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Illustration of Zombie (Dungeons & Dragons)
Original AI-made illustration based on the descriptions in the sources. Not an official design.
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Zombie (Dungeons & Dragons)

GamesUndeadShamblesSorcery1968 to 1999

The rank-and-file undead of Dungeons & Dragons since the game's first edition in 1974. It is the necromancer's servant: a corpse animated by a spell, mindless, obedient and not contagious. Clerics, who can turn or destroy undead, are the game's standard answer to it.12

Battle it
First appeared
1974
Dungeons & Dragons (1974)
Source work
Dungeons & Dragons (1974)
TSR
Made in
USA
What causes it
Sorcery
A corpse reanimated by dark magic, in the rules usually the spell animate dead.
How you become one
A spellcaster animates a corpse; in the 3.5 rules 'zombie' is a template applied to any creature with a skeleton.
How it moves
Shambles
Can either move or attack in a round, not both, and cannot run.
Intelligence
Mindless
Weak spots
  • slashing weapons
  • a cleric's power to turn undead

When did it first appear?

Ancient worldMiddle Ages1500 to 18991900 to 19671968 to 19992000 to 20092010 to today1974

Dungeons & Dragons (1974)

field notes

What the sources say

1

One of the first monsters in the original 1974 boxed set12

2

In 1974 it was described as acting only on the orders of the magic-user or cleric controlling it12

3

Has no intelligence at all and obeys only very simple commands12

4

Always neutral evil in the 3.5 rules12

5

Wikipedia traces the D&D zombie to folklore and contemporary entertainment12

Could you outrun it?

Speed class from how the sources describe it (shambles), not a measurement.

Zombie (Dungeons & Dragons) about 3 km/h (1.9 mph)
You, walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
You, jogging about 10 km/h (6.2 mph)
A fit adult sprinting about 24 km/h (15 mph)
A fast cyclist about 37 km/h (23 mph)

Sources

  1. Zombie - d20 SRD (D&D 3.5 System Reference Document)
  2. Undead (Dungeons & Dragons) - Wikipedia

Every fact on this page comes from these sources, written in our own words. Spotted a mistake? Tell us at [email protected].

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