Welcome back, everyone. What follows is the final installment of my research into the walking dead as they pertain to everyone’s favorite tabletop fantasy roleplaying game. In previous chapters we identified the elements of horror zombies exemplify and the rules at your disposal in D&D v3.5 to really bring them to “life” (that joke will never go out of style). Today we’ll apply what we’ve learned to a few of my favorite specimens from cinema, literature and webcomics as well as explore some of the design choices I made while adapting them to the D&D ruleset.
Half-Life
“What the hell ARE these things? And why are they wearing Science Team uniforms?” - Barney1
It would be silly of me to start my discussion anywhere but in the universe of the Half-Life videogame series. From the bowels of Black Mesa to the post-apoc environs surrounding City 17, for me these games (HL1 specifically) defined the genre of survival horror. For any lepers condemned to lifelong house arrest who somehow have not yet been exposed to this game, the series centers on the trials of a MIT-grad named Gordon Freeman. By virtue of survival training he received at a certain, secretive research facility; a special “hazmat” suit that is apparently bulletproof; and simple bad luck, it falls to Gordon to save the world from aliens, corrupt humans and itself.
You know what kind of experience you’re in for when the first enemy you encounter in Half-Life is a headcrab and the second is a gang of headcrab zombies. Half-Life zombies were once ordinary humans, transformed by alien parasites called “headcrabs.” These headcrabs, as the name suggests, latch onto the host’s head, subduing the subject until the metamorphosis is complete. Once this is accomplished the headcrab gains full control over its host’s body; though horrifyingly the victim retains awareness of his or her environment, making beating or shooting it to death all the more tragic.
A few things come to mind when pondering how awesome these monsters are. First, the vehicle of “infection” is not a disease of any kind but an alien parasite that observers can actually see with the naked eye (the headcrab is about the size of a bowling ball). The hero is repulsed and startled and because the culprit is a physical creature trying to “couple with your head,” in the words of one scientist, the headcrab presents the terrifying possibility of a double threat (I recommend the “We Don’t Go To Ravenholm…” sequence of Half-Life 2, even if you don’t play the rest of the game, for a frantic and horrific experience) where survivors are desperately battling zombies while dodging and dispatching leaping headcrabs.
Second, as mentioned above, the headcrab’s host is still technically alive. In the first game the monster simply growls and shuffles toward you but in the sequel the zombies are much more animated, stumbling around and throwing objects at you as muffled screams emanate from within their fleshy hoods. Survivors get the distinct impression the host is an unwilling participant in the headcrab’s shenanigans, so blasting the zombie is practically a mercy killing.
Third, and perhaps most importantly, the headcrab is already dramatically altering the way the human body operates so it’s not much of a stretch to assume other types of headcrabs can produce unexpected results. In later games there are different varieties of both headcrabs and zombies, like the “skinnies” who can scamper up the sides of buildings and leap tall buildings in a single bound or “tossers” who absorb obscene amounts of damage but lob venomous headcrabs instead of chasing you. What’s the point? Well, any game emphasizing combat against one specific type of creature can get pretty dull. These genetic variations provide the DM with nearly limitless options.
Below you can see the mechanics involved in the headcrab’s main attack mode. I didn’t like needing to create three new special abilities but I think the final version presented here is pretty faithful to what you see in the videogames: a weak, frail creature who can’t run very fast if its ambush fails but if everything goes according to plan can not only be more than a match for people many times its size but also turn them against their comrades.
As far as the host is concerned, in the series zombies must often dismantle barricades or break out of closets to engage you, an ability that makes them particularly scary in a “Let’s hide in this farmhouse until morning” scenario. Finally, one innovation in Half-Life 2 is the headcrab’s tendency to leap off its host toward your face if you fail to kill them both in the same attack. Not only is this frightening, it also reinforces zombie lore: always aim for the head.
ZOMBIE
Medium Monstrous Humanoid
HD: 3d8+9 (22 hp)
Init: -2
Speed: 15 ft. (3 squares)
Armor Class: 14 (-2 Dex, +6 Natural), touch 8, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +3/+7
Attack: Slam +4 melee (1d6+7)
Full Attack: 2 Slams +4 (1d6+7)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Demolish
Special Qualities: Blindsight 30ft, Sacrificial Host
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +3
Abilities: Str 19, Dex 7, Con 15, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 6
Skills: Climb +7, Swim +7
Feats: Power Attack, Toughness
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary, crowd (2-12), mob (4-24) or infestation (5-30 plus 3-6 headcrabs)
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: 1/10 coins; 50% goods; 50% items
A humanoid form shambles around the corner up ahead, easily mistaken for a normal person were it not for the fleshy sac encasing the poor soul’s entire head. Muffled screams issue from within this pulsating pouch and the creature lurches toward you, its bloody, bony arms grasping.
When a headcrab successfully “couples” with its host’s head and assumes control of the brain, its tactics are fairly straightforward. If headcrabs without hosts are present, zombies attack any suitable victims, making full use of Power Attack until the subject is disabled. If only zombies are present, they attack at full strength anyway with the intent to kill. Headcrabs are confident future hosts are plentiful and that they can spring away from any potential threat, exhibiting total disregard for the host’s safety.
Demolish (Ex): Part of the metamorphosis transforms the host’s arms into bony, clawed appendages as hard as steel. When attacking objects, the headcrab zombie ignores the first five points of Hardness; as with living opponents, when demolishing items headcrab zombies make full use of Power Attack.
Sacrificial Host (Ex): The headcrab has total control over the host’s body but can detach at any time, automatically killing the host. Likewise, when the zombie drops into negative HP, unless enough damage is dealt to kill the host the headcrab detaches immediately, leaping off the body toward the nearest viable host as an immediate action.
HEADCRAB
Tiny Aberration (Extraplanar)
HD: 1d8 (4)
Init: +4
Speed: 5 ft. (1 square) but see text
Armor Class: 18 (+2 size, +4 Dex, +2 natural), touch 16, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/+8
Attack: Bite +6 (1d3)
Space/Reach: 2-½ ft./0 ft.
Special Attacks: Create zombie, cunning grappler, improved grab, leap, smother
Special Qualities: Blindsight 30ft
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +4, Will +2.
Abilities: Str 11, Dex 18, Con 11, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 14
Skills: Hide +18, Jump +12, Move Silently +10
Feats: Stealthy, Weapon Finesse(B)
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary, pair or infestation (3-6)
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral evil
A moment before it strikes you spot movement in the shadows. Suddenly, it screeches and leaps at your face, a tiny shapeless thing of pink and yellow flesh with four spidery legs and a gaping maw.
Headcrabs are most vulnerable without a host so they take special precautions to avoid detection until the most opportune moment. Their compact bodies and nimble reflexes allow headcrabs to stalk or ambush their prey; it is unclear how a creature without eyes knows to keep to the shadows, but it has been theorized they have special light sensory organs on their skin that tell them where the light ends and darkness begins. Not very intelligent, headcrab attacks are simple and brutal: they favor lone targets but if a host can’t be caught alone, the headcrab leaps anyway.
Create Zombie (Ex): When grappling a target, the headcrab enjoys a +4 cover bonus to AC against all attacks from other characters. Furthermore, any damage dealt to the headcrab while using its Smother ability is also dealt to the victim. When the subject drops to negative HP either from suffocation or his wounds, he automatically stabilizes (and stops suffocating) but remains unconscious as the metamorphosis begins. Unconscious characters grappled by a headcrab become headcrab zombies in 1d4 minutes.
Cunning Grappler (Ex): Utilizing attacks around the shoulders and head of their victim and using the opponent’s panic to his advantage, headcrabs not only compensate for their small size when grappling but also turn it into an asset. The normal –8 penalty on grapple checks for Tiny creatures is reversed, making a headcrab’s Grapple modifier +8 in all.
Improved Grab (Ex): Headcrabs automatically initiate a grapple on a successful bite attack. This normally means the grappling creature draws the target into its square, thus not provoking attacks of opportunity; but headcrabs must enter their opponent’s square to make the bite attack in the first place. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can attempt to smother on the following round.
Leap (Ex): Headcrabs only attack humanoids of medium size and only attack their heads; when attacking, the headcrab makes a Jump check to cover the distance (the headcrab’s speed is considered to be 30ft while leaping). If the subject is wearing a helmet it is impossible for the headcrab to establish a hold: in this case, the initial grapple after a successful bite is a special disarm attempt where the headcrab uses its grapple modifier. If successful, the helmet is removed, the grapple ends and the headcrab enters an adjacent square.
Smother (Ex): On the round following a successful grapple attempt, headcrabs begin to smother their victims. All normal rules for suffocation apply but the subject can attempt to break the headcrab’s grapple during this time. The headcrab automatically deals bite damage each round the grapple is maintained.
Skills: Headcrabs gain a +4 racial bonus to Hide, Move Silently and Jump checks. Headcrabs use their Strength or Dexterity modifier for Jump checks, whichever is higher; in addition, when using their Leap ability, headcrabs are always considered to have a running start before a long jump.
The Zombie Hunters
“SPITTER! 2:00!! Broken jaw!! Brown pants!! JUST SHOOT DAN!! NOW!!” – Charlie2
The Zombie Hunters is an exciting new webcomic created by Jenny Romanchuk, one of our friendly neighbors to the North. It depicts a post-apocalyptic setting (so far, so good) in which zombies reign supreme but haven’t quite won the war. The title refers to small bands of paramilitary survivors who explore urban centers for supplies and to monitor the local zombie population. The artstyle might take some getting used to as the creator changes it abruptly to suit the current strip’s mood but the atmosphere is one of dark humor, camaraderie and best of all, Zombageddon.
Zombies in the webcomic The Zombie Hunters come in a variety of forms, only a few of which have been revealed in the story thus far. “Crawlers” are your garden-variety brain muncher but specimens known as “spitters” are far more interesting. Likely due to a combination of severe acid reflux in life with whatever bacteria or chemical agent reanimates dead tissue, these zombies are capable of spitting globs of acidic bile at their prey. Below I have provided statistics on these spitters for two reasons: first, adapting the zombie from p265 of the Monster Manual can create “crawlers” easily enough without additional statistics and second, the scene in which the spitter is introduced is badass.
Spitters are useful in a horror setting because they are gross – even grosser than other zombies. I guess when a hero is splattered in a creature’s bile the more pressing concern is to scrape it off because his flesh is being eaten away but many DMs fail to address just how icky a monster spitting on you is. Another important factor is that until the spitter attacks it isn’t very different from other zombies, making it easy to include a handful in a bigger mob to surprise and annoy your players.
As you can see, I gave the spitter a rudimentary animal intellect because I felt any creature with a ranged attack should probably need a little more going on upstairs than an insect (not only to be able to pull off the attack but to know when best to use it). Because they are dead, zombies in this webcomic go up like kindling when put to the torch, which explains their fire vulnerability. Finally, I make the comment below that the DC to resist a spitter’s disease is “much lower” than a crawler’s but it is, in fact, exactly what the DC should be for the spitter’s HD and Charisma score.
What gives? If you’re considering creating crawlers for your game I strongly recommend giving them a +4 racial bonus to the save DC simply because in the comic, you rarely if ever spot dead bodies rotting in the street. Apparently almost everyone contracts the disease before dying which, to me, suggests the average 1st level Commoner has far more than a 50/50 chance of being infected.
SPITTER
Medium Undead
HD: 2d12 (13 hp)
Init: -1
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 13 (-1 Dex, +4 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+2
Attack: Bite +2 (1d6+1 plus disease) or acid spit +1 (see text)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Acid spit, disease
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60ft, Undead traits, fire vulnerability
Saves: Fort +0, Ref –1, Will +4
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 8, Con-, Int 2, Wis 13, Cha 10
Skills: Listen +4, Spot +3
Feats: Weapon Focus (Acid Spit)
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary, pair or mob (1d4 plus 3-18 zombies)
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: 1/10 coins; 50% goods; 50% items
Alignment: Always neutral
You hear this monster before you see it; basically humanoid but sounding suspiciously like a cat coughing up a hairball. “Hrr; hurk; hrral…” A human corpse in an advanced state of decay steps into the light, dressed as a peasant but with green bile foaming and dripping from its gaping mouth.
Spitters, like most of their kind, exist only to spread the horrible disease that claimed them, transforming them into foot soldiers in an army of the dead. They have developed a special attack mode that allows them to threaten survivors at a distance or dismantle barricades more quickly, but acidic bile does wonders to scrub the spitter’s mouth and throat of infected saliva. Thus, although spitters can transmit the zombie infection through a bite, the Fortitude save to resist it is far lower compared to that of the crawlers.
Spitters have a predatory intellect and instinctively grasp their acid spittle is a great asset. They use it at the first and every opportunity, following up with bite attacks on the nearest living humanoid (infected or otherwise).
Acid Spit (Ex): Spitters using their acid spit ability make a ranged touch attack. If successful, the attack deals 1d6 damage and continues to deal damage for 1d4 rounds or until it is scraped off (Heal DC10). Acid spit is useable once every 1d4 rounds.
Disease (Ex): Zombie Plague – bite, Fortitude DC 11, incubation period 1d3 hours, damage 1d4 Con. The save DC is Charisma-based. This disease only affects humanoids and a new save to resist more Constitution damage is made every hour, not daily. A humanoid that dies of the zombie infection or dies while infected rises as a spitter in 1d4 rounds.
Dawn of the Dead
“Is this an international health hazard or a military concern?” “Both.” – CDC3
This is quite possibly the greatest zombie film ever made and, by my estimation, one of the stronger pieces of cinema in the 21st century from any genre. You may find a review I wrote here.
While Romero’s classic reinvention of the ghoul was slow, dull-witted and much stronger than normal humans, Snyder’s 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead considered the possibility of so-called “fast zombies.” These horrors still possess a hunger for living flesh but also retain whatever strength, agility and athleticism they had in life, minus the pain of exertion. This allows even formerly bedridden humans, once killed and turned, to achieve the unthinkable, making hospitals a decidedly dangerous place to go during an outbreak. I cite the classic scene from the film of the obese woman shortly after reanimation: she is not actually moving faster than she otherwise could in life. If she wasn’t sick, dying and concerned about hurting herself even someone her size could easily move like that, at least for a short time.
This specimen differs from your run-of-the-mill zombie in a few significant ways. The first, and most important difference is its speed: actually, it is inaccurate to call fast zombies “fast” since they aren’t any quicker than they were before they died. They just aren’t slow, but this single difference opens up a world of possibilities for the DM. Not only do they never get tired, you can’t even beat them in a sprint anymore. Another way they differ from the MM zombie is that they aren’t particularly strong or tough: the template only marginally improves their effectiveness in combat, and in fact greatly reduces it in anyone who was even slightly above average.
This is important because it allows the DM to make use of them in greater numbers than he otherwise might and it reinforces the idea that they were once ordinary people. Subconsciously, seeing a zombie crumple and batter down a steel door can be just like seeing it fly around in the air and shoot laser beams from its eyes. It reinforces the sense of “other,” and one of the key objectives in a zombie encounter is to drive home the point that they are not, in fact, “other.” They are just like you, it could have happened to you, and indeed it very well might if you don’t fight for your life.
While most zombies seem to be content with biting their quarry to death then shambling off while the slain reanimate and join the horde, the movie is ambiguous in that it does include a few scenes depicting cannibalism (read: even after the infected corpse reanimates, the zombie who killed that person continues to feed). Here, I decided to clarify the issue by stating that once the corpse reanimates, the zombies who laid it low no longer identify it as food. I could have just not included the Hunger trait and simplified the template even further but this way, it allows for someone to be knocked into negatives in some other way but still become a zombie if the Undead come upon the character while unconscious.
Finally, the Strahd Zombies of Expedition to Castle Ravenloft possess a trait that inspired the Unstoppable quality you see below. I think it perfectly captures the spirit of needing to aim directly for the head if you want to bring the zombie down for good. Here, characters have a 75% chance of killing the zombie on the final hit but you can tweak it in your game to 50% or even lower and it won’t appreciably change the CR of each individual zombie, since you still need to do enough damage to bring them to that point anyway.
Because the victim’s former physical attributes are retained it is more accurate to use a template for this model than just a basic monster all humanoids turn into. This example was created using a 1st level human Commoner; her stats were Str12, Dex13, Con11, Int9, Wis10, Cha8.
FAST ZOMBIE
Medium Undead
Hit Dice: 2d12 (13 hp)
Initiative: +5
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 15 (Dex +1, leather +2, natural +2), Touch 11, Flat-Footed 14
Base Attack Bonus/Grapple: +1/+2
Attack: Slam +2 (1d6+1)
Full Attack: 2 slams +2 (1d6+1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft. /5 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved grab, bite 1d6+1, disease
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60ft, hunger, Undead traits, unstoppable
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +1, Will +3
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 12, Con -, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 8
Skills: Climb +5, Jump +5, Listen +2, Spot +2, Swim +5
Feats: Alertness, Improved Initiative
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary, crowd (2-12), mob (4-24), outbreak (5-30) or horde (30-300)
Challenge Rating: 1/2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral
A woman shuffles aimlessly in the road less than ten yards ahead of you. In the moonlight she appears human and is dressed in simple peasant’s garb; all seems normal save her right arm is bloody and torn in numerous places from savage bites. She stops and turns to face you, shrieking in protest before sprinting in your direction.
“Fast zombies” (something of a misnomer, since they are no faster than normal people, just faster compared to other types of zombies) are flesh eaters. Obstacles, destruction or the death and reanimation of their prey are the only things that will deter them. They retain a predatory cunning so they get to keep skill points and feats that don’t require sentient, conscious thought to use. Creating more zombies is not something these monsters do deliberately but because the disease is spread through bites, infection is inevitable.
Disease (Ex): Zombie Plague, Fortitude DC 11.
CREATING A FAST ZOMBIE
“Fast Zombie” is an acquired template that can be applied to any corporeal humanoid (referred to hereafter as the base creature).
Size and Type: The creature’s type changes to Undead. It retains any subtypes except alignment subtypes and subtypes that indicate kind (such as goblinoid). It does not gain the augmented subtype.
Hit Dice: Double the base creature’s HD (including those derived from class levels) and raise them to d12s.
Armor Class: Natural armor bonus increases according to size: Tiny +0, Small +1, Medium +2 and Large +3.
Base Attack: Fast zombies have a base attack bonus equal to ½ their HD.
Attacks: Fast zombies lose any weapon proficiencies they possessed in life but gain a slam and bite attack.
Damage: Both the fast zombie’s slam and bite attacks deal damage depending on its size: Tiny 1d3, Small 1d4, Medium 1d6 and Large 1d8. If the fast zombie already possessed a slam or bite attack, use the greater of the two damage values. A successful bite also calls for a Fortitude save to resist disease.
Special Attacks: Fast zombies lose all the special attacks of the base creature but gain those described below. The zombie plague has a Fortitude DC of 10 + ½ fast zombie’s HD + fast zombie’s Cha modifier unless noted otherwise.
Improved Grab (Ex): If a fast zombie hits with one or both of its slam attacks it deals normal damage and attempts to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins, it establishes a hold and can bite for the damage listed above.
Disease (Ex): Zombie Plague, incubation period instant, 1d6 Con damage. The subject must make three consecutive Fortitude saves, not two, to beat the infection. Anyone reduced to 0 Constitution or who dies while infected with the zombie plague rises as a fast zombie in 1d4 rounds.
Special Qualities: Fast zombies retain only extraordinary special qualities that improve their natural attacks but gain the following.
Hunger (Ex): Fast zombies cannot resist the overwhelming need to feed. When confronted with a source of humanoid flesh either living or having only been reduced to –10hp within one minute, the fast zombie abandons any current activity except combat and begins to feed. For every minute spent feeding, the fast zombie regains hit points as if targeted with an Inflict Light Wounds spell (caster level 1st). It takes one hour for a fast zombie to completely devour an uninfected Medium humanoid corpse. Note that every round spent feeding, a bite attack is made which forces a Fortitude save against the zombie plague; meaning a fast zombie who begins to feed on someone still in negative HP may infect them and, upon reaching –10hp, that victim will reanimate.
Unstoppable (Ex): Fast zombies can only be killed by destroying their brain. To this end, every time enough damage would be dealt to kill a fast zombie, roll 1d4. On a 1, the damage is ignored.
Saves: Base save bonuses are Fort + 1/3HD, Ref +1/3HD and Will +1/2HD +2.
Abilities: A fast zombie has no Constitution score and its Intelligence drops to 2. The rest of its ability scores remain unchanged.
Skills: A fast zombie retains any skills it had in life that do not require any conscious, sentient thought (such as Open Lock or Spellcraft). As a rule of thumb, a fast zombie can do anything an animal could.
Feats: See “Skills.”
Challenge Rating: A fast zombie has a challenge rating equal to ½ the base creature’s CR, to a minimum of CR1/3 so a 10th level human fighter with the fast zombie template would have CR5.
Treasure: None, although a fast zombie may still possess any gear it had in life.
Alignment: Always neutral.
Autumn
“It defied all logic, but there was absolutely no doubt. . . the man standing in front of him was dead.”4
Set in contemporary, cozy England, the story here is simple: one day almost everyone on Earth drops dead. A few days later, some of these corpses stand up and start shambling around again, and the few survivors are left wondering what to do next.
The zombies in this novel are interesting for a few key reasons. First, three days of biological, clinical death is apparently very traumatic and it takes each individual zombie awhile before they regain their wits. When they first regain motor function the zeds just wander aimlessly in a single direction until they bump into something; this means they are not dangerous at all to the survivors, at least not any more dangerous than another rotting corpse. It is only after a week or two that the zombies begin to recognize living humans as different and it takes even more time before they manifest aggression.
Second, and related to the first trait, the corpses’ wandering makes for a roughly equal diffusion of population between cities and rural areas. When entering an urban area in practically any other zombie story, the characters can count on facing more enemies; but the days of mindless shambling before the zombies “wake up” and realize they’re dead mean, in Moody’s world, the countryside is just as dangerous as the big city.
A few key features stand out in the statistics provided below. An individual zombie is weak and doesn’t stand a chance against an able-bodied, conscious adult. As time goes on, decomposition continues and prolonged exertion means a zombie might literally fall to pieces during a fight or while trying to breach the characters’ defenses. All of this means the zombies are much more dangerous in groups and benefit greatly from mob assaults, at least for a short time. Finally, these zombies do not bite and have no other way to transmit their animating virus. If you aren’t already a zombie, you won’t become one through contact with them but you do run the risk of contracting other diseases from the rotting tissue. This is probably the most significant difference between Moody’s Autumn zombies and the other specimens analyzed here.
The statistics provided here represent a zombie about a week or two after reanimation. Before this time they are far too docile to present any threat to the living and should be considered helpless.
AUTUMN ZOMBIE
Medium Undead
Hit Dice: 1d12 (6hp)
Initiative: -1
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 11 (-1 Dex, +2 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 11
Base Attack Bonus/Grapple: +0/-1
Attack: Slam -1 melee (1d6-1)
Full Attack: 2 slams -1 (1d6-1)
Space/Reach: 5 ft. /5 ft.
Special Attacks: Disease, mob violence
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft., decomposition, DR 3/-, Undead traits
Saves: Fort +0, Ref -1, Will +2
Abilities: Str 8, Dex 8, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1
Skills: Listen +0, Spot +0
Feats: None
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary, crowd (2-12), mob (4-24), outbreak (5-30) or horde (30-300)
Challenge Rating: 1/4
Treasure: 1/10 coins; 50% goods; 50% items
Alignment: Always neutral
Though the form before you is humanoid it is hard to confuse it for a person even from a distance. What remains of the corpse stumbles and shuffles into clear view, dried blood caked around its nose and mouth and streaking thinly down its sunken cheeks. The eyes are the worst, staring at, through and past you into nothing and reflecting less.
Autumn zombies are the blasted, rotting remains of those who succumbed to the mysterious illness that wiped out nearly all human life worldwide. Initially, they are only dimly aware that they are separate from the world around them and that the living are different from the dead, but over time they seem to understand this and slowly become not only more curious about their surroundings but also more hostile to survivors. Their tactics are mindless but effective: crowd around living humans and bludgeon them until they stop moving.
Decomposition (Ex): Over time, an autumn zombie simply falls apart. This is accelerated during periods of extreme exertion such as combat or attempts to tear down obstacles, resulting in 1d6 damage every round.
Disease (Ex): Anyone damaged by an autumn zombie or who damages an autumn zombie with a natural attack must save against filth fever; Fortitude DC 14, incubation period 1 day, damage 1d3 Dex and 1d3 Con. The save DC is Constitution-based and includes a +4 racial bonus.
Mob Violence (Ex): Autumn zombies gain a +2 circumstance bonus to Strength and 3 temporary hit points for each adjacent autumn zombie. These bonuses last as long as the autumn zombies remain in adjacent squares.
1 “Unexpected Consequences,” Half-Life (Bellevue: Sierra Studios, 1998).
2 “Chapter 1: Page 38,” The Zombie Hunters, <http://thezombiehunters.com/tzh/index.php?strip_id=38> (2006).
3 Zack Snyder, Dawn of the Dead (Los Angeles: Universal Pictures, 2004).Zack Snyder, Dawn of the Dead.
4 David Moody, Autumn (Infected Books, 2002), 39.
