A New Breed of Zombie - Zombie Fungoid
Header Art: Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes by Wizards of the Coast
Nature is crazy and it is probably going to kill all of us one day. In the meantime, how about we use the dangerous elements of nature and throw them at our players, in the form of zombie plants. Well, not technically plants, but creatures infected by a fungus that causes their brain to break and become nothing more than a husk controlled by a wash of chemicals that the fungus feeds the mind.
David P. Hughes, Maj-Britt Pontoppidan, Wikipedia CC BY 2.5
For those who have gotten lost on Wikipedia before, or like to read about weird things that will kill you if you ever leave the safety of your home, you may have heard of ophiocordyceps unilaterialis and its relationship to ants. If you haven’t, here are the basics: ophiocordyceps is a type of fungus that infects ants and then begins to cause changes within the ant. It releases chemicals that cause the ant to behave weirdly and forces the ant to move to an ideal location for the fungus, where it then locks the ant’s jaws around a leaf in a death grip. The ant is then stuck there as the fungus atrophies the ant and grows the fungus-fruit that will help spread the fungus to even more ants to turn into pseudo-zombie-ants.
With zombie ants in mind, we can create a new breed of very dangerous zombies to attack our players, and because I think that everyone should be terrified, these zombies can pretty much go on any living creature. Just like how the ophiocordyceps can take over an ant, this fungus can take over any living creature, which means we have a template that we can throw onto any creature and opens us to even more options for zombies in our games.
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Zombie Fungoid
The zombie fungoid is an insidious parasite that spreads through the world by infecting living creatures. These living creatures spend days slowly perishing as their nervous system is attacked until they perish. All that remains is the fungus releasing chemicals that wash their mind, forcing it to continue even in death, seeking new hosts for the fungus to attack and grow within, spreading its horrific spores.
Yellow Musk Zombie - Tomb of Annihilation, 2017 WotC
While this fungus rarely makes its way into villages or cities, as the hosts quickly succumb to the parasite and forget how to find their way home, when it does, it is often a catastrophe. It only takes a single person to succumb to the fungus before it begins attacking any living creature it finds, infecting them with either its bite or by explosively releasing spores, infecting any who have any open wounds, even small cuts from a thorn are enough for someone to risk infection.
Whole villages might disappear within a week of one person turning into a fungoid, with any survivors likely carriers of the plague to nearby settlements where the cycle repeats. When other settlements hear reports of this parasite spreading in the nearby area, they often refuse entry to outsiders, or if they allow them in, they check the throat carefully, looking for any blemishes or red spots.
Red Throated. An infected creature is typically easy to spot thanks to the massive, red pustules that cover its throat. This is where the fruit of the fungus resides, as the fungus continues to infect a creature, it produces more and more spores that it packs in these pustules under extreme pressure until its host either dies or the fungus causes the creature's throat to suddenly explode, bursting the pustules and spraying the spores on living creatures. This instantly kills the host, but by that point, the host is typically used up and is no longer a suitable vessel for the fungus.
Zombie Plague. Throughout the jungles where this parasite thrives, zombie animals are the ones most likely to be infected by this plague. Beasts small and huge may be infected by the spores, and then slowly take control of the host. Even powerful dragons have fallen to the spores, creating a flying menace that can sweep across a jungle and attack large settlements. When an especially dangerous creature is taken over by spores, inhabitants have little choice but to summon adventurers to destroy the infected creature before it can spread its awful spores.
Failing to do so results in a large mass of zombie-like beasts, monstrosities, humanoids, and more who must spread further and further out of the jungle in search of living creatures to infect, pushed forward by the single-minded purpose of the parasitic fungus. These fungus hosts stop at nothing to spread their spores, even destroying themselves in a desperate attempt to continue their spread.
Undead Nature. A fungoid doesn't require air, food, drink, or sleep. A fungoid typically can survive for several weeks before the body decomposes so much that it can no longer move, at which point its speed is reduced to 0 and it can no longer take any action except its Neck Pustule action. A fungoid can take this action even years after it has decomposed enough to be just a pile of bones and is a horrific, naturally occurring trap that many explorers must contend with in the deep jungle.
Zombie Fungoid Template
When a creature becomes a fungoid zombie, it retains its statistics except as described below. The fungoid may gain or lose abilities or equipment per the DM's discretion.
Creature Type The creature becomes an undead.
Alignment The creature's alignment changes to unaligned.
Hit Points The creature gains an extra Hit Die.
Ability Scores The creature's Strength and Constitution score increases by 2, and its Intelligence Score decreases to 3 (-4), unless it is already lower.
Skills The creature loses any skills that rely on its Intelligence.
Languages The creature understands the languages it knew in life, but can't speak.
Challenge Rating The creature's CR increases by 1.
Armor & Equipment The creature, typically, loses any armor or weapons it had.
Spellcasting The creature loses its spellcasting ability, unless it is innate, and gains a multiattack unless it already has that action. It's multiattack allows it to make a bite attack and then a number of slam attacks equal to a fourth of its Challenge Rating (rounded down, minimum 1). If a creature's fungoid CR is below 1, it doesn't gain this action.
Multiattack The creature keeps its multiattack but changes it so that it makes one bite attack and then any additional attacks are its slam attack or other unarmed attacks it might have, like a tail or claws attack.
Bite The creature, if it doesn't already have one, gains a bite attack. This is an unarmed melee strike that deals 1d6 piercing damage, unless its bite attack deals more damage, and deals poison damage equal to its Proficiency Bonus in d6s. In addition, the creature is must succeed on a DC (8 + Constitution modifier + Proficiency Bonus) Constitution saving throw or be infected with zombie fungoid.
Zombie Fungoid An infected creature can not regain hit points except through magical means like the cure wounds spell. Every 24 hours after infection, the creature must succeed on a DC (8 + Constitution modifier + Proficiency Bonus) Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, its hit points and hit point maximum are reduced by the attacking creature's Proficiency Bonus in d6s. This damage can not be reduced in any way. Once a creature's maximum hit points are reduced to 0, the creature dies and in 1 hour, rises as a Fungoid.
The infection can be cured if the creature succeeds on three consecutive saving throws or is the target of a lesser restoration spell or similar effect that removes disease.Slam The creature, if it doesn't already have another unarmed attack apart from a bite, gains a slam attack. This is an unarmed melee strike that deals 1d8 bludgeoning damage, or 2d8 if large, 3d8 if huge, or 4d8 if gargantuan.
Neck Pustule (1/Life) The fungoid's large red bulge on its throat explodes, instantly killing the fungoid, and spraying spores in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in the area, that doesn't have all of its hit points, must succeed on a DC (8 + Constitution modifier + Proficiency Bonus) Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes poison damage equal to the attacker's Proficiency Bonus in d6s and is infected with zombie fungoid.
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