Greywander
2022-01-31, 08:49 PM
I'm touching up a homebrew undead race for D&D 5e, and one of the traits they have is that they automatically stabilize when they hit 0 HP, and can't be killed except by specific ways. This is partially to balance out the fact that a lot of healing magic doesn't work on undead. I just thought I'd ask here to see if anyone can think of some ways of killing these undead that I haven't thought of yet. You don't really need to know anything about 5e for this, I'll do my best to explain it in a system agnostic way. Something I should probably make clear is that this is meant to be a playable race, though you could also expect to face hostile NPCs of this race as well.
Anyway, here's my current list of ways that these undead can be killed.
Massive Damage. Normally in D&D 5e, when a character drops to 0 hit points, they start bleeding out instead of dying immediately. But 5e has rules for instantly killing a character if they take enough damage all in one blow. This is enough to kill these undead as well.
Instant Death Effects. Some effects, such as Power Word: Kill, can kill the target without actually reducing their HP. The target just dies.
Disintegration. Notably the Disintegrate spell, which specifically reduces you to a pile of dust if it drops you to 0 HP.
Body Destroyed by Acid or Fire. The way I've implemented this is that acid or fire damage taken while at 0 HP will instead reduce your max HP, and the undead will die if their max HP reaches 0. Fire is the obvious choice, but I also specifically chose acid because one of the subtypes of undead is a vampire-esque creature who takes acid damage from running water. So dropping them in a river can kill them. (In fact, each subtype has a specific weakness that relates to one of the methods of killing them, making them especially susceptible to that method.)
Being Slain Inside an Anti-Magic Field. The anti-magic field suppresses the supernatural energies that keep the undead animated, allowing them to be killed as easily as any mortal while inside the field. If pulled outside the field before they expire, the feature reactivates, stabilizing them.
Destroying the Lichstone. Each of these undead has their heart replaced by a large black pearl (called a lichstone) that acts as a link to the negative energies that sustain them. Destroying the stone will kill them. The stone isn't vulnerable until the undead is knocked out, and even then it can only be damaged by a magical weapon.
Taking Radiant Damage. Radiant is 5e's "holy" damage type. An undead who gets reduced to 0 HP by radiant damage, or takes radiant damage while at 0 HP, will begin bleeding out like any other creature who gets reduced to 0 HP.
Something I'm sure will get mentioned is cutting off the head. The issue with that is that there are two subtypes (a skeleton and Frankenstein-style patchwork corpse) that can freely remove and reattach body parts, which includes their head. There's also two ghostly subtypes that arguably lack the physicality to lose body parts in the first place, e.g. if you cut off their head it will just evaporate and reappear on their body.
What are some other weaknesses I could give them? I already have some common ones, like fire, and pushing them off somewhere very high (death by massive damage), but it wouldn't hurt to add another one. Maybe we could also add some more niche and interesting methods of killing them?
Anyway, here's my current list of ways that these undead can be killed.
Massive Damage. Normally in D&D 5e, when a character drops to 0 hit points, they start bleeding out instead of dying immediately. But 5e has rules for instantly killing a character if they take enough damage all in one blow. This is enough to kill these undead as well.
Instant Death Effects. Some effects, such as Power Word: Kill, can kill the target without actually reducing their HP. The target just dies.
Disintegration. Notably the Disintegrate spell, which specifically reduces you to a pile of dust if it drops you to 0 HP.
Body Destroyed by Acid or Fire. The way I've implemented this is that acid or fire damage taken while at 0 HP will instead reduce your max HP, and the undead will die if their max HP reaches 0. Fire is the obvious choice, but I also specifically chose acid because one of the subtypes of undead is a vampire-esque creature who takes acid damage from running water. So dropping them in a river can kill them. (In fact, each subtype has a specific weakness that relates to one of the methods of killing them, making them especially susceptible to that method.)
Being Slain Inside an Anti-Magic Field. The anti-magic field suppresses the supernatural energies that keep the undead animated, allowing them to be killed as easily as any mortal while inside the field. If pulled outside the field before they expire, the feature reactivates, stabilizing them.
Destroying the Lichstone. Each of these undead has their heart replaced by a large black pearl (called a lichstone) that acts as a link to the negative energies that sustain them. Destroying the stone will kill them. The stone isn't vulnerable until the undead is knocked out, and even then it can only be damaged by a magical weapon.
Taking Radiant Damage. Radiant is 5e's "holy" damage type. An undead who gets reduced to 0 HP by radiant damage, or takes radiant damage while at 0 HP, will begin bleeding out like any other creature who gets reduced to 0 HP.
Something I'm sure will get mentioned is cutting off the head. The issue with that is that there are two subtypes (a skeleton and Frankenstein-style patchwork corpse) that can freely remove and reattach body parts, which includes their head. There's also two ghostly subtypes that arguably lack the physicality to lose body parts in the first place, e.g. if you cut off their head it will just evaporate and reappear on their body.
What are some other weaknesses I could give them? I already have some common ones, like fire, and pushing them off somewhere very high (death by massive damage), but it wouldn't hurt to add another one. Maybe we could also add some more niche and interesting methods of killing them?