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SolkaTruesilver
2008-03-29, 10:15 PM
Hi there, I just watched the movie, and when you think of it, the curse involving the pirates really looks cool. I wonder what kind of template we should apply to transcribe it into an RPG theme?

Rowanomicon
2008-03-29, 10:27 PM
I thought about this when I watched the movie.
Regen is a must.
Undead traits (obviously).
Nothing too fancy, they don't really have any special power except for being unkillable.

EDIT: ...how would Regen work with undead?
They don't have DR (as evident from Barbosa dying once turned back mortal).

sonofzeal
2008-03-29, 10:48 PM
EDIT: ...how would Regen work with undead?
They don't have DR (as evident from Barbosa dying once turned back mortal).
Regen might not work, but vamps have Fast Healing so obviously that's fine. Have them take Combat Vigor, maybe?

Kizara
2008-03-29, 11:19 PM
Just give them regeneration 5/-.

Also, skeleton traits (DR 5/piercing, etc) when under moonlight.

I'm aware undead technically can't have regeneration, but this is alot more straightforward then creating a 'special fast healing' that functions like the above.

SilentNight
2008-03-30, 05:48 PM
undead traits, DR 20/- and a +4 to intimidate when in moonlight.

Rowanomicon
2008-03-30, 06:15 PM
undead traits, DR 20/- and a +4 to intimidate when in moonlight.

They clearly do not have DR, but the intimidate is a cool idea.

I definitely think that Regen is the way to go (even though it's not meant to happen).

Undead traits is clearly a must.

SilentNight
2008-03-30, 06:18 PM
They clearly do not have DR, but the intimidate is a cool idea.

I definitely think that Regen is the way to go (even though it's not meant to happen).

Undead traits is clearly a must.

Except that we never see them regenerate and they can take an amazing amount of punishment.

Rowanomicon
2008-03-30, 07:37 PM
Well, I believe that at least once a bone was knocked loose and re-attached. I can't say for certain though.

My reasoning for thinking that they do not have DR is that Barbosa died after being shot then turning back mortal.

So even normal Regen doesn't work because obviously they take the normal amount of lethal damage from every attack, they just don't care.

I don't think they can be permanently destroyed at all in fact.

So, give them (on top of undead traits) fast healing and allow them to continue to function no matter how many HP they have (even negative numbers).

Then the only way to kill them is to turn them mortal again.

Of course that doesn't make a very good monster by D&D standards so for a similar flavour (without thinking about it too much and trying to emulate the movies exactly) give them fast healing and/or DR and you'll stay within RAW and have some really hard to kill undead.

Other flavourful things are always nice as well. Such as the already mentioned intimidate bonus and Skeleton traits when in moonlight.

Admiral Squish
2008-03-30, 07:53 PM
I vote really, really high DR, all the time, until they're mortal again. Still vulnerable to turning and all that, though. Oh, and don't forget energy resistance to everything, and SR. We don't want to aggravate the already gaping trench between casters and melee-types, do we?

Yeril
2008-03-31, 07:50 AM
I remember some sort of un-dying skeleton template, or adjustment that gave them Fast healing 2, and if they were destroyed the regenerated in 1d4 rounds with 1 hitpoint, unless they were defeated with Holy water, Holy Weapons, Disruption weapons, and holy-like spells.

smart thog
2008-03-31, 01:13 PM
I remember some sort of un-dying skeleton template, or adjustment that gave them Fast healing 2, and if they were destroyed the regenerated in 1d4 rounds with 1 hitpoint, unless they were defeated with Holy water, Holy Weapons, Disruption weapons, and holy-like spells.

your thinking of strad zombies, which could easily be made into skeletons

Mewtarthio
2008-03-31, 01:38 PM
Then the only way to kill them is to turn them mortal again.

Will killed a few with explosives. Granted, they probably would have just reassembled themselves if the curse hadn't been broken, but that's just a simple rule along the lines of "When destroyed, the Cursed Skeleton will reassemble itself within...", so you could feasibly "win" the encounter (by "defeating" them enough for you to get what you came for and leave) without actually lifting the curse.

As for Barbossa's retroactive death: Give them a large HP bonus (say, +12 HP per HD, or else bonus HD). When they become mortal again, they keep all the damage they took, and readjust their current HP based on their new max HP.

For instance, let's say Barbossa his a 5 HD guy who had a d10 class and 14 Con in life. Right now, he's got an average of 92 max HP. Let's also assume that he's got 45 hit points remaining. When the curse is lifted, he goes back to having an average of 37 max HP. However, his current HP will drop accordingly, so he loses 92-37=55 hit points. That puts him at -10 and dead. The DM lets him give a three-word sentence ("I feel... cold") before dying, since he's a major NPC, and all the other pirates suddenly don't feel as invincible anymore.