Monster Selection

[Sparky McDibben]

Hey guys,

My BBEG is using about 100 mercs in the next session - all undead. So I need undead who are easy to hit, easy to kill, and do fairly good damage, so I can track their turns using mob rules.

Any suggestions?

[J-H]

What level is your party, how many PCs are there, how deadly should the mooks be, and what's the terrain?

[Sparky McDibben]

My PCs are 12th level but likely won't engage much with said mooks. Terrain will be the ground floor of Castle Ravenloft. Targeting 10 - 20 dpr.

[J-H]

Here are a couple of statblocks I have sitting around.
The ghouls may have a bit more damage and be a bit more dangerous than you are looking for. You could probably delete the ghoul paralysis and bite attacks, drop the Dexterity some, and turn it into a Zombie swarm.

The fast zombie is intended to be more cinematic in the way they run at the players and try to bear them down and pin them in place with weight of numbers and grappling instead of the default "zombie punches people to death."


Mob of Ghouls
An entire pack of ghouls is running at you, hissing, snarling, and drooling!
Huge undead swarm (15’x15’)
Armor Class 12
Hit Points 132 (35d8)
Speed 30 ft.
Str Dex Con Int Wis Cha
13(+1) 15(+2) 10(0) 7(-2) 10(0) 6(-2)
Damage Vulnerabilities Area of Effect damage
Damage Immunities Poison
Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Poisoned
Senses Darkvision 60’, Passive Perception 10
CR 4 (PB +2)
Mob. The mob is not a valid target for single-target effects such as Command, grapple, shove, or Telekinesis. The mob can move into and occupy the space of other creatures.
Surround. Non-ghoul creatures who start their turn within the mob’s space must make a DC 11 Athletics check to shove their way out of the press of bodies and grasping hands. On a failed check, the creature is unable to leave its current space.
Actions
Mob Multiattack. The ghoul mob makes attacks against each target within or adjacent to its space, based on the total number of targets. Attacks on targets within the mob’s space are made with advantage.
1 target: 4 Claw, 4 Bite attacks
2 targets: 2 Claw, 2 Bite attacks each
3+ targets: 1 Claw, 1 Bite attack each.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack, +4 to hit, 5’, 2d4+2 piercing damage. If the target is a living creature not an elf, it must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack, +4 to hit, 5’, 2d6+2 piercing damage.



Fast Zombie
This undead humanoid moves at a running pace that looks awkward, but it never slows, never stops, and never tires. It’s always able to use its muscles at maximum strength, making it unnaturally strong and tough. It doesn’t worry about how many weapons the party is pointing its way. It’s too busy being hungry.
Medium Undead
Armor Class 16
Hit Points 68 (8d8+32)
Speed 40 ft.
Str Dex Con Int Wis Cha
18(+4) 14(+2) 18(+4) 7(-2) 10(0) 5(-3)
Saves Str +6, Wis +2
Damage Immunities Poison
Condition Immunities Disease, Exhaustion, Poisoned
Senses Darkvision 60’, Passive Perception 12
CR 3 (PB +2)
Headshot. If a critical hit is scored against the zombie, its head is cut off or destroyed, killing it instantly.
Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the zombie to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution save with a DC of 5+damage dealt, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the zombie drops to 1hp instead. The zombie’s Constitution modifier is applied to its AC.
Actions
Multiattack. The zombie attempts to Grab the closest living target. If it succeeds in Grabbing, it will Bite. If it fails to Grab, it will Help, granting an ally advantage on its next attack roll against the target. If at the start of a turn it has already Grabbed a target, it may Bite twice.
Grab. The zombie attempts to grapple its target with a +4 against the target’s Athletics or Acrobatics modifier. If the zombie is successful, the target is Grappled, and all zombies have advantage on attack rolls made to bite the target until it is no longer grappled.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack, +6 to hit, 5’, advantage against grappled targets, 1d8+4 bludgeoning and piercing damage. The target contracts the zombie rot disease, and must make a DC 14 Constitution save every time it tries to regain hit points. On a failed save, the target instead loses 5 hit points. If this disease reduces the target to 0 hit points, the target dies and comes to life again the next round as a zombie. This disease may be removed by any effect that removes curses or diseases.
Help. The next attempt to Grab this target has advantage on the opposed roll against the target’s defense.

[Skrum]

hmm I'm thinking ogre stat block, but drop the hit points to 10? And reduce them to medium size.

That'd be a movement speed of 40, 11 AC, 10 HP, but they have a +6 attack that deals 2d8+4 (avg. 13). They will basically drop to any attack, but they're fast, hit hard, and will very quickly overwhelm PC's if not dealt with. Sounds like what you're looking for?

[Sparky McDibben]

These are great suggestions and I really appreciate it!

[kazaryu]

Hey guys,

My BBEG is using about 100 mercs in the next session - all undead. So I need undead who are easy to hit, easy to kill, and do fairly good damage, so I can track their turns using mob rules.

Any suggestions?

skeletons. just give them 1HP and a solid ranged weapon like a heavy crossbow or a longbow. nothing overly complicated, that can cause lots of extra rolls (like saving throws) don't need to track any special abilities for your hundred mercs. just a steady out put of xd10+3x

edit: obviously you could also give them various heavy melee weapons too for close quarters engagements. the point being that skeletons damage is easily scalable because they can use weapons and they don't have the 'undead constitution' feature which can make zombies deceptively tanky. and they're medium creatures so they're not taking up 400 battlefield squares like 100 ogres would.