Libris Mortis: The Book of Undead

CHAPTER 1ALL ABOUTUNDEAD10If a player controls an undead with an inescapable craving, usethe Variant Rule: Handling Undead Hunger sidebar on page 10.Diet Dependent: Some undead must feed on the living toretain either their mobility or some of their other abilities. Thelink to the Negative Energy Plane for undead of these sort growsincreasingly tenuous the longer they are denied the necessaryfood. At some point, their mobility or one or more specificabilities are suppressed until they can feed again. However,no matter how enervated by lack of feeding, undead cannot bestarved to the point of permanent deanimation. A fresh infusionof their preferred food can always bring them back to their fullabilities. Most diet-dependent undead can go for 3d6 monthsbefore losing all mobility.If a player controls an undead with a diet-dependent existence,use the Variant Rule: Handling Undead Hunger sidebaron this page.Undead Hunger: Undead that have an inescapable cravingdo not have the option to not feed; their hellish hunger cannotbe denied. Likewise, diet-dependent undead know that theyrequire sustenance as well. Mindless undead do not care if theirhunger drives them into the open or into tactically questionableattacks, but intelligent undead prefer to direct their own actions.However, if an intelligent undead is too long denied that whichit desires most, its actions may soon drive it into a frenzy, despiteits desire to remain hidden or anonymous. Similarly, those thatdepend on a steady diet to supplement their existence will takesteps to see that their ability to feed is not compromised. TheDM determines when insatiable hunger may play a role in anundead monster’s or NPC’s motivation.Undead HealingA living creature that is lethally hurt may become disabled ordying. During this time, aid or good luck can return the creatureback to health and eventually full strength. Undead are not sofortunate. What would disable or render unconscious a living Sleepingcreature destroys an undead creature beyond recall. (In game Undead do not sleep, and they almost never require rest (thoughterms, when an undead is reduced to 0 hit points or less, it is per-some may receive healing benefits from rest, as outlined above).pqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqrsmanently destroyed.) No aid, magical or mundane, is sufficientto restore the undead to its previous state of animation.Since they are already dead, undead that are destroyed cannotbe returned to existence through raise dead or reincarnate. Resurrectionand true resurrection can affected undead, but these spellsturn undead back into the living creatures they were before theybecame undead.Only undead with Intelligence scores can recover lost hitpoints, usually through necromantic healing (see below) orthrough the application of negative energy. An undead withthe fast healing ability does not require an Intelligence scoreto benefit from that ability.Necromantic Healing: With 8 or more consecutive hoursof inactivity in any 24-hour period, an undead with an Intelligencescore recovers 1 hit point per Hit Die. If such an undeadis completely inactive for a full 24-hour period, it recovers 2 hitpoints per Hit Die.Magical Healing: The application of negative energy, suchas an inflict spell, can restore hit points to an undead. Generally,any spell that would harm a living creature by the application ofnegative energy heals the same number of lost hit points whencast on an undead.Healing Ability Damage: Ability damage is temporary,just as is hit point damage. Ability damage returns at the rateof 1 point per 24 hours (although ability damage taken throughfailure to satiate an undead’s inescapable craving to feed or tosatisfy an undead’s diet dependence does not heal naturally inthis manner).Necrotic Reserve: Some undead that have the ability to feedon the living can use this ability to invigorate their bodies on adaily basis, granting them some small reprieve from immediatedestruction when they take damage. See the Necrotic Reservefeat, page 28, for more details.VARIANT RULE: HANDLING UNDEAD HUNGERThis variant rule is best applied to undead player characters thatare diet dependent or have inescapable cravings. These ruleswork less well for undead that spend years or more locked awayin tombs before getting a chance to feed. However, the DM maydecide to use these rules on a case-by-case basis for NPC ormonster undead as well.The hunger felt by an undead with the need for sustenance isakin to an addiction. Like living creatures with an extreme cravingfor some chemical substance, hungry undead are prone toerratic, violent, and sometimes self-destructive behavior if theyare denied their preferred morsels.Hunger Type Satiation Will DC DamageInescapable craving 1 day 25 1d6 WisDiet dependent 3 days 15 2d4 Wisthe table. After the satiation period wears off, the undead onceagain grows hungry.Damage: An undead’s need to feed is like a mental spikeboring into its awareness, dealing the indicated damage eachday unless the undead succeeds on the saving throw or feeds.An undead immediately gains back all of the ability damage ithas taken if it manages to feed.As the undead goes longer and longer without feeding, potentiallylosing Wisdom all the while, the undead grows increasinglyunbalanced. It mulls over plans that would allow it to feed—plans it would likely consider too risky were it completely sane.When the undead reaches 0 Wisdom, it retains no volition of itsown, no judgment to deter it from seeking its preferred morsel,even if the undead’s utter destruction seems likely thereafter. (Aplayer character who reaches 0 Wisdom from a failure to feedis temporarily remanded to the DM, who plays the undead as aravening beast until the character has fed.)An intelligent undead sometimes plans for this eventuality,even arranging to have itself locked away in a self-constructedvault from which it is unable to escape. It will stay there until aprearranged third party provides the undead with its preferredmorsel (presumably in a fashion that does not endanger theSatiation: An undead with an inescapable craving takes abilitydamage each day unless it makes a successful DC 25 Willsave. A diet-dependent undead takes ability damage every threedays unless it makes a successful DC 15 Will save. Each timean undead feeds on its preferred morsel, it is satiated and neednot make these saving throws for the satiation period noted on third party, though accidents do happen).pqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqrs