Here, you can find the stat blocks for 5 types of Zombie that are much more interesting, much more deadly and much more recognisable than the standard 5th edition options currently available! Throw a hoard of these at your players and, if they survive, they might even pick up on the source material they’re based on!
Disclaimer: A couple of these Zombie stat blocks come with built in diseases that further the spread of their specific Zombie virus. You could easily kill characters with these diseases so be sure to readily provide your players with the information on how to cure it! This could be via research, a knowledgable NPC, or a medicine check. At your discression, I’d allow the Lesser Restoration spell to also work, as it can only be used so many times a day and they still might run out of uses depending on how many of these bastards they end up facing!
The Last of Us – Clicker Zombie
The Clicker, while not exactly smart, is still capable of more thinking than your regular Zombie. Make note of its blindness to allow your players to outsmart it and remember, it doesn’t need a reaction to move towards sound! So, unless it can already see someone with its 10ft blindsight, keep it rushing towards those noisy adventurers!
World War Z – Sprinting Zombie
Argueably the scarest Zombie of those presented here, the Zombies from World War Z come in two forms, the single creature and the swarm! Firstly, the virus presented in this stat block is nasty. Really nasty. Unlike the other diseases, this one needs to be dealt with mid-combat. Your players won’t have time to wait until the enemy has been dealt with! Find a way to make sure your players know this before they encounter them! Otherwise you might end up with some upset players that feel like they were caught unawares.
As for the swarm, this stat block needed to be adaptive due to the varying size potential. The stat block assumes that 1 HP is one Runner Zombie and gets increasingly dangerous the more Zombies are smushed into the hoard. Honestly, I don’t think I would use one of these in direct combat with a party unless they were very high level, especially not a big one! The way I invision one of these being used is as an objective. I imagine a party of adventurers stood high upon the cliffs of a ravine, blasting the swarm with spells and arrows as it charges towards a defenseless village further down the valley. Pretty cinematic!
Left 4 Dead – Boomer Zombie
Like all Zombies, the Boomer is a monster that is designed to die (and feel satisfying when it does). Unlike most other options though, it’s at its strongest when it dies! This is a Zombie that will cause panic as soon as your players realise what it is and will probably make them target no.1 to your party! This is by design and you should expect that most of these guys won’t actually make it into combat range. They do have a few tricks up their sleave to give them a fighting chance though! Most notably, the fact they can move up to 10ft after dying before they explode into gore, just incase they needed those last few strides!
I Am Legend – Darkseeker
While the Darkseekers might not be a true Zombie due to them not being undead, they show many similar traits and abilities so I felt they qualified for this video. I didn’t want to treat them as undead though so I’ve gone for the aberration route. Their Advanced Sunlight Sensitivity feature makes them a very situational enemy to throw at your group and you should consider the repercussions this choice before using them. If you want a Zombie outbreak deep in the Underdark, the Darkseekers would be highly effective but especially dangerous! If they’re just hiding in the ruins beneath a town, your players are more likely to be able to exploit this severe weakness.
The Krippin Virus is an interesting disease with a challenging cure condition. It doesn’t turn the infected creature too quickly to act but it does rely on the party having access to already cured people to manufacture new cures. Make sure to add a local cleric to the area that can cast Lesser Restoration if needed. Otherwise your party might end up in a scary death spiral!
Skullduggery Pleasant – Necromancer
While Skullduggery Pleasant might not be as well known as the other franchises on this list, I felt it was important to include an option from literature and my girlfriend suggested the Necromancers from Skullduggery Pleasant due to their unique take on self-inflicted Zombification. The Necromancer use shadow magic to bolster themselves and strike down their enemies. While this magic isn’t listed on the stat block as a spell, you should consider allowing counterspell to effect these actions.
Necromancer is intended as a commander of undead armies and should avoid engaging the party without significant undead reinforcements. They are highly intelligent and should be able to outsmart the party through prediction and analysis of their abilities.
I hope you enjoy using these new, deadly Zombie options! Let me know in the comments how it went! (I’m predicting a few TPKs in all honestly…)
Veneon Reforged 
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