Special Conversion Thread: Moldvay's Undead

[Cleon]

Hehehe, I'm assuming Cleon is kidding on the weapon and that a keen wounding longsword works.

I didn't for nothing.

Don't make me mercifully touch your ghost!

Isn't that illegal in most states?

 

[Cleon]

But of course! Those just seemed no-brainers to get the ball rolling.

Well we'll want to start with an amulet of health, cloak of the bat and a few potions of gaseous form.









Okay, I've got over that.

How about a darkskull?

 

[Shade]

Cloak of the bat was the first thing I though of...before I sobered up.

A darkskull is a great idea!

Some more:
Amulet of mighty fists
Boots of teleportation
Dust of dryness (to avoid that pesky "can't cross water" weakness)
Glove of storing (to quickly "sheathe" his sword when energy drain is preferable)
Portable hole (for taking his coffin "on the go")

 

[Cleon]

Cloak of the bat was the first thing I though of...before I sobered up.

A darkskull is a great idea!

Some more:
Amulet of mighty fists
Boots of teleportation
Dust of dryness (to avoid that pesky "can't cross water" weakness)
Glove of storing (to quickly "sheathe" his sword when energy drain is preferable)
Portable hole (for taking his coffin "on the go")

That seems like a lot of magic.

Perhaps we should settle on an approximate budget before we assign magic items?

What's the standard treasure value of a 12-14th level character again?

 

[Shade]

I wasn't suggesting we give him all of that! I was just throwing ideas around.

Why 12th-14th? Dude's got 18 HD and is treated as an 18th-level fighter!

18th-level NPC gear: 130,000 gp

Although, as essentially someone with the vampire and vampire lord template, his CR is going to be CR 23, with "Quadruple standard" treasure, yielding average treasure value of 424,000 gp. That compares favorably to an 18th-level PC's gear (440,000 gp). As a unique "boss monster", I'm comfortable giving him that much.

 

[freyar]

Going with the 400,000+ gp treasure can let him buy all Shade's suggested items (including the cloak and ring) with +5 on cloak, ring, and amulet and still have money left over. So it's a start.

 

[Cleon]

I wasn't suggesting we give him all of that! I was just throwing ideas around.

Why 12th-14th? Dude's got 18 HD and is treated as an 18th-level fighter!

Sorry, I forgotten we'd given him a 50% boost.

18th-level NPC gear: 130,000 gp

Although, as essentially someone with the vampire and vampire lord template, his CR is going to be CR 23, with "Quadruple standard" treasure, yielding average treasure value of 424,000 gp. That compares favorably to an 18th-level PC's gear (440,000 gp). As a unique "boss monster", I'm comfortable giving him that much.

424,000 is a good ballpark figure.

We can afford a good many additional properties on the sword. I'm thinking speed and icy.

+1 keen wounding icy speed longsword - that's a +8 total, and we might as well spring the extra 3,000 for adamantine. Total cost of 131,315 gp.

As well as a darkskull I would like to give him an obsidian steed - it'd explain how he gets from Earth to whatever Material Plane the adventurers are on!

What defensive magic shall we give him?

 

[freyar]

Well, a cloak of resistance +5 and a ring of protection +5 were the starting points. I think, to be honest, with Shade's list and the super-longsword, we're getting close to the budget. The steed might be cheap enough to fit in there, but we should total it up. I'm too tired at the moment, though.

 

[Cleon]

Well let's see.

+1 keen wounding icy speed longsword - 131,315 gp
darkskull - 60,000 gp
obsidian steed - 28,500 gp
+5 cloak of resistance - 25,000 gp
+5 ring of protection - 50,000 gp
boots of teleportation - 49,000 gp
portable hole - 20,000 gp
glove of storing - 10,000 gp
dust of dryness - 850 gp
+2 amulet of mighty fists - 24,000 gp

Total - 398,665 gp

That leaves 25,335 gp, enough for a ring of evasion or +5 bracers of armour.

I prefer the ring.

 

[freyar]

I think I'd go for the ring, too. And since the dust is so cheap, we can just tack on a few extra doses if we want.