Undead

Malaise

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© Daniel S. Wall, July 20, 2026.

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A Trace of Death Lingers by Joyce Maureira

Malaise is an inverse measure of a character’s will to live. The higher their Malaise, the less resilient a character will be. Those with truly high malaise will be quick to grow ill and slow to heal. They will also be remarkably susceptible to attacks from Undead. They will retain all their normal skills and abilities, but a character with a high malaise has one foot in the grave. Until she learns to love life again, a character with high Malaise may be very difficult to keep alive.

The idea here is to create a long-term problem with its own significance in role-play, one that is solvable, but not with a quick healing spell. It plagues characters who have come close to death, or experienced significant loss, been subjected to life-draining attacks, or engaged behavior contrary to their deepest convictions. Any one of these could leave a character with a weakened will to live. It does not undermine their skills and abilities, but it does leave them more fragile. Malaise provides an alternative to the loss of levels or attribute scores and the forcible alignment change of earlier editions of D&D while keeping a sense that these issues create problems not easily resolved within a single game session.

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Malaise at its Core

Squonk painted by Andy Sneed

Acquiring Malaise: Aside from rare instances of special attacks or magical effects imposing it, Malaise is usually acquired through close calls with death, the loss of loved ones, or by actions inconsistent with the established nature of a character. A character fresh off a near-death experience may find that death itself still has a little bit of a hold on them, just as they may long to join a dead spouse or some other loved one. Characters who have acted in a manner significantly inconsistent with their values and goals may find themselves questioning the value of their own life.

Malaise can also be the result of extraordinary attacks one might characterize as life-stealing, such as the bite of a vampire or the nightmares caused by a succubus. These too will weaken a character’s will to live.

Effects of Malaise: The Malaise score of a character is a penalty to any healing done to that character. It is also a vulnerability penalty, adding to the damage done by Undead to that character. A character with 1 point of malaise thus reduces the damage healed from a spell by 1 point and raises her damage from an Undead by 1 as well. A character with 6 points of malaise reduces healing spells by 6 and adds 6 points to any damage caused by Undead. Malaise can have other featurs as well, and at their own discretion, a GM may certain flesh add implications of their own.

Overcoming Malaise: A character must play a full game session with any Malaise earned before attempting to buy it off. After that, a character may buy off malaise at a cost built on a triangular sum at the end of any given game session. If 1 point of Malaise can be bought off at the cost of 1 point of x.p., then 2 may be bought off at a cost of 3 total (1+2=3), and 3 can be bought off at a cost of 6 (1+2+3=6). Thus, Malaise can be bought off slowly at a low cost or rapidly at a high cost. It is up to the player to decide which he prefers.

Certain special abilities or problems may enhance malaise, trigger tactical benefits on the basis of malaise, facilitate rapid overcoming of malaise, or drag out that process. These are rare abilities, and they are prone to high cost. In no case, will an ability ever enable a character to overcome Malaise without going through a full game session with any given Malaise penalty.

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Game-Specific Applications

D&D (1st through 3rd editions): How does one apply the concept to D&D? First we will look at the specific mechanics for acquiring Malaise, the specific effects of Malaise, and finally, the means of overcoming it.

Mechanics for acquiring Malaise: Malaise may be acquired in a variety of ways.

Death: Any character brought back from the dead automatically gets 10 points of Malaise.

Grief: The death of a loved one or dear friend, or a significant loss with serious consequences, may incur 1-3 points of Malaise at the discretion of the GM (or alternatively, the consensus of the players present).

Life-Draining Attacks: Any attack which might otherwise cause the permanent draining of a level or a point off a character’s attributes would instead result in 3 points of Malaise. (Alternatively, 1 point of Malaise could be added to the existing effect without taking that effect away.)

Moral Transgressions: Any time a character acts in such a manner as to contradict their alignment, they acquire 1-5 points of Malaise, depending on the severity of the transgression. This can replace the old first edition mechanic of simply changing the character’s alignment. How this decision is made varies. It could be the GM’s call or it could be a decision at the consensus of the players.

Near Death Experiences: A Character acquires 1 point of Malaise once she goes below 0 hit point status and 1 more for every 3 continuous rounds spent at 0 hit point status or below. (Note: if the character dies outright, just apply the death rule instead.)

Effects of Malaise: The numeric value of a character’s Malaise provides a variety of different problems for a given character.

Attacks by Undead: It is a bonus to the damage done by Undead to that character.

Death Magic: It is damage taken in the event of a successful save versus death magic. A failed save would of course make this irrelevant.

Healing Magic: It is a penalty to any healing done on the character in question (to a minimum of 1 point healed).

Natural Healing: It is a penalty to any rolls made to assist a character in healing by means of natural medicine, and it is a chance (multiplied by 5) that the wound will not naturally heal according to the normal rules on any given day.

Mechanics for overcoming Malaise: To buy off Malaise, a character must first play a full game session with any Malaise they wish to eliminate. After this, they may buy off Malaise in the following manner. To buy off 1 point of Malaise at the end of a given session, a character must spend 10% of the difference between the experience needed for their current level and that needed for the next. To buy 2 points off at the end of a given session, a player must spend 30% of that difference. To buy off 3 at the end of a given session, they must spend 60%, and so on.

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Tunnels and Trolls (Deluxe Edition): How does one apply the concept to Tunnels and Trolls? First we will look at the specific mechanics for acquiring Malaise, the specific effects of Malaise, and finally, the means of overcoming it.

Mechanics for acquiring Malaise: Malaise may be acquired in a variety of ways.

Near Death Experiences: A Character acquires 1 point of Malaise once she goes below 0 hit point status and 1 more for every 3 continuous rounds spent at 0 hit point status or below. (Note: if the character dies outright, just apply the death rule instead.)

Death: Any character brought back from the dead automatically gets 10 points of Malaise.

Grief: The death of a loved one or dear friend, or a significant loss with serious consequences, may incur 1-3 points of Malaise at the discretion of the GM (or alternatively, the consensus of the players present).

Moral Transgressions: If the player running a character and the GM agree that the character has acted in a manner wildly inconsistent with their character and/or the best interest of their stated goals, they acquire 1-5 points of Malaise, depending on the severity of the transgression. This may not happen often, as a player is unlikely to agree to it, but it remains an option.

Effects of Malaise: The numeric value of a character’s Malaise provides a variety of different problems for a given character.

Attacks by Undead: It is a bonus to the damage done by Undead to that character.

Healing: It is a penalty to any healing done on the character in question (to a minimum of 1 point healed). Note that the in event that a character should have been healed to full Constitution, they end up with their Malaise in damage after all.

Mechanics for overcoming Malaise: To buy off Malaise, a character must first play a full game session with any Malaise they wish to eliminate. After this, they may buy off Malaise in the following manner. To buy off 1 point of Malaise at the end of a given session, a character must spend 10 adventure points. To buy 2 points off at the end of a given game session, a player must spend 30 adventure points. To buy off 3 at the end of a given game session, they must spend 60 adventure points, and so on.

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Worlds of Hurt (My Homebrew): How does one apply the concept to Worlds of Hurt? First we will look at the specific mechanics for acquiring Malaise, the specific effects of Malaise, and finally, the means of overcoming it.

Mechanics for acquiring Malaise: Malaise may be acquired in a variety of ways.

Death: Any character brought back from the dead automatically gets 10 points of Malaise.

Grief: Characters may take on Malaise for the loss of loved ones or for major set backs, as detailed in the rules for social relationships and other relevant portions of the game system.

Deep Wounds: A variety of special attacks cause Malaise as spelled out in the game rules.

Moral Transgressions: Characters may take Malaise for actions contrary to their moral values or memes as spelled out in the relevant sections of the game rules.

Near Death Experiences: A Character acquires 1 point of Malaise once they go down to 0 physical durability or below. They acquire 3 points of Malaise if they spend 1 full round in that status, and 5 points if they spend 2 rounds in that status.

Effects of Malaise: The numeric value of a character’s Malaise provides a variety of different problems for a given character.

Attacks by Undead: It is a bonus to the damage done by Undead to that character.

Healing Magic: It is a penalty to any healing done on the character in question (to a minimum of 1 point healed).

Natural Healing: It is a penalty to any rolls made to assist a character in healing by means of natural means.

Mechanics for overcoming Malaise: To buy off Malaise, a character must first play a full game session with any Malaise they wish to eliminate. After this, they may buy off Malaise in the following manner. To buy off 1 point of Malaise at the end of a given session, a character must spend 1 experience point. To buy off 2 at the end of a given session, they must spend 3. To buy off 3, they must spend 6, and so on.

Death Maven (Tunnels and Trolls)

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A General narrative about Death Mavens can be found here. What follows are stats for the game of Tunnels and Trolls.

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Str: 1.25, Con: 1.25, Dex: .75, Lk: 1, IQ: 1.1, Wiz: 1.5, SP: .75, Chr: 1.5

Height: 1.75, Weight : 1.25.

Language(s): Death Mavens speak Necrotic in addition to the local human tongue (or Common).

Death Mavens have the following special qualities.

1) Death Maven are averse to bright light.

2) They are considered undead.

3) Any Undead other than a Death Maven does 2 points of damage on any spite roll in the presence of a Death Maven (i.e. whenever they are close enough to be part of the same encounter). This benefit does not stack up in the presence of two or more Death Mavens. It applies only once.

4) If a Death Maven chooses to mentor an ally during the course of a game session, she doubles the benefits gained by that ally at no extra cost of her own.

Standard Monster Rating: 50.

Ghost

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© Daniel S. Wall, May 2, 2026.

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“You can’t kill a ghost, boy, but you can listen. He might have something to tell you.”

– Old Mack

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       A Ghost is a powerful Undead creature. Its existence is always due to some unfinished business in this life, a fact which normally provides the key to its destruction, or even its path the peace. Ghosts retain much of the personality of their former selves, but they take on a sort of pathos which may run counter to their essential character. While retaining the values of their former life, the purpose for which the ghost continues may override other concerns, even to the extent of contradicting its normal behavior in life.

The GM must determine for every ghost a specific means by which it may be find peace and a specific means by which it may be destroyed. These are both determined by the plot line which the ghost serves. Should a party appear to slay a ghost without meeting either condition, it will materialize again at its own convenience in another game session

Ghosts are often tied to a particular location, or to a particular person, materializing only in the place in question or in the vicinity of the person to be haunted. A Ghost may otherwise come and go at will, but it takes a full round of activity to materialize or disappear. A Ghost may not cast spells or launch any sort of attack on the round in which it first materializes. As the ghost disappears only at the end of the turn after which initiates the process to do so, others may get a chance to act on it, even when the ghost seeks to leave.

Whether or not any given death results in the creation of a Ghost is entirely at the discretion of the GM, but it is an exceedingly rare event in any case. Only the most intense and dramatic stories become Ghosts.

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Example 1: A Ghost may represent the last individual of a royal lineage destroyed by a particular character from the remote past. The ghost will not rest until the character or its direct heir is slain, but it may itself be slain by the character in question, or its direct heir. The Ghost may not leave its family home (or perhaps it may not leave the general vicinity of its nemesis). The Ghost will not risk exposing itself to the one creature with the means of destroying it, so it spends its time trying to convince other living creatures that its enemy must be destroyed.

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Example 2: A Ghost swore to deliver a message to some king in a faraway land, but she was slain somewhere along the way. She materializes in the vicinity of the scroll on which the message was written. If she can talk someone into taking the scroll to its original destination, she may find peace. On the other hand, if the scroll itself is destroyed, she will herself be destroyed.

Death Maven

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© Daniel S. Wall, April 15, 2026.

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“She regards those resting in the graveyard as her children.”

Lisien Talloween, Dwarven Princess

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A Death Maven appears to be tall gaunt woman with a long neck. Often, the head of a Death Maven is adorned with a small set of horns, though this is not always the case.

Nobody seems to know the origin of these mysterious creatures, but the great mages of the world do have some sense of the nature of a Death Maven. Their appearance is often a sign of a coming disaster. That much is well known. Some say that they come to bring about the disasters themselves. Others believe they arrive hoping to ease the passage of the living into the worlds of the dead. They have never been known to help others avert disaster, but the spirits of the dead generally regard these creatures as a benign force, albeit one with little to offer the living. When a disaster causes sufficient loss of life, a Death Maven may well take up residence, effectively adopting the souls of the departed. In such cases, a Death Maven will likely remain at the site of a terrible disaster long after the event has passed from human memory, leaving only if and when living things come to revitalize the location.

Death Mavens are also known to reside in large graveyards in remote locations, watching over the remains of generations long since past. Wherever she lives, a Death Maven will surely find herself among the dead. By all accounts, she will regard them as her own personal responsibility.

A Death Maven will allow nobody to threaten those under her protection. Efforts to resurrect the dead have been known to raise the ire of a Death Maven, but they tolerate healers in most cases. Those who come to pay their respects and leave in peace have little to fear. Grave Robbers will be treated with little mercy.

Has any given Death Maven ever been alive or did they take shape as a kind of avatar and spirit protector of the dead? Nobody seems to know the origin of these creatures.

Specific rules for playing a Death Maven in Tunnels and Trolls can be found here.