Icewalker
2007-04-06, 03:54 AM
Dread Chieftain
Medium Undead (Dread Being)
HD 9d12+3 (62)
Speed 30 ft.
Init: +2
AC 18; touch 12; flat-footed 16
(+6 natural, +2 dex)
BAB +9; Grp +12
Attack Claw +12 (2d6+3)
Full-Attack 2 Claws +12 (2d6+3)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks Stench, Command Undead (as cleric)
Special Qualities The Dread Plague, Undead Traits, Raging Growth
Saves Fort +3 Ref +5 Will +7
Abilities Str 16, Dex 15, Con -, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 16
Skills
Feats Toughness, Improved Natural Attack (Claw), Improved Natural Armor x2
Environment Usually city.
Organization Squad (Chieftain, 3-18 Dread Zombies), Scalpel (Chieftain, 2-8 Dread Beasts)
CR 5
Treasure Standard
Alignment Always CE
Advancement 10-15 (Medium), 16-25 (Dread General, see below)

Stench and The Dread Plague detailed above.

Raging Growth: Dread Chieftain no longer attack everything they see, although they often cannot resist joining in a battle with the dread beings they are commanding. For every 3 opponents who they fight and kill (emphasis on fight: swatting a fly, etc, doesn’t count) they gain 1 HD.

When a Dread Chieftain reaches 16 HD, it makes a final transformation into a Dread General. The Dread Chieftain gains an additional +2d6 to Int, +2d4 to wis, +1d6 to cha, +1d6 to str, and +1d4 to dex. They gain the leadership feat for the purpose of leading Dread Beings, and gain twice as many followers as listed, and can have up to 3 cohorts. The cohorts are all Dread Chieftains, leading their own subsets of dread beings. The rest of the soldiers make up an army for the Dread General to command, to spread the plague across the world. The Dread General actually loses it’s claws (and so the multi-attack feat), but quickly seeks out a powerful weapon and armor from the city it is most likely still in, now filled with other dread beings. It gains proficiency with all martial weapons, and retains it’s command undead ability. The Raging Growth ability changes slightly however, as Dread Generals are less inclined to taking to combat.

Icewalker
2007-04-06, 03:56 AM
Dread General
Medium Undead (Dread Being)
HD 16d12+6 (110)
Speed 30 ft.
Init: +4
AC 32; touch 11; flat-footed 31
(+8 natural, +10 armor (+2 full plate), +1 dex, +3 shield (+1 large metal shield))
BAB +16; Grp +22
Attack +3 Unholy Longsword +25 (1d8 +9 +2d6 vs good)
Full-Attack +3 Unholy Longsword +25/+20/+15/+10 (1d8 +9 +2d6 vs good)
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks Stench, Command Undead (as cleric)
Special Qualities The Dread Plague, Undead Traits, Raging Growth
Saves Fort +7 Ref +11 Will +15
Abilities Str 23, Dex 18, Con -, Int 18, Wis 16, Cha 20
Skills
Feats Toughness x2, Leadership, Improved Natural Armor x2, Improved Initiative, Iron Will (B), Lightning Reflexes (B), Great Fortitude (B)
Environment Usually city.
Organization Unit (General, 1 chieftain, 2-12 beasts and 10-60 zombies), Platoon (General, 2 Chieftains, 3-18 beasts and 20-80 zombies), Army (General, 3 Chieftains, 4-24 beasts and 30-120 zombies)
CR 8
Treasure Standard
Alignment Always CE
Advancement 17-25 (Medium)

Stench and The Dread Plague detailed above

Raging Growth: The Dread Generals often avoid much of combat, as they believe they are on a mission to spread The Dread Plague, and they know that in their death, most of the army will fall apart. Instead of gaining HD for killing things themselves, they gain 1 HD for every 10 living creatures fought and killed within their sight by one of their followers, cohorts, or commanded undead.



No major screwups I can see. So, what does everybody else think? (please point out the major screwups I no doubt made and did not find)

Umarth
2007-04-06, 04:26 PM
These seem a bit self defeating. If they kill anyone they come into contact with won't they tend to limit the spread of the disease?

Also it seems a bit odd that killing three creatures would increase thier ability.

Is there anyway you could make them more intrested in infecting rather than just killing. Also perhaps give them the spawn ability so any dread beings they create are under them. Then you could tie the whole advancement to the number of dread creatures under their control.

Shadow of the Sun
2007-04-06, 04:43 PM
See, the disease still prospers due to the fact that the zombies are characters.

The Dread plague is essentially a magical version of the T virus from Resident Evil.

Icewalker
2007-04-06, 05:59 PM
Sort of, although I never really liked the look of that series, and have never actually played any of it.

They still spread because they don't always kill each other, sometimes they form groups, and anybody who was powerful before being infected will grow to Chieftain, and begin to lead groups around to spread the plague. They grow from killing partially due to their rabid bloodlust, they simply begin to gain power from slaughtering others. I made it three because otherwise they would grow too fast.

I forgot to add something, which I will add now:
If you had more than one HD before becoming a Dread Being, you keep them. If you had 9 HD already, you turn straight into a Dread Chieftain. That way all it takes is one high level adventurer catching the plague to stop them from slaughtering one another wildly. He takes control, forms an army of dread beings, and it all goes to hell.

GuesssWho
2007-04-15, 07:49 PM
Cool, very cool.

Icewalker
2007-04-25, 12:35 AM
bump for attention >.>

Zeta Kai
2007-04-25, 05:04 AM
Hey, I already paid attention to this. Nice job, an unusual take on the zombie notion. But, I already voted for it, so you get nothing.

Icewalker
2007-04-25, 03:44 PM
Well, my bumping it back into attention has gotten it one more of the two yes votes I need for acceptance, so I'd say I did get something (but not from you, this time)

And I really want this one to get in, it's the coolest thing I've made, in my opinion. Certainly biggest, it'd be possible to base a small campaign off this thing.

Yuudai
2007-05-04, 07:55 AM
wow you worked very hard on this idea..I'm thinking aobut putting it in my next campain..if I ever get an 'next campian -sighs-

EvilElitest
2008-06-29, 09:33 AM
are dread creatures smart or simply mindless?
from
EE

Zeta Kai
2008-06-29, 09:58 AM
are dread creatures smart or simply mindless?
from
EE

Wow EE, that's some hardcore threadomancy. I suppose it's appropriate for an undead abomination such as this, though, & it probably couldn't happen to a better monster.

EvilElitest
2008-06-29, 10:07 AM
Wow EE, that's some hardcore threadomancy. I suppose it's appropriate for an undead abomination such as this, though, & it probably couldn't happen to a better monster.

Whoops, i was linked to it, so i wasn't aware it was long dead. I saw that the pole was still active and i figured it was on the second page or something. Sorry.
Through the irony is rather interesting
from
EE