Help Converting a couple monsters

[Darrius_Adler]

Ok, so I am working to convert the old Ravenloft Adventure Night of the Walking Dead to 5e. Fantastic bit is most of the creatures I need are already released in the free materials.

The items I do not have are these guys:

Ju-ju Zombies: These guys are just tougher more damaging zombies, was thinking of just doubling the standard zombie HP/HD and increasing their damage from 1d6 to 1d8. Guessing challenge would increase from 1/4 to 1/2. Seem reasonable? Should I raise their AC or attack bonus?

Zombie Lord: This one is a good bit more tricky and I am open to suggestions on how to do the zombify death touch and the aura effects. I have access to both the 2e and 3e versions of it to reference

The party is all 3rd level chars going to be a 4 or possibly 5 man team.

 

[Darrius_Adler]

Potential Ju-ju Zombie:

Zombie (Ju-ju)
Medium undead, neutral evil
Armor Class 8
Hit Points 45 (6d8 + 18)
Speed 20 ft.
STR 13 (+1)
DEX 6 (−2)
CON 16 (+3)
INT 3 (−4)
WIS 6 (−2)
CHA 5 (−3)

Saving Throws Wis +0
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 8
Languages understands the languages it knew in life but can’t speak
Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the zombie to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the zombie drops to 1 hit point instead.

Actions
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d8 + 1) bludgeoning damage.

Undead zombies move with a jerky, uneven gait. They are clad in the moldering apparel they wore when put to rest, and carry the stench of decay.

 

[dd.stevenson]

Unless you're leery about balance concerns, I don't see any reason why you can't import the 2e zombie lord aura whole cloth.

(I don't have access to the 3e zombie lord.)

 

[Darrius_Adler]

Ok, so this is loosely based on the 3.5 Zombie Lord abilities so take a look and tell me what you guys think, I have no idea where to place the CR/XP for this thing and I am not at all opposed to lowering the HP/HD as it will not be a solo creature in the fight:

Zombie Lord
Medium undead, neutral evil
Armor Class 11
Hit Points 45 (6d8 + 18)
Speed 30 ft.
STR 13 (+1)
DEX 12 (+1)
CON 16 (+3)
INT 12 (+1)
WIS 10 (+0)
CHA 10 (+0)

Saving Throws Wis +3
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages understands the languages it knew in life
Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Aura of Death. The first round a living creature comes within 90 ft. of the Zombie Lord they must make a Constitution save DC 13 or be Poisoned. Each round the victim can make a new save, once the save is made, it cannot be affected by this aura again in the encounter.

Awaken the Dead. Once per long rest, the Zombie Lord can animate 1d6+1 Zombies if the corpses are available.

Speak With Dead. The Zombie Lord can use the Speak With Dead spell at will without needing any somatic or material components

Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the zombie lord to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the zombie lord drops to 1 hit point instead.

Zombie Master. The Zombie Lord can mentally command all zombies within sight at will as a free action. It can also use the senses of any zombie within a mile radius of its location as if it were standing in their place.

Actions
Multiattack. The Zombie Lord makes two slam attacks.

Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d8 + 1) bludgeoning damage.

The zombie lord is a living creature that has taken on the foul powers and abilities of the undead. They are formed on rare occasions as the result of a raise dead spell gone horribly wrong when cast while in the demiplane of Ravenloft.

Zombie lords look as they did in life, save that their skin has turned the pale grey of death, and their flesh has begun to rot and decay. The odor of vile corruption and rotting meat hangs about them and carrion-feeding insects often buzz about them to dine on the bits of flesh and ichor that drop from their bodies.

I have updated the Zombie Lord to reflect feedback. The following two abilities were suggested by Jadrax to fill out a signature ability from the creature:

Zombify (Recharge 5–6). The zombie lord targets one creature it can see within 30 feet of it. If the target can see the zombie lord, it must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw against this magic or become Poisoned. While the creature retains the Poisoned condition, at the end of each of the target’s turns, it must make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. After failing three of these saving throws, the target is slain and rises as a zombie under the zombie lord's control in 1d4 rounds, and the creature is no longer Poisoned. After succeeding on three of these saving throws, the creature recovers from the Poisoned condition, and the curse ends.

Note: Just add Zombify to its list of abilities and run the creature

OR​

Aura of Death. Whenever a living creature comes within 30 ft. of the zombie lord, it must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw against this magic or become Poisoned. While the creature retains the Poisoned condition, at the end of each of the creature’s turns, it must make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. After failing three of these saving throws, the creature is slain and rises as a zombie under the zombie lord's control in 1d4 rounds, and the creature is no longer Poisoned. After succeeding on three of these saving throws, the creature recovers from the Poisoned condition, and the creature cannot be affected by this aura again in the next 24 hours.

Note: Replace the version of Aura of Death in the statblock with the above.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=18288]Darrius_Adler[/MENTION]
Looks good to me. Judging by its hit points, the 650 XP value of a zombie lord in 2e, and it's abilities I'd say your zombie lord is squarely a CR 2 critter (worth 450 XP).

 

[Quartz]

Zombify. Once per long rest, the Zombie Lord can make an attack that deals no damage and instead forces a Constitution save DC 13. Upon failure the victim is Poisoned (if already Poisoned they become Incapacitated), on the following round they make the save again. If they pass the poison effect ends and nothing further happens. On failing the second save the target is slain and rises as a zombie under the Lord's control in 1d4 rounds

That's rather nasty - there's no counter for a start. You might want to say that the Zombie Lord must make a grab for the initial attack and maintain contact. Also, I'd suggest it only happen after the target has been reduced to 0 HP.

And I'd suggest Necrotic rather than Bludgeoning for the type of damage.

 

[jadrax]

How about:

Zombify (Recharge 5–6). The zombie lord targets one creature it can see within 30 feet of it. If the target can see the zombie lord, it must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw against this magic or become Poisoned. While the creature retains the Poisoned condition, at the end of each of the target’s turns, it must make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. After failing three of these saving throws, the target is slain and rises as a zombie under the zombie lord's control in 1d4 rounds, and the creature is no longer Poisoned. After succeeding on three of these saving throws, the creature recovers from the Poisoned condition, and the curse ends.

 

[Darrius_Adler]

Re: Quartz
Sorry if it was not clear, for Zombify the Lord has to make a melee attack and hit the target's AC before anyone has to roll any saves. Sort of a death touch, it does no damage when it hits, just causes the save to need to be made. If they pass the initial save, then Zombify does not work at all as well.

Re: Jadrax
I am hesitant to give this ability a recharge but with the lower save DC maybe that would work out fine. I think restricting it to being attached to a melee attack is a good idea (though the 2e version could potentially do this at 100 yards)

I guess that is a big question all around, are the save DCs for Zombify too high? I went with it based on Con Bonus + 2 (prof bonus guesswork) + 8. I think its attack bonus might be too low.

Going back through the old Zombie Lord entry they got 2 attacks each round, think two attacks would be overkill?

 

[Quartz]

Doesn't being Poisoned grant Disadvantage on the saves? So a DC of 13 is going to be very hard indeed. Assuming a +0 modifier you're turning a 40% chance into a 16% chance. Heaven help the victim with a negative modifier.

And just seeing the critter doesn't strike me as being very fair and allows the PCs no counter.

 

[jadrax]

I guess that is a big question all around, are the save DCs for Zombify too high? I went with it based on Con Bonus + 2 (prof bonus guesswork) + 8. I think its attack bonus might be too low.

It doesn't make much sense to me that the save DC should be based upon Con tbh. I went with Wis.

Looking at the AD&D profile (which I think is probably a more interesting basis than the 3.5 one), it should have 2 attacks and the Zombify can also be an effect of its poison aura. So maybe this would be more interesting:

Aura of Death. Whenever a living creature comes within 30 ft. of the zombie lord, it must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw against this magic or become Poisoned. While the creature retains the Poisoned condition, at the end of each of the creature’s turns, it must make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. After failing three of these saving throws, the creature is slain and rises as a zombie under the zombie lord's control in 1d4 rounds, and the creature is no longer Poisoned. After succeeding on three of these saving throws, the creature recovers from the Poisoned condition, and the creature cannot be affected by this aura again in the next 24 hours.