How much stress can a NPC take in this game?

9, on pg 46 under NPCs and Trauma it says that once they fill a track up they die.

So 9 overall stress. And I guess they take resistances like the PCs too.

Yup and also many zombies start with resistances too. Also remember that a lot of the zombies have the "Shoot it in the head trait" - so with the right weapon and a bit of luck your PCs might be able to kill zombies without having to get them all the way to 9 stress.

Yup and also many zombies start with resistances too. Also remember that a lot of the zombies have the "Shoot it in the head trait" - so with the right weapon and a bit of luck your PCs might be able to kill zombies without having to get them all the way to 9 stress.

I only saw the shoot in the head mechanic in night of the meteor. Also remember that resistance (other than the one they have themselves) only takes effect if they fall into that tier. stop is feasible to 2 or 3 shot a zombie given the right weapon and some good rolls.

How much stress can a NPC take in this game?

PCs have the option to "cling to life" (page 31) when a stress track is exceeded.

Remember if it's not a important NPC just give them a single bar of stress (3 to be exact). This way they can be killed much quicker and the battles don't take as long. Don't give them the Cling onto Life trait either.

It states this in the book as well.

Check out Page 46 under the "NPC's and Trauma" Paragraph at the bottom right of the page.

I think FFG needs to clarify this, Some people take a Stress track (a/p Page 30) to be the 9 boxes but then others quote page 46 and confuse a tier with the track. Each level is a Tier and 3 boxes in each tier makes up a stress track of 9 boxes. This is for each category.

But as stated in other posts it's going to really be up to you as the GM, do you want the fight to be easy or hard, maybe you rule that fresher bodies have the full track while more decayed ones only have 1 or 2 tiers.

Based on what it says about zombies it could be vague intentionally. The game mentions how zombies in advanced states of decomposition should be easier to kill than the newly deceased. So as the GM you could easily change the amount of stress required depending on what you're fighting.