Undead Royal Rumble

I think the winner would depend on a number of factors. For example, the type of zombie. Are we discussing brainless shambler(like NotLD), intelligent thinkers (like The Rising), or limited intelligence (like Bub from DotD)? Also, are weapons allowed? Being able to stake a vampire would make him less likely to survive than if you couldn't. I think skeletons would be the weakest of the lot because they could be taken apart easily. But would a zombie or a vampire attack a skeleton? They have no blood (for the vampire) and no meat (for the zombie). Vampires, on the other hand, would be tougher to kill, especially without weapons.

Other creatures could be werewolves, ghosts, etc. The list of possbilities is endless. I could even add Jason, Freddy, Michael Meyers, Pumpkinhead, and the guy from Jeepers Creepers.

Are wraiths the same thing as liches?

Last one standing in the ring is the winner? If you play by those rules my money is on the vampire. Most substance there.

If we're talking a real Royal Rumble then I have to agree with Minxie. I don't think the zombies would have the brain power to throw the others over the top rope. Although, if ghosts were allowed I might have to root for them.

Speaking purely in D&D terms (which of course, is the benchmark for reality...) Wraiths tend to be malicious evil, incorporeal spirits but Liches are usually magic-users that want to live forever so turn themselves into an intelligent undead entity that's a bit like a skeleton that's like really hard to kill!
Not sure what the distinction in reality is though :)

-dancingfred

That's more or less the gist of the DND terminology. To go into greater detail, a wraith is a disembodied spirit that becomes mildly corporeal, allowing it to physically attack people. This is accepted as the common standard.

As for liches, they are, as Fred said, magic users who wished for immortality and got it through a long and very difficult process. The process involves consuming yourself with necrotic energy and placing your soul in a phylactery (think Voldemort and his soul shard things in the later HP books). This allows the appearance and form of the undead without an actual death occurring. In some cases, a powerful magic user will set this all up and use the magic released on his/her death to be a catalyst, creating an actual undead lich. This is a tool commonly used to create strong, lasting villains that can compete on high level campaigns.

I've done some research... Helped my bro become one in a long campaign. That was an odd one...

Are wraiths the same thing as liches?

-robertrbest

No.

Heheheheheh.