Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Need help figuring out the crunch behind this zombie siege
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Tormyr" data-source="post: 6550946" data-attributes="member: 6776887"><p>Undead fortitude should be fine since it will be at the level of the stand. Some of those 10 zombies have fallen down, gotten back up, and other stayed down during the battle, and this is represented on an abstract level by whether undead fortitude keeps the whole stand up when it hits zero hp. Generally, it just means the stand needs one more good hit to put it down.</p><p></p><p>As for a quick guess on battle difficulty, since stands are basically 1 mini each and solos are almost as good as stands in straight combat, I would start looking at CR of the creatures. Try adding up the CR of the two sides and determine what is left (My guess is part of the undead horde) and compare the remaining creatures' CR to encounter building against the PCs. The defenses may be enough to make this not a very difficult encounter.</p><p>The following is back of the napkin shenanigans. Feel free to ignore it.</p><p></p><p>So 3 guards, 2 thugs, 3 scouts, 10 commoners, a priest, and an acolyte would be one possible configuration of the town.</p><p>3 * 1/8 + 2 * 1/2 + 3 * 1/2 + 10 * 0 + 2 + 1/4 = 5 1/8 CR</p><p></p><p>Bad Guys</p><p>60 zombies, 2 skeletons, 3 ogre zombies, 1 cult fanatic</p><p>60 * 1/4 + 2 * 1/4 + 3 * 2 + 2 = 23 1/2 CR</p><p></p><p>Yeah, I know comparing CR doesn't really work this way. Anyway, the priest cancels out the cult fanatic. 2 skeletons and 11 zombies cancel out the guards, thugs, scouts, and acolyte. This leaves the PCs to deal with 49 zombies and 3 ogre zombies.</p><p></p><p>My encounter builder puts this at 10 times a deadly encounter. Better be lots of defenses. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> </p><p></p><p>Okay. Random musings about encounter difficulty are done.</p><p></p><p>With regards to walls and gates, check the DMG for rules for damaging objects. In general objects still have an AC. The AC in this case represents not whether it is hit but whether the hit does any damage. Walls also sometimes have damage reduction.</p><p></p><p>I really like this scenario, although it seems like it may be a death trap for the good guys. How large is the town? 60 stands of zombies could easily encircle a square town 12 squares (240 feet) to a side. Will the PCs learn about the necromancer ahead of time? If so, another mission may be for a couple of the PCs to sneak out with a couple stands of skirmishers and sneak around behind to try to take out the necromancer from behind while the bulk of the zombies are assaulting the town. If the necromancer goes down, all the zombies either fall over or start wandering aimlessly in confusion.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tormyr, post: 6550946, member: 6776887"] Undead fortitude should be fine since it will be at the level of the stand. Some of those 10 zombies have fallen down, gotten back up, and other stayed down during the battle, and this is represented on an abstract level by whether undead fortitude keeps the whole stand up when it hits zero hp. Generally, it just means the stand needs one more good hit to put it down. As for a quick guess on battle difficulty, since stands are basically 1 mini each and solos are almost as good as stands in straight combat, I would start looking at CR of the creatures. Try adding up the CR of the two sides and determine what is left (My guess is part of the undead horde) and compare the remaining creatures' CR to encounter building against the PCs. The defenses may be enough to make this not a very difficult encounter. The following is back of the napkin shenanigans. Feel free to ignore it. So 3 guards, 2 thugs, 3 scouts, 10 commoners, a priest, and an acolyte would be one possible configuration of the town. 3 * 1/8 + 2 * 1/2 + 3 * 1/2 + 10 * 0 + 2 + 1/4 = 5 1/8 CR Bad Guys 60 zombies, 2 skeletons, 3 ogre zombies, 1 cult fanatic 60 * 1/4 + 2 * 1/4 + 3 * 2 + 2 = 23 1/2 CR Yeah, I know comparing CR doesn't really work this way. Anyway, the priest cancels out the cult fanatic. 2 skeletons and 11 zombies cancel out the guards, thugs, scouts, and acolyte. This leaves the PCs to deal with 49 zombies and 3 ogre zombies. My encounter builder puts this at 10 times a deadly encounter. Better be lots of defenses. :) Okay. Random musings about encounter difficulty are done. With regards to walls and gates, check the DMG for rules for damaging objects. In general objects still have an AC. The AC in this case represents not whether it is hit but whether the hit does any damage. Walls also sometimes have damage reduction. I really like this scenario, although it seems like it may be a death trap for the good guys. How large is the town? 60 stands of zombies could easily encircle a square town 12 squares (240 feet) to a side. Will the PCs learn about the necromancer ahead of time? If so, another mission may be for a couple of the PCs to sneak out with a couple stands of skirmishers and sneak around behind to try to take out the necromancer from behind while the bulk of the zombies are assaulting the town. If the necromancer goes down, all the zombies either fall over or start wandering aimlessly in confusion. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Need help figuring out the crunch behind this zombie siege
Top