D&D Undead Explained (and how to play them)
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- Опубликовано: 20 авг 2024
- D&D Undead! Did I spook you?
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Check out the Phantasm HERE!
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Video Editing by the amazing Bia: / bnazf
Writing, Illustration, and Narration by me: / antodemico
This is just my attempt to save y'all from the inevitable TPK coming your way when you forget to bring snacks to your next game
jokes on you, I am the snack
@@kalenplant2675 Yes you are
Good video. When you’re done with the spooky series can you please help fix the Monk they’re my favorite class but they suck so bad. I really would like to do a dragon ball Z Saiyan thing. But not sure how to do it without it being to OP
WHERE IS THE DEVIL HOMEBREW
So a different version of a bleach hollow?
Tried to watch, but intro was almost too spooky for me, but luckily I had my comfort Pointy Hat body pillow to hand! Best purchase of my life, great video Pointy Hat!
I wasnt expecting dnd shorts to be here
We need a Pointy Hat plush
@@domczixyt707 same lol
Very wholesome, thank you Weird Things guy!
For no reason at all, where did you get that body pillow?
“The phantasms have holes in their chests to signify their nature” we get it Antonio you’re excited Bleach is back-
Haha, I was about to say.
The hole is cool
but the most I cared for Bleach was the song about Milk being a battle track
I was waiting for a twist where the hole consuming the phantasm and turning them into a monster of vengeance or something
@@Trefox87
Call them a *"Want",* a phantasm that's been completely consumed by the obsession, unable to interact with anyone and will kill anyone who gets in the way of their unfinished business.
Yes.
my first dnd character was a ghost. the homebrew race was super broken what with me being able to like, put myself in the ethereal plane if i felt like it, possess people, or phase through walls if i wanted, but i never abused them cause i thought it woulda been mean to the dm. it also made sense that my character was pretty cynical so if my party was struggling with a puzzle or something or opening a door if they asked me to bypass it i could just be like "no its funny watching you struggle"
he died sacrificing himself for the party because he reasoned that "i died once and i shoulda stayed dead, but you all might not have a second chance"
That's a cool character. The homebrew race may not have been balanced, but you found RP reasons not to abuse it, which is super nice !
@@asilnorahc8910 i watched a lot of d&d "that guy" story videos before my first campaign and tried explicitly hard not to do those things :)
@@CrunchyPapa dude that is so awesome
you sound like such a lovely player to have in a game. im sure your DM really appreciated it!
@@hopelessly.lavenderly it was my dms first time dming in that campaign and he was super skeptical and pretty much always tried to target me in combat cause he didn't trust me to not just trivialize every encounter. Jokes on him though, my next character was a monk
I love how he adds lore to the sponsor
Me too!!
We faced 6 shadows at once and I instantly was sure one of us would die. I also didn't know their strength level but I (cleric) did a turn undead, screaming 'don't you dare touch them'. Our DM is quiet for a little bit and then with a sigh says ' You see a burst of light and every single shadow gets evaporated'. I had only just got the destroy undead level up. Honestly one the coolest moments ever for me.
Where do i find the stat and ability of shadow?
@@user-jw9bq3hw1g 5e tools that site has every DnD thing for free, all the books sorted searchable and screen reader accessable.
We made it a spell, following the Lamentations of the Flame Princess ideas.
@@user-jw9bq3hw1g google it
I'm not surprised a possessed hat would be excited for Halloween.
So having binged this whole series recently, I am disturbed by how much I find myself invested in sticking around until the very end of the videos to receive the affirmations and parental "muah".
Yea it's weird right
Don't worry, we also like the little hat smooch!
Never, ever click away before the smooch
The one about the parents becoming phantasms to ensure their children would make it to safety is SO HEART WRENCHING
Could totally make a character with the backstory of their parents becoming phantasms in that very way.
Years ago I came up with a concept for a character that I still love and want to play to this day: a Paladin mother who failed to stop a siege on her town, but mysteriously possessed her armor and now wanders looking for her son. Back when I first came up with the concept, I tried to homebrew some kind of undead, possessed armor race, but I couldn't come up with anything satisfactory now matter how much I tried. All these years later, I find this channel, and a few months after subbing, I get delivered the perfect answer to my years old problem! Thank you so much for creating this awesome concept and homebrew!
There's a race in Endless Legend, I believe, that resembles your idea a bit, and that might be a good place to look for inspiration!
Sadly, I can't recall many details, as it's been years since last I played that game.
Good luck! If you ever make your idea a reality, please let me know!
Or you could've played a warforged lol
Check out the Helmed Horror from Forgotten Realms, it fits very well if you make it sentient
the whole, possessed armour to survive death thing makes me think of darth nihilus from star wars.
I play a ghost cowboy named Dustin Waters under the pretense of "the worst thing that could ever happen to me has already happened to me" he's just a real swell guy and is the designated party therapist
This - aside from the obvious great lore, knowledge and twist thingy we are all here for - also included like one of the best integrated and executed add I've seen like... ever.
This and Brownies have to be among my favorite twists he's created.
honestly, shadows are terrifying in lore, since a single shadow can turn a bustling city into a ghost town of shadows that hunt down everything that enters and drain them of happiness before converting them to a shadow when they die from the draining
This just gave me an idea for a character that became a phantasm because as they were dying, they saw their former party die as well but they became vengeful ghosts instead, so they came back to help their former friends pass on to the after life. I'm going to make my friends cry , but at least I bring snacks :3
Its spooky scary month, and Pointy Hat is naturally ready to embrace them!
Time for a Ravenloft campaign.
DO GNOLLS NEXT! everyone’s favorite demonic hyena. Maybe also make it a playable race, that’d be amazing
A gnoll PCs ultimate goal would be to EAT a dragon because they think that'll please their GIANT hyena demon dad, Yeenugho the most! (also it might finally satisfy their seemingly unending hunger!)
Also they follow the party of adventures around because it's practically guaranteed to be plenty of bodies lying around after each encounter for them to snack on. (doesn't matter who's, NPC or PC alike..)
@@navilluscire2567 "Why are you eating that?!"
"Dead don't care about their body."
"We were going to get him resurrected!"
"...Oh..."
Yay, Gnolls!
@@LexYeen
Gnoll PC: Can you resurrect them with only one hand? **continues to nom nom of severed hand**
I’ve always wanted to play a warforged made from a skeleton, undead things can be fun.
Ooh, a warforged made from biological matter? I wonder what a flesh warforged would look like.
@@zackjones8802 Flesh Golem/ Frankenstein as an easy answer. Or if your creator was especially skilled (or degenerate) something like a Homunculus from FMA or any chimera from there. Or an alchemically created catgirl. Wizards, no sense of right or wrong.
@@Calypso5968 I would thank you for the amazing response, but you just reminded me of Nina. Words cannot describe my rage and sorrow.
@@zackjones8802 the McElroys did this in their EtherSea campaign, their Dad was a body made of Coral but used the warforged stat block
So the total opposite of a Terminator, eh? Robot made of skeleton rather than skeleton made of robot?
This is especially why in my campaign I made the Shadows terrified of light sources, but made them very deadly. So they became something that the party had to avoid rather than fight.
Perfect solution honestly. Make them less something to fight but more like set dressing, guarding a temple. Bonus points if an intelligent undead knocks the fighters torches out of their hand, snuffing it out
I like this, mind if I borrow it?
@@Giosuke_Giogashikata Go for it!
We came up with a concept of a non evil lich who drains magic items rather than souls but scrolls don’t work because they could just keep scribing and eating them
Mana Vampire, lol
Pretty sure that's just called an Arch Lich
I’m also one of those guys who love Halloween. Glad you’re making your videos spooky all month. I look forward to them every time.
what is the metal/alloy in your pfp?
@@rodrigonoffs1369 Double Chromium. It’s the allomantic and feruchemical symbols for Chromium. Feruchemical chromium stores luck, so compounding it gives infinite luck. Thought it was a fun idea.
never heard of chromium, is it on era 2?
@@rodrigonoffs1369 Yeah, it shows up a little bit in the third book, but mostly just the allomantic part of it. It explains what it does a little bit in the ars arcanum at the end. It stores “fortune”, but that’s a difficult concept. Supposedly it’s part of how Hoid is always able to be in places where important things are happening at the right time.
I adored you before but then you threw in a casual Ask a Mortician clip and I'm even more completely sold. Bravo good Hat sir
This really hits home. In 15 years of D&D, I can say without hesitation or doubt that the majority of all witnessed PC deaths ever were from shadows. And usually in the springtime of the campaign when no one was expecting the fight of their lives. Also, outstanding work.
I. Am. Loving. This. The Phantasm is an amazing idea that's definitely been missing from D&D for a long time. I have some friends who've played "modded" versions of liches and wraiths, but they never quite fit the way this does. I can't believe I hadn't found your channel sooner!😁💕
this is literally the first time i felt compelled to like the video because of how cleverly an ad intro was written
One of my favorite side stories I've done involved the Banshee and the idea of a murdered woman's rage keeping her going. The premise is that a town murdered a woman ala Salem Witch trials for whatever reason, and her spirit became a Banshee in the sewers below the town, and the place was built in a way that her voice echoes throughout the sewers and the entire small island they're on. When the party arrives, the island is completely dead. No humanoids, no animals, no birds, only plants. Boom, intriguing mystery to work with, potential dungeon in the sewers, and if it's low enough level, even a Boss at the end
My dm approved me playing a litch as my race in our campaign. I was mind controlled into becoming one for plans or world domination and protection, and once I ascended they lost their control on me, now I seek a way to remove my curse and to attain my mortality again. We are still really early in the campaign, but this spooky series could really help me with ideas for my characters story
Y'know I could see a petty necromancer seeking to become a lich would use many, and I mean MANY poor souls as basically guinepigs for their horrific experiments and research into undead ascension with many people being turned into either soulless husks or literal pools of blackened sludge. *'Unfortunately'* for the craven necromancer, his latest experimental grotesque ritual and vile potions actually worked...somewhat on what they thought was just going to be another failure, another limp body, another victim. Now the furious necromancer seeks to regain control of his newly created sorta-lich (hasn't unlocked the full range of abilities yet) in order to study them, take them apart so as to ascertain what factors could lead to true, full lichdom so they can be certain their next set of profane rites will be guaranteed to work on them personally.
Your PC lich was basically a victim of some deranged ashole who didn't want to accept death and so killed countless others for their craven, selfish desires. But now as probably the first *unwilling lich* you must now face this maniac of a sorcerer who raised you as a potential undead powerhouse and stop them from recapturing you for their blasphemous research. The last thing the world needs is another cruel, callous dick of a person like him from achieving some form of 'immortality'!
Watching this video with lightning flashing in my window at midnight as rain hammers the roof and the wind howls through the trees, in a house out in the country so we cannot see any other house or even unnatural light, so it is also completely dark. Is just great. Oh yeah, we also live in the middle of the bush an hour from the nearest city, so it looks like the middle of nowhere, and the house sits in a large dent in the land with hills on 3 sides above it and long sloping hills down the 3rd side, so it feels even further from civilisation than it is.
Thank you to the random worker at a games store in kingston for telling me about pointy hat! great recommendation!
I totally feel the "entire month of October" Halloween excited-ness/spookiness- I'm the same way, I love October so much and I get so excited!
1:15 ngl but the way the eidolons move and the fact that they’re much slower, compared to their normal sentient cousins, really speaks volumes.
Edit: Also, there’s Revenant.
Never expect myself to stay during an Ad read. Goes to show how skilled of a story teller Antonio is 😊
I didn't even realize it was an ad read until halfway through.
You don’t upload often but when you do, the quality is always on point😌💅✨
Dude that one example of the ghost parents made me cry, that’s so heart wrenching
Less than a minute in and I already had to stop and rewind to watch that poor ghost getting the chair again.
I did not expect to see an "Ask a Mortician" Reference here, you're officially my favourite D&D RUclipsr.
In my campaign I made it so shadows lose all resistances when under sunlight or strong enough light. Place them in a partially caved in building or a clearing in a forest with some areas in sunlight and it becomes a more fun (and fair) encounter.
I've been running a semi undead focused campaign so I'm really excited for this
Ok, I loved the idea for the Phantasm! Just one thing I'm thinking of is how to make death feel punishing but fun. If the soul is so fixed on fulfilling its goal, the Phantasm would probably just come back over and over again? But that could make the game lose some of its risk... So I'm thinking about the liches, I remember reading that they can come back over and over again but every time they do so they lose some of their humanity, memories lost or corrupted, objectives twisted, and so on. Maybe after dying, a Phantasm can come back, but the hole in their chest would grow bigger... Aaaaaaaaaaaaand they could forget something about their past, something that may guide their actions. Maybe a phantasm looking for revenge, after dying, can start to forget what they're taking revenge for, their objective shifting slowly towards "I'm going to kill this man because I just know he's evil", after a couple more deaths "I'm going to destroy evil", and after even more deaths "I'm going to kill anyone who's even slightly shifty".
Ooooooooooooof course that would take a lot of work between the DM and a willing player... But hell, I'd be either of those if I can see such a story in a game.
Maybe the hole can grow bigger and bigger until it's not just a hole in the chest but takes up half the arms and starts making its way down the legs, making it a set of misty appendages
I think that the Phantasm is the soul so after dying for the second time they would just be destroyed forever. Or they wouldnt have enough strenght in clinging to material realm to come back again
@@rosomak-ns4tb I like this! You get a second chance but no more. And with the risk of actually dying next time, I think it gives the player a ton of roleplay potential
Loved the video. Adding my own undead idea. Sometimes divine magic to revive goes wrong. The power fills them but they do not come all the way back. They become a Pyrelost, an undead filled with divine radiance. Simply being near them burns. And when they strike they painfully rip away all healing to bolster themselves. Worse: if you have ever been raised their attack can strip that from you too on a contested CON roll, dropping you to zero. And should you die like that they return to full life with your soul bond to theirs.
I had a glass desert in one of my campaigns. There was a large prison/hostel that the PCs had to go through. There was a ton of corpses mummified by the fire accident that turn the desert to glass (yes I know that’s not how mummies work but it’s cool). Just some inspiration for someone.
More spooky videos this month!?!
That could mean liches, vampires!
It could mean lycanthropes!
It could even mean...WARLOCKS!!!
ELDRITCH BLAST GO BRRRRRRRRRRR
Man, I’m tearing up a bit at the parents just wanting to see their kid safe.
Same bro, fuckin got me.
I just hope they found a good home were their child isn't abused or neglected...then they'd comeback from the dead to get custody back!
@@navilluscire2567 Tbh, either the kid or one of the parents makes for a good PC.
@@gingergrant1057
Most definitely! Maybe the kid grows up to be a bard that can play songs, some of which are based on lullabies their parents song to them, about the only thing he can recall of them. (their cute little baby eyes were closed most of the time when they were alive) Oddly enough they feel a strange presence every time they play such songs, a calming presence not unlike being lovingly caressed.
@@navilluscire2567 Another twist: Maybe the Bard her/himself is a Phantasm/Reborn/..., and she/he plays music to sooth and inspire people (instead of the typical undead stuff)
1:29 Ah good ol' Kan-Ra. I know it's only a flashing image for a brief second, but seeing him pop up always brings me joy lol
Hey, Pointy Hat! Great vid. But now i have some questions!
1 - How much time can we be possessing a creature or an object? 1 minute?
2 - After it failing the save, do we have control over the creature's actions like the ghost creature?
3 - When we are inside a creature or an object and are attacked, do we receive damage or stay immune to attacks and effects until it succeeds the save or the thing reaches 0 HP and we are thrown out of it receiving the exceeding damage? Like polymorph and wild shape.
4 - When we throw the object, do we go with it or stay in place? It is with an action, right?
Nice, you're hitting on the same "problem" i had with the reborn, no ghost option.
Though personally I wouldn't use the "unfinished business" aspect in most game, outside of a one shot/single story game, as that does create the situation where your DM has to be careful as to not kill you by completing/making it impossible to complete your story.
You're just in time! I'm doing a Halloween one shot for my sister and BIL. They don't play dnd, but they're willing to give it a try so I'm gonna give them a ghost story at a fancy party. Basic plot is they are attending a wedding where the groom is a widower, the ghost of his wife shows up to cause trouble, and its up to the party to unravel the mystery over how she died and why she's there. My experienced player assisting me has agreed to be the red herring.
I once played as a ghost huan hybrid in a campaing. Basically my character was just 14 when his parents built a very strange machine.
It was designed to view, a world unseen.
When it didn't quite work, his folks, they just quit,
But then Danny took a look inside of it,
There was a great big flash, everything just changed,
His molecules got all rearranged!
I love this idea! And the Phantasm art? Daddy as heck 😍
I'm imagining a phantasm character who's memory was modified to forget their goal. That way they only have their normal memories and the size of their chest hole to go on to figure out what their goal is. With the right DM that could be awesome.
Oooh~ I like that!
You have no idea how much I appreciated the Ask a Mortician reference!
I'd like to say, thank you for your channel.
Easily one of the most entertaining D&D channels out there and the simple fact that you go through the effort of actually fully realising your ideas and making them available FOR FREE is insane.
Thank you so much for this, and I'll be always awaiting for more!
Because it’s spooky month, have you considered doing warlocks with a twist. Specifically the horror based subclasses like GOO or the Undead(the mountain of smiling bodies could provide inspiration for the undead warlock patron)
I LOVE the concept you created ! So sad and tragic. I'd love to encounter one on one adventure...
The way I originally ran ghosts was the typical “spirit appears to people and has talk with them about thing they want” thing but I’m thinking next time I do it I’m going to learn more into the other worldly nature of them and describe players seeing “something” appear and disappear at the edge of their vision. Giving only vague descriptors and trying to play up enigma and dread
Random player idea: A "captain Ahab" type phantasm who, while away on a hunt, learns that his village was burned to the ground by a dragon and dies trying to get revenge. They now haunt the nearby tavern looking for those who would help with his hunt
Amo tus videos maaaan, hice muchos personajes con tus ideas y videos. Por favor no pares nunca nunca. Saludos desde Argentina!!
Mami Lord
Undead are cool! Necromancy is cool! Necromancers are my favorite class in RPGs! I love minion-mancer archetypes of all kinds and sorts, but most especially Necromancers. There's just something about having an army of skeleton boyos at your side and under your command that just feels... it feels awesome. I also like Non-Evil Necromancers! I know, I know, I'm sure everyone can feel the edge already, but I think it's actually a really fun idea! Necromancy in some settings is just considered strictly evil, but in others it's just a form of magic, like any other. I really like that! And it lets you do some cool and interesting things. My favorite Necromancer I've played is Sir Kairus Sun-Eyes! A Kobold Necromancer who became such after living a life in the desert under the assistance of a friendly, but distant (And terrible-pun-loving) Brass dragon. Life in the desert, even with a Good dragon patron isn't easy, working in the sun is extremely difficult and exhausting, and working at night is extremely cold, which is exceedingly uncomfortable for cold-blooded reptile people, as it turns out. Resources are in short supply, and you have to use everything you can in the desert... so why are these corpses all sitting around here doing nothing? Obviously we can't eat them, that's barbaric and disgusting. But... what if we put them to work? Undead, especially simple undead where you don't have to bother with any nasty soul-based business, make excellent laborers! They don't need pay, food, don't get tired, don't care if it's hot, or cold, etc. Of course, zombies are all rotten and disgusting, so we'll pass on zombies, so BAM! A Kobold Necromancer that specifically makes Skeletons, doesn't make intelligent undead, and uses them as a practical source of labor or martial force to get stuff done! He learned about Necromancy originally due to starting out learning to be a Doctor to help his Kobold kin, and once they were a bit better off he set out on travels, getting involved in a Kingmaker Pathfinder campaign and deciding to try and build a kingdom where Undead were used as the primary labor force so people wouldn't have to do back-breaking work or slave away day and night. Seeking to make an organized and comfortable kingdom for others. Sadly the Campaign fell through, but he was a fun character! And that idea of recycling a corpse, which no one is really using anymore once they're dead, was fun to play as a Lawful-aligned character who simply saw Necromancy as a practical and efficient solution to a labor problem.
My biggest gripe with necromancy isn't so much the *""EVIL""* stigma but rather as a form of magic or force it feels...completely broken, would be easily metagamed in-universe and basically a slightly edgier version of deus ex Machina i.e. why would you EVER let anyone *die permanently* (they ain't comming back, shut up about it!) when necromancy is so ubiquitous and or not so taboo? (in the later assumes it's still a rare form of magic but could totally be used to bring back some important characters a limitless number of times or at all really)
@@navilluscire2567 The main issue that comes up with that is the fact that... not everyone WANTS to come back. Remember that Resurrection, or even Raise Dead and Revivify exist in this universe as well. Why wouldn't you just bring everyone back to life without even needing to bother with Necromancy? So that issue exists regardless of Necromancy or not.
Also, Necromancy in MOST cases doesn't actually bring back a thinking creature. It brings back a Mindless undead. Animating the corpse, but not bringing back the soul. The Soul in D&D is a separate entity from the body, and goes on its way after death. It's why even Resurrection spells and the like will fail if the target is UNWILLING. Not everyone wants to come back from the dead, and even less of them are willing to live an existence of undeath with no ability to touch, taste, feel, or experience what life has. THAT would be why you don't bring back everyone. Even removing the taboo parts of it, that's still a large issue.
Not even mentioning the fact that being Undead leaves you vulnerable to enemies using spells like Control Undead or Command Undead to effectively charm/dominate you, so if your entire party is undead, a single grumpy Lich might just turn you all into his personal puppets.
@@zylowolfzan3345
Why wouldn't they want to come back? Why would a father not want to see their children again after dying so soon when they were young? Why wouldn't any of your party members not want to come back in the group? The whole *"doesn't want to come back" doesn't explain these dead peoples' reasons and leads to a rabbit hole of arbitrary reasoning.* And besides you can very much FORCE someone to come back, their consent doesn't matter to any evil monster or asholes trying to resurrect or raise some long dead stiffs, there's magic to do just that or rather *"NPC magic"* or equally contrived *"story magic"* to make this happen. Why would entire towns of people killed by a rampaging dragon NOT want to be brought back after the heroes deal with the beast? It leads to a Dragon Ball dilemma, death is stupidly easy to cheat or foil in DnD to the point I'm surprised it hasn't quite its job out of frustration, being feed up with mortals getting TONS of get out of jail free cards. Heck sometimes they, 'mortals' just refuse to stay died (becoming wights or aught similar), can you imagine what that would even look like from death's perspective, it's like dealing with stubborn, unreasonable customers!
Honestly the whole inconsistency with how necromancy can raise corpes without souls just to have *guilt free* corpse or skeleton puppets yet somehow it can also be used to make intelligent undead who apparently do have souls stuffed in rotting bodies or else can be FORCED to remain as tortured essences like ghosts by necromancers means you very much can make people, their souls stay in the mortal world after their deaths, their consent disregarded. So is necromancy ethical or not? It can be used to FORCE souls to serve necromancers yet can also raise dead bodies without them...but if you want intelligent undead it does require souls. And what if your necromancers can't find willing souls or atleast not enough of them, what then? *They gonna start conscripting some people's dead grandparents' souls now?*
Then that brings us back to priests or clerics, the divine casters. What happens to the soul of someone who had their soul pledged to a diety, can a necromancy just take that person's soul from a literal god?! And as for consent of the soul, what if a god wanted the soul of a favored cleric to return from death yet the cleric didn't want to come back for whatever reason, they gonna respect that person's wishes? And even then why wouldn't say a lover not want to come back one more time to say farewell to their significant other? Does death mean eternal separation from one's loved ones forever or does everyone just meet up in the same place? What about a person who had gave their soul to a god, what about their family, their children, will they be allowed to see them again after they all die too?
There's so many questions raised with DnD and how it treats death, often times as a minor inconvenience though that can depend on how players run things I'll admit. (or homebrewers, however they've set things up)
@@navilluscire2567 Not everyone wants to live forever. Some people have lived their lives, and are willing to move on. This is true in the real world, let alone a D&D setting with literal gods and an afterlife where you can be reunited with your loved ones is not just speculation, but an actual factual proven thing that exists by the very nature of the setting itself. This is even with avoiding a variety of far more serious topics, but even that alone is sufficient for plenty of people to not WANT to come back. Again, not everyone wants to live forever, not everyone wants to be on this mortal plane for eternity.
As for Necromancy that utilizes souls, these cases are almost always (Not STRICTLY always, because D&D as a whole is never entirely consistent even in its own universe, and has NEVER been. Figuring half of that out has always been partially the job of the DM, and partially the job of "Why are you thinking so hard about this, it's a game to have fun with." but I digress) these cases are usually the Necromancer in question intentionally trapping the soul at time of death, or creating the specific kind of undead through some form of curse or magic that otherwise keeps the soul from leaving INITIALLY. This is where the majority of intelligent undead come from, those who were either turned into undead through some sort of process that kept their soul from leaving (Vampirism and Lichdom being the main ones here, but there's others of course.) OR their souls were actively trapped and placed back into an undead body, (Normally this would be done with a spell like Soul Cage, Magic Jar, etc. Different editions have had different spells for it.) and then controlled through magic. This would be how a soul could be forcibly controlled or commanded in an Undead form, and why the Gods couldn't stop it, because they never GOT to the soul first, the Soul never reached them, so they can't act to protect it. (Although this is of course a big reason why Paladins and Clerics may be sent out to fight or destroy undead, releasing said trapped souls back to the gods, hey! There's a new idea for your next Paladin/Cleric quest line.)
This can bring back to the "Is Necromancy Ethical or not?" Question, to which the answer varies by setting, DM decision, and primarily usage. Some settings just strictly wave all Necromancy magic or 'Black Magic' as evil in its entirety. In those settings, there's your answer. Unless of course the DM makes a different decision. The DM runs the show, so what they say goes! This can be a good or bad thing for your game, but mostly means that you should ask your DM about it and how this sort of magic is used. Some DMs might consider any actual control or creation of the Undead to be evil, and not include a variety of debuff or curse sort of spells that fall under the D&D school of "Necromancy Magic" which isn't just undead stuff of course. And lastly of course it comes down to how you use your magic. If you use the Fireball spell to stop a horde of monsters from attacking an orphanage, obviously that's not evil at all! But if you throw that same Fireball spell AT the orphanage, well, come on dude, you get the picture.
As for how the afterlife itself is handled in D&D, how the gods treat souls, how much control over the process they have, how much interaction believers of different faiths might have in the afterlife, well, I can't help much there. I'm sure some source material exists on it for different settings and editions, seeing as visiting the various planes, including realms of various gods, is a thing that comes up often in later game campaigns and modules etc. But it varies, changes, and isn't often expanded upon completely, so that's something that, again, you'd have to speak with your DM about.
D&D isn't the end-all be-all source of everything we play, and that's the beauty of it. D&D is an experience we all make together as a group, it forms, shapes, and changes depending on the people we play with and the stories we tell through it. It allows me to play a strict Kobold who wants to use Necromancy as a way to make the lives of the living easier, without falling prey to the corruptive influence the magic itself has seemed to have on so many others, and it allows you to play whatever you like, even if that's a Paladin determined to stop this heretical Necromancer from turning a kingdom into a realm of the undead!
ok I LOVE this "Phantasm" Character you described. Its a great fail save should a player dies in game and simply starting as one with this theme raises for many background hooks. Its also EPIC for story hooks in general with NPCs who have died and players meeting them. This is quite good. I'm definitely using this one
my favourite thing about these videos is the beginning where its either a class, a monster (its a monster) or a race (its also a race). its just so funny to me that you just say what it is
Would be cool if you made one of lycanthropes next🙈 Always wanted a weregorilla or were-ape🤔 or if you want a twist on lycans then why not animals cursed into being human/humanoid🙈 or even a greater curse that turns you into a monster type like dragon, demon, devil ect🙈 You already did a hag video and hags are awesome and love the different new types
I don't really have anything to say except that this was another amazing video, love the channel and keep up the good work.
(This is my attempt at giving your channel interaction to help it grow because I love dnd with a twist so much despite not being able to play dnd myself)
I was playing a necromancer and I "hired" a wight tiefling samurai who died in an unfair duel and when he started lurking around the area duelling everyone, he eventually ran out of opponents so he joined our dysfunctional lot, good guy too.
Am I the only one who immediately started humming "It Has To Be This Way" when he mentioned the party just 'standing there' wailing on the Mummy Lord?
NOOOO, not the ghost of whether a villain can escape a basic prison!
So you like Bleach huh? Nice to know.
The Phantasm has some great potential for themes about accepting death and moving on, with a character that is by definition going to expire at the end of their journey...
Reminds me of "Wraith: the oblivion" from World of Darkness (the Vampire: the Masquerade setting)
I made a dungeon full of Shadows in my first campaign I ever ran... And I included radiant-damage dealing items in the dungeon specifically for the reasons given.
The first encounter with a Shadow my party had had dropped one of the members of the party, but the BBEG of the dungeon, who was a Shadow with increased health and damage, was one shot by a critical hit done with a radiant-damage weapon that was provided as part of the dungeon.
To this day, I've never been more proud of a party, or of a dungeon I've made.
First like and comment moment? I get to be that guy let's gooo
Legendary
Fun things to do with shadows.
1. Make a dungeon.
2. Make an extra room that can be teleported into with magic circles around the dungeon. It has no doors or exits besides the magic circle you entered from, which goes on cooldown.
3. Set 10 or more shadows in it. The room can only be left from when all the shadows are dead or after 3 turns when the magic circles reactivate.
4. Set kobolds or other weak, but intelligent, creatures into the dungeon that intentionally try to trick the players into being teleported.
Bonus step 5. Make the 1 of the kobold or other creature into a mage type, to explain who made those circles. :)
In a recent campaign I ran some Shadows as the first enemy the party ran into. 8 players vs. 4 shadows at level 1.
Two characters flat out died, the six survivors had about 7 hit points between them, and at least one pc was brought to her knees crying as she watched her friend die in horrific fashion. The only reason they survived was that their Warlock had absolutely min-maxed his Eldritch blast and was able to snipe the shadows as the rest of the party retreated.
It was rough for them, but it was a great intro for the campaign! All the survivors were very motivated to hut down the Wraith who spawned them.
Moral: Shadows are *cracked* but are great for a horror campaign
I (dm) once had a group of shadows attack my party while they were resting at an inn (in the room next to the current antagonist)
So they were all unarmoured, they had literally just leveled up to level 3 after fighting some zombies,
party had a Druid and a str blood hunter, I had not asked what spells the Druid had prepped that day, nor what subclass the blood hunter chose yet.
The party of 4 wiped the floor with the 6 shadows, making all their saves, and dealing more damage to each other than the shadows did to them.
It was a proud moment to realize they actually read their classes and payed attention to the world
About the Shadows: in session 2 of a homebrew campaign I was running, after they had solved a puzzle, they went into a new room in the crypt they were in. I decided to throw FOUR shadows at them, because there were four of them, and I assumed it was a good idea.
Three of them went down: and i had to on the spot to think of a homebrew thing about them and had them not be able to exist in areas of bright light. Long story short and some “Divine Intervention” to avoid a TPK and gave them alot of xp to make up for it
1:34 - I really love how you say "murder". I think that's a thing with all my favorite youtubers: they all say "murder" in an amusing way.
Love these stories that segway into the sponsor segments of the video. Even if it is just for the purpose of such, I can tell you that I might use these stories myself as well as your amazing homebrews from this series. Keep up the great work!
I agree with the Mummy Lord being a great BBEG for a mid-level party.
1. Mummy Rot can work as a massive plot point to drive the story forward as you said, but I thought of it more being used for when a player character was cursed and needs to be healed in order to, ya know, survive. The 24 hour time limit often means that they won't notice immediately, and depending on the level of the player hit you can tweak the hit points removed. This can force the party to adapt as they could lose a key player in how they tackle combat, as if they want their friend to be saved they would need to keep them somewhat out of combat in order for them to not die prematurely. This is easier to fix with casters, but the threat is also FAR more present with them as they're squishier than, say, a barbarian.
2. Due to the heart being separate from the Mummy Lord, he'll just come back later. This makes an early bossfight really good as it sets up the Mummy Lord as the BBEG while also introducing the curse storyline, then leads to the finale where the Mummy Lord is back and the players know how to put him down for good.
Edit: 8:50 I UNDERSTOOD THAT REFERENCE
I really LOVE these Phantasms! Absolutely excited to check them out!
Had a Pseudo-Ghost race for a game once that my players liked playing. I even gave them permanent etherealness as their big feature. A small AC bump due to being not-quite there, and they could treat solid objects and creatures (not other spirits though) as difficult terrain. It was really balanced as it had a couple of caveats due to the power being based on psychology. If the Ghost BELIEVED it should be entangled... it was!
> Items and equipment on your person benefit from your etherealness. Abilities and effects that reduce your speed (entangle, grapple, restrain, etc) prevent the use of this feature.
I love your homebrew stuff. It's all very creative. The phantasm reminds me of the best parts of both revenants and the hollows from Bleach.
Back in edition 3.0, there was a setting book called Ghost Walk. It allowed ghost characters, even ghost NPCs as common members of society. Worth a read!
21:42 the soundtrack that you picked for this part of the video is absolutely perfect!
A neat thought I had to add even more flavor and crank it up to an 11. Turn the hole inside them into a spiral that grows more and multiplies with more spiral shaped holes that slowly consumes parts of them and make them more obscure and visibly horrifying as they get further away from their goal, but they never quite dissappear, but becomes some whole other thing.
"Mummy Lord are to a Cleric what a Lich is to a Wizard" Now you got me thinking which other monster/races are similar to the rest of the classes!
One thing I like is that Witchlight makes Shadows less egregious (via Detached Shadows, which are technically fey) by just knocking the creature unconscious when strength goes to 0
I once played a Dullahan character in a campaign, one thing I worked out with the DM was that I would be healed by Necrotic Damage, but healing spells damaged me. Was really funny when my character and the Cleric were the only ones standing in the party(who didn’t know I was undead yet). One Mass healing word later the whole party stands back up and I drop
I have been writing a good lich for my home brew campaign. He was a hero who helped reduce the severity of the calamity centuries before, he built cities and freed slaves, but in the process in order to survive he chose to essentially create the first necromancy magic in this world by becoming a lich. He now employs the undead; giving them new purpose of which they can dedicate themselves to and then eventually move on form their obsession and their soul returns to the cosmos.
He has potential to become an undead evil god, or neutral, or good depending on the party interactions and relationship with him. But as he is an extremely powerful spell caster and lich, he’s not far from a demigod if he gets enough souls.
I worked with a player who wanted to be a ghost so i swtched their Adv on Death saves from Reborn Race for a pseudo possession ability. They can possess armors, mannequins, or even bodies allowing them to interact with the material world but if they unpossess they are tied to an object of their previous life and can only move 10 ft away from it (goes up at higher level) allowing them to pass through walls and such
Oh this is a REALLY cool concept, and one I'd love to play with! Imagine a phantasm cleric or paladin who swore to always be there for her grandchild, and said grandchild is the party ranger! Or maybe the rogue is so greedy/theft-happy because he's always focused on getting the share of treasure his former thieves' guild betrayed him over! Or maybe they made a vow to see the world before they died, and took it VERY seriously!
Awesome video!! There were a few times I was nearly sent into a full panic attack after catching a glimpse of a zombie clip (stupid phobias TwT), but getting through the video was sooo worth it for the Phantasm!! I can’t wait to try this out in my campaigns!! :D
Another idea, this time one that fits the halloween trope very much: a person that changed with their shadow. I.e. a walking shadow-like creature casting a shadow that looks like a projection of what they should look like. Sounds like an oopsie of a necromantic or similar ritual of a wizard trying something beyond their power.
I've been brewing a bunch of Undead subraces (ghoul, ghast, will-'o-wisp, ghost, zombie, shadow, skeleton, etc.) and the downside I gave some of them is the No Gut ability: "Consumable potions and healer's kits have no effect on you." A lot of them have some way to heal themselves (like the skeleton's Scavenge for Parts: consume a corpse for extra healing) or escape death (like the shadow's Parasite Cloak: when reduced to 0 HP, attach yourself to a host then on your next turn deal damage to them and heal). It's been a blast designing them, but some are kicking my butt (looking at you, will-o'-wisp: Ephemeral so they can't hold things, and Limbless so they can't use somatic components; no armor or weapons, and verbal-only spells).
I've been binging your videos and cant get over that, by all rights, all these crazy good things could be behind a patreon wall and i'd totally understand. but giving them away for free is such an awesome move that i make sure to like every video. Thanks so much!
!!! Thank you so much for this idea!! This is perfect for my story!
So I have a homebrew BBEG that I've been thinking of as a lych but it doesn't really fit him. He was originally an adventure, a rogue that slipped behind enemy lines to gather information. As he and his party were high level and well known, they got his twin brother to pretend to be him for a few days of down time. The rogue got captured and spooked the enemy army into attacking early. The twin brother, a fighter but lower level, rushed in along with his brother's adventuring group to drive back the army. They won but both twins died that day. The adventuring party went on to stop the war and were rewarded by ascending to godhood (an achievable thing in my world, about once every 1-3k years).
Originally, I had the idea that the rogue was secretly a lych but that never really sat right with me, so I down played it and never really defined what he was. I think he's a Phantasm, and before he died, he found out that one of his party members, the one insisting on the spy mission, betrayed him. The army wasn't spooked into attacking early, they were waiting for the rogue to show up (killing him was part of the deal) as the signal that the traitor had moved everything into position to give them the advantage. They were supposed to win but made some errors. The traitor was never found out and he later became a god. Now this phantasm has been slinking in the shadows, gathering up power, waiting for his chance to kill the new gods, to get revenge for his brother.
Small idea: mana-animated. Essentially a cross between reanimated zombies and frankenstein, undead that fully retain the person that is the owner of the corpse and even have regenerating property BUT! They require mana infusions to live and heal. Healing spells do not affect them, they either drink mana potions or other sources of raw magic or require a special spell (some medium-slot spell) to keep them going. Their body is functional, can even mimic human functions (they can do things like eating if uninjured) and may appear human/alive with certain tell-tale signs. The most prominent of which is glowing runes embedded into their bodies. They are creatures made artificially by mages as a means to preserve people with specific skills as servants, with the runes serving as a means of control. The runes can specify service to a master or faction they belong to, which they may honestly serve or compelled to serve that they can rebel by rules-lawyering their orders as the commands outweight's the master's will.
There, corporal undead.
I like to imagine a phantasm party member that slowly grows attached to the friends they’ve made in the party. Sure, their mind is always forced to be on their goal, but eventually they start to dread that goal’s completion, as that would mean having to move on and be torn from the party. But obviously leaving the goal unfinished would slowly kill them permanently, so they’re stuck between a rock and the endless void. That concept could really go anywhere, maybe they need to learn to move on and accept that their time was already up, maybe the rest of the party tries to band together and resurrect their friend after their task is finished, or maybe even they actively decide to neglect their task and stay with the party as long as possible.
I'm gonna be honest, the lack of content you have is not enough to itch the scratch it gives me, but it's so good
6:36, the Oopsie Undead Origin Story.
Kipu-Men, being immune to most magic, with the exceptions of Healing, Poison, or Magic casted by another Kipu-men or a member of the other Zarvanian Races, will generally not have an Oopsie Undead story happen to them. But if a Kipu-Men somehow ends up undead, they will try to find a living relative to commune with and tell them “Hey, I have been undeaded, and so, I need you to complete my errands for me before I transcend into the afterlife, thx.”
This is literally the perfect race for the College of Spirits Bard I've been working on! And she's a mortician too, so I'm definitely checking out Ask a Mortician when I get the chance! :D
There's a Brazilian ttrpg called Tormenta 20 in which you can play something called an osteon. Its an undead skeleton. They became undead because, for a short time after the death of the god of death, they died, and simply had nowhere to go, so they just stayed. It's really cool
So what I tend to do in my games is that healing actually damages undead including undead PCs, as undead use the necrotic energy from the negative energy plane while healing siphons power from the positive energy plane. That means that using healing on an undead brings them closer to their actual null-state, which is real death while necrotic damage heals them, tho it is still painful to them. A big plus is that it enables clerics to heal certain party members with a cantrip (toll the dead) while it also widens the range of spells that can damage undead. It also just gives the reborn player a sort of setback from a roleplay perspective, as the party sits around the campfire the cleric performing a prayer of healing while the reborn sits off to the side in the shadows, not being able to participate. Instead, they need to hear that cursed old bell in their head, ringing, echoing through their skull, all while their physical wounds start to heal over. So after minutes or excruciating pain, they are back to full health while the others enjoyed the warm healing light the cleric had produced through their prayer.
To add to this I think there should be a more monstrous version. Some phantasms that don’t fully dissipate turn into mad phantasms. They grapple people and stare into their eyes dealing constant psychic damage while paralyzing them with a wisdom save to resist. They’re about as weak as a zombie but only magic or silvered weapons can touch them. If a player is killed by a mad phantasm they turn into one themselves and can be consumed by the phantasm strengthening it.
Higher level is the phantasm fog. When one phantasm eats others it grows in size and can spawn the standard one at the cost of a single hit point. Each successful attack weakens it as it chips down each individual phantasm.
What a great and tragic race option. Thanks a lot. I made a cute ghost version named "The Geistling" a while ago also with the single-purpose aspect. Seeing it in a serious race is very cool.