Zombiepult!

[Dirigible]

I had an idea for a villain flinging zombies out of a catapult into a besiged city, with the double advantage of being extremely unhygienic and creating shambling terror troops.

How much damage would the poor undead suffer from such treatment - or indeed, any victim of catapulting? I'm thinking either half the damage of the catapult itself, or half the distance of the shot as a fall (eg, a 50ft fall if it was shot 100ft).

Perhaps a better idea would be to use live prisoners. The impact would surely kill them, but unlike the undead, corpses don't seem to take damage, and they could them be raised (assuming long-ranged necromancy or time-delayed spells).

Any thoughts?

 

[FrostedMini1337]

Isn't there a law of science that comes involved here that says "If you do 4d6 to walll, wall does 4d6 to you?"

Provided the zombie weighed enough, just use the rules for catalpaults in the DMG, and grant the zombie it's DR. If they won't survive the trip, have the evil guy research a short spell (1-3 rounds) that gives UD a huge boost in DR for a minor material cost or something.

Edit: Oh yeah, AWESOME IDEA BTW.

 

[Fieari]

Don't forget to ask your friendly local Cancer Mage to infect the zombies with some nice diseases, or more preferably, viral agents.

 

[Dross]

To cover the damage the zombies get on landing, place them in large bags/cases of water that break (absorbing same/most/all) the damage and letting the zombie roam freely relative unharmed (apart from being dead that is ). Being dead it does not have to breath so the time spent in the bag is not that critical.

Also if the water is tainted/poisoned (contact poison) you get an extra bag for your splash.

(The Mars probes used a shell of balloons to absorb the shock of landing, so it's not really my idea, I just yoinked it like I will this idea)

 

[Infiniti2000]

There's a spell in the Book of Vile Darkness that causes undead to explode when struck. I can't remember the spell off-hand, but that would definitely work in this scenario. The townspeople would absolutely freak out, not just over catapulting zombies, but catapulting exploding zombies.

 

[Question]

ITS RAINING ZOMBIES.

Zombies that EXPLODE when they land.

Brilliant!

 

[Caliban]

There's a spell in the Book of Vile Darkness that causes undead to explode when struck. I can't remember the spell off-hand, but that would definitely work in this scenario. The townspeople would absolutely freak out, not just over catapulting zombies, but catapulting exploding zombies.

Even better - they explode with negative energy damage, which would heal any zombies that don't die on impact.

 

[Goldmoon]

To cover the damage the zombies get on landing, place them in large bags/cases of water that break (absorbing same/most/all) the damage and letting the zombie roam freely relative unharmed (apart from being dead that is ). Being dead it does not have to breath so the time spent in the bag is not that critical.

Also if the water is tainted/poisoned (contact poison) you get an extra bag for your splash.

(The Mars probes used a shell of balloons to absorb the shock of landing, so it's not really my idea, I just yoinked it like I will this idea)

Three words: Oil of Impact!