I'd also like to put together a Zombie Template to apply to other creatures (non-humanoids really).
Zombies
3 minutes ago, yeti1069 said:Defense would make them more resilient, but where are they getting defense from?
Hack their limb off and they still keep coming, their own body is their shield!
I like it though.
Perhaps the options at the “characteristic” Step should be:
Choose two of the following:
Rais a characteristic by 1, may choose this more than once.
Rais Soak by 1
Just now, yeti1069 said:I'd also like to put together a Zombie Template to apply to other creatures (non-humanoids really).
That could be different base stats. Perhaps step 1 is “Choose an archetype”
27 minutes ago, yeti1069 said:I'm considering allowing an Attack spell with the Holy/Unholy Additional Effect to kill Implacable zombies. I feel like spells without the Deadly effect added are going to have a very difficult time with zombies... Burn might make sense as well, as fire is often a way to get rid of them also...but I don't want to tack on a bunch of exceptions to the clean language of Implacable.
Ability/Feature: Unnatural Bane:
- attacks from Magical/Holy/Silver/Cold-Iron Weapons automatically add a Triumph.
- Spell Attacks with the Holy Effect automatically trigger the Deadly Effect.
That’s cool.
an additional option could be:
Weakness: the Zombies are particularly susceptible to one type of damage. Choose a source of Attack appropriate to your setting, this Attack source reduces its Crit rating to 1 when attacking these zombies. Examples could be Fire, Magic, Cold Iron etc.
2 minutes ago, Richardbuxton said:Weakness: the Zombies are particularly susceptible to one type of damage. Choose a source of Attack appropriate to your setting, this Attack source reduces its Crit rating to 1 when attacking these zombies. Examples could be Fire, Magic, Cold Iron etc.
this remembers me HERO, where XP value of the Weakness was based partly on the availability of the Materials involved.
so that could make:
Light Bane: Suffer a Critical every round a Zombie is in bright sunlight (Choose 3 additional abilities).
33 minutes ago, Richardbuxton said:That’s cool.
an additional option could be:
Weakness: the Zombies are particularly susceptible to one type of damage. Choose a source of Attack appropriate to your setting, this Attack source reduces its Crit rating to 1 when attacking these zombies. Examples could be Fire, Magic, Cold Iron etc.
I like this.
Maybe for a template:
Zombify
Reduce Intellect, Willpower, and Presence to 1.
Reduce Brawn, Agility, or Cunning by 1.
"
Choose 2 of the following abilities ( For innately dangerous creatures [typically rivals], it is recommended you select one negative ability and do NOT add an additional ability ):
Swift: don’t suffer the usual penalties for moving through difficult terrain
Grapple: Spend a maneuver to force engaged enemies to have to spend two maneuvers instead of one to disengage.
Implacable: Exceeding a zombie's wound threshold has no effect: They do not become incapacitated or die, and they do not suffer a critical injury. The only way to kill a zombie is to score a critical hit. Damage from Fire and Magic affects the Zombies like normal.
Aversion to light: add 3 setback dice to all checks when in bright light. Choose an additional ability.
Light Bane: Suffer a Critical every round a Zombie is in bright light. Choose an additional ability.
Pack Animal: Zombies always provide two boost when providing unskilled assistance or performing the assist manoeuvre.
Infected: Any Crit caused by these Zombies can instead be used to infect the target with the Zombie virus of the setting.
Natural Weapons: Whether claws or fangs these zombies have a nasty natural weapon. Replace the standard attack with the following Brawl: Damage +3, Crit 2, Ensnare 1. Or the creatures natural attacks gain the Ensnare 1 quality .
Ponderous: These Zombies may never perform more than one move manoeuvre in a single round. Choose an additional ability."
So, a zombified bear might become less Agile and Cunning, but would have the same attacks it had in life, gaining Implacable, and Aversion to Light or Ponderous.
Also, the more I think about it, the more I like Implacable, but I'm wondering if a Zombified monster should possibly require more than one critical to take it down to represent how much tougher it is? Or if there's another way to do it?
Maybe...
Undead Vigor : Exceeding a zombie's wound threshold has no effect: They do not become incapacitated or die, and they do not suffer a critical injury. The only way to kill such a zombie is to score a critical hit with a result of over 150.
That seems like it might be too much...bad rolls could end up requiring a lot of critical hits to land. I might remove the ability selection on the template and just have it be Undead Vigor and Ponderous by default.
Okay, it may sound like patting myself on the back, but I like the idea of zombie minions requiring any critical in order to kill them, while a zombified beast requires a series of criticals to kill it. After all, we have numerous examples of zombie bears, or dragons, or giants, who are unrelenting in their mindless assault, possibly even losing limbs in the fight, yet still pressing on.
Conversely, they could gain the Unstoppable talent and a few ranks of Durable instead. That kind of achieves the same goal, but in a different way: they still need only one critical to die, but weak criticals aren't going to cut it. Maybe Durable equal to Brawn? Still, I like the idea of a big zombie having limbs chopped off, eyes gouged out, but still pressing on until the players can finally land a killing blow.
New template:
Zombify
Reduce Intellect, Willpower, and Presence to 1.
Reduce Agility or Cunning by 1.
If applied to a rival, it gains Undead Vigor and Ponderous, and its unarmed attacks gain Ensnare 1.
Choose 2 abilities from the list.
Ooh! Or, for Undead Vigor, exceeding its wound threshold DOES inflict a critical injury, but the rest of the text remains the same. Perhaps specify that each time another hit is scored while its wounds are over its threshold, it takes another critical injury?
I was converting a bear from
and was looking at its 20 Wounds and Soak of 6, and thought that it might make sense for characters to have a way of somewhat reliably inflicting a critical on this thing, since it is going to require a few criticals to die.
Zombie Bear (Rival)
Brawn: 4 Agility: 1 Intelligence: 1 Cunning: 1 Willpower: 1 Presence: 1
Soak: 6 Wounds: 20 M/R Defense: 0/0
Skills: Athletics 1, Brawl 2, Resilience 2
Abilities: Undead Vigor--Exceeding a zombie's wound threshold has no effect; they do not become incapacitated or die. They
do
suffer a critical injury when wound threshold is exceeded. The only way to kill such a zombie is to score a critical hit with a result of over 150; Ponderous--this Zombie may never perform more than one move maneuver in a single round; Silhouette 2
Equipment: Claws (Brawl; Damage: 7; Crit: 3; Range [Engaged], Disorient 1, Ensnare 1), Bite (Brawl; Damage: 8; Crit: 3; Range [Engaged], Pierce 1, Vicious 2, Ensnare 1), Thick Hide (+2 Soak)
“A zombie does not become incapacitated when it suffers wounds in excess of its Wound Threshold, although the Zombie still suffers the associated Critical injurie. Any successful hit on a Zombie that has exceeded its wound threshold automatically inflicts a critical injury.
Just trying to rewrite it to be more in line with the format FFG follows
3 hours ago, yeti1069 said:Zombify
Reduce Intellect, Willpower, and Presence to 1.
Reduce Agility or Cunning by 1.
how about:
Reduced Mental Capability: any check involving Intellect or Cunning has [2 fails] added.
Reduced Social Capability: any check involving Willpower or Presence has [2 fails] added.
Nice suggestions. Still trying to figure out how to make the zombies easy enough to kill in multiples but still requiring headshots.
Really trying to get the flavor of the Walking Dead, where players can be somewhat overwhelmed with zombies yet be able to stick them with a knife in the head and be able to escape.
1 hour ago, widomknight said:Nice suggestions. Still trying to figure out how to make the zombies easy enough to kill in multiples but still requiring headshots.
It's a narrative game; when enough damage is dealt to defeat a minion, they person scored the headshot, but when it didn't kill the minion it hit something else.
3 hours ago, widomknight said:Nice suggestions. Still trying to figure out how to make the zombies easy enough to kill in multiples but still requiring headshots.
That's the idea of the minion zombie that requires a critical to kill it: Regular damage won't do it, but if you score a critical, you kill a minion. Narrate that as a headshot.
I just had a look at the GenCon adventure FFZg released. There’s a Zombie stat Block in it that’s very fantasy themed, called Reanimate (Minion). They have a really cool ability:
Undying; The GM may spend 3 Threat from any check a PC makes to return one previously defeated Reanimate to an existing minion group, removing damage from the group accordingly; the GM may spend 1 Despair to return two Reanimates to a minion group.
i think it should be added to the list of options.
That's cool!
Brings the question, though, of which is more thematically appropriate/balanced: Undying or Implacable? Definitely wouldn't want to do both.
Is that adventure publicly available? Where could I find it?
Genesys product tab. Player resources.
9 minutes ago, ESP77 said:Genesys product tab. Player resources.
Thanks!
I was thinking of giving the zombies a very high soak value (but very few wounds) so only machine guns and explosives that can blow them apart can kill them without a headshot to the brain.
Then give disadvantage for them being slow physically and mentally, making them alot easier to get a critical on.
The critical will instantly kill them as it will be a headshot (or stab).
Just got to figure out how high of a soak value and how many disadantage die for being so slow and easy targets.
I think this is what im looking for.
15 weak Zombies in a Minion Group will do what you want without huge Soak.
20 hours ago, Richardbuxton said:15 weak Zombies in a Minion Group will do what you want without huge Soak.
Not really, as a group they only attack once if Im correct on how groups work).
Im not a bit fan of minion groups.