George Laking
| Widow's Share & Weregeld | - | AD&&D | - | Discussion |
| Dragon | - | Restless Dead | - | Dragom 40 |
Suppose your D&D
adventurer dies; your companions are unable—or unwilling!—to resurrect
you. What happens then?
Does that LG Paladin, who just a few minutes
ago was
smiting the enemies of God and Mankind,
suddenly turn ghoulish
and begin rifling your body? Does that
holier-than-thou Priest lay
claim on your horse,
saddle, blanket and all, while your best friend
steals your purse and your fellow adventurers
roll dice over your
dungeon-faring gear?
Do they leave your body to rot, riding off
to their next adventure
merrily counting their ill- but easily
gotten gains???!
This type of ghoulish behavior happened
once too often in the
D&D adventures hosted by the
Mid-Columbia Wargaming Society
of Richland, Washington, prompting the
following rules on funeral
customs in our latest campaign.
Burial or cremation of the dead is customary.
In the field, burial is
the preferred method of disposing of dead
characters and/or NPC’s,
especially where a pillar of black
smoke would draw unwanted
attention to the party! Fighters
(Paladins and Rangers included),
however, do prefer cremation over burial.
In any event
(with the exception noted below), the final choice is
left up to the dead character’s companions
and the situation at the
moment.
Digging the burial mound or building the
funeral pyre requires
1-6 hours of labor, depending on the softness
of the soil and the
availability of firewood. Another 1-3 hours
is required for preparation of the body, final rites and actual interment
or cremation.
Preparing the body includes washing it
with the finest brandy,
wine or water
available (usually a flagon full will suffice); dressing it
with the character’s finest robes (if Priest
or Wizard), clothes
(if
non-fighter) or armor
(if Fighter, Paladin or Ranger); and placing
3 coins—platinum is preferred but the most
valuable in any
case—1 each upon the dead adventurer’s
eyes and lips.
Final rites include pouring a flagon of
the finest brandy, wine or
water available on the grave or pyre as
a libation, with a funeral
banquet lasting 1-6 hours afterward. While
required by custom, the
funeral banquet may be postponed—depending
on circumstances—until the party reaches a safe haven for proper mourning.
If the character or NPC is cremated, the
dead character’s companions are expected by custom to gather his ashes
and return
them—along with his Widow’s Share or Weregeld—to
his next of
kin.
The “dead” player may designate one (1)
item of his character’s
possessions to be given to each of his
comrades as a parting gift. All
other possessions—including his horse—become
“grave goods” or
are returned to his next of kin. In addition,
these grave goods must
also include a flagon of the finest brandy,
wine or water available,
along with rations sufficient for a week.
The sole exception to these rules occurs
upon the death of a
high-level (10+-level) character. <9th+level>
In that event,
field burial—or cremation—is absolutely forbidden: The “dead” player’s
comrades must return the body intact to
the character’s holding,
monastery, guild hall or whatever for proper
interment. Preserving the body in such
a case will require either
pickling it in a tub of brandy or fine
wine or packing it into a chest or
hogshead with a mixture of camphor and
sea salt covering it.
As noted above, the POINT
of delivery depends entirely on the
dead character’s <vocation>.
A Fighter, for example, might wish to join his
ancestors in the family vaults below his
castle; a Priest
or Monk might
designate interment among his brethren
in the crypts beneath a
famous cathedral, while a Wizard
may desire to be interred in his
tower along with his magickal devices,
tomes and treasures. Since the
“dead” player is to designate the final
disposition of his character’s
body, a will is absolutely vital!
Such a will should be prepared with care
since—in the case of all
high-level characters—the conditions of
the will are binding on all of
that character’s comrades. In +addition+,
the disposition of a dead
character’s Widow’s Share or Weregeld may
also be treated.
Widow’s Share and
Weregeld
Depending on whether the dead character
or NPC is married or
not, the surviving members of a party must
either pay Widow’s
Share (to his wife and immediate family)
or Weregeld (to his next of
kin).
Widow’s Share is defined as the normal share
of treasure, plus
200 GP, which the dead character or NPC
would have
received had he survived the adventure.
Any potions, wands, scrolls
or the like which are acquired will be
converted into cash values for
purposes of calculating the Widow’s Share,
the widow receiving the
money while
the party retains the magical items-unless one or
more of them must be sold to make up the
necessary amount.
This amount—the entire Widow’s Share—will
be calculated and
deducted first from any booty the party
gains before the DM calculates experience.
At 1st glance, Widow’s Share may seem a
bit too steep. Consider, however, that there was no Social Security program
or life
insurance to speak of in these days. Thus,
Widow’s Share is a
customary way of insuring that a dead character’s/NPC’s
family can
survive.
Weregeld, on the other hand, is a cash amount
based strictly on
the dead character’s/NPC’s experience
level. The base amount is
200 GP plus an additional 100 GP per experience
level of the dead character or NPC. Weregeld
for a 1st-level character, for instance, would be 300 gold pieces,
while for a 5-level NPC it would be 700
GP.
Like Widow’s Share, Weregeld is calculated
and deducted first
from the party’s loot before experience
is calculated. There is no
additional Weregeld paid for class, however:
a 20th-level MASTER THIEF and a
20th-level
Arch-Mage would each have the same Weregeld.
As noted above, the primary purpose of these
rules is to limit the
kind of ghoulish activity which usually
occurred immediately upon
the death of a D&D
character: grave-robbing and corpse-stripping in
which even those of LG alignment took fiendish
delight!
In addition, these rules serve a number
of secondary purposes.
For one, they reward good leadership, tactical
ability and common sense.
A group leader who can accomplish the group’s
objectives with few (if
any) casualties will gain more treasure and experience
for all members of the party, himself included.
Resorting to combat, then, becomes the
last alternative chosen when all other
methods—negotiation, bribery, trickery
and the like—have failed.
2nd, they reward cooperation among the players
themselves. A player is more likely to RUSH to the rescue of a comrade
in
distress, knowing that more experience
and a larger share of the
booty is in store for him by preventing
his friend’s death.
3rd, they introduce the concept of conservative
play into the
game. Players must balance losses against
possible gains to determine their future actions. A dungeon
expedition, for example, is
more likely to cut its losses after suffering
50% casualties rather than
attempt to clean
the dungeon out in a single try.
4th, these rules reduce the “David and Bathsheba”
effect
considerably.
In previous D&D adventures hosted
by MCWS, it was the high-level <9+> characters’ habit to view first-
and second-level characters as so
much monster
fodder. Such characters were forced out in front—often at swordpoint!—to
meet the monsters first and be slain, so that
their mangled bodies could be looted at
leisure later.
Not only was the attrition rate among first-level
characters incredibly high in these adventures, but—needless to say—players
became reluctant to again start a character
at first level after such a
short time.
Using these rules, high-level characters
tend to go first in any
battle simply because they can take more
punishment and deal out
more damage, while first-level characters
are relegated to the rear as
missile-fire or pole-arm
troops until they gain enough experience to
qualify for front-line duty.
High-level characters. on the other hand,
know that—should
they run into trouble—the low-level characters
will try to bail them
out, if for no other reason than to avoid
paying an exorbitant Widow’s Share or Weregeld!
Finally—a BENEFIT
from the DM’s point of view--both the Widow’s Share and the Weregeld bleed
money from the campaign,
reducing the chances for runaway inflation
which seems to plague
most ongoing games of D&D. In addition.
it also provides the DM
with any number of easy mini-quests for
the group, such as sending
them across country to return a dead character’s
body, ashes or
possessions to his next of kin.
| (A) Haunts | (B) Zombies / Skeletons | - | (C) Vampires | Playing the Restless Dead |
| Dragon | - | AD&&D | - | Dragon 42 |
In an article in a previous issue of this
magazine, rules were
proposed covering funeral rites and customers
in AD&D (see
“Funerals and other
deathly ideas” in Dragon #40). These rules
were found necessary by members of the
Mid-Columbia Wargaming
Society of Richland, Wash., to prevent
both the habitual looting of
dead characters or NPC’s and dampen the
ghoulish enthusiasm of
their fellow (surviving) adventurers!
As was noted in that article, burial or
cremation of the dead is
traditional and customary in the Society’s
AD&D campaigns.
Daredevil characters, however, can often set both tradition and custom
aside in their disregard for the consequences.
So that even the rash might hesitate, the
following rules were
proposed covering The Restless Dead.
Burial or cremation of the dead is customary
in our campaign.
These rites are, in fact, necessary as
any character or NPC who dies
while adventuring—and remains unburied-will
return from the
dead to visit his unfeeling comrades with
plague, disaster and misfortune until his spirit is put to rest!
Even if buried, if his fellow adventurers
refuse to pay his Widow’s
Share or Weregeld, he will also haunt them
until such monies are
paid. (Note that lack of burial or refusal
to pay Widow’s Share must
be deliberate in order to create a restless
spirit.)
If the body is beyond recovery (swept away
by an underground
river,
devoured by a Green Slime. blasted
by a fireball or the like); or <it>
would require a suicide mission to recover:
or if the party simply
lacks the funds to pay, the dead character’s
spirit will be satisfied
provided (a) some kind of funeral service
is observed when Time and
safety permit and/or (b) an effort is made
to pay some-if not
all!—of the Widow’s Share or Weregeld.
Stealing from a character’s “grave goods”
or withholding items
from a burial/cremation-even if done without
the knowledge or
consent of other players-will also bring
back a dead character’s
spirit as fierce and vengeful
as ever!
A thief,
however, may attempt to steal from the dead. The
DM should judge the success and the possible
repercussions of the attempt on the type and amount of grave goods
taken, precautions-magical and otherwise-taken
by the thief,
methods used and other significant variables.
Note that robbing any burial mound of recent
manufacture (defined as up to 10 centuries old) will bring back the dead
spirit
10-100% of the Time,
depending on the age of the burial mound.
The DM rolls a d10 to determine age. then
d100 to see if the
spirit responds.
Not all such burials need be of human bodies!
* * *
Under certain circumstances-as noted above-a
dead character may return as a Restless Spirit. Exactly what form that
spirit takes
depends entirely on the dead character’s
alignment in life.
All Good types—Lawful. Neutral or Chaotic—will
return from
the dead as a Haunt. Those of Neutral alignments
(again, Lawful,
True or Chaotic) will come back as a Zombie/Skeleton,
while those
of Evil nature (L, N or C) will arise as
a Vampire of the AD&D
Monster Manual variety but with
the dead character’s hit points.
prime requisites and personal characteristics
as in life.
(A) Haunts
A Haunt is visible only in shadow. indoors
or at night. It may
move at double normal rate and Shift
Planes at will while retaining
the HP, prime requisites and personal characteristics
of the
dead character. It may only be hit with
silver or magickal weapons.
“Destroying” a Haunt will send it away for
1-6 days (DM’s
determination), during which time it will
regenerate its HP and
return. For this reason, no experience
is earned for destroying a
Haunt!
While it cannot attack, move objects or
affect the material world
in a direct sense, it does have the following
capabilities:
(1) Curse—Visit a -1
to -5 “to hit” curse on all characters
directly or indirectly
responsible for its return from the dead;
(2) Misfortune—Reduce
all experience bonuses to zero and/or
reduce experience gained
by 10-50% for each adventure until it is
laid to rest;
(3) Corrupt Food and
Drink—Done magically, the Haunt must
touch the food or drink
to be spoiled. This can be reversed by a
Purify
Food and Drink spell or by other means which might be at a
character’s disposal.
(4) Create FEAR
in Animals—This affects horses and mules
in
particular, but all
other animals (including Familiars) are also affected. Exactly what form
this fear takes—panicked flight, freezing in
place, throwing a rider
or the like-is left up to the DM’s discretion.
The Haunt must be visible
to the animals in order to affect them;
(5) Disturb Slumber—Through
actual “chain rattling” or
nightmares, slowing
the natural recovery of HP or reducing
STR and DEX bonuses
due to lack of sleep;
(6) Reduce CHA—While
the Haunt “lives,” NPC’s will
greet his unfortunate
comrades with reactions ranging from openly
hostile
(pelting the party with stones to drive them away) to merely
neutral (sullen withdrawal
at the earliest opportunity). In addition,
each character directly
or indirectly involved with the creation of the
Haunt will suffer a
– 25% reaction modifier when dealing with their (-5 to TALK)
own henchmen and hirelings;
(7) Other abilities—As
assigned by the DM appropriate to the
dead character’s vocation.
An Exorcise
spell may send a Haunt away for 1-3 months, but it
will always return! The only sure way to
lay a Haunt to REST is to
recover the body (or bones), perform a
proper burial/cremation with
all due ceremony, pay any Widow’s Share
or Weregeld due, recover
any grave goods stolen and return them
to the burial site, and
otherwise correct whatever the original
condition was for creating
the Haunt in the first place.
(B)Zombie/Skeletons
A physical manifestation of the dead in
the material world. The
Restless Spirit literally animates his
lifeless corpse and seeks out
those responsible—directly or indirectly—for
bringing him back
from the dead! If the body of a Zombie
or Skeleton is destroyed the
spirit will return either as a Haunt
or a Vampire, depending on the
character’s overall actions while alive
as determined by the DM.
While the animated corpse has the same
HP as the living
character in addition to the special characteristics
of an AD&D
Zombie, it does not have magical protection
from decomposition
like a “normal” Zombie. Therefore, the
flesh will putrify and slough
off in 7 days plus 3-30 days, leaving a
fleshless—and mobile—
skeleton.
Of course, if the spirit returns to a fresh
corpse in winter‚ decomposition will not set in until the spring!
In the Zombie state. the spirit can infect
anyone-character or
NPC—with a slow. fatal rotting disease
which it will attempt to
transmit by touch to every character responsible
for its return. As it.
must walk (Zombies Create Fear in Animals
as do Haunts), it may
not be able to reach all such characters
before decomposition terminates this ability.
As a skeleton, the restless spirit has
the same characteristics as an
AD&D Monster Manual Skeleton.
It will attack, obstruct and harass
each character in turn until laid to rest.
In either condition. the Zombie/Skeleton
will reduce a character’s CHA to the
lowest number normally possible for that
character while it is present. NPC’s, for
example. will react with open
hostility to the unfortunate character,
while all his henchmen and
hirelings
will FLEE with their animals and possessions as soon as the
Zombie/Skeleton appears!
The Zombie/Skeleton may be attacked and
destroyed-even
ground to dust or burned— but it will always
return in 1-6 days in the
same state as before its “destruction.”
An Exorcise spell will drive it
away for 1-3 months but, like the Haunt,
it will always return. (It must
be remembered that-unlike the AD&D
Zombie or Skeleton-this
spirit is an independent, intelligent entity
whose sole purpose is to
return to the dead).
An alternate-though risky-method would be
to resurrect the
dead character on the spot.
It may be laid to REST
in the same manner as a Haunt with one
exception: Since the body is already present
in the form of the
Zombie/Skeleton, no attempt need be made
to “recover” the
corpse. The body need only be carried to
the place of death or-in
the case of a character dying in a dungeon,
for instance-the general
vicinity thereof, and the proper rites
observed.
This would first require a Restoration
spell to return the corpse to
the same condition it had at the moment
of death, followed by a
Resurrection
spell to restore the dead character’s spirit to the Material Plane. While
in itself this procedure is risky enough, the true risk
would be the “dead” character’s reaction
to being restored to life.
After being abandoned by his comrades,
having his possessions
stolen and forced to suffer the unspeakable
agonies of being trapped
midway between the worlds of the living
and the dead, he might
prove less than grateful for a 2nd chance!
At the very least, he
would probably choose his sword-brothers
more carefully in the
future.
(C) Vampires
Evil characters always return from the
dead with all the capabilities of an AD&D Vampire,
in addition to the HP, prime
requisites and personal traits of their
character while living. Due to
the circumstances of their creation, they
are completely independent
of any other vampire.
While it is possible that they may seek
revenge against those
characters responsible for their vampiric
condition, it is not necessay for them to do so. They will, however, absolutely
resist any
attempt to return them to the Dead!
(Note that a character of any alignment
who commits suicide will
return as a vampire unless the appropriate
steps are taken at his
burial: stake through the heart, head cut
off, mouth stuffed with
garlic and the like. Such suicides must
be purposeful-unrequited
love or a point of honor, for example—with
the DM’s discretion
strongly advised).
Playing the Restless
Dead
4 Restless spirits may be handled in 1
of 2 ways at the DM’s
pleasure: either continued as PCs or “recreated”
as
NPC’s.
It is strongly advised that the restless
dead be treated as NPC’s.
Allowing a player to run his “Undead” character
has this major
disadvantage: If he is successful, he will
have killed off all the other
PCs in the campaign while (if he fails)
his character will
be utterly and irrevocably dead!
In the campaign hosted by MCWS, the
undead are treated as
NPC’s with +additional+ “turn of the screw”:
a player cannot
return to the
campaign with a new character until his old character’s
spirit is finally laid to rest.
Using these suggestions to enforce a (minimum)
respect for the
dead should eliminate much of the ghoulish-not
to mention Chaotic-behavior from your campaigners. Your players will be
quick
(though not necessarily keen!) to observe
customary rites and the
payment of Weregeld.
Thus armed, you as a DM can now teach your
players a new meaning to those sad and
final words:
REST IN PEACE!