Author Topic: Blind Dead  (Read 2492 times)

Offline Skyrock

  • DnD Handbook Writer
  • ****
  • Posts: 1789
    • View Profile
Blind Dead
« on: May 31, 2020, 05:42:20 PM »

Legend has it that in the abandoned medieval town of Berzano, at the border between Spain and Portugal, the Knights Templar leave their tombs at night and come back from the dead as revenants. The reanimated corpses are blind, because their eyes were pecked out by birds while their hanged bodies rotted on the gallows.

In other milieus, they may come from heretical and evil off-shoot orders from local faiths, or have an entirely different background.

Blind DeadHD: d12


Level
1
2
3
4
5
Base
Attack
Bonus
+1
+2
+3
+4
+5

Fort
Save
+2
+3
+3
+4
+4

Ref
Save
+0
+0
+1
+1
+1

Will
Save
+0
+0
+1
+1
+1


Special
Blind Dead body, Anti-Paladin, Blindsight, Maneuvers, Zeno Teleport, +1 Str
Deadly Touch, +1 Str
Aura of Loud Step, +1 Str
Blind Dead Spawn, +1 Str
Special Mount, +1 Str

Maneuvers
Known
4
5
6
7
8

Maneuvers
Readied
3
3
4
4
5

Stances
Known
1
1
1
1
2
Skills: 2+Int mod, quadruple at first level, class skills:  Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), and Sense Motive (Wis)

Proficiencies: Blind Dead are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with light and medium armor, and with shields (except tower shields).

Blind Dead body: The Blind Dead loses all other racial modifiers and gains the following undead traits
(click to show/hide)

It is a medium sized undead with two claw attacks dealing 1d2+Str mod damage each. The Blind Dead may attack with both claws as a standard action with no penalty.

Blind Dead have a movement speed of 5'.

In addition it gains a natural armor bonus equal to its Str score while unarmored.

Anti-Paladin: A Blind Dead who multiclasses for Paladin can count his Blind Dead levels as levels of that class for purposes of CL and for the purposes of learning new spells and getting new spell slots.

Blindsight: A Blind Dead is blind, but gains blindsight with a range of 55', +5' per HD. It can blindsense up to twice the distance.

Maneuvers: The Blind Dead learns and readies maneuvers and stances from the Border of Life School plus another martial school of its choice from the Crusader list, that must be of a level no higher than half (IL+1).

A Blind Dead's claws always count as martial weapons that can be used with the school, even ones like Ancient Temple and Riverside View. When a maneuver calls for a single attack, the Blind Dead may attack with both claws, and each claw benefiting from any extra effects from that maneuver. The Blind Dead always counts as having ranks equal to its HD of the main skills of the schools.

At 4th level the Blind Dead can re-train one of its maneuvers known for a new one of a level it can learn.

If a Blind Dead spends a move action to actively Listen, it recovers one expended maneuver.

If the Blind Dead multiclasses in a martial class, it stacks both classes for purposes of IL, but the recovery method for each set of maneuvers remains separate.

Zeno Teleport: (Su) Blind Dead mover very slowly and deliberate, but at times when no one is paying attention to them, they can cover scarily wide distances. As an immediate action, at the end of the turn of another creature, the Blind Dead may choose to teleport to the spot within line of sight at half the distance between itself and the creature within 100'/HD (even if it can only observe its approximate location through Blindsense or other means). Alternatively, it can teleport to any spot within line of sight 5', +5' per Blind Dead level (maximum of 30' at 5th level). If it teleports within attacking range of a target, it can immediately make a single attack against it at no action cost.

Starting at 4th level, the 'line of sight' restriction for both uses of Zeno Teleport is removed.

Ability Score Increase: The Blind Dead gains +1 Str at first level plus +1 Str at every other level for a total of +5 Str at 5th level.

Deadly Touch: (Su)  Beginning at 2nd level, a Blind Dead can cause wounds with a successful touch attack. Each day it can deal a total number of hit points of damage equal to her Blind Dead level x her Charisma bonus. An opponent subjected to this attack can make a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 Blind Dead level + Blind Dead's Cha modifier) to halve the damage dealt.

Alternatively, a Blind Dead can use any or all of this power to cure damage to undead creatures, just as an inflict wounds spell does. This power otherwise functions identically to the paladin's lay on hands ability.

Blind Dead levels stack with levels in paladin of tyranny and paladin of slaughter for that purpose, as do other classes with the Deadly Touch feature.

Aura of Loud Step: (su) Beginning at 3rd level, a Blind Dead radiates a malign aura that causes enemies within 30 feet of it to take a penalty equal to its HD on Move Silently checks, unless the enemies suceed on a Will save with a DC equal to 10 + 1/2 the Blind Dead's HD + its WIsdom modifer. If in the vicinity of several Blind Dead, only the highest DC is rolled against. Once an enemy suceeds on the save, it is immune to the auras of the beaten Blind Dead for 24 hours. This ability otherwise functions identically to the paladin's aura of courage class feature.

Blind Dead Spawn: At 4th level, if a Blind Dead kills a humanoid with its claws the victim returns to life 1d4 days later with one level of Blind Dead. The new Blind Dead is under the command of the Blind Dead that created it and remains enslaved until its master’s destruction. At any given time a Blind Dead may control the spanws, but if the equivalent Encounter Level of all those minions becomes higher than your CR-2, any spawns he creates that would exceed this limit are created as free-willed Blind Dead. A Blind Dead that is enslaved may not gain the 4th Blind Dead level, thus being unable to have spawns of its own. A Blind Dead may voluntarily free an enslaved spawn in order to enslave a new spawn, but once freed, a Blind Dead cannot be enslaved again.

Special Mount: The Blind Dead gains a Special Mount as per the paladin feature. From this point on, Blind Dead levels stack with Paladin levels for the purpose of advancing the special mount feature.

The following changes are applied to the mount:
    * HD changed to d12
    * Undead traits (see above, add Darkvision 60')
    * Speed reduced to 5'
    * Zeno Teleport (see above, treating it as if it had 5 levels of Blind Dead)

The Blind Dead follows with its mount whenever it teleports while its master is riding it, and vice versa.

(click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: June 27, 2020, 06:00:46 PM by Skyrock »

Offline Doxkid

  • Lurker
  • *
  • Posts: 43
  • The tyrant that loved you.
    • View Profile
Re: Blind Dead
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2020, 12:52:15 PM »
While the intention was to build a Paladin synergistic Undead, it looks a lot more like it's a Ruby Knight Vindicator entry method that needs a few levels of Tyrant/Slaughter Paladin (Blackguard is actually much more synergistic) to get in.

Movement Speed & Zeno Teleport: In theory this is a nifty trick, but this is awkward mechanically and I think this is the only instance of At-Will teleportation at level 1 among all of the monster classes; usually that's reserved for level 4 or higher.

Can the Blind dead bring party members? Enemies Familiars? Clothing? Weapons//Objects that it can carry? Buildings//Objects that it CAN'T carry?
Abusable feats *Sun School's Flash of Sunset
*Telflammar Shadowlord

Deadly touch: The DC formula uses "Paladin Level" instead of "Blind Dead Level", so the DC would only ever be (10 + Cha mod) until it multiclasses into Paladin.

Aura of Loud Step: So what does this actually do? If it's a method of detecting sneaky people, the Blind Dead has Blindsense and Blindsight which would do the job better. It actually serves to warn enemies that there is a hostile presence targeting them if it's a sneaky enemy with a high will save, because succeeding on a saving throw alerts you to there being a hostile effect but doesn't tell you what the hostile effect was or where it came from.

Also, why is the Aura of Loud Step dc based off Wisdom and not Charisma?
« Last Edit: June 21, 2020, 12:56:18 PM by Doxkid »

Offline Skyrock

  • DnD Handbook Writer
  • ****
  • Posts: 1789
    • View Profile
Re: Blind Dead
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2020, 01:12:13 PM »
Movement Speed & Zeno Teleport: In theory this is a nifty trick, but this is awkward mechanically and I think this is the only instance of At-Will teleportation at level 1 among all of the monster classes; usually that's reserved for level 4 or higher.
I'm fine with it in this case, as this is an essential part of the movie creature. Blind Dead move very slowly whenever they are on-screen, yet gain on fleeing targets they are chasing between shots on them.

Can the Blind dead bring party members? Enemies Familiars? Clothing? Weapons//Objects that it can carry? Buildings//Objects that it CAN'T carry?
Only what it has on its person. I think the mount should also come with them and vice versa, something I need to specify in the mount write-up.

Deadly touch: The DC formula uses "Paladin Level" instead of "Blind Dead Level", so the DC would only ever be (10 + Cha mod) until it multiclasses into Paladin.
That was a copypasta error from stealing the wording from Paladin. Fixed.

Aura of Loud Step:
I'm not happy with it either. Blind Dead need some kind of aura to be Paladin-like, and it shouldn't overlap with any of the existing auras.
Aura of Loud Step is unique and stays within the theme, but is somewhat redundant with their special senses. If anyone has better ideas, I am all ears.

Offline Doxkid

  • Lurker
  • *
  • Posts: 43
  • The tyrant that loved you.
    • View Profile
Re: Blind Dead
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2020, 01:56:57 PM »
Zeno basically functions as the Pounce special ability with the added benefit of bypassing walls+doors; it's a huge power boost that needs a lot of key terms to be added in like "Line of Effect" or "Line of Sight" and so on. I'm not saying you shouldn't have this ability at all and I'm not saying it can't be a level 1 ability, but you need to beat this ability into a Game-Mechanics Friendly form with clear limitations other than the range for people to be able to use this in their games.

Natural Armor = Strength Mod-> This is hefty Natural Armor for a class that gets full access to Armor+Shields. For most monsters its one, or the other, or both at a reduced level; would you consider using Wisdom as the key stat instead of Strength? Cha wouldn't really be appropriate since Cha is the Blind Dead's second most important stat, what with it being a Paladin.

Anti-Paladin: it seems a level 5 Blind Dead that takes 1 level of Paladin gains the Spells known+Spells per day of a level 6 Paladin. Most monster classes are nitpicky about this kind of thing, allowing CLs to stack but not Spell related things.

Is the mount just there to allow the Blind Dead to Zeno Teleport twice per round?

Offline Skyrock

  • DnD Handbook Writer
  • ****
  • Posts: 1789
    • View Profile
Re: Blind Dead
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2020, 03:38:50 PM »
Zeno Teleport is limited in needing a creature as an "anchor point". Going through walls fits as the Blind Dead of the first film often suddenly pop up behind corners they shouldn't have been able to reach.
Maybe I should limit the line of effect on low levels and move unrestricted teleportation up to level 4 or 5.

Good catch with the Natural Armor, I didn't think of armor proficiency when I copied off other monster classes.

Spellcasting: It is a side effect of the terrible casting progression of Paladin, where they only gain spells starting on level 4 so there wouldn't be any meaningful difference applying the usual restrictions on caster-friendly monster classes.

Yes, the mount allows them to teleport twice in a round, allowing them to go faster.

Offline Doxkid

  • Lurker
  • *
  • Posts: 43
  • The tyrant that loved you.
    • View Profile
Re: Blind Dead
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2020, 04:16:36 PM »
Zeno Teleport is limited in needing a creature as an "anchor point". Going through walls fits as the Blind Dead of the first film often suddenly pop up behind corners they shouldn't have been able to reach.
Maybe I should limit the line of effect on low levels and move unrestricted teleportation up to level 4 or 5.
Ah, that'd just be a clarification then. Emphasis added to the confusing part:

"Zeno Teleport: (Su) Blind Dead mover very slowly and deliberate, but at times when no one is paying attention to them, they can cover scarily wide distances. As an immediate action, at the end of the turn of another creature, the Blind Dead may choose to teleport to the spot at half the distance between itself and the creature within 100'/HD. Alternatively, it can teleport to any spot within 30'."

Which I took to mean "It can just jump 30 feet whenever it wants, no questions asked." Which...may actually be necessary. A Blind Dead working alone is functionally Crippled when there isn't anything within its Blindsense range, which is significantly smaller than the range it can teleport in. It can't "See" anything to teleport to so it can only move at 5 movespeed, and it can't see things just outside that range so it can't try to approach anything that would let it move via teleportation. It literally cannot function until an ally or enemies or civilian enters its "vision" range even if there is a fight going on in every direction at the edge of its "Teleport" range.

Even in a group it's still problematic for a Front-Line Paladin type to not be able to approach enemies until the enemies choose to get into Medium range for spellcasters of the Blind Undead's level. Which means for the first few rounds of a fight with a mage tossing Long range spells someone delicate on the Blind Undead's team like the Mage or the Scout or the Mage's Familiar (which can die and grant the mage delicious penalties that they will surely appreciate) needs to bridge any gaps between the two groups. A normal Fighter or Paladin would be Running/Charging/Flying/Riding toward the enemies.

Blindsight at level 5 is 80 feet, Blindsense is 160 feet. Unadorned Medium range is 150 feet. Zeno Teleport range at level 5 is 500 feet, more than 3 times the range where it can detect creatures.

Following that, Blindsight at level 20 is 155 feet, Blindsense is 310 feet. Unadorned Medium range is 300 feet. Zeno Teleport range at level 20 is 2000 feet, more than 6 times the range where it can detect creatures and almost matching Long range.

So...maybe allow it to Listen as a Move Action to temporarily expand the Blindsense range? Or revamp their normal movement to include teleporting:

Move speed 0, but can teleport X distance (Blindsight range, maybe?) as a move action. Maybe replace the level 3 Aura with Zeno Teleport and just drop the aura completely?
--
Besides that, what happens when someone casts Fly on the Blind Undead? Haste or Longstrider or it takes the Dash feet or Monk levels or Barbarian levels? There are plenty of ways to get a better movement speed or more movement speed or different movespeeds in core D&D, let alone in the level of play that would have a teleporting-ganking swordmaster ghoul. The quick and dirty solution to the limited teleport range is to just ride a horse like a normal paladin while your teleporting horse follows you. Which...I don't think was your intention, but it's hilarious to imagine.

"Gee Bill, your party lets you have TWO horses?"
« Last Edit: June 21, 2020, 04:38:29 PM by Doxkid »

Offline Skyrock

  • DnD Handbook Writer
  • ****
  • Posts: 1789
    • View Profile
Re: Blind Dead
« Reply #6 on: June 21, 2020, 04:25:51 PM »
The 30' part is unrestricted and is necessary to solve Zeno's Paradox, else the Blind Dead could never reach the point it wants to go to and would forever inch closer and closer to it.

Good point about the limited Blindsight/-sense range, that is a problem in conjunction with Zeno Teleport I hadn't considered. I'll have some re-writing ahead of me.

Offline Doxkid

  • Lurker
  • *
  • Posts: 43
  • The tyrant that loved you.
    • View Profile
Re: Blind Dead
« Reply #7 on: June 21, 2020, 04:38:12 PM »
It's just an inconvenience in those first few levels and the movement thing shatters very quickly under normal gameplay. Riding on trains, for example, or just riding a normal horse into combat, jumping off with teleports, then teleporting back using the horse as a reference point. Once it gets Rebuke Undead from Paladin/Blackguard levels it can use a skeleton-horse that it mind controls, which makes things even easier.

Offline Skyrock

  • DnD Handbook Writer
  • ****
  • Posts: 1789
    • View Profile
Re: Blind Dead
« Reply #8 on: June 21, 2020, 05:06:00 PM »
Yes, you can cheese it up with speed-buffing spells and stuff, but I am not very concerned about that. Outside of E6 things escalate quickly in D&D 3.5 once all building blocks are used, and if you are worried about that you are better off picking a different system.

I don't expect Blind Dead PCs not to try to work around their limitations, or to strictly adhere to their original stupid tactics that got them killed in the movies.

Offline Skyrock

  • DnD Handbook Writer
  • ****
  • Posts: 1789
    • View Profile
Re: Blind Dead
« Reply #9 on: June 27, 2020, 06:04:33 PM »
Blind Dead have been allowed to use the approximate location divined through Blindsense (or other means) as an anchor point for the first use of Zeno Teleport. The second use of Zeno Teleport has been limited to 5', +5' per Blind Dead level (maximum of 30' at 5th level) (note that this isn't scaled by HD, you have to buy actual class levels warts and all).

Aura of Loud Step is staying the same for now.