D&D 5E How do I run a zombie horde?
Kevin Hoff
First Post
There is an interesting mechanic from older editions of D&D in which you could treat monsters as minions. Essentially, they retained all of their normal stats except for their hit points, which were reduced to 1. This can create the feeling of the adventurers cleaving through massive hordes of enemies and dealing a lot of damage. However, because they have only 1 hit point, you may need to increase the number of zombies in the encounter.
GMMichael
Guide of Modos
Good idea. Sounds like things might already be starting to chug a bit...
+1 You might reduce the zombies from being NPCs a step further, and turn each one into a miss-consequence. As in: on a hit, you destroy the zombie. On a miss, a zombie gets to attack you. The zombies don't get turns, just these reactions. Increase the number of reactions as the horde, IF the horde surrounds the PCs. And keep the Zombie Count in plain view - lest the PCs lose hope.
Ovinomancer
No flips for you!
I did almost this exact thing.
First, zombies had no hitpoints, but instead saved against damage for every hit. Crits or radiant damage ignored this. Save was CON vs 5+damage dealt. This worked great, as there was no bookkeeping.
Second, just zombies doesn't work/gets boring. Throw on a few giant skeletons or other undead for some variation. Track these.
Third, do it in waves. This keeps immediate numbers trackable and actually serves to heighten tension a bit.
First, zombies had no hitpoints, but instead saved against damage for every hit. Crits or radiant damage ignored this. Save was CON vs 5+damage dealt. This worked great, as there was no bookkeeping.
Second, just zombies doesn't work/gets boring. Throw on a few giant skeletons or other undead for some variation. Track these.
Third, do it in waves. This keeps immediate numbers trackable and actually serves to heighten tension a bit.
Gradine
The Elephant in the Room (she/her)
One (of the only) thing(s) the World War Z movie did right was the way it treated zombie hordes not as swarms of individual monsters but as forces of nature. There's the iconic scene of zombies swarming through the city of Jerusalem like a tidal wave.
Not sure if what you're doing exactly qualifies, but I would imagine beyond a certain size a zombie horde ceases to be a combat challenge and becomes instead an extreme environmental hazard.
Not sure if what you're doing exactly qualifies, but I would imagine beyond a certain size a zombie horde ceases to be a combat challenge and becomes instead an extreme environmental hazard.
Ovinomancer
No flips for you!
Thete's a strong design consideration to using combat encounters as obstacles vs complications. The former is the most common mindset for D&D, but zombie hordes make a great complication to another goal rather than an obstacle that must be defeated on its own.
IE, the players having to accomplish a goal while under attack from a zombie horde is a very different encounter from having to kill a zombie horde.
But we appreciate your attention to detail
Edit: Searching for the swarm trait I found this relevant article: http://slyflourish.com/high_level_swarms.html
But we appreciate your attention to detail
Edit: Searching for the swarm trait I found this relevant article: http://slyflourish.com/high_level_swarms.html
And it raises a question that's going to quickly come up at the table. What is the effect of "Turn Undead" on a zombie swarm?
Edit: And, of course, "Destroy Undead"...
Similar Threads
