Warband, Zombie Horde

Family: Warbands

Gargantuan warband of Medium undead, neutral evil

Armor Class 9
Hit Points 58 (4d20 + 16)
Speed 20 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
17 (+3)	8 (-1)	18 (+4)	3 (-4)	6 (-2)	5 (-3)

Saving Throws Wis +0
Damage Resistances necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, slashing
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, stunned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 8
Languages understands Common but can’t speak
Challenge 2 (450 XP)

SPECIAL Traits

• Warband. The zombie horde can occupy another creature’s space and vice versa, and the warband can move through any opening large enough for a Medium creature. The warband can’t regain hit points or gain temporary hit points.
• Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the zombie horde 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 horde drops to 1 hit point instead.

ACTIONS

• Overwhelming Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) bludgeoning damage. If the target is in the zombie horde’s space and the zombie horde has at least half of its hit points, the target takes an additional 7 (2d6) bludgeoning damage.

ABOUT

This mass of shambling dead groans and grasps at the air as it surges forward.

Multitudes of Undead. Zombies often gather in huge groups. A zombie horde isn’t an organized warband in any sense but merely an aggregation of many zombies fighting together in close quarters. A zombie horde might form from a sprawling mass of zombies crowded together by the terrain, such as a narrow hall or a doorway. After squeezing through this barrier, the zombies simply remain in close confines, lacking the tactical sense to spread out again. Clever undead hunters might intentionally channel a large group of zombies into a narrow defile to bring them together as a horde; the horde is much tougher than any single zombie, but it’s sometimes useful to be able to attack the horde all at once.

Mindless Advance. Zombie hordes have no sense of self-preservation whatsoever, and they do anything necessary to get at the living creatures they detect. This means they’ll leap off of rooftops, cross burning fields, or lumber through barbed wire if necessary. Only when an easy way around the obstacle is immediately apparent—and obvious to their limited intellect—will a zombie horde bypass it. For example, a horde will move around an open pit in a plain, but they will surge into a pit in a narrow hallway. If the pit has less area than the zombie horde (for example, if the pit is only 5 feet square and 20 feet deep), the zombie horde fills it up and continues its relentless advance.

Grasping Hands. A zombie horde poses a particular hazard to foes they can overwhelm, as their grasping hands pummel anyone unfortunate enough to end up in their midst.

Undead Nature. A zombie horde doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.

About Warbands

The exact number of a warband’s component creatures varies, but in general, a Gargantuan warband made up of Small or Medium creatures consists of approximately 12 to 30 creatures and a Gargantuan warband made up of Large creatures consists of approximately 8 to 15 creatures.

Although the individuals in a warband likely each carry their own equipment, the chaos and destruction of battle means that not all of these creatures’ equipment survives the rigors of combat.

As a result, parties who wish to claim usable gear or treasure from slain foes treat a warband as a single creature for the purposes of looting, and should be able to recover gear worth a total value equal to the warband’s expected treasure value.