Concepts for RPing Undead
From Atlantic Roleplay Wiki
I tossed with writing this, but I feel a general overview of some of the different types as well as a few general tips might be worth the time of writing up:
The Undead race is full of literally dozens of different sub-types. From Demons to Lichs to Zombies to Skeletons and many many more. Almost all these share the characteristic of obviously being dead with the exception of a couple. In physical terms, they are no more or less large than whatever corpse they came from, and most undead often show spots of rotted flesh or have no flesh at all. They are extremely resistant to cold or piercing and slashing attacks but are quite easily harmed by blunt weapons and fire. As is most common knowledge, silver weapons are also -very- deadly to almost any kind of undead. Undead may most easily be broken down in to the following subclasses; Animations, lesser undead, beasts, greater undead and demons.
Animations: These typically aren't roleplayed as they are usually created via incantation by a wizard or necromancer. These would be garden variety skeletons and zombies. They rarely have the capacity for coherent thought and are created for the sole purpose of serving a master.
Lesser Undead: Skeletons and zombies fit in this category as well, but these ones are capable of independant thought and action. They can be created by a necromancer, or "birthed" through anyone of several rituals. This class also includes a few lower level spirits such as wraiths and common ghosts.
Beasts: These hell-spawn are tough physical creatures with a penchant for finding blood in anyway possible. This class includes abominations (made from several corpses, like a golem) and werewolves. This is possibly the most flexible class as a "beast" can be almost anything. Something like a skeletal steed might also be considered here.
Greater Undead: This includes much of the more powerful and evil undead such as powerful ghouls, banshees, deathknights and liches. These undead are usually quite old and quite powerful.
Demons: the strongest of all undead, even though they aren't really dead. Born from the depths of hell, they either manifest themselves through demonic possession or the stronger ones take on their, very powerful corporal form. In time, the greater undead can ascend to the level of a demon's power, although they may never be as truely powerful as a 'natural' demon.
Now for afew playstyle tips: Undead are a very 'free' class, which means you have a lot of latitude to play your character however you like. There are some basic concepts which may come in handy that should at least be in the back of your mind while playing your character and should be thought about before "creating" a character to roleplay as undead.
Undead are fearless: They are NOT afraid of dying, they're already dead afterall. They have no natural enemies as they are not natural themselves. If your 'master' were to order you to attack a group of 5 adventurers, almost any undead would not have even the slightest problem doing it.
Undead are obediant: All lower level undead (beasts and down) with the exception of ghosts are created to -serve-. Being undead, they have virtually nothing to gain by having their agendas conflict with their master's.
Undead are angry: Undead, with the exception of ghosts, are devoid of any kind of emotion other than Hate, Anger and Lust for power. This is partially what makes them so strong, not being confused with 'love' of remorse. However, this lack of emotion often makes them careless, sometimes choosing to stay and fight a losing battle instead of retreating.
Undead are hungry: I've never seen anyone's undead character NOT enjoy killing. It comes with the territory. Undead 'live' for blood and death. The lesser undead and beasts often enjoying feasting on flesh of victims while the greater undead and demons just love to kill, often devouring souls instead of flesh.
There are however exceptions to the above examples.....among them are ghosts: Ghosts are usually ancient spirits of people who died terrible or tragic deaths or are the spirits of people who lived particularily painful (emotionally) lives...They're are hellbent and focused on their grief and will go to whatever lengths to avenge their pain. Not all ghosts are malevolent, however many are and they possess strange and arcane abilities than can be quite deadly.
Speaking about Greater Undead and Demons: While they love combat and death as much as the next, this is not their "soul" purpose. Especially the demons and liches have several motives for whatever they do and often have grand schemes to further their power. These powerful undead choose to wait in a the wings so to speak, hanging in the background, manipulating other people to do their bidding. Rarely will you actually openly see a lich going about it's business, they send other minions to do their dirtywork. Demons however are more open as they are incredibly skilled combatants as well as they posses very very powerful chaotic magics.
Finally, most actions of the undead are verywell thought out. In the short term they often have SEVERAL lifetimes worths of experiences of combat skills, magical lore and arcane abilities to draw on, which makes the greater level ones incredibly powerful. Because of this knowledge they often feel a great independance and will only make an ally if they see a noticable benefit to themselves. They hold no friends, only their fellow undead, and those they can use.
To summarize, the undead are a very varied character class. In my years of roleplaying, I've never enjoyed anything so much as I did when I RPed an undead. The 'race' is so open ended, and so long as you keep some of these basic guidelines in mind, there's very little in limits to what you can do.
I hope you've found my writings to be helpful in understanding The Undead. If I helped you learn even one thing then it's worth it*
As a side note, I did not include vampires in this essay. Vampires are a completly different and delicate playstyle which is outlined in another essay. Playing a vampire is pretty advanced form of RP and is only recommended for those with experience.