Living Dead for Holmes Basic

Don't get me wrong, I love the trope of the magically reanimated dead mindlessly serving wizards and demons, but I also like the concept of a zombie virus causing those who are bitten to become the living dead. So, I was inspired to write up these beasties for the Holmes set. Note that the cinematic zombies these are most closely based on are those from Night of the Living Dead (which is public domain due to some legal screwups and can be watched here), though there may be some influence from other zombie films, video games, and television shows.

Zombie, Living Dead

Move: 60 feet/turn

Hit Dice: 1

Armor Class: 7

Treasure Type: nil

Alignment: neutral

Attacks: 1

Damage: 1d4+special

The living dead are corpses that have come to life, animated by a magical disease, sometimes known as the zombie plague. This disease is spread by the bites of the infected, causing those bitten to die and be reanimated as the living dead.

Anyone bitten by a living dead zombie must make a saving throw against poison. If they fail it, they are infected, and will lose 1d6 CON points each hour. When their CON reaches 0, they die, and within 1d6 minutes are reanimated as a living dead zombie.

The bodies of the living dead are surprisingly resilient, as the corpse is animated by the disease itself, not the musculature. Any attack made against one of the living dead usually only deals one point of damage. However, if an attack roll is 18 or higher, this indicates that an attack has been made against the zombie's head. The brain is the center of the disease's power, and damaging it deals damage as normal.

The living dead have an inherent fear of fire, left over from the primal instincts of humanity, and whenever they encounter flame they have a 50% chance of running away in fear.