zombies? fire?

[robertbevan]

are zombies not particularly vulnerable to or afraid of fire in 3.5 rules? i guess i always just took for granted they were, but now that i look, i can't find anything that says so.

[Gavinfoxx]

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/zombie.htm

ZOMBIE LORE
Monster Manual

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (religion) can learn more about a creature’s zombified nature. They may need to make a separate Knowledge check to learn about the base creature. Characters who recognize a zombie’s nature can make a Knowledge (arcana) check to learn more. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

Knowledge (religion)
DC 10: This shambling, rotting creature is a zombie, little more than a walking corpse. This result reveals all undead traits.

DC 15: Zombies are mindless undead that retain almost none of the knowledge or abilities they possessed in life. A zombie’s reflexes are all but destroyed by the rot slowly consuming its body. A zombie has such poor coordinatation that it cannot move and attack at the same time.

DC 20: A zombie doesn’t even feel most minor blows to its putrid flesh.The most effective means of destroying zombies is to simply dismember them with slashing weapons.

Knowledge (arcana)
DC 13: Zombies can be created with a basic animate dead spell. They are often found in the service of necromancers or other masters of the undead.



There are also several other ways of making zombie-like creatures:

Juju Zombie (Unapproachable East)
Yellow Musk Zombie (Fiend Folio)
Zombie Dragon (Draconomicon)

[Novawurmson]

Nope. No vulnerability to fire. Fire would pierce their DR, though.

[Snowbluff]

Well, bad reflex saves and I think they take penalties to dex when brought back as zombies. That makes them weak to Fireballs, and being unintelligent makes it hard for them to put themselves out if you ignite them with an Alchemist's Fire. Otherwise, I don't think so.

[Silva Stormrage]

I don't see logically how they could take more damage from fire. I mean shouldn't they be about as flammable as a regular person :smallconfused:

Also they are mindless, how would they be afraid of it :smallconfused:

Semi mindless zombies like in movies could be afraid but in D&D zombies have 0 capacity to think for themselves.

[KillianHawkeye]

I don't see logically how they could take more damage from fire. I mean shouldn't they be about as flammable as a regular person :smallconfused:

Also they are mindless, how would they be afraid of it :smallconfused:

Semi mindless zombies like in movies could be afraid but in D&D zombies have 0 capacity to think for themselves.

Undead were weak to fire in old Final Fantasy games. The OP is probably misapplying a memory of something like that.

[robertbevan]

Undead were weak to fire in old Final Fantasy games. The OP is probably misapplying a memory of something like that.

you are probably correct.

[TuggyNE]

There is actually at least one spell that specifically does more fire damage to undead (not just zombies): wall of fire. However, that's a feature of the spell, not the creature type or the zombie template.

[robertbevan]

There is actually at least one spell that specifically does more fire damage to undead (not just zombies): wall of fire. However, that's a feature of the spell, not the creature type or the zombie template.

as with every time i ask questions on here, i'm probably going to just do what's best for the story. but i do like to be aware of when i'm breaking the rules.

[panaikhan]

My DM took an idea out of a game called Burn Zombie Burn.
Zombies are initialy wary of fire (there was some will save or something for them to approach an obvious source of fire) but if one actually caught fire, it became hasted and chased you.

[Twilightwyrm]

They do not have vulnerability for fire, per se. They will not, however, put themselves out unless ordered to, and even then only very slowly, since they cannot take a full round action to put themselves out. So while they don't take any extra damage, they are vulnerable to tactics that revolve around setting them on fire, insomuch as it is a tactics that is actually more effective against them than against other things. (And it was already a fairly effective tactic, especially at low levels)
Also, they may burn more readily if your DM rules they have particularly flammable clothing on.

[Slipperychicken]

Since zombies have no fear, and feel no pain... all it'll do is 1d6/round, give it a chance to set you on fire (or at least it ought to. DC 15 Reflex should trigger when it hits or is hit in melee), and potentially burn down the building/forest/city.

[Worira]

Which would be plenty, since you could set fire to a horde of zombies, walk away for 30 seconds or so, and they'd all die.

Unfortunately, the saves for not being on fire aren't optional, so zombies would make them eventually anyway. That said, they'd take more damage than most would from it, thanks to their abysmal reflex saves.