Yeah, I’m kinda on a kick lately with this series, but I thought I might tackle a few more armies before hanging it up.
Next, on the list are the undead. Everyone wants to fight a skeleton army, right?
Design Notes
A couple of huge changes again to the ruleset. Chances are I’m going to go back and make similar adjustments to the other units and core rules.
- Constitution scores now stay the same as the base unit.
- No more Defense saving throws.
- I reworded the attacks so they work a little neater. Melee attacks now work exactly the same as they do for individual creatures although, units still have advantage against creatures sharing the same space as them and the unit still deals half damage on a miss. I turned ranged attacks into Dex-saving-throw-dependent attacks.
- Since undead are essentially automatons, they automatically pass morale saves.
Shadow Unit
Huge unit of Medium undead, chaotic evil
Armor Class 12
Hit Points 160
Speed 40 ft.
Abilities Str 14 (+2), Dex 14 (+2), Con 13 (+1), Int 6 (-2), Wis 10 (+0), Cha 8 (-1)
Skills Stealth +6 (+10 in dim light or darkness)
Damage Vulnerabilities radiant
Damage Resistances acid, cold, fire, thunder, bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities necrotic, poison
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, stunned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages –
Challenge 10 (5,900 XP)
Amorphous. The shadow unit can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.
Shadow Stealth. If the shadow unit starts its turn in dim light or darkness, it is considered hidden until it moves or takes an action.
Sunlight Weakness. While in sunlight, the shadow unit has disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws.
Unit. The unit can occupy the space of a Medium or smaller creature and vice versa. Spells and attacks that affect an area deal triple damage to the unit if the area of effect completely encloses the unit. The unit can’t regain hit points or gain temporary hit points. And the unit has advantage on attacks against targets in the same space as the unit.
Unit Actions
Strength Drain. The shadow targets one creature or unit it can see within 5 feet of it. The target must make a DC 14 Strength saving throw. On a failed saving throw, the target takes 37 (10d6 + 2) necrotic damage, and the target’s Strength score is reduced by 2d4. The target dies if this reduces its Strength to 0. Otherwise, the reduction lasts until the target finishes a short or long rest. If the shadow unit has half its hit points or fewer, the target of this attack makes its saving throw with advantage.
Skeleton Unit
Huge unit of Medium undead, lawful evil
Armor Class 13 (armor scraps)
Hit Points 130
Speed 30 ft.
Abilities Str 18 (+4), Dex 14 (+2), Con 15 (+2), Int 6 (-2), Wis 8 (-1), Cha 5 (-3)
Damage Vulnerabilities bludgeoning
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, stunned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages understands all the languages it knew in life but can’t speak
Challenge 7 (2,900 XP)
Unwavering. The unit automatically passes all Morale checks.
Unit. The unit can occupy the space of a Medium or smaller creature and vice versa, and the unit can move through any opening large enough for a Medium skeleton. Spells and attacks that affect an area deal triple damage to the unit if the area of effect completely encloses the unit. The unit can’t regain hit points or gain temporary hit points. And the unit has advantage on attacks against targets in the same space as the unit.
Unit Actions
Shortswords. Melee Weapon Attacks: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 39 (10d6 + 4) piercing damage, or half as much if the unit misses; or if the unit has half its hit points or fewer, it instead deals 23 (5d6 + 4) piercing damage or no damage on a miss.
Volley of Arrows. The skeleton unit fires a hail of arrows at a point that it can see within 320 feet of it. Each creature in a 15-foot cube centered on that point must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or take 37 (10d6 + 2) piercing damage on a failed saving throw, or half as much damage on a successful one; or if the skeleton unit has half its hit points or fewer, the target takes 19 (5d6 + 2) piercing damage on a failed saving throw, or no damage on a successful saving throw.
Skeleton Cavalry Unit
Gargantuan unit of Medium undead on Large undead, lawful evil
Armor Class 15 (armor and barding scraps, shields)
Hit Points 198
Speed 60 ft.
Abilities Str 26 (+8), Dex 12 (+1), Con 15 (+2), Int 6 (-2), Wis 8 (-1), Cha 5 (-3)
Damage Vulnerabilities bludgeoning
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, stunned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 8
Languages understands all the languages it knew in life but can’t speak
Challenge 9 (5,000 XP)
Unwavering. The unit automatically passes all morale checks.
Chargers. If the skeleton cavalry moves at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with a lance attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 27 (6d8) piercing damage. If the target is a non-unit creature, it must succeed on a DC 19 Strength saving throw or be pushed up to 10 feet away and knocked prone.
Mounted Combatants. The skeleton cavalry has advantage on attacks made against Large and smaller targets.
Unit. The unit can occupy the space of a Large or smaller creature and vice versa, and the unit can move through any opening large enough for a Large skeletal warhorse. Spells and attacks that affect an area deal double damage to the unit if the area of effect completely encloses the unit and the unit has half its hit points or more. The unit can’t regain hit points or gain temporary hit points. The unit has advantage on attacks against creatures in the same space as it.
Unit Actions
Lances. Melee Weapon Attacks: +11 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 47 (6d12 + 8) piercing damage, or half as much damage if the unit misses; or if the unit has half its hit points or fewer, it instead deals 27 (3d12 + 8) piercing damage on a hit or no damage on a miss. The skeleton cavalry unit has disadvantage on attacks against creatures within 5 feet of it.
Hooves. Melee Weapon Attacks: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 50 (12d6 + 8) bludgeoning damage, or half as much if the unit misses; or if the unit has half its hit points or fewer, it instead deals 29 (6d6 + 8) bludgeoning damage or no damage on a miss.
Zombie Unit
Huge unit of Medium undead, neutral evil
Armor Class 8
Hit Points 220
Speed 20 ft.
Abilities Str 21 (+5), Dex 6 (-2), Con 16 (+3), Int 3 (-4), Wis 6 (-2), Cha 5 (-3)
Saving Throws Wis +1
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, stunned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 8
Languages understands all the languages it knew in life but can’t speak
Challenge 8 (3,900 XP)
Unwavering. The unit automatically passes all Morale checks.
Undead Fortitude. Whenever the zombie unit takes damage, 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 unit takes no damage instead.
Unit. The unit can occupy the space of a Medium or smaller creature and vice versa, and the unit can move through any opening large enough for a Medium zombie. Spells and attacks that affect an area deal triple damage to the unit if the area of effect completely encloses the unit. The unit can’t regain hit points or gain temporary hit points. And the unit has advantage on attacks against targets in the same space as the unit.
Unit Actions
Slams. Melee Weapon Attacks: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 40 (10d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage, or half as much if the unit misses; or if the unit has half its hit points or fewer, it instead deals 24 (5d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage or no damage on a miss.
Next: army and rules revisions.