Special Conversion Thread: Moldvay's Undead

[Shade]

20 will probably work.

I meant to comment on the psionics earlier. I think we should move them to a "sidebar" describing a psionic variant. Maybe "the zombie overmind"?

 

[freyar]

Good idea on the psionic variant.

Any SLAs for this guy? Seems like DR should be DR 15 or 20/magic (& a special material?). But I'm not sure about anything else. Do we want to tie him to normal zombies in some way?

 

[demiurge1138]

Good call on the divine as arcane spells. I think the DR should be slashing + special material (how about silver?)

Demiurge out.

 

[freyar]

Well, the original took +1 weapons to hit, but DR/magic is probably not worth much at the likely CR. I could see DR/slashing & silver; that's got a good tie to normal zombies. How much DR do you think it should have?

 

[demiurge1138]

DR 20. It can cast as a 22nd level caster; it's pretty intense.

Demiurge out.

 

[freyar]

Summarizing: 22nd level sorcerer casting w/cleric & some domains as arcane spells
20HD
DR 20/slashing & silver
Sidebar for psionic variant
SR converted as usual from 25%

It is able to control all skeletons and zombies (and all their undead variants), being a sort of lord of the undead.

Rebukes/commands undead as 20th level cleric or a special ability to control all skeletons/zombies within a certain distance?

 

[demiurge1138]

Rebuke/command makes sense. Animate dead also belongs on its spell list.

Demiurge out.

 

[Shade]

Let's try to come up with some ability scores for this fella.

Int is Supra-Genius, so at least Int 19-20.

Cha needs to be at least 19 to cast its highest-level spells.

Looking at other zombie creatures and templates for inspiration:
Zombie: Str +2, Dex -2, Int -, Wisdom 10, Charisma 1
Juju zombie: Str +4, Dex +2, Int -4 (minimum 1), Cha +2
Corpse Creature: Str +4, Dex -2
Tyrantfog Zombie: Str 13, Dex 10, Con -, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 13

 

[freyar]

He does a lot of damage with his melee (slam?), so let's give him decent strength, too. AC is also good, which argues for good Dex, unholy grace, or a combination of the two. How about Str 23, Dex 19, Con -, Int 27, Wis 18, Cha 28? Dex and unholy grace then gives him the right AC, though we could easily boost it with something like mage armor.

 

[Shade]

I'll try to Homebrew him shortly with those scores and we'll see how they look.

Something to chew on:

If he want to make him the king of all zombies, not just the shuffling single action kind, we could borrow some abilities from the variants. Here's a few of note...

Speed: In addition to its land speed, a juju zombie gains a climb speed equal to one-half its base speed if it does not have a climb speed already.

Immunities (Ex): A juju zombie is immune to magic missles and electricity damage.

Blood Drain (Ex): If the bloodthirsty zombie scores a critical hit with its bite against a living creature, that creature takes 1 points of Constitution damage.

Disease (Ex): Any successful melee attack by a diseased zombie exposes the target to a disease (filth fever). Any creature making a successful unarmed or natural attack against a diseased zombie is similarly exposed (a character who grapples with a diseased zombie gets a -4 penalty on the save made to resist infection).

The fast zombie gains a +2 dodge bonus to AC.

Hunter zombies have the scent ability and gain Track as a bonus feat.

An unkillable zombie gains fast healing 5.

Sickening Cloud (Su): The fog that lingers around Tyrantfog zombies saps the endurance of creatures within it. A character who comes within 5 feet of a Tyrantfog zombie must make a DC 13 Fortitude save or take 1 point of temporary Constitution damage. A single character only needs to make one saving throw per encounter with these creatures. The save DC is Charisma-based.