Special Conversion Thread: Moldvay's Undead

[freyar]

Take a 6HD human zombie, drop single actions only, add turn resistance and some kind of "losing limbs" ability? Can't say I'm fond of counting lost hp, so we might want to think of a cleaner mechanic.

 

[Shade]

Agreed. How about each time it is reduced to 0 or fewer hit points, rather than being destroyed, it is restored to full health but takes a bunch of penalties similar to negative levels?

Then, after reaching 0 hp for the xth time, it is permanently destroyed.

 

[freyar]

Why not just give it a positive level each time? Then it's destroyed when positive levels equals HD? We might want to reduce the HD in that case, then, since that mechanic is like squaring the original # of HD.

 

[demiurge1138]

Hm. These guys are peculiar. I'd prefer every ten damage they take to give them a positive level.

 

[Shade]

That might work better.

Boost Str by +5 to offset the losses? It is supposedly "stronger and hardier".

 

[freyar]

The Str boost is a good idea. I'm still not sure I like the mechanic of tracking how many hp are lost.

 

[Cleon]

Hm. These guys are peculiar. I'd prefer every ten damage they take to give them a positive level.

But then you'd have to rework their saves at each power-drop.

I'd rather do something like -2 penalty on attack & damage when reduced to two-thirds hit points (or down to 4 hit points per HD?), -4 at one third hp (or 2hp/HD?) then fiddling with level losses.

Shall we talk about stats?

As freyar said, they're basically human zombies with more HD and a "Tenacity" Special Quality. I wouldn't give them extra turning because they've got 6HD, so are already harder to turn under 3E than an SRD wight.

What ability scores do you fancy? I'm thinking Dexterity 10-11 since they're not slow like standard zombies, and Strength 16-17 to give their zombie-slam (1d6 for a standard Medium zombie) the same average damage as 1-12.

Str 17, Dex 10, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1?

 

[Cleon]

But then you'd have to rework their saves at each power-drop.

I'd rather do something like -2 penalty on attack & damage when reduced to two-thirds hit points (or down to 4 hit points per HD?), -4 at one third hp (or 2hp/HD?) then fiddling with level losses.

Okay, to try to formalize my idea, I'm thinking something like:

Deterioration: If a walking dead's hit points are reduced to 4 or less per Hit Dice (24 hp or less for a standard walking dead), it takes a -2 penalty to attack and damage rolls. This penalty increases to -4 if it falls to 2 hit points per Hit Dice (12 hp for a standard walking dead).
​

 

[Shade]

I don't care for the "x hit points per HD" mechanic. Too much math. The 2/3 and 1/3 mechanic might work, though.

The -2 cumulative penalty is fine.

 

[freyar]

Anyone else notice how they wanted to make superzombies but just added HD and anti-abilities? It would be much cooler just to have a few HD and have them be tough. Oh well.

Back to the task at hand. I could go with 1/3 or 2/3 hp. As an alternative, each hit could add a penalty with a certain % chance. It's more "swingy" and less "grindy" but might be easier. Maybe 30% of hits?