Strengths & Weaknesses of the Undead...hmm this will be interesting, the options here are so many!
Stronger at night, but weaker during the day? Stronger in certain places (tombs, cemeteries)? The "Holy light" is their greatest weakness?
Let's discuss!
Last edited: 2022-12-26 16:58:49Their weakness may have been a curse that was cast by the gods.
Perhaps the gods cursed the undead because they tried to become gods.
We could say that the undead are a group of the cursed, with each member of the race being cursed with a different curse by a different god.
The curse can be something good and something bad at the same time.
For example: a human wizard, desecrating his life in an attempt to be immortal, ends up receiving a curse
"imperfect immortality" has become immortal, plus at a cost, he no longer has the pleasures of a mortal life as a human without taste, smell or touch.
As I suggested earlier, there can be several types of curses, so the undead organize themselves into clans, the division is done according to the curse.
One strength of the undead is that, because of their long life, they have a lot of knowledge about history, technology, theology, magic and biology...
Their libraries are the oldest in the world, with tens and hundreds of thousands of books.
Their armies are numerous but more disorganized, many of their soldiers are living dead with no consciousness, just puppets.
It is said that among the living dead there are ancient races that have been extinguished by time but due to "immortality" still resist.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
I already made a large post about suggestions for Undead that probably no one read, so I'm just gonna recycle some parts of it:
Undead Curse
Starting with reference to VAMPIRES, ZOMBIES, WEREWOLVES and some real data, I'm going to give a suggestion of the characteristics that the curse of the UNDEAD of Scars of Honor can have.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
CURSE
▶1.Time it takes to transform : The body begins to die biologically, you
start to feel sick, taking as a reference the time it takes for the human body
to decompose, which is from 96 hours to 2 years, and mixing this with the time
it can take in turning into a zombie that takes around 0 to 30 minutes if
you're already dead, and takes up to 3 days if you were just a result and still
alive. I'd give say it takes from 1 minute to 2 years time for physical
transformation into undead, all gradually.
▶2.The physical change effect can be slowed down or stopped, the curse can
be treated, but cannot be reversed, like a disease, such as cancer.
▶3.They are condemned to lose a bit of their sanity and spirit every time
they die, this depends on several factors, mainly on the will of the
individual.
▶4.Sunlight causes the curse to advance faster, they don't die, they aren’t
damaged by the sun, but they change faster if they are exposed to the sunlight.
Like a decomposing corpse.
▶5.The curse destabilizes the links between their body, mind, and soul, as
they are trapped in a slowly dying process, they are something between death
and life.
▶6.They can feed on any creature but they feel frenzy hungry for their own
kind/race.
▶7. Those affected retain the magical or physical abilities they had before
being cursed or infected, while they are still sentient beings
SYMPTOMS OF THE CURSE
Based on
the symptoms of rabies in humans and adding a bit more.
▶1.Physical change: flu-like symptoms, or hypothermia, drooling,
convulsions, vomiting, loss of feeling in certain areas of the body, loss of
certain muscle functions, feeling thirsty and hungry that never go away,
bleeding from holes
▶2.Mental change: delusions, loss of reason, insomnia, increased
intensity of emotions such as fear, irritability, confusion, anxiety,
aggressiveness, revenge
▶3.Spiritual change: Loss of “the voice of conscience”, loss of
faith, loss of will, attraction to evil, mana imbalance, difficulty controlling
the power of their spells.
ABILITIES DERIVED FROM THE
MODIFICATION OF THE MIND-BODY-SPIRIT BOND
▶1.Ease to detach your spirit from your body.
▶2.Ability to transit in a very limited way in the different spiritual
planes while still having CONSCIENCE
▶3.Ability to possess living or dead bodies, corpses and remains of living
beings are easier to control, training is needed for most cases, although there
are always exceptional cases.
TRANSMISSION OF THE CURSE
Based on
werewolves, vampires, zombies and ghosts:
▶1.The curse is transmitted through bites initially, like a disease, and
can also be transmitted through possessing bodies.
▶2.The simple fact of possessing the body is not enough, whoever possesses
the body decides whether or not to transmit the curse, and not everyone
survives this process.
▶3.Some beings, even from other races, have learned to replicate the curse
through magic or devices to transform others and use them as weapons.
DEATH, PAIN AND DAMAGE RECEIVED
▶1.The physical body can be destroyed, but they can find another living
host or corpse with a more functional body.
▶2.The pain depends on the symptoms they have, they can be insensitive or
they can be hypersensitive, in any case receiving damage makes them more
aggressive in most cases.
▶3.The undead are condemned to wander this world without having rest in the
spiritual planes, they cannot die of old age, their bodies can die or cease to
be functional, but their souls and spirits are still alive.
▶4.To destroy an undead, its soul must be killed. (In a fantasy world there
must be at least 1 way to do this).
HEALING AND NUTRITION
▶1.They can partially rebuild their
bodies with parts from other bodies, which is a risky process if the used parts
still have a link to the soul of the original host and can lead them to lose
their conscience more easily. They also rebuild their bodies with parts created
by their own technology.
▶2.Originally the curse makes them
"rabid" and they eat anything to try to satisfy their hunger, they
can heal their wounds through the consumption of corpses and raw meat, since it
is what gives them the most healing, but they can still heal in a lot to a
lesser extent by eating normal food.
▶3.The frequency with which they need
to do this is less than that of other living beings, because by slowing down
the "death" of their body, they also slow down their metabolism and other
biological functions.
▶4.If you "die" you
accelerate the effect of the curse to become a rabid creature, or a skeleton,
or any other undead.
▶5.They can be healed through magic.
▶6.They can consume corpses to restore
their wounds, what they eat affects their physical appearance, the more raw or
rotten meat they eat the more deteriorated they look.
▶7.They can feed on any creature, but
have a frenzy for their own living kind/race.
TYPES OF UNDEAD
▶1.Derived from this specific curse:
Rabid Undead (Elite Zombie), Elite Skeletons, Elite Ghosts, Elite Liches
▶2.Derived from Necromancy: Zombies,
Ghouls, Ghosts, Abominations, Mummies, Liches
▶3.The undead derived from the curse
would be stronger and more resistant (normally) than those derived from
necromancy, both types of undead are perfect candidates to be slaves due to
their susceptibility to being controlled.
▶4.Undead without conscious: The curse
has been consummated and they no longer have anything of the being they once
were. They have the intelligence of an animal that hunts. Rabid undead,
spirits, skeletons, etc, the easiest to manipulate.
PLAYABLE UNDEAD
▶1.They learned to ALMOST stop and slow
the progress of physical, mental and spiritual deterioration through alchemy,
magic and meditation. The extent to which this is done depends on the ability
of each individual. But it requires enormous effort and perseverance to keep it
that way. With time and practice the effort required to do this has lessened.
This can justify why some Undead look just like “sick people” and other ones
look like putrefact corpses.
▶2.Because they have slowed down their physical
deterioration they have also slowed down the functions their body needs like
breathing, eating, sleeping, etc and they need them much less frequently than
other beings.
▶3.Their way of sleeping is a special
meditation to strengthen the bond between their body, mind and spirit.
▶4.Their diet is of all kinds of food,
they eat raw meat from hunted animals to maintain their maximum strength, and a
certain civilization.
▶5.They have learned to control and
master their new spiritual abilities.
▶6.Their armor, weapons, and clothing
contain a special material to counteract the sun's effect on the curse. (UV
protection).
▶7.They became experts in alchemy.
▶8.They are not "good
Undead", they are only intelligent and conscious Undead, fighting not to
give in to the curse, the skills they have acquired help them to have a life
like that of any other race, as said before, the emotions they have intensified
in them, they can act for good or for bad.
▶9.Their main objective is to have a
normal life and be accepted as worthy and living beings, even if they are
different, they want their efforts to be recognized, which
"Domination" has already done.
▶10.They are seen by the Sacred Order
religions as aberrations that must be extinguished by the atrocities that other
undead factions have caused. Sacred Order religion must not be the same than
the Paladins and Priests, Sacred Order can be an derivated tree of this Order
but an extremist one.
OTHER FACTIONS AND TYPES OF
UNDEAD
▶1.Vengeful undead, bad guys,
extremists, loners, etc who are not part of the “Domination”
▶2.Intelligent undead with a thirst for
revenge on humans of any other living race.
▶3.Undead who have accepted the curse
as a "gift" and use it for their own twisted purposes
▶4.Undead fanatics of the god of death
or some similar deity or entity.
▶5.Wild undead that still have the
intelligence of an animal
▶6.Undead shells where the curse has
been consummated, insane that we all know, ghosts, skeletons, zombies, etc,
etc, etc.
▶7.Undead controlled by some other
group or organization that use them for their own benefit.
Hello people! It's been a while, I'm eager to see what's been cooking these past months
Los no muertos no deberían poder ser sacerdotes, ya que se trata de humanos que rechazaron a los dioses convencionales y acudieron a dioses prohibidos para ser inmortales. Me gusta que algunas razas hayan buscado activamente la inmortalidad, obteniendo esta maldición de distintas formas. La habilidad de obtener golpe crítico en las noches oscuras tendría sentido si acaso existiera una forma de crear un campo de oscuridad en una pequeña área. También debería existir la manera de negar este efecto, invocando un pequeño radio de luz, propio de clases como sacerdotes o paladines.
En cuanto a la historia, me gusta que, al menos al principio, los no muertos sean solo humanos. Esto genera un odio enfocado en humanos y el deseo de unirse a un grupo que intente acabar con los humanos, como lo es la Dominación. También es importante saber que los orcos y demonios no pueden convertirse en no muertos, de esta manera estas dos razas no odiarían a los no muertos, ya que no existe el peligro de ver como sus hermanos caídos en combate se alzan, pervirtiendo así su merecido descanso.
Propio de su raza naturalmente marginal, deberían ser la raza dentro de la Dominación más rezagada. Deberían ser la raza con menos poder dentro de la Dominación, al menos por debajo de orcos y demonios. Necesitan de un grupo grande como la Dominación para llevar a cabo su venganza y su subsistencia, ya que necesitan matar humanos para aumentar su número. Aún así, no les resulta agradable pertenecer a un grupo en el cual no son líderes, sintiéndose marginales. Odian no sentirse plenamente libres, así que entrarían en el juego político para ganar más poder dentro de la Dominación.