The Plague Zombie

[Cantriped]

For all of you horror fans out there I present the "Plague Zombie" for Fantasy Hero Complete.

This terrifying enemy is the bane of the living (and your players), and the perfect adversary for a Zombie Survival horror campaign. The plague zombie's disease ridden bite is highly infectious, and lethal. A single bite from this enemy will kill any human with less than 16 BODY in 32 seconds. Any human that dies within 6 hours of being bitten by a Plague Zombie immediately rises as one themselves.

http://www.herogames.com/forums/files/file/354-plague-zombie-heroic-fantasy/

I was originally inspired to create this creature after watching the anime "High School of the Dead". A series in which the zombies are fairly unusual, highly lethal, and can very quickly spawn more of themselves.

 

[Trechriron10]

That is pretty slick! (bear with me, my Hero muscles have atrophied... studying up on 6e!) Is the Recovery 1 min required? I would assume that zombies cannot recover Body (and don't have Stun...).

[Cantriped]

REC is 1, and END is 5 for reasons of RAW legality. In Champions Complete and Fantasy Hero Complete, you cannot sell back any characteristic below 1 (CC 11; FHC 13). Also, because of having taken Takes No STUN, STUN is a dormant characteristic, and cannot be raised or lowered.

 

Because these zombies still have a Recovery score, and no Physical Complications stating they don't heal, they still regain BODY normally (as unrealistic as this may normally be considered). If I had to explain why in-game: I might say that the "plague-goo" reanimating the corpse also fills in any gaps in the muscle tissue  and glues together bones shattered over time, allowing the body the plague is using as a host to remain viable much longer. Flesh wounds (like torn skin and rent fatty tissues) probably remain indefinitely, but after a while are merely cosmetic.

 

I more or less intended for this type of plague zombie to able to "heal naturally". I like that you cannot simply wait for them to fall apart or be destroyed by accidents, wear and tear, and accumulated injuries. It is also advantageous for the GM because it provides a rationale for why every Plague Zombie the heroes encounter still has its full BODY... Which wouldn't make much sense if they didn't ever Recover BODY. If you don't want Plague Zombies in your campaign to "heal naturally", I would suggest removing the "Does Not Age" element from their Life Support, and including a Physical Complication to the effect that they do not Recover BODY.