D&D 5E How to get an undead army across an ocean?

TaranTheWanderer · Apr 20, 2019

If you want something creepy, have all the undead packed in boxes on the ship. The crew is wondering why their food is spoiling and why their clean water is randomly getting contaminated or turning to blood.

Draegn · Apr 20, 2019

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adipocere

Let them float, no need for a boat. Using the banner of their master as a sail to direct them where they need to go.

Dausuul · Apr 20, 2019

They ride in the belly of an undead leviathan.

They work together to cast a ritual that creates a massive ice storm. They walk across in the middle of this ice storm, and the cold freezes the water in front of them as they walk.

The lich creates a huge phylactery for the entire army. It destroys them, then takes the phylactery and teleports to the destination, and they reform there after 1d10 days. (This has some plot consequences in that the army is now invincible until the phylactery is destroyed.)

Blue · Apr 20, 2019

muppetmuppet said:
They just walk along the bottom?

I had this happen my last campaign. There is an island in the Midland Sea that has hordes of undead on it. So ate one point when the boat was anchored out at sea due to rough weather the deck crew was jumped by skeletons climbing up the anchor chain. the crew called it a "Zombie Tide" and seemed familiar with the uncommon issue - they said that occasionally bunches of under get washed out to sea and then ships and coastal settlements need to be beware.

Immortal Sun · Apr 20, 2019

I mean, do you want the undead horde to invade in a "cool" way, or in an efficient way?

If we're going to invent something, just slightly modify Gate to be able to open the other end on the same plane. You could literally open the Gate (or multiples) in the middle of the city.

aco175 · Apr 20, 2019

Two possibilities I see. You can stack them on ships like cord-wood since they do not need any space. The other idea is to just raise a new army after you cross the ocean. You can take just one ship to help sneak across bringing just your generals. You can set some cool scene where local graveyards are being raided for bodies.

Eltab · Apr 20, 2019

A dozen galleys led by the generals and officers, crewed by the cultists and with undead rowers. To everybody's surprise, the rowers also leave the ships. As the army reorganizes itself, the ex-rowers are given typical undead weapons. For impressiveness, have the cultists burn their now-abandoned ships in full view of the public - especially if the ships were stolen in the first place - before the army leaves the beaches.