Zombies: Disease or magical, which do you prefer?

[krossbow]

In D&D, has anyone ever run zombies as the type that spread via communicable disease, ala resident evil or 28 days later (probably magical disease, like the rot from within one in arcana evolved)? Or for that matter, is there a secondary type that works like that?


Anyways, just a question: Flavorwise for D&D, which would you like to see in any campaign your in?
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IPAD GUIDES

[MrNexx]

I think it would be a cool way to run a game, actually... though you'd need to redefine some of the metaphysics of zombiism to make it work.

[Skyserpent]

I think a PC succumbing to Solanum would be less than heroic. Otherwise it makes a great situation to deal with for our players...

[oriong]

Personally I don't like disease undead that most recent movies seem to be using.

With zombies and such I find it moderately acceptable but generally prefer to just keep it supernatural. I absolutely hate disease vampires.

As for a real 'zombie plague' in a D+D game I probably wouldn't mind, but of course it would still be pretty much a magical explanation. Unless it was something like the yellow musk zombies.

[Krimm_Blackleaf]

I'm slowly making a zombie invasion campaign and I myself like magical undead more than disease undead. It's going to be lead by a group of power-hungry necromancers with a large following and magic items that increase the number of undead they command. And of course each one will have the maximum amount of animated corpses as they can muster.

This makes it so a massive horde of undead monsters won't be dealt with a few lucky turn attempts. It means there will be at least one spellcaster per at least 4 times his necromancer level.

In my opinion if you want a disease for bestial bloodthirsty undead use ghouls. People confuse ghouls and zombies far too easily.

[Zincorium]

Disease is fine in a modern campaign, but it'd be annoying in a D&D game. First off, if it acts like a poison and does it's effect with any hp damage, a one hit die zombie could effectively get a one hit kill on a high level fighter just by rolling a luck hit. And you're facing hordes of zombies if you play by mythos. The only ones who could survive at all would be ranged types like wizards and a cleric with cure disease memorized.

[Maltrich]

But it would make sense for the zombie to overcome the fighter... all those levels don't make him any more resistant to disease. I like it; it makes encounters more exciting. With magic-zombies, you can just wade through the horde with your magic greatsword, destroying all undead in your path. With the disease-variant, that's a one-way trip to Rot City.

[oriong]

Actually they do. All those levels give the fighter a great Fortitude Save, which is exactly what you use to resist diseases.

You should never, ever make it so that one bite = instant zombism. That's just not how D+D is designed. The game is structured so that players are better at enduring damage (through hp) than avoiding it (through AC). If you get rid of the endurance part entirely (an insta-kill that ignores hit points) then you're messing with the system.

There should always be some way the players can avoid being killed. Through a saving throw, through healing, or what have you. No insta-zombies.

[Behold_the_Void]

Not to mention that insta-zombie effectively destroys ANY compulsion one might have to play a fighter-type.

[Thomas]

Ravenloft had the disease-zombies way back in AD&D times. You could outrun them, but they'd always find you.

Anyway, I generally detest the whole idea. Zombies are created by black magic. (And the infected in 28 Days Later don't even pretend to be zombies; they're no more zombies than the phoners in Stephen King's Cell.)

[reorith]

i've played with diseased zombies (the same ability dire rats have), but not disease zombies. what is worse? prozak the barbarian is slain and reanimates in 1d4 hours, or his mangled corpse is collected and reanimated by larry the lich and then sent after the remaining party members with some ventriloquism. "come here buddy. you need a hug."

[Telok]

I once worked up a disease based zombie for AD&D, long and long ago. Thing was, the disease was magical. It was really just a leftover from an old wizard war, dispel magic or any preservation/curing would prevent the body from reanimating. Without preventative action you had a zombie in... 12 + 3d12 hours? I don't recall exactly. I gave those zombies an extra HD and a 1d10 bite attack, they were worth about double xp too.

Simplest reason they didn't overrun the world, cremation and an Int 3. Dead people wandering around talking about brains and fresh meat just made everyone go into this "cremate the dead body" frenzy.

[Ephraim]

In my opinion if you want a disease for bestial bloodthirsty undead use ghouls. People confuse ghouls and zombies far too easily.

Quoted for agreement. 3.x has Ghouls, Bodaks, and Mummies. Wights and Mohrgs may be this way too - I forget. They all have abilities that can infect normals and cause them to transform into that kind of undead. I think it was a conscious decision not to make Zombies work this way.

[Fax Celestis]

If you want zombies, play All Flesh Must Be Eaten.

[Koji]

I prefer magical zombies in D&D. It adds a sinister intent behind their creation and use. Disease is definitely scarier, but disease can't think.

Furthermore, I like arcane/alchemic style undead more, even though they're inferior. The bad guys come off as that much crazier, since they got the idea to raise the dead on their own rather than being told to do it by a god/clerical superior.

[General_Ghoul]

In my opinion if you want a disease for bestial bloodthirsty undead use ghouls. People confuse ghouls and zombies far too easily.

Now we're talking!!!

[Gamebird]

I prefer magical. I don't want to turn my PCs into zombies, for one thing.

[Halcyon_Dax]

If you are looking for infectious zombieism a good and fair way to go is to have disease on bite that gives visible clues that there is a bad infection, but otherwise lays dormant until the character the is reduced to 0 HP, then they have to make another fort save or rise. Works great.

[Khantalas]

I am on the Team Magical. Though people call Tainted Minions zombies, too, out of ignorance more than anything.

[Piedmon_Sama]

Heh, I'm surprised it's even an issue for some people. "Radioactive Zombies" is a stock plot for one-off games in my group (well, it was in my old group. I've yet to spring it on the new one.) Change the Zombies' type to "plant" rather than Undead (subtle difference that screws the clerics), give them a bite attack that automatically transforms the victim into a zombie 1d4+Con bonus hours later, and bam, you've got Romero in your Gygax.

Bear in mind that this is just for one-off games where the players don't really expect to survive, just to see how long they can evade/outrun the ever-growing horde. In serious games, I don't really use Zombies because I don't like the way D&D represents them. They've got the worst aspects of Movie Zombies (slow, mindless) and all the disadvantages of Folklore Zombies (repelled or destroyed by magic/holy symbols) without the advantages of either.

[Thomas]

I prefer magical. I don't want to turn my PCs into zombies, for one thing.

The two aren't mutually exclusive.

Come join the cult of Gark the Calm... we promise, uh, peace. Eternal peace... of mind, anyway. Or is that "pieces of minds" ?

[The_Scourge]

I've always loved disease zombies. Magical just makes them seem.. generic. They're the undead version of orcs. When you're up against Zombies "fighting" means running away, fast. PCs shouldn't survive zombie bites, otherwise there's no threat and Joey Barbarian can just wade in and let his cleric friend cure disease later.

[RandomNPC]

my group thinks they are movie zombies, because nobody wants to shell out enough to buy a MM, and i don't let players flip through the MM, theres nothing for players in there unless i let them make monster characters.

[Viscount Einstrauss]

Diseased just doesn't make any sense in D&D. Think about how often you see the DM critical in a game. Now translate that into "A character dies and is zombified". And this is assuming the players are so ridiculously well defended that it takes a critical to kill them, which just can't be the case unless the players are like 10 levels above the zombies, which makes it all boil down to "When is the DM going to get that lucky roll that's so obviously coming?".

Give me magical instead.

[Jack Mann]

I'm a sucker for tradition. Give me magical zombies any day, over the modern diseased undead.

[TheOOB]

I don't mind disease style zombies, but I wouldn't classify them as undead, as they are not sustained via negative energy, I would consider them aberrations. Make it a disease that deals cha damage, and when cha hits zero them become one.

[Jorkens]

In general I quite like the idea of magic zombies as mindless servants of an evil wizard who just trudge around doing mundane tasks and contributing more to pathos than actual danger. But then I'm a sucker for 'the original myth' versions of pop-horror and pop-fantasy staples.

[Woot Spitum]

Middle ground: Being bitten by a zombie doesn't turn you into one, but being slain by a zombie does.

If you feel disease zombies make being a fighter unpalateable, make the condition curable (even after full transformation). You could also allow them control over their zombified character, and give them special abilities based on hit dice (rubber limbs from the warcraft campaign setting =10ft. reach for all attacks if you're medium).

[Mewtarthio]

Look, DnD zombies aren't the traditional movie type. They're just animated corpses that do a necromancer's dirty work. Period. Full stop. End of line. If you want movie zombies, as mentioned above, take Ghouls and Ghasts. They actively run around eating the flesh of the living, and being bitten by one causes you to grow weaker and eventually turn into one. Also, they aren't necessarily controlled by anything else.

[CuthroatMcGee]

My problem with magical zombies is there's no potential for a zombie infestation. A magical zombie that kills someone only kills some poor Commoner and eats his brain. A diseased zombie bites a Commoner, and bang! two zombies. Make it so a zombie's bite (or scratch, or whatever) does some sort of continual poison damage every 1/2 hour or whatever, and after the character dies (maybe only from a bite's damage or the poison damage), raise them like 2d6 hours later. Maybe raise zombie's BAB enough to make them a threat to the characters (eg more than only a 20), especially in groups. That's how I would do it.