Dawn of the Dead in DnD?

[Land Outcast]

Ghasts.
No paralysis, instead a disease (or poison, your choice) similar to mummy rot.
Modified Dex, Int, and added Critical Vulnerability. Removed turn resistance, stench, ghoul fever.

Romero's Zombies
Size/Type: Medium Undead
Hit Dice: 4d12 (26 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 14 (+0 Dex, +4 natural), touch 10, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+5
Attack: Bite +5 melee (1d8+3 plus zombie corruption)
Full Attack: Bite +5 melee (1d8+3 plus zombie corruption) and 2 claws +0 melee (1d4+1 plus zombie corruption)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Zombie Corruption
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., undead traits, critical vulnerability
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +6
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 13, Con Ø, Int Ø, Wis 14, Cha 16
Skills: -
Feats: -
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary, gang (8-20), pack (21-48), or horde (100+)
Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always Neutral
Advancement: 5-8 HD (Medium)
Level Adjustment: —


Zombie Corruption (Su):

Supernatural disease—bite or claw, Fortitude DC 16, incubation period 1 minute; damage 1d4 Con and 1d4 Cha. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Unlike normal diseases, zombie corruption continues until the victim reaches Constitution 0 (and dies) or is cured as described below.

Zombie corruption is a powerful curse, not a natural disease. A character attempting to cast any conjuration (healing) spell on a creature afflicted with zombie corruption must succeed on a DC 20 caster level check, or the spell has no effect on the afflicted character.

To eliminate zombie corruption, the curse must first be broken with break enchantment or remove curse (requiring a DC 20 caster level check for either spell), after which a caster level check is no longer necessary to cast healing spells on the victim, and the zombie corruption can be magically cured as any normal disease.

An afflicted creature who dies of zombie corruption rises as a Romero's Zombie in 1d3 rounds.

Critical Vulnerability (Ex):
At a difference with normal undead, Romero's Zombies are vulnerable to critical hits and Coup de Grace attempts. Every critical hit is treated as a Coup de Grace attempt.

 

[Klaus]

There has been several flavors of such zombies.

d20 Apocalypse has the Viral Deathspawn template.

Expedition to Castle Ravenloft has an optional zombie scenario.

Libris Mortis has zombie variants like Cannibalistic and Fast.

I myself wrote the Plague Zombie for Fiery Dragon's COunter Collection: Undead.

 

[DMH]

One sci-fan zombie is found in The Fantastic Science.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

Also, it doesn't seem to matter how the person died in regards to when / if they become a zombie. One character in the film was bit very slightly and mostly recovered. A few weeks later she died giving birth and arose a few seconds later (1d4 rounds) as a zombie.

Nitpick

That wasn't a Romero zombie. That was from the remake, which was not associated with Romero.

However, you are correct in the assumptions of means of death. Johnny (in Night of the Living Dead) isn't bitten by a zombie (he hits his head on a rock), but nevertheless comes back as a zombie.

So it isn't just the disease transmission, but also anything that dies that comes back. Which makes them more lethal than just disease ridden zombies. *Anything* that dies returns, regardless of how it does so. Already dead? Returns. Bitten by zombie and succumbs to disease? Returns. Killed by hitting head on rock? Returns.

 

[EditorBFG]

Given the options for planar travel and demons/devils in D&D, I think a lot could be made of the "Hell is full, therefore everyone comes back as a zombie" concept. This could justify zombie infection being a curse or magical effect rather than a virus as well. I also think that an interesting concept to explore is, if Hell is full, where the souls of zombies whose brains are destroyed go? The presence of larger cosmology really changes the Romero paradigm.

Obviously, zombies need to change mechanically to be more effective, as noted in the posts above.

The concept of zombies taking over the world is examined with real creativity and insight by the novelist David Wellington. He is on the growing list of authors putting their novels up for free on the Internet. Read, Monster Island, the first book of his zombie trilogy, at http://www.brokentype.com/monster/. It's a pretty amazing book, and since it's free you can't beat the price.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Libris Mortis has variant zombies that just scream Dawn of the Dead.

 

[Kristivas]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm starting to like the "anything that dies, comes back" method. I also don't want to go totally low magic, but I don't want some Eberron/Forgotten Realms stuff either.

I picture this Grand Crusade occurring against an evil god of death/undeath. The Crusaders and forces of light won, and in a bitter last-ditch attempt at revenge, this evil God takes it's own life in the cemetary of the largest populated human city in the world. I think opening a rift in that very graveyard would be a great start. Since all roads eventually lead to this city, it might be fun. Maybe even have the PCs start there or in the next city over when it happens.

 

[BOZ]

simple solution: just use ghouls instead of zombies.

in zombie-horror movies, the word "zombie" is hardly ever used (in fact, i'm sure it's *never* used in Romero movies), and in fact i think the word "ghoul" winds up being used more often.

 

[Alzrius]

I strongly recommend Year of the Zombie. It's d20 Modern-based, but it's the best style for "Dawn of the Dead" in D&D.

 

[megamania]

Use Corpse Template


In my campaigns (Creation Schema Khyber Crawler and Siberys Seven) I had fiends experiementing on necromanitic alchemy. A poison was released in the sewers of Sharn. Fort check of 12 or become a corpse creature within 1d4 days.

So my Dawn of the Dead included Mages, Security, Nobles (fumes rose to the surface) and many others.

Took combined might / science/ divinity and resources of The Dark Lanterns, The Trust, Silver Flame and various heroes and adventurers to correct the situation.