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Nerdarchy > Dungeons & Dragons  > Dungeons & Dragons Monsters — Vampires vs. Zombies To The Undeath

Dungeons & Dragons Monsters — Vampires vs. Zombies To The Undeath

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I was inspired to write about Vampires vs Zombies after watching Spike TV’s Deadliest Warriors episode about what else, but Vampires vs Zombies of course.

vampires vs zombies

Now if you’re gamer like me at first you’re thinking yea right zombie and vampire two undead monsters, but no way are they close to being equal when it comes to combat.

But honestly Deadliest Warriors does a really great job of analyzing these two classic monsters. Now they aren’t really comparing your traditional Dungeons and Dragons Monsters per say.

Their vampire is based of the more modern genre version which doesn’t quite match up to the Dungeons and Dragons Monsters Manual version.

Deadliest Warriors Vampires vs Zombies Full-Episode


*You can check out other great Deadliest Warriors episodes over at Spike TV.

Vampires vs Zombies D&D Style

undeath

OK, sticking with the formula from the Deadliest Warrior Spike TV show we gotta stack up our zombie ratio to the vampire ratio.  This means for every one vampire you need forty-six zombies to even out the battle royal of the undead.

We get these numbers by comparing the undead CR’s from Pathfinder system. The Nosferatu vampire is a CR 10 while your standard zombies are only a 1/2 CR.

Now I chose the Nosferatu, because their kind of similar to the vampires used in the vampires vs zombies episode of the Deadliest Warriors.

Right off that bat if you’re gamer like me I know you’re thinking zombies don’t have a prayer. Well I’ve got some food for thought for you.

Thing going against the vampires-

– The Nosferatu is based off the rogue class. (Makes sneak attack useless)

– Vampires have mind effecting powers. (Useless against mindless undead)

– Blood drain. (Undead are immune fort effects)

Things going against the zombies-

– Zombies are mindless so no tactics for them

– Zombies are slow and can only take a single action per round. ( move or standard action only)

– Only 8 of the zombies can get at the vampire at once if they completely surround it.

vampire

Now we start getting into the nitty gritty. In every other way the vamps completely out class our walking dead.

The biggest problem for the zombies is the armor class of the vampires. The equalizer would be if the zombies grab the vamp and try and rip him apart.

That reduces the armor class of the vampire by 12 giving the zombies the ability hit 25% of the time and takes the advantage of speed and mobility away from good old Nosferatu.

Now this tactic might be considered to advanced for the mindless zombie, but if zombie movies are to be referenced than there is definitely precedent for the old grab and rip apart method.

That being said it’ll be very difficult for the zombies to surround our vampire especially, because he can keep moving in and out of the zombies attack range with the feat spring attack. The down side to this attack is only making one attack a round. On the plus side neither of these undead adversaries will ever tire of pressing the attack.

The bad news for the vampire is even with max damage it takes at least 2 rounds to kill a single zombie. Also this vampire doesn’t have a fly speed. The biggest problem or advantage for the vampire would have to come from terrain.

The terrain could very well be the deciding factor in this battle. Unfortunately I don’t have advanced combat simulators to run this battle over and over again. Most of the vampires actual advantage are negated by fighting  mindless undead creatures.

It could very well be the vampires intellect that would allow it to over come so many relentless foes. I to give this one to the vampire, but I acknowledge that one lucky grab from the walking dead could completely turn this match of vampires vs zombies around.

Leave you thoughts in the comments below I’d love hear your thoughts on this battle royal of the undead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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david friant

My name is Dave Friant I've been gaming off and on for over 27 years. But here is the thing it's always been a part of my life I've kept secret and hidden away. I've always been ashamed of the stigma that gaming and my other nerdy and geeky pursuits summon forth. Recently I decided screw it! This is who I am the world be damned. From now on I'm gonna be a geek, nerd, or however folks want to judge me and just enjoy life. Currently one of my greatest joys is introducing my 13 yr old son to table top RPG's.

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