Modelling the dead

Zombie emoticon, sourced from https://moremoji.allezsoyez.com/

 

Thinking about how I run zombies, skeletons, and other mindless dead, and nailing down the details.

First, HD/level. OD&D gives skeletons 1/2 HD and zombies 1 HD. Holmes bumps zombies up to 2 HD, and AD&D bumps skeletons up to 1 HD. These numbers are small enough that they're not really worth disputing; your garden-variety walking corpse, the type we see in a Romero movie, does not have much protagonism or individual combat ability. They get their power from their numbers.

I really like that the numbers have changed, so that depending on what table you're at, you might face undead of a variety of strengths. Thus I will actually keep a range of levels for my walking dead -- 1/2 to 2.

Unless they've been animated by the T-Virus, radiation, or a passive aura of death magic, the dead walk because someone raised them. If you can't think of an obvious necromancer commanding them to do a specific task, roll 1d6 -- on a 1--2, they attack anything living; 3--4, they engage in a bizarre and obstructive activity, a relic of a long-forgotten instruction; 5--6, they simply mill about unless disturbed.

Some dead are hungry; this depends on the method of their reanimation. In that case, they will grapple enemies on stunts, pry off their armor, and feast on them. This is pretty distracting for them, they won't fight while eating.

If the dead have been raised for combat, they may have weapons; otherwise they fight with bare hands. They always have form inferiority against anyone with an actual martial art. (These are not Harryhausen dueling skeletons or ghostly oathbreakers, they're incompetent.)

The dead are never surprised. They don't make noise unless they are working, so they can still surprise you, and are actually pretty good at it.

They don't roll initiative -- they have a fixed initiative of 1. They'll never beat your initiative. At best they'll surprise you and get one round of attacks in. At second best they'll disrupt your formation. But under no circumstances will they out-maneuver you.

Most normal weapons are not particularly good against the dead. Most normal weapons are supposed to cause pain, bleeding, and/or organ failure, not to disrupt the structural stability of the enemy. But the dead don't feel pain, and don't care about bleeding or organ failure. As long as they're physically connected, they'll keep moving. Thus the only weapons that are especially effective against them are big swing-y swords and axes, which can literally hack them to pieces. Clubs and maces are ok, since they can shatter bones. Pokey weapons -- spears, arrows, daggers, epees -- are not good at all.

The dead do not even try to avoid blows, so they get a "no reflexes" penalty.

Depending on the specific method of their reanimation, the walking death may be contagious, in which case enemies reduced to 0 HP by the dead must save or sicken and die in the next day, rising again several hours later. (Naturally the symptoms of their sickness closely resemble normal wound infection; you'd need a professional, or magic, to tell the difference.)

Depending on the specific method of their reanimation, their severed limbs may still wriggle around and snap at enemies on the battlefield until they are pulped, blessed, or burned. Treat that as an obstacle to free movement and an occasional attack with form inferiority and no penetration.