(Un)hallow spell question

[bighara]

Quote:
...any dead body interred in a hallowed site cannot be turned into an undead creature.

Quote:
Any dead body buried in an unhallowed area, however, will rise as a zombie in 24 hours.

The duration of the spell is one year. It takes one day to cast and it's area of effect is a 150' radius.

So imagine a situation where a good-aligned temple performs a Hallowing ceremony every year which includes the surrounding cemetery. One year, the baddies come and stop the ceremony. Maybe they kill the priests, maybe not. The point is, the site loses its "Hallowed status."
Then the baddies perform an Unhallowing ritual to defile the site. Under these circumstances, would the dead previously interred in the cemetery rise as zombies the next day? Or would the fact they had been originally buried in Hallowed ground stop the re-animation?

[gideon_thorne]

*chuckles* I suspect the answer is going to be as varied as the number of the individual campaigns out there. But I think it would make an awesome plot hook to have the undead pop up and add tension to the scene.

Whether its an inviolable rule or not, I don't know. It just sounds cool as all hell.
_________________
"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

[bighara]

gideon_thorne wrote:
*chuckles* I suspect the answer is going to be as varied as the number of the individual campaigns out there. But I think it would make an awesome plot hook to have the undead pop up and add tension to the scene.

Whether its an inviolable rule or not, I don't know. It just sounds cool as all hell.

Thanks.
Yeah, I'm sure that's gonna be interpreted more than one way. I think I'll use it the way I suggested though. Since it's a 4th level spell and -in addition to the casting time- requires 1000gp worth of "religious trappings" to cast, I think it's fair that it can have some pretty major effects.

EDIT: NTM the other effects of the (Unhallow) spell: Protection from Good (+2 AC), -3 to turn attempts v. the undead, built-in spell effect (Fear might be fun. hee!).

[Omote]

Personally. when the Hallowed spell runs out, it runs out. That would mean that if Unhallow was cast, all of the effects of Unhallow would work because the original Hallow effect is no longer active.

Here come the zombies... or at the very least, skeletons.

...........................................Omote

FPQ
_________________
> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

[Alcahaelas]

Heeeyyy.....I like this. Temptation...rising....
_________________
I am not a hamster and Life is not a wheel.

gideon_thorne wrote:
There are lots of explanations that a clever CK can use to bullshit any roll.

[Coleston the Cavalier]

One thing you might want to take into account is that these annual Hallow spells are just that, annual. Which means that some of these places (like a cemetary) have had this spell used for decades if not centuries. Much of that 1000gps of religious stuff might be statues of holy symbols and such that will remain in the cemetary. The CK might assume that a quick Unhallow spell on such a spot might have somewhat of an uphill battle over "residual leftovers" from all those the Hallow spells. In addition, some of the persons buried in the cemetary will hopefull have had some spell(s) said over them when they were buried, at least in some of the more urban areas.

But Gideon is right, many answers to this question with one for each CK!
_________________


John Adams

[bighara]

Coleston the Cavalier wrote:
One thing you might want to take into account is that these annual Hallow spells are just that, annual. Which means that some of these places (like a cemetary) have had this spell used for decades if not centuries. Much of that 1000gps of religious stuff might be statues of holy symbols and such that will remain in the cemetary. The CK might assume that a quick Unhallow spell on such a spot might have somewhat of an uphill battle over "residual leftovers" from all those the Hallow spells. In addition, some of the persons buried in the cemetary will hopefull have had some spell(s) said over them when they were buried, at least in some of the more urban areas.

But Gideon is right, many answers to this question with one for each CK!

I'm thinking along the lines of a plot where there's a local holy day where the priest(s) of the temple bring out some famous relic and parade it around the temple/town square. (I'm thinking a golden bowl) The relic is the 1000gp trapping. A whole bunch of folk traditions have cropped up around the day and the ceremony, so much so that most people -including the junior priests- may not even know that there is an actual purpose to the ceremony beyond worship. The head priest is the one of high enough level to actually complete the spell.

One year, just before the holy day, the priest is brutally murdered, his heart ripped from his chest. The ceremony is still held, but the spell isn't cast because no one there actually 1) knows how to do it, and 2) knows that it was being cast in the first place. After the ceremonies are over, the bad guys steal the relic and profane it in their ceremony (which takes all night) by burning the heart of the dead priest in the bowl. The next morning, the relic is found to be missing (or ruined). A Fear effect covers the temple and (nearly) everyone flees.* That night, at sundown, the zombies rise.
The bad guys' longer term goal is to destroy the town and use the now-evil temple as a place to perform more dark rituals. Maybe summon demons, etc.
*EDIT: Upon re-reading, I see that the spell effect works on your own faith/alignment or everyone, you can't specify opposing alignments. So instead of Fear on good guys, make it Bless or Aid for followers of the cult.

[Coleston the Cavalier]

Bighara, neat situation.

Lot's of thought and context in it.

What that town needs now is a prayed-up paladin with an attitude!
_________________


John Adams

[Lurker]

In my "world" it would be the uphill battle, but I usually like a low to mid level of magic.

The thought of the scenario you are planning does sound good to me though. It kind of makes all those Holly days all players, even clerics, tend to sluff off much more important!
_________________
"And so I am become a knight of the Kingdom of Dreams and Shadows!" - Mark Twain

Forgive all spelling errors.

Knight Errant & Humble C&C Society Contributor
C&C Society

[gideon_thorne]

bighara wrote:
*EDIT: Upon re-reading, I see that the spell effect works on your own faith/alignment or everyone, you can't specify opposing alignments. So instead of Fear on good guys, make it Bless or Aid for followers of the cult.

If the description of the spell doesn't quite fit what you want to do with it, change the description. It can be a 'regional' variation of said divine intervention.

Don't let the rules block the progress of a good plot hook.
_________________
"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

[Treebore]

My answer is if the ground was hallowed at the time of burial they can never be turned into undead.

Why? Because I had a player try to use undead to take over the world. The first step to keep that from happening is to NOT provide them with thousands of years worth of undead soldiers.

So when they recieve the blessing of final rest its an eternal and irrefutable blessing. At least until the good gods are cast down and unable to enforce the blessing.
_________________
The Ruby Lord, Earl of the Society

Next Con I am attending: http://www.neoncon.com/

My House Rules: http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic ... llordgames

[bighara]

Treebore wrote:
My answer is if the ground was hallowed at the time of burial they can never be turned into undead.

Why? Because I had a player try to use undead to take over the world. The first step to keep that from happening is to NOT provide them with thousands of years worth of undead soldiers.

So when they recieve the blessing of final rest its an eternal and irrefutable blessing. At least until the good gods are cast down and unable to enforce the blessing.

A totally fair interpretation, IMO. My rationale for it is that in the scenario I propose, it's not merely a question of the Hallow spell lapsing, but someone is actively Unhallowing the site as well.