Horror zombie template (reworked and with examples)

[Graf]

Just my opinion but...

Your Dropping hitdice effect in particular is a problem. I would probably reword it as "lose character levels". They do lose character levels right?

And "original hit dice" should refer more specifically to something. Maybe defining it?

Right now a by-the-book-reading would an 11th level wizard horror zombie would be CR 13 even though they aren't much better than a commoner horror zombie (i.e. just the improved bab).

 

[ChimericDream]

Well, the HD does specifically say drop all hit dice from class levels, which was copied straight over from the original zombie template. Since I don't have a real CR for these pinned down yet, I can change the wording of the CR block... I'll probably just base it off the new HD of the horror zombie.

 

[Ry]

DR 10 / - still looks too high. I'd say DR 5 / magic, or 5/- at the most. You can just stick to the regular crits rules as well.

 

[ChimericDream]

Well, with these being undead, they are immune to crits, but i wanted to have the added flavor of them having a single weakness. Giving them DR/magic is kinda pointless IMO, because DR/magic is way overvalued as I see it. By the time characters get to level 2 or 3, they usually have access to something that easily gets around it.

Making crits bypass DR gives them a little flavor that doesn't have a complex rule or formula to go with it, and the DR 10 really hammers home the concept of "These guys ignore pretty much anything except the *really* hard hits."