Help with the living dead. [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

Land Outcast

2011-02-15, 05:40 PM

Here's the creature (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Living_Dead_(DnD_Creature))

Also, it's here, from the D&D Wiki
Living Dead
Size/Type: Medium-Size Undead
Hit Dice: 3d12+3 (24 hp)
Initiative: -1
Speed: 30 ft.
Armor Class: 11 (-1 Dex, + 2 Natural), touch 10, flat-footed 11
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+3
Attack: 2 Claws + 2 melee (1d4+1), Bite + 3 melee (1d6+1)
Full Attack: —
Space/Reach: 5 ft. by 5 ft./5ft.
Special Attacks: Living Death, Swarm Attack
Special Qualities: Unliving, Scent, partial actions only, damage reduction 5/slashing, Darkvision 60'
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +0, Will +4
Abilities: Str 13, Dex 8, Con —, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 1
Skills: —
Feats: Toughness, Multiattack
Environment: Any Land and Underground
Organization: Horde (10 - 100)
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: None
Alignment: Always neutral evil
Advancement: 4-5 HD
Level Adjustment: —

The air fills with a slow pitiful moan as the stink of death washes over you. A rotting corpse shambles from the dark it's face twisted in death, and it's arms reaching out to grab you.

The Living Dead are the reanimated remains of Humanoid corpses. They so strongly resemble Standard Humanoid Zombies that even the most seasoned Adventurer is unable to tell them apart by mere looks, but there are several very important differences between the two that become apparent once they attack.

While Living Dead are reanimated corpses, they are not Undead in the strictest sense. Instead they are corpses that have been given unlife through some form of unnatural disease. Where or how this disease came to be is unknown, many have speculated as to it’s origin; some say a Lich or mad Wizard created it, some say it is a mutated form of Mummy Rot, others say it comes from exposure to rocks that fell from the sky, and the list of opinions goes on and on. In the end the origin of the malady matters little, for the result is horrifying and wholly destructive.

Living Dead are driven by an insatiable need to spread their infection, using what little remains of their Intelligence to reach the living prey they need to carry on their nightmarish plague. Some Living Dead are able to use minor tools or implements (open doors, smash windows with rocks, etc.), but they are unable to communicate or use weapons in anyway. The most terrifying use of their vestigial intelligence is the fact they are drawn to former friends and loved ones as their initial victims, often using the sympathy these people feel for their former acquaintances as a lure.

DMs wishing to make a distinction between different forms of Living Dead may apply the Zombie Template from the Monster Manual to them, although all that is used is the Hit Dice (add +1 to the standard Template HD), Initiative, Speed, Armor Class, Saves, and Ability scores (with a 2 Int). Damage caused by these Living Dead is also adjusted by their Strength Modifier. All other statistics are as presented above for all Living Dead.
Combat

Living Dead attack by rending, tearing, and biting their victims. Their initial attack is with their bony claw-like hands, attacking twice (without penalty) with them, if either (or both) of these attacks hit they can then attempt to bite their victim (again without any penalty). While their claw attacks will pass on their infection, it is their bite that carries the immediate threat. Often Living Dead will use their fist Claw attack to perform a Grapple, if successful they will attempt to Pin their victim and gain the +4 bonus on their following attack. Once a Living Dead begins to attack someone they continue to do so until the person dies, at that point they cease their attacks and continue on looking for living prey.

Swarm Attack: The more Living Dead that surround and attack a victim the deadlier they become. For every two Living Dead that are attacking a singular target each one gains an additional + 1 on their to hit rolls (example: if 6 Living Dead are attacking one person each Living Dead gains an additional + 3 on their to hit rolls). For this reason alone one should never allow themselves to become surrounded by the Living Dead for in large numbers even the strongest of Heroes will quickly be overran by them.

Unliving: Immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease. Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage, energy drain, or death from massive damage. Like their Zombie cousins, Living Dead have poor reflexes and can perform only partial actions. Thus they can move or attack, but can only do both if they charge (a partial charge).
Living Dead are not Undead in the standard sense, they cannot be turned, effected by holy water, nor are they susceptible to any spells, or magical effects that have a specific effect on Undead. All Living Dead have Darkvision 60'.

Scent: Living Dead are able to locate and track their Humanoid prey by using their Scent ability. They draw air into themselves through what might remain of their nose or mouth in order to “smell” their intended victims. As they release the air from their bodies Living Dead emit groans and wails that chill the blood and have been known to drive some people to the verge of insanity. Because their Scent ability is exclusively used to hunt Humanoids, Living Dead gain a +2 bonus on all checks made with this ability.
Greenrot.JPG

Living Death: The true horror of the Living Dead is the infection they carry within themselves. As it grants them a semblance of life, it is a virulent toxin to the already living. While the infection itself is transmitted by even a scratch from one of these monsters, their bite is what can cause the worse effects to manifest almost immediately. When their victims are bitten they must make a Fortitude Save (DC 22), failure results in the victim suffering Ability Damage of -2 to their Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores 1d10 rounds after being bitten. The victim then continues to lose 2 points from those Stats every hour after becoming infected, until the victim’s Constitution reaches 0 and he/she dies.
If a victim dies from the infection (or is killed by damage caused by the Living Dead) they will reanimate 1d6 rounds after death as a newly formed member of the Living Dead. The infection can be cured at anytime prior to death with the use of a Remove Disease spell. Until the infection is cured in this way the victim cannot heal either lost Hit Points or Ability Damage (neither naturally, or through magical means). Once cured victims can regain Hit Points and Ability Points as per normal.

Living Dead can be Raised or Resurrected, and doing so will return them to normal (while still leaving them infected with a dormant form of Living Death as explained below), leaving behind faint memories of what happened (and what they did) while they existed as one of these beings. The infection itself has an effect on the decay of the corpse it reanimates. It slows down the rate of decay to almost a standstill, allowing the Living Dead to function without any decline in ability for 2 - 4 years after death and reanimation. Drier (or colder) climates can allow them to exist even longer.

As stated above, even the slightest scratch from one of these monsters will transmit their malady. Anyone who takes damage from a member of the Living Dead (either from a Claw or Bite attack) becomes infected with Living Death. The infection will remain dormant within the victim for the rest of their lives, and while dormant the victim will be able to heal normally and suffer no obvious outward effect of the infection. The infection becomes active as soon as the person dies (no matter the cause) causing them to reanimate 1d6 rounds after death, becoming a member of the Living Dead. The dormant infection itself can be destroyed by casting Remove Disease on the victim anytime prior to death.

Note: Some Players, particularly Zombie Movie Fans, may decide "Head-Shot Kills" are needed to destroy these monsters. While this is unnecessary, a simple game mechanic can be used to simulate this. Characters suffer a -4 penalty to hit the head, if successful the weapon causes "Critical Hit" damage. This supercedes their normal immunity to Critical Hits.

As for the template:
Creating A Living Dead

"Living Dead" is an acquired template that can be added to any corporeal creature (other than an undead) that has a skeletal system (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. It does not gain the augmented subtype. It uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.

Hit Dice
Drop any Hit Dice from class levels (to a minimum of 1), double the number of Hit Dice left, add one, and raise them to d12s. If the base creature has more than 10 Hit Dice (not counting those gained with experience), it can’t be made into a living dead with the animate dead spell.

Speed
If the base creature can fly, its maneuverability rating drops to clumsy.

Armor
Natural armor bonus increases by a number based on the living dead’s size:
Tiny or smaller +0; Small +1; Medium +2; Large +3; Huge +4; Gargantuan +7; Colossal +11

Base Attack
A living dead has a base attack bonus equal to 3/4 its Hit Dice.

Attacks
A living dead gains two claw and one bite attacks (as log as the base creature has appropriate physilogy for such attacks).

Damage
Claw/bite attacks deals damage depending on the living dead’s size. (Use the base creature’s claw and/or bite damage if it’s better.)
Fine -/1; Diminutive 1/1d2; Tiny 1d2/1d3; Small 1d3/1d4; Medium 1d4/1d6; Large 1d6/1d8; Huge 1d8/2d6; Gargantuan 2d6/2d8; Colossal 2d8/4d6

Special Attacks
A living dead gains the following special attacks.

Grasping Claws: Often Living Dead will use their fist Claw attack to perform a Grapple, if successful they will attempt to Pin their victim and gain the +4 bonus on their following attack. Once a Living Dead begins to attack someone they continue to do so until the person dies, at that point they cease their attacks and continue on looking for living prey.

Living Death: The true horror of the Living Dead is the infection they carry within themselves. As it grants them a semblance of life, it is a virulent toxin to the already living. While the infection itself is transmitted by even a scratch from one of these monsters, their bite is what can cause the worse effects to manifest almost immediately. When their victims are bitten they must make a Fortitude Save (DC 22), failure results in the victim suffering Ability Damage of -2 to their Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores 1d10 rounds after being bitten. The victim then continues to lose 2 points from those Stats every hour after becoming infected, until the victim’s Constitution reaches 0 and he/she dies.
If a victim dies from the infection (or is killed by damage caused by the Living Dead) they will reanimate 1d6 rounds after death as a newly formed member of the Living Dead. The infection can be cured at anytime prior to death with the use of a Remove Disease spell. Until the infection is cured in this way the victim cannot heal either lost Hit Points or Ability Damage (neither naturally, or through magical means). Once cured victims can regain Hit Points and Ability Points as per normal.
As stated above, even the slightest scratch from one of these monsters will transmit their malady. Anyone who takes damage from a member of the Living Dead (either from a Claw or Bite attack) becomes infected with Living Death. The infection will remain dormant within the victim for the rest of their lives, and while dormant the victim will be able to heal normally and suffer no obvious outward effect of the infection. The infection becomes active as soon as the person dies (no matter the cause) causing them to reanimate 1d6 rounds after death, becoming a member of the Living Dead. The dormant infection itself can be destroyed by casting Remove Disease on the victim anytime prior to death.

Swarm Attack: The more Living Dead that surround and attack a victim the deadlier they become. For every two Living Dead that are attacking a singular target each one gains an additional + 1 on their to hit rolls (example: if 6 Living Dead are attacking one person each Living Dead gains an additional + 3 on their to hit rolls). For this reason alone one should never allow themselves to become surrounded by the Living Dead for in large numbers even the strongest of Heroes will quickly be overran by them.

Special Qualities
A living dead gains the following special qualities.

Damage Reduction (Ex)
A living dead has damage reduction 5/slashing.

Darkvision (Ex) 60 feet.

Scent: Living Dead are able to locate and track their Humanoid prey by using their Scent ability. They draw air into themselves through what might remain of their nose or mouth in order to “smell” their intended victims. As they release the air from their bodies Living Dead emit groans and wails that chill the blood and have been known to drive some people to the verge of insanity. Because their Scent ability is exclusively used to hunt Humanoids, Living Dead gain a +2 bonus on all checks made with this ability.

Single Actions Only (Ex)
Zombies have poor reflexes and can perform only a single move action or attack action each round. A zombie can move up to its speed and attack in the same round, but only if it attempts a charge.

Unliving: Immune to mind-influencing effects, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, and disease. Not subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability damage, energy drain, or death from massive damage.
Living Dead are not Undead in the standard sense, they cannot be turned, effected by holy water, nor are they susceptible to any spells, or magical effects that have a specific effect on Undead. All Living Dead have Darkvision 60'.
Living Dead can be Raised or Resurrected, and doing so will return them to normal (while still leaving them infected with a dormant form of Living Death as explained below), leaving behind faint memories of what happened (and what they did) while they existed as one of these beings. The infection itself has an effect on the decay of the corpse it reanimates. It slows down the rate of decay to almost a standstill, allowing the Living Dead to function without any decline in ability for 2 - 4 years after death and reanimation. Drier (or colder) climates can allow them to exist even longer.

Saves
Base save bonuses are Fort +1/3 HD, Ref +1/3 HD, and Will +½ HD + 2.

Abilities
A living dead’s Strength increases by +2, its Dexterity decreases by 2, it has no Constitution, its Intelligence changes to 2, its Wisdom changes to 10, and its Charisma changes to 1.

Skills
A living dead has no skills.