Strahd Zombie (closer to the original version)

[Havrik Stoneskimmer]

I didn't care for the Strahd Zombie published in Open Grave, and wanted something closer to the original from I6: Ravenloft with its original shtick of getting its arms lopped off and having them continue to attack. Obviously, you can't do that with a minion like the Open Grave version.

I basically adapted a Grasping Zombie from Monster Vault (since it does just about everything I want a zombie to do) and leveled it appropriately for my campaign. I used d12s for the damage dice since that seems to be consistent for most of the zombies in Monster Vault. The original Strahd Zombie is 4 HD (so average hit points of about 18), and if it takes 5 or more hit points of damage in a single attack, a limb is severed and the limb continues to attack the PCs. To model this, I have a limb be severed if the zombie takes more than 1/4 of its maximum hit points in a single attack. I think this is quite likely (especially for strikers) so it should occur once in a while, but not so frequently that you end up with a "Black Knight" farce with the zombie hopping around on one leg trying to bite the PCs.

Any comments or suggestions? I didn't add any resist necrotic or vulnerable radiant because none of the Monster Vault zombies have these. But the original Monster Manual zombies do have these traits. I'm not sure whether I should add them (the resist necrotic rarely comes in to play, but radiant vulnerability certainly does).

Do you think the possibility of gaining additional attacks per turn make this too powerful for a standard monster? I don't really want to make it an elite, though - they're really just meant to be zombies with a little extra scary twist.

Here it is:

Strahd Zombie
Level 7 Brute XP 300
Medium natural animate (undead)
HP 96; Bloodied 48
AC 19, Fortitude 20, Reflex 17, Will 17
Initiative +2
Perception +2; darkvision
Speed 4
Immune disease, poison

Traits
Zombie Weakness
A critical hit automatically reduces the Strahd zombie to 0 hit points.

Undying Vitality
When the Strahd zombie takes at least 24 damage in a single attack, one of its limbs is severed. A

Strahd zombie limb (see below) initially occupies the same square as the Strahd zombie and acts on
the same initiative count as the Strahd zombie. All damage that would be taken by a severed limb is
instead taken by the Strahd zombie that it was severed from. If the Strahd zombie is reduced to 0 hit
points, all of its severed limbs are killed as well.

Standard Actions
Slam * At-Will (melee basic attack)
Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +12 vs. AC
Hit: 2d12 + 5 damage, or 2d12 + 10 damage against a grabbed target.

Zombie Grasp * At-Will
Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +10 vs. Reflex
Hit: The zombie grabs the target (escape DC 16) if it does not have a
creature grabbed.

Triggered Actions
Deathless Hunger * Encounter
Trigger: The Strahd zombie is reduced to 0 hit points, but not by a
critical hit.
Effect (No Action): Roll a d20. On a 15 or higher, the Strahd zombie is
instead reduced to 1 hit point.

Str 18 (+7) Dex 8 (+2) Wis 8 (+2)
Con 16 (+6) Int 1 (-2) Cha 3 (-1)
Alignment unaligned Languages –


Strahd Zombie Severed Limb

Level 7 Minion Brute XP 75
Tiny natural animate (undead)
HP see undying vitality
AC 19, Fortitude 20, Reflex 17, Will 17
Initiative +2
Perception +2; tremorsense 10
Speed 2
Immune disease, poison, blinded, gaze effects

Traits
Undying Vitality
All damage that would be taken by a severed limb is instead taken by the Strahd zombie that it was
severed from. If the Strahd zombie is reduced to 0 hit points, all of its severed limbs are killed as well.

Standard Actions
Slam * At-Will (melee basic attack)
Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +12 vs. AC
Hit: 8 damage, or 12 damage against a grabbed target.

Zombie Grasp * At-Will
Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +10 vs. Reflex
Hit: The severed limb grabs the target (escape DC 16) if it does not have a creature grabbed.

Str 18 (+7) Dex 8 (+2) Wis 8 (+2)
Con 16 (+6) Int 1 (-2) Cha 3 (-1)
Alignment unaligned Languages –

 

[Neubert]

It removes some of the simplicity, but I would have the limb do minion damage. So the zombie has an additional attack, but it does a fixed damage. You could then go all the way and treat the limb as a minion (possibly taking up a square). Having it be a minion will also avoid players asking if they can attack the limb.

I don't know the original monster, but what happens if the zombie moves from its space? Does the limb "crawl/jump" along? Having it be a minion (perhaps with a low speed) would also solve the oddness of the zombie dragging its detached limbs with it.

I really like the idea of the monster though!

 

[Havrik Stoneskimmer]

It removes some of the simplicity, but I would have the limb do minion damage. So the zombie has an additional attack, but it does a fixed damage.

That makes some sense, as I suppose a severed limb would do less damage than the remaining zombie, and solve the problem of making the monster overpowered. The twist with the original 1e monster is that the severed limbs share the hit points of the monster. So you could actually kill the whole thing just by beating on the severed arm. That means that traditional minion rules don't work, because the limb doesn't die when hit, unless that hit used up all of the zombie's hit points.

Are there any published examples of 4e monsters where multiple creatures share a single pool of hit points? It'd be interesting to know what kind of mechanics they used to represent this.

I don't know the original monster, but what happens if the zombie moves from its space? Does the limb "crawl/jump" along? Having it be a minion (perhaps with a low speed) would also solve the oddness of the zombie dragging its detached limbs with it.

The original monster is from 1e AD&D, so I think it was left to the DM to handle cases where a limb ends up a distance from the rest of the body. I was originally planning to hand-wave that in 4e too, but I kind of like your minion (or equivalent) idea with a low speed. It definitely allows for more creative play (grab and throw the limb across the room, etc.).

I think I'll rework this a bit and repost an update later.

 

[Rune]

Are there any published examples of 4e monsters where multiple creatures share a single pool of hit points? It'd be interesting to know what kind of mechanics they used to represent this.

Not quite the same, but, the Ochre Jelly (Monster Vault pg. 220) becomes two creatures, each with half the current hit points. From that point on, they are separate creatures (though I can't tell from the stat-block whether or not they are bloodied at that point).

They Hydra (Monster Vault pg. 174) starts an encounter with four heads and loses one every time it goes down a quarter of its hit points. Of course, it being a hydra (and a solo), it grows more back, unless it takes fire or acid damage. It also makes a number of attacks based on how many heads it has.

 

[corwyn77]

I like the idea of something like this:

Undying Vitality
When the Strahd zombie takes at least 24 damage in a single attack, one of its limbs is severed. The severed limb is a new creature which is placed in any square adjacent to the Strahd zombie, and it acts on the same initiative. It has speed 2, 24 hit points, and the Zombie Grasp attack. If the zombie loses two limbs, it can no longer use Zombie Grasp. If the Strahd zombie is reduced to 0 hit points, any severed limbs are killed as well.

 

[Neubert]

I think you could simply put "the limb shares up with the zombie". I don't think there are any real mechanics to this.

The "throw it across the room" idea is really cool

 

[Havrik Stoneskimmer]

I ended up using text similar to corwyn77's, but I wanted to keep the original mechanic of having the limbs share hit points with the rest of the body (i.e., you can't kill them individually without killing the entire zombie).

I think I would allow the zombie to continue to grab people even if it loses both arms (I can fluff it as entangling the PCs leg with its own, like a grappling leg sweep).

I'll update the original post.