Better zombies for 5E D&D

[@evolutiongamer9573]

Had a similar idea a year ago, made a bunch of variants for each player race. Never finished it but you just gave me the inspiration to do so.

[@gilbertthornton2223]

Variant zombies are awesome!

[@valefornox]

Eyyyy, that's what I'm talking about! Love the baked in interactions between Claw and Bite attacks, and the Reeker is super gross! Definitely going to use these in my next Curse of Strahd session.

[@Nintendoggy]

Good changes

[@bernatgarcia6348]

Love the zombie reeker idea. Would the frightened immunity apply to a cleric's turn undead? I think there should be an exception with divine power.

[@EventyrGames]

Thanks! :) A turned creature actually isn't frightened, only turned, which is a "condition" in itself: "If the creature fails its saving throw, it is turned for 1 minute or until it takes any damage. A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can’t willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you. It also can’t take reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there’s nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action." So it's very similar to the frightened condition, but not quite, which means it will still work on the zombie (and other undead who are immune to being frightened)! :)

[@MikChaos]

Some nice changes to the classic zombie.

[@ottertvmtg6229]

i love these and im definitely using them soon! for another monster to fix, how about the werewolf?

[@michaelcohen8259]

The current zombie is fine since it's meant for low-level characters, but I like your variants. I'd also allow a zombie to have the potential to inflict a disease on the characters since they are, after all, rotten, moldering creatures. The disease should be dangerous but not lethal since it's not likely that a first or second level party will have easy access to Cure Disease or similar magic. You may also want to search "Juju Zombie", a zombie variant from older editions that was far faster and more powerful than the standard zombie.

[@disgruntledbob2812]

Another great spin on a kinda bleh monster, does these shambly boys justice. Another bland undead I’d like to see ya spiffy up are skeletons! I’m always disappointed whenever I look at the skeleton stat blocks and never see anything cool goin’ on there, even less than the base zombie.