Necromancy

[hawkwood]

I am currently running a game that takes place in an extremely uncannon fourth age. The primary antaganist is the 'Worlok of Dul Guldor', a necromancer. I was hoping that some of or all of you could help me out with some spells for using Guls. I have some good ideas but the more thinking the better. Thanks for the helping hand.

[Feanorgil]

I am curious your worlok what is he? How did you develop him? The reason I am asking is that I am trying to get a feel for how others are developing the antagonists for their fourth age campaigns. Just to share I am creating the morgul lords ( something like the sith for starwars) the old black numenorians, sauron's southern allies, I am making /developing them as powerful necromancers and fell lords of might. should give the west a tremble or two. I hope.

[hawkwood]

As I have said before my game is very uncannon, I started the game by telling the players that the fourth age had dawned as the wise had foreseen. The Warlok is the blue wizard who had brcome currupt in the east and took up resadence in Dol Guldor. The shadow slumbers in Mordor, the Wich King of Angmar sits upon the Dark Throne. The elves no longer travel to the west in so great of numbers since there in a new king on the Noldor. an heir of Gil-Galad. The big thing is that in the game I am running the One Ring was not destroyed but rendered in half, which stell coused Souron to diminnish to but a shadow. The Wich king has one half and the other half is lost...There are a bunch of little things such as the God-King in the east starting to invade Rhovanion.

Yea, in anut shell that is what is happening.

[Camdin]

Here is something I came up with for minor undead like skeletons and animated corpses:

THE DEAD

“But that is an age or more ago,” said Sam. “The Dead can’t be really there! Is it some devilry hatched in the Dark Land?”
—Samwise Gamgee, The Two Towers

ATTRIBUTES: Bearing (−2), Nimbleness (−1)*, Perception (±0), Strength (±0), Vitality 7* (±0), Wits (−2)
REACTIONS: Stamina ±0, Swiftness +1*, Willpower −2, Wisdom −2
DEFENCE: 9
MOVEMENT RATE: 6
SKILLS: Armed Combat (any) +3, Intimidate (Fear) +2, Observe (Touch) +2, Run +3, Stealth (Shadow) +2, Track (Men) +2, Unarmed Combat (any) +3
SPECIAL ABILITIES: Invulnerability (Half damage from slashing and piercing weapons), Natural Weapon: Claws, Undead Stamina, Vulnerability (Special: see below)
SIZE: Medium
HEALTH: 5
TN EQUIVALENT: 5 (band of two)

UNIQUE SPECIAL ABILITIES
Natural Weapon: Claws: The Dead can make unarmed brawling attacks with bony claws, inflicting 1d6+2 damage, plus its Strength bonus.

Undead Stamina: The Dead need never eat or drink, take half damage from physical attacks, heal all injuries at five times the normal rate, do not have Weariness levels, and need never make Stamina tests to resist weariness, and cannot be affected by poison or disease.

Vulnerability: The Dead can be quieted and returned to their eternal sleep through the use of the Voice of Command spell. The spellcaster must speak loudly and firmly to the Dead, calling upon the name of Estë or Elbereth as he implores the Dead to return to the rest which they have been wrongly denied. Upon successfully casting the spell, the caster must make a TN 10 Willpower test. On a complete success, one of the Dead is affected and falls once more as a lifeless corpse. Two of the Dead are affected on a superior success, and three are affected on an exceptional success. This use of the spell lasts 1 round per point of Bearing, and each use of it to quell the unquiet dead costs 1 action. The Dead that are laid to rest with a Voice of Command spell can never again rise against their will.

DESCRIPTION
The Dead are lesser undead spirits, not nearly as powerful as Barrow-wights but which still possess some semblance of life and the ability to move and act. The Dead are petty and broken spirits inhabiting and animating the corpses of Men. The Dead possess only the faintest remnants of intellect. They are often equipped with the decaying weapons and armour that were laid to rest among their bones: swords, spears, shields, and sometimes even tattered old corselets (1 less armour protection).

HISTORY
From the Elder Days to the late Third Age, undead abominations beyond reckoning were unleashed by Morgoth and Sauron, by whose dark power wicked souls were somehow bound to Middle-earth even after death. Some of these corrupt spirits polluted corpses of the fallen and became the walking dead.

HABITAT
The Dead are near-mindless automatons that guard whatever place their controlling power binds them to, and they unswervingly attack any breathing creature that violates their territory.

SOCIETY
The Dead have no society, and lie in torpor until their resting-places are disturbed by living interlopers. The Dead receive their instructions via the Command spell.

USAGE
The Dead are normally bound to ward the evil dungeons and dark strongholds of the sorcerers in service to the Shadow, though sometimes they are let loose to scour the open lands and slay every living thing in their path.



Creating the Dead
The Dead can only be created by a Corrupt sorcerer; one must be totally lost to the Shadow before one can command of the dark spirits that animate the Dead.

Creating the Dead requires that the caster infuse a minor spirit of darkness into a corpse, in much the same way that Sauron himself caused evil spirits to become housed in the heroes entombed in the Barrow-Downs.

The would-be necromancer must use the Sanctum Power ability or the Power of the Land spell in an area that is already cursed or claimed by the Shadow. Upon a success, minor shadows come forth and infiltrate all corpses within a number of yards equal to the caster’s Bearing.

Once animated, the Dead must be commanded through the use of the Command spell. The Dead can only follow simple commands, no more complex or requiring no more abstract thought than commands given to a trained dog. Left without instructions, the Dead simply stand and do nothing.

[Feanorgil]

Are the Black Numenorians that served Sauron and survived the fall of the Dark Lord and the destruction of the rings. Ah.. the scrolls of minas Morgul lie the secrets of the witch-king and the teachings of craft from Sauron. From the rubble of Mordor to the wastes of Angmar slowly the shadow rises.