Heroic Undead Campagin: "If I Don't Get You, My Maggots Will!"

[Leliel]

Well, here's an idea I had:

PCs are 1st-level adventurers who have the bad luck to stumble across a BBEG while he's razing a temple of the Raven Queen while searching for an artifact called the Key of The Netherworld. The intelligent item manages to escape, but not before it floods the PCs' bodies with necromantic energy, raising them as intelligent undead to avenge the humiliation to it's mistress.

Now the PCs have to get their former lives in order (being an artifact of the Raven Queen, the Key will let them die for the last time after the campagin is over), while fighting (A), the BBEG's originization, which wants to unlock the secrets of the afterlife for it's own benefit, (B), wannabe heroes who don't know or don't care that the PCs are not of the "slay everything that breathes" varitety of undead, and (C), the shadar-kai, who think the PCs are responsible for the defiling of their chief god's shrine, and are understandably pissed at them for it.

So, what do you think of this idea? How would you handle the PC's not-living nature?

[Lemur]

Sounds good to me. One route that you could go is that instead of having the PC's just being zombified humans, elves, halflings, etc. is to make custom undead "races" for the PCs (LA 0, of course). The "races" would reflect some key part of the undead's soul or personality while they were alive, and grant powers and abilities on par with the normal D&D races, as well as affecting their appearance. I think this would be more flavorful and also circumvent the temptation to min-max by picking races with Con penalties and then slapping on the Necropolitan template (which would have no bearing on undead ability scores).

One of your main concerns will probably be handling PC "deaths." Since a PC will presumably come back to unlife after being killed, there has to be some deterrent to recklessly getting destroyed. You could take a page from Planescape: Torment in this regard, and have the PC come back after a day or so in a different location than where they died (perhaps necromantic corpse worms escape from their body and reconstruct it somewhere else, or maybe the Key calls the shots). That way the PCs are inconvenienced somewhat (for many adventurers, death is just an inconvenience past a certain level anyway) and a TPK means that they lose all their gear in a different location and have to recover or replace it. They'd also lose time and have to deal with monsters repopulating the dungeon or whatever in their absence.

[SadisticFishing]

Wait, Raven Queen, necromantic energies?

This sounds totally out of character for her.

How about NON-necromantic energies? Just regular brought-back-to-life. Otherwise you're controlling your PC's characters too much, AND going against the spirit of the Raven Queen.

[Leliel]

Wait, Raven Queen, necromantic energies?

This sounds totally out of character for her.

Her ARTIFACT did it.

The Raven Queen had no say in it, and the Key of The Netherworld, being connected to the world of the dead only, cannot actually give life to the PCs, so it had to make do.

And no, I won't take control away from them at any point.

[Irreverent Fool]

How about NON-necromantic energies? Just regular brought-back-to-life. Otherwise you're controlling your PC's characters too much, AND going against the spirit of the Raven Queen.

I don't think he's controlling the PCs too much at all. Generally with this sort of thing you introduce it as: "Hey guys, want to do an undead campaign?"

[Tadanori Oyama]

Dipping into All Flesh Must Be Eaten, eh?

I say use the same rules for everything. Same racial powers, healing surges, class abilities. Their in a state of "unlife" is all.

4E rules for undead make a couple of assumptions.

Undead came in two three types: mindless, soulless, and souled.

Mindless undead, like zombies, are walking bodies without any sort of will or thought.

Soulless are beings that are able to think, at least a little. They have an animus, a reflection of the soul that was once housed within them but since they lack a soul they have little power. Vampire Spawn are soulless (with exceptions).

Souled undead under when POWERFUL rituals to bind a soul after the death of the body (*cough*Artifact*cough*) so they retain basically everything they had in life (as far as abiltities). Vampire Lords are souled undead.

If your characters are souled undead now, than their probably something similar to the deathless in 3.5.

[SadisticFishing]

Yeah, I meant if you give them new Undead races, you're taking away choices. Never a good thing.

Why would an artifact of the Raven Queen have any necromantic (raise-dead style) at all? It goes COMPLETELY against her creed.

You could treat them exactly as they are without being undead, but then what's the difference? Not a bad idea, but you'd have to pick certain disadvantages to it. Really, does the group WANT to be undead monstrosities?

Personally, I think it could be cool if all but one of the group were undead, just so they have a possibly non-decaying face. Or, if they aren't decaying at all, really, what IS the difference?

I dunno. I'm just confused at what you're trying to accomplish, in a way.

If you just want them to be undead for story reasons, you're doing perfect, and don't even touch their character sheets. If you want the mechanics, you have complete freedom, as there's nothing about it in the rules, and this belongs in homebrew.

[monty]

I've played undead before, and if done properly, it's not that hard. Simplest way within RAW would be to just give them all the Necropolitan template. It doesn't require being evil (even the sample creature is Neutral) - I'm not sure if this keeps them from showing up on a paladin's Evil-dar (I think Detect Evil assumes all undead are evil), but if you decide it doesn't, that'll make it less likely for them to be attacked on sight unless they run around town yelling "Look at me! I'm undead!"

Edit: What edition are you playing? I assumed 3.5.

[SadisticFishing]

4e, hence the Raven Queen.

I think.

[Tengu_temp]

If this is 4e, then simply give the characters vulnerability to radiant damage and resistance to necrotic damage, crunch-wise. You don't need to modify their races or anything.

Also, just as with the werewolf campaign, make sure the players are fine with that. But, seeing how weird your campaigns can get, I guess they are.

[Thurbane]

I've played undead before, and if done properly, it's not that hard. Simplest way within RAW would be to just give them all the Necropolitan template.

I second this idea...

Oops, 4E...hmmm...

[SadisticFishing]

I second this idea...

Oops, 4E...hmmm...

Yeah in 3.5 that'd be an amazing way to deal with it.