D&D 5E Should all undead have some kind of resistance against "cold"?

[MoutonRustique]

In many ways - D&D undead are unlike what undead are kind of "about" in most ways : very difficult to "kill", extremely dangerous, often unbeatable, etc.

D&D undead are none of those things as a general rule.

What undead "should" be will really depend upon what you want them to mean in your world. I has nothing to do with "realism" or anything of the like - unless you're trying to go for that. However, "realism" and "physics" do not mix well with undead...

 

[Ovinomancer]

In many ways - D&D undead are unlike what undead are kind of "about" in most ways : very difficult to "kill", extremely dangerous, often unbeatable, etc.

D&D undead are none of those things as a general rule.

What undead "should" be will really depend upon what you want them to mean in your world. I has nothing to do with "realism" or anything of the like - unless you're trying to go for that. However, "realism" and "physics" do not mix well with undead...

Disagree. Undead are difficult for normal people, but the heroes dispatch them in hordes. And that's really, to me at least, the design goal for most of the undead in 5e -- horde creatures. Low level, individually weak, but with the encounter building rules you can quickly stack numbers to give that 'wave of undead' feel. Even at low levels you can put a veritable roomful of skeletons or zombies against a party, whereas if they were more individually beefy, you couldn't do that. And undead maintain a decent profile as horde monsters for quite some time, especially if leavened with a few stiffer threats like some ghouls/ghasts, wights, or a wraith or two.

I like the new, individually weaker, more vulnerable undead. Took me a bit -- I felt they were underwhelming at first as well -- but it turns out I'd rather swamp a 1st level party with 8 zombies than 2.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

I think cold damage can freeze and shatter a skeleton, and the same is true for any undead with bones (on the outside or on the inside). But I like the flavour.

Re: undead being weak sauce, zombies so far have been, through lucky rolls, impressively Chumbawamba so far in my campaign. And my party absolutely got licked by ghouls, with two deaths and two KOs in two fights between 3 pcs, 2 npcs and an animal companion.

Ok, they're level 3/4 but still.