Zombie

Medium undead, neutral evil

Armor Class
8
Hit Points
22
3d8 + 9
Speed
20 ft.
  • STR +1
  • DEX -2
  • CON +3
  • INT -4
  • WIS -2
  • CHA -3
Saving Throws
Wis +0
Damage Immunities
poison
Condition Immunities
poisoned
Senses
darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 8
Languages
understands all languages it spoke in life but can't speak
Challenge 1/4 50 XP · Proficiency +2

Traits

Undead Fortitude

If damage reduces the zombie to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the zombie drops to 1 hit point instead.

Actions

Slam

Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d6 + 1) bludgeoning damage.

How to run it

Undead Fortitude is the entire encounter. Every time a zombie drops, roll: DC 5 plus the damage taken, and on a success it stands back up with 1 hit point. Players who kill a zombie twice and watch it rise a third time stop treating the fight as trivial very quickly.

They are slow. Speed 20 means a party can outrun them trivially, so a zombie fight in an open field is not a fight at all. Corner the party, or give the zombies a reason the party cannot simply walk away.

Building the encounter

Six to eight for a party of four around level 2. They take a long time to kill and hit weakly, which makes them a grind rather than a threat, so keep the numbers lower than the CR budget suggests unless attrition is the point.

Confined spaces are essential. A doorway, a corridor, a boat. Anywhere the party's mobility advantage is neutralised and the zombies' refusal to die starts to matter.

What to pair it with

A necromancer to keep raising them, or a ghoul to add a threat the party actually has to respect. Zombies alone rarely frighten anyone; zombies plus one thing that paralyses is a genuinely dangerous room.

Using them as terrain rather than opposition works well. A slowly advancing wall of zombies while the real fight happens elsewhere gives the party a clock.

Reskins

Anything that keeps getting up. Flesh golems in miniature, plague victims, mud constructs, the crew of a drowned ship. Undead Fortitude reskins better than almost any trait in the SRD because refusing to die is a universally readable idea.

Drop the speed to 10 and they become a genuinely creepy environmental hazard rather than a combat encounter.

Commonly played wrong

Undead Fortitude does not trigger on radiant damage or on a critical hit. Clerics and paladins bypass it entirely, which is exactly the design intent and worth letting your players discover.

The DC is 5 plus the damage taken, not a flat 5. A big hit makes the save hard. Players who chip zombies down with cantrips will watch them stand up all night, and players who hit them hard will not.

Compared to others at this CR

At CR 1/4 the zombie has three times the goblin's hit points and half its accuracy. It is the most durable creature at its rating and the least threatening on any single turn.

The interesting comparison is time. A skeleton fight ends when the party wants it to. A zombie fight ends when the dice allow it. If your session is running long, do not open with zombies.

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