The Cauldron-Born are undead created with the aid of a magical cauldron. Originally a product of Welsh mythology, they appeared as unstoppable warriors without fear or speech in Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain and they also appear in the D20 Stargate SG-1 RPG supplement Living Gods: Stargate System Lords as shock-troops for the Goa'uld System Lord Manannan mac Lir. They differ from regular Zombies because they are warriors, not ravenous monsters bent on eating people, and are instead silent monsters bent on killing people in the most merciless, efficient and ruthless manner possible.The requirement of a cauldron to create undead for a campaign setting would be pretty cool, especially if, after repeated use, the cauldron becomes more and more magical and twisted towards evil undead creation, thereby tying the magician to using the same cauldron (or losing the ability to create undead until a specific vow is fulfilled in the event the item is lost, stolen or destroyed).
In terms of Savage Worlds, the Cauldron-Born are as follows:
Agility d8 Smarts d4 Spirit d8 Strength d8 Vigor d12
Pace 6 Parry 6 Toughness 12 (2) Charisma -4
Abilities: Fearless, Fear -2 (Guts check -2), Undead (+2 to recover from Shaken, +2 to toughness), Frenzy.
Skills: Fighting d8, Shooting d8, Intimidation d8, Notice d6.
Sword (STR+d8), Armor (+2).
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Awesome. I did a writeup of the Prydain Cauldron Born for D&D as a kid, but they were just too bad-ass, since they were indestructible without the correct special purpose sword (yeah, I stuck a little too close to the source material there).
ReplyDeleteThe Huntsmen of Annuvyn were a better fit for D&D. Kill one, and it gives bonus hit points and a +1 to hit to all the rest in the group.
Did hearing the Horn of their leader winded require a save against fear?
ReplyDelete