The Tome Of Drow Lore.pdf - RoseRed

Boneforging DC’s and Cost
Craft (bone) Skill Check DC Undead Cost
10 Skeleton 10 gp
15 Zombie 10 gp
25 Ghoul 1,000 gp
28 Ghast 2,000 gp
30 Mummy 9,000 gp
33 Wight 16,000 gp
33 Mummy Lord 16,000 gp
35 Vampire 25,000 gp
and wraiths beyond the reach of the feral drow. The cost
listed on the table above represents the approximate value
of the alchemical ingredients needed to properly extract and
forge the undead bone. This includes keeping the undead
bone from crumbling into dust or otherwise rotting away
when removed from the body.
This list only represents a few of the undead that might be
used in creating a boneforged item. Games Masters may
feel free to add additional undead to this table.
Uses of the Undead in Boneforging
This section takes a quick look at some of the potential uses
for undead bones in a boneforged item. For a more detailed
explanation of a sample of boneforged items, see Magic
Items (page 202).
Skeletons and Zombies
These minor undead have no innate abilities which can
be passed on to a boneforged item. For example, the
skeleton’s damage reduction is directly tied to its physical
characteristics, and cannot be imbued into a set of armour.
Ghouls and Ghasts
These are the most common undead to be used in boneforged
items, primarily because their bones are the easiest to
harvest. Both ghouls and ghasts are used to create weapons
imbued with the undead’s paralysis ability, and the bones
of ghasts are occasionally used to create armour with the
ghast’s stench ability.
Mummies and Mummy Lords
Items created from the bones of a mummy are the rarest
from the undead listed on the table above, as mummification
is seldom practiced among the races of the Underdeep.
However, when the feral drow do have a mummy or
mummy lord to mine for bones, weapons that inflict the
curse of mummy rot are usually the highest priority. The
bones may also be fused into armour, taking advantage of
the mummy’s despair ability and its damage reduction.
Weapons and armour made from the bones of a mummy
are no more susceptible to fire than any other boneforged
item.
Wights
The bones of a wight have only one purpose in boneforging
– to create a fell weapon capable of draining life from its
target. Because of this, such weapons are greatly coveted
among the feral drow, though there are few boneforgers
with sufficient skill to safely harvest the bones from these
terrible undead.
Vampires
Only the greatest Kanahraun boneforgers would attempt to
take the bones of a vampire to forge into an item. For those
capable of the feat, however, vampires can yield a wealth
of mighty items, from energy-draining weapons to damage
reduction armour to helms of domination. However, items
created from the bones of a vampire have a tremendous
drawback, in that the vampire must never be completely
destroyed, or else the item made from its bones will also
crumble to dust. Thus, there are pits hidden deep beneath
Kanahraun cities in which are sealed vampires, waiting
eternally with stakes driven into their chests.
The Cost of Carelessness
An item created from the bones of the undead can be a very
dangerous thing, particularly if the boneforger was less
successful than he believed in his creation of the item. A
boneforger who makes a mistake in this process may very
well inflict the full weight of the undead being’s power
upon himself. Worse still, he may create a weapon that
inflicts its special properties (such as energy drain) upon
both the target and the wielder, or a suit of armour that no
living being can wear. Games Masters should feel free to
indulge their creativity in regard to any boneforged item
that was improperly prepared.
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