DnD Zombie Wars

[abhorsen950]

Basically i was thinking of setting up a game with a band of warriors no more than 5 but have about 50 low level Zombies charging around and basically its just a brutal hack n slash but i think would be fun to play
C&C Needed

Cheers
ABH

 

[the Jester]

This is the perfect place to use minions.

I've run a couple different adventures full full FULL of minions, and the pcs seemed to really enjoy mowing them down.

 

[Flipguarder]

honestly if you send 50 minions after a group this is what I would do in an honest to goodness battle.

Give the minions -1 to hit from their normal to attack bonus, and I would lower or remove their (if i have friends near me I become more dangerous) bonus if they have one.

I would also change their damage a bit. I never understood how refraining from rolling one die per attack saved that much time, so I would change their attack like this

if they do 5 damage normally, now they do 1d4 +1
if they do 10 damage normally now they do 2d4 or 1d8 +1

This makes their damage less threatening to a certain extent, and allows for more minions to be used reasonably. Some might not see these changes as necessary but if you use 20 minions of the same level thats supposed to be as difficult as normal fight, so 50 is going to be an issue.

 

[Klaus]

No matter how many zombie rotters (level 4 minion) you field, only 8 can attack a character at a single time. If half of them hit a PC in a round, that's about 20 damage. That'd kill my Rogue 6 in 2.5 rounds!

You could place them in waves, and if the PCs take too long in taking out Wave 1 (say, 12 zombies), Wave 2 arrives, and the zombies keep piling up. Then the PCs (who can run faster) would have to retreat somewhere safe to rest for 5 minutes so their second winds could recharge. This is basic zombie movie tactics, in fact.

 

[wcpfish]

I actually did a major zombie encounter as one of the "set pieces" in my last campaign. Here are the details. A town was under attack and one of the lucky escapees is a friend of a PC and says, "Help save those who haven't escaped!"
The escapee provided the PCs with the names of those who had yet get out of the town and where they would be (in all likelihood). The PCs had to deal with three things...1) the zombies already milling about the town. 2) Finding the townsfolk and escorting them to the "safe area" in the woods and 3) "Shutting down" the zombie generator (an open mausoleum in the graveyard where a tomb robber had unwittingly started the whole problem).
It was in a word "awesome"! Not every zombie was a minion but most were, two zombie minions popped out of the mausoleum every other round and joined the fray. The party was racing around the map, killing zombies, herding scared peasants; it went exactly as I had hoped.
Here's hoping my ideas help you with your "Zombie Attack!" Good luck!

 

[On Puget Sound]

I think zombie rotters should be a level 1 minion...their stats are pitiful for their stated level of 3 (compare to the skeleton minion).

 

[Jhaelen]

I think zombie rotters should be a level 1 minion...their stats are pitiful for their stated level of 3 (compare to the skeleton minion).

That's because their stats in the MM _are_ for a level 1 minion.

Check out Open Grave for the stats of a level 3 minion zombie rotter.

 

[Zinovia]

The zombie rotters in the MM have a stated level of 3, and I agree that their stats are pathetic for that level.

Zombie Rotter
Level 3 Minion
XP 38
Medium natural animate (undead)
Initiative -1 Senses Perception -1; darkvision
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion.
AC 13; Fortitude 13, Reflex 9, Will 10
Immune disease, poison
Speed 4
Slam (Standard, at-will)
+6 vs Armor Class; 5 damage.
Alignment Unaligned Languages ---
Str 14 (+3) Dex 6 (-1) Wis 8 (0)
Con 10 (+1) Int 1 (-4) Cha 3 (-3)

First published in Monster Manual.

I have thought about running a one-shot zombie game around Halloween, just to let the players try out something completely different and to take a break from our ongoing campaign. It is intended to be fun, creepy, and exciting.

I want them to play different characters; either ones that I will provide, or their own creations. I haven't decided yet. I will need to keep it in the heroic tier so they are not overwhelmed with options from classes that none of them has played, but I wasn't sure if I should have it be level 1, or higher than that.

What have you (the collective) learned about zombiepocalypse type scenarios in 4E? Any recommendations? Thanks!

 

[Mesh Hong]

Mind if I give a shameless plug for my heroic tier undead monster manual...?

.....Well its too late now, see my sig for details.

I would hope you might find some useful undead in there or at least a couple more ideas

 

[cstyln]

very cool mesh!! thanks for the pdf. Can't wait to throw my heroes into the middle of a zombie war and watch their jaws drop as they have no idea how had they are to kill.