"Low Class" Wights...

[oldkat]

Wraiths have a lower appearance range, better AC, better Move, 1 more HD, and less chance for a better treasure than a Wight; magic arrows do but 1 die of damage against them, and silver tipped arrows only half. They are described as being, "simply high-class wights."

This got me to thinking, could there be a "low-class" wight? Something along the line of, freshly or recently deceased "men-types" that have yet to evolve into the full-blown Wight condition/status? Weaker, and easier to destroy, yet capable of packing a punch that will challenge lower level characters (1st to 3rd) without being a potential TPK machine.

Perhaps more fitting for the Workshop folder, but I see this as having some potential.

[talysman]

I actually had a write-up for that... I did a series of posts where I split undead into four tracks: rotting (zombie-vampire,) skeletal (skeleton-lich,) mummified, and spectral (wraith-ghost.) Each type starts at 1 HD and gains abilities as it grows in power. I filled in names for the missing ranks in each track. Part of this was inspired by a story Gronan told about undead PCs.

I placed wights on the rotting track, so the progression went "zombie -> ghoul -> wight -> tomb dweller -> unhallowed -> vampire -> vampire lord". But there was an option for ghouls or wights to switch to the spectral track as their flesh rots away completely. That track progression was "phantasm -> shade -> phantom -> wraith -> spectre -> spectral lord -> ghost". So, low-class wights are either ghouls, if you keep wights corporeal, or shades, if you switch them to spectral.

Unfortunately, I removed the individual write-ups of the new undead types from my blog, although I left a lot of the broader posts about the ranks of the undead. Here is one post about the spectral undead ranks. I was gathering all the material and rewriting some of it for a PDF called Ranks of the Undead, similar to the one I did for infernals, but then I got bogged down in illustration and layout and had to set everything aside for a while. I should get back on that.

[oldkat]

That sounds interesting, Tal...you should definitely get back to it.

[talysman]

I'm trying to figure out where I left off and how much I still need to do right at this moment. I see I have an unfinished section on dwarven undead, and I wrote up a table for bargains with darkness made by the rotting dead. I think I was planning something for skeletal and spectral undead (already finished the mummified dead.) But I had some other undead scattered around, like the vampire mummy lord, that I may have to track down.