Animate Dead

[Aragon]

Let me start by saying #1 I am not complaining only asking a question, #2 This is not a Who is better thread.

My question is in regards to why the duration of the Animate Dead spell was reduced to 1 min / Caster level?  When a cleric or wizard animates dead it is quite different from summoning a creature from another plane.  The are using magical energies to bring to life (or unlife for the Aeridin's) a creation under their control.  The PHB to paraphase says they remain animated until destroyed.  A summon creature spell per the PHB has a duration of 1 round / per caster level.  Was this done purely as a balancing issue or what was the reason for the change?

[Pankoki]

Yes it was done as a balancing issue. The animated skeletons were lasting simply too long and the cleric was simply facing no risk whatsoever if they found the "right" creatures to destroy, so it was lowered down to a reasonable time. More than normal summons but not as long as it was before.

[Aragon]

I don't know of any clerics that would do that.

[Leanthar]

It is still twice as long as normal summons.  And by 10th level you can rest and then summon a creature and it is around all the way until the next rest (10 minutes).  I really don't see the problem...

[Leanthar]

Well you may not know of any that did it but it happened a good amount.  And as I stated above it is still twice as long as a summons and by 10th level it is around from "rest to rest".

[ZeroVega]

Plus a cleric with extend spell can keep their Animated Undead twice as long an it will only take a 4th circle slot, 6th for wizards. It's still a good deal.

I was wondering, is animate dead an act of evil?

Also, i seen many spells classify as evil and should not be used by good clerics, yet i see no such thing as a too good for an evil person spell:S

[EdTheKet]

Yes, it's an evil act. You just don't mess with dead people's remains

[Marius Falconhand]

Now many say that it is an evil act, and I would normally agree. But me good friend Bama over there on the central server, raises the remains of a fallen brethren named Falco. He rp's it as his friends dying wish, now can that be seen as an evil act still? I think if it is rp'd well like in his case, I think it no longer becomes an evil act, but that's my 2 nuyen.

[Reventage]

First of all, you can’t animate a dead body twice. So once Bama has animated his friend once, he won’t be able to do it again. Even if he were able to animate the corpse of his friend over and over again, it would still require Bama to carry his bones around everywhere he goes, which is a relatively grim concept.

Also when you animate a pile of bones, it has nothing to do with bringing a dead brethren back to life. What you basically do is you borrow a kind of a soul from the plane of the negative energy and use it to make the bones move. You create a mindless slave. You are not raising your long lost friend to fight his last battle for you one more time.

I’m not going to go into the argument whether animating a dead corpse is an evil act or not. What I can tell you is that it most definitely isn’t a good one.

[Leanthar]

What Rev says, he is right on.

I was wondering, since clerics/wizards of lucinda focus on all sorts of magics and necromancy among them...
will it be wrong for a cleric of lucinda to animate?

[Leanthar]

Wrong, no... but it would depend on your alignment as well--that would be the weighing factor on one that is following Lucinda.

Im chaotic good

[goldz8]

Would it be wrong for a neutral good cleric of Aeridin to animate the dead? I think it would, but I'd like your opinion.

[Talan Va'lash]

Oh yeah.

Aeridin's main hate is undead and undeath, as they are an offense to life.

If a cleric of Aeridin animates a corpse he would probably lose all his clerical powers on the spot.  

-TV

[EdTheKet]

Talan Va'lash - 9/7/2005 9:18 AM Oh yeah. Aeridin's main hate is undead and undeath, as they are an offense to life. If a cleric of Aeridin animates a corpse he would probably lose all his clerical powers on the spot. -TV

  Quite true.

[Force_of_Will_]

I always argued that the skeleton I had was a Golem of sorts and not really a soul just a construct.

[EdTheKet]

Force_of_Will_ - 9/9/2005 11:22 PM I always argued that the skeleton I had was a Golem of sorts and not really a soul just a construct.

  It's not, that'd make it a bone golem or something, and that takes quite some time, not to mention skill, to make. It's also not what the spell description says.

[goldz8]

Okay thanks. Does the same also apply for a cleric of Aeridin using negative energy and darkness spells?