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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    OrcBarbarianGirl

    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    Alaska
    Gender
    Female

    Default Non-unlethal Combat!

    So for an adventure i'm sketching up, I need some advice on options.
    My game is PF, not horribly high level (E6 with some higher level stuff pulled down in various ways), and I will be using DSP stuff, including playtest Akashic stuff.

    Generic_Village #81 is under attack by zombies/skeletons! Before the adventurers set out, the villagers stop them - don't kill the zombies! Whatever you do! They all have to be taken alive! Well, unalive, anyways!

    Some time back, a bunch of people needed to be put "on ice", with their souls kept out of the system for reasons. Resources were somewhat limited. So they did what they knew would work with the tools available: They turned them into non-sentient minor undead. This ties up the soul so that bad things won't happen.
    Then their sealed and hidden crypt was broken open, and now there are a bunch of mindless, bloodthirsty low-CR undead wandering around that nobody wants to see damaged.

    What's some options that adventurers can use to incapacitate some undead without killing them? Do they have to tie each one up individually or are there other effects that would work? And how exactly in system would they go about tying up a zombie for imprisonment, anyhow?
    Last edited by JusticeZero; 2014-07-24 at 11:57 PM.
    "We were once so close to heaven, Peter came out and gave us medals declaring us 'The nicest of the damned'.."
    - They Might Be Giants, "Road Movie To Berlin"

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Colossus in the Playground
    Join Date
    Feb 2014

    Default Re: Non-unlethal Combat!

    This is a tricky situation for the party since undead are dang near impossible to subdue in that way. They're immune to sleep, nonlethal damage, paralysis, and pretty much any other effect you'd use in a "capture instead of kill" scenario, and you can't beat them into negative health like most creatures since they're destroyed as soon as they hit 0.

    The most effective way to do it would be to cast Command Undead on them; mindless undead don't get a save to resist, and you can just corral them into a safe place where you can seal them up for the villagers to deal with later.
    The Command Undead feat would be useful as well, since it potentially has more uses per day and an effective duration of "endless", though you'll have to deal with the HD limit and the possibility of the zombies passing their Will saves. There are other ways to handle undead without killing them, but those either require magic that a 6th level party wouldn't have (halt undead) or are inefficient for keeping them contained (like Turn Undead, which will just cause them to scatter).

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    DwarfFighterGuy

    Join Date
    Oct 2008

    Default Re: Non-unlethal Combat!

    It's been a while since I've seen it used, but you should be able to grapple, pin, then tie-up zombies. As long as your combat maneuver bonus is higher than the individual zombie or skeleton it will not be able to get out of the ropes.

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Doorhandle's Avatar

    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Australia
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Non-unlethal Combat!

    Quote Originally Posted by JusticeZero View Post
    So for an adventure i'm sketching up, I need some advice on options.
    My game is PF, not horribly high level (E6 with some higher level stuff pulled down in various ways), and I will be using DSP stuff, including playtest Akashic stuff.

    Generic_Village #81 is under attack by zombies/skeletons! Before the adventurers set out, the villagers stop them - don't kill the zombies! Whatever you do! They all have to be taken alive! Well, unalive, anyways!

    Some time back, a bunch of people needed to be put "on ice", with their souls kept out of the system for reasons. Resources were somewhat limited. So they did what they knew would work with the tools available: They turned them into non-sentient minor undead. This ties up the soul so that bad things won't happen.
    Then their sealed and hidden crypt was broken open, and now there are a bunch of mindless, bloodthirsty low-CR undead wandering around that nobody wants to see damaged.

    What's some options that adventurers can use to incapacitate some undead without killing them? Do they have to tie each one up individually or are there other effects that would work? And how exactly in system would they go about tying up a zombie for imprisonment, anyhow?
    Mindless undead are easy to bait: you could aggro them and then kite them into some enclosure where they can be contained.

    Also, does maimimg count? Perhaps they could make sunder checks or somthing to see if they can cut the heads off the zombies: their bodies will remain lifeless, while just leaving a pissed-off, mostly harmless, but still unalive zombie head.
    Can't write. Can't plan. Can draw a little.
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    "In his free time, he gates in Balors just so he can kill and eat them later!"

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    NecromancerGuy

    Join Date
    Feb 2010

    Default Re: Non-unlethal Combat!

    As a low level PC, I'd dig a small escape tunnel from a cave (the origonal tomb if possible) and get a pile of debris ready to drop over the entrance and kite the undead into the cave. Marbles will help slow them a bit.

  6. - Top - End - #6
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Spore's Avatar

    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Germany
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Non-unlethal Combat!

    1) Trap them in pits.
    2) Trap them in (magical) ice.
    3) Command Undead.
    4) Hide from Undead (Scoll or Wand), then do whatever turns them back.
    5) Outrun them. Zombies aren't particularly fast.
    6) Nets, rope, anything to bind them.

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