Left 4 Dead Infected Zombies! (3.5)

[Babale]

Here is my version of the L4D infected, the basic horde zombie. Feedback wanted and welcome!


Infected
Medium Humanoid
Hit Dice 1d6
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares(
Initiative: -2
Armor Class 8; touch 8; flat-footed 8
(10-2 (dex penalty))
Base Attack/Grapple +1/+1
Attack
(Claw) +1 melle (1d4, 20/X2)
(Bite) +1 melle (1d4+2, 20/X2)
Full Attack
Claw (see above) plus a grapple attempt.
Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks
None
Special Qualities
Darkvision 30 ft.

Infectious Bite: If an Infected bites a humanoid, that humanoid must make a DC 15 Fort. save or become Diseased. Diseased creatures beomce Infected after 1d6 hours.

Immunity to all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and morale effects).

Not at risk of death from massive damage, but when reduced to 0 hit points or less, it is immediately destroyed.

Does not need sleep.

Infected cannot have ranks in any skills.

Saves:
Fort +0 Ref -1 Will +3
Abilities:
Str 10, Dex 8, Con 10, Int 0, Wis 10, Cha 0
Skills:
None.
Feats:
None.
Environment:
Any.
Organization:
Loner (1), Squad (1d6), Pack (1d20), Horde (1d10X10)
Challenge Rating: 1/2
Treasure: None.
Alignment: True Neutral.
Advancement: None.
Level Adjustment: None.

Combat:

Infected wander around aimlessly, atracted to loud or high-pitched noises and small, bright lights. When they meet other infected, they ignore them completely; when they meet a living creature, the whole group swarms onto it and tears, bites, and claws away until the creature is dead. Then they eat what they can before returning to their aimless wanderings.





EDIT:

this is my first homebrew, so please give tips!

[Pie Guy]

Fortitude save is a little high, so there is no way a group of first level adventurers would manage to survive without at least one infected.

Also: an infected is a humanoid? I would peg it as an undead.

[Jimp]

Fortitude save is a little high, so there is no way a group of first level adventurers would manage to survive without at least one infected.

Also: an infected is a humanoid? I would peg it as an undead.

Just to point out that in Left 4 Dead the survivors are all immune to this infection for some reason. The infection being so deadly to low level stuff or low fort stuff makes sense. If the campaign was following l4d then the PCs would probably be either immune to or higher level since it's an heroic/action focused setting.
The game aside, the chance of infection being so high often compliments zombie games

[TSED]

I would give them a few skill ranks (ie hide / move silently, maybe).


Also, class levels = the 'special' zombies? Think some barbarian levels + hulking hurler would get you a Tank?

[Fan]

I actually had the Left for Dead thing done 3 years ago.... back on another forum.. Then I brought it here months before its release was ever announced... I WOULD call plagirism on ValvE, but they have patents now...

[NeoVid]

I would say that the generic Infected can't have ranks in Int/Wis/Cha skills, since they clearly have good modifiers for Jump and Climb.

[Babale]

I would give them a few skill ranks (ie hide / move silently, maybe).


Also, class levels = the 'special' zombies? Think some barbarian levels + hulking hurler would get you a Tank?

I am going to make different stats for special zombies. As for skills, I'd rather they not have ANY skills so they are easier to manage. What about a racial bonus for climb (no hide/move silently since the generic zombies never do this, and no ranks in jump since they barely ever jump- only thing they do better then generic humans is climb.) Maybe ignore difficult terrain-climbing over barbed wire is DEFINITELY difficult terrain.

Just to point out that in Left 4 Dead the survivors are all immune to this infection for some reason. The infection being so deadly to low level stuff or low fort stuff makes sense. If the campaign was following l4d then the PCs would probably be either immune to or higher level since it's an heroic/action focused setting.
The game aside, the chance of infection being so high often compliments zombie games

Yeah, the infection has to spread quickly-a month to cover entire countries. But the PCs would be immune. Also, is making the infection uncurable, even with divine spells, too much?

Fortitude save is a little high, so there is no way a group of first level adventurers would manage to survive without at least one infected.

Also: an infected is a humanoid? I would peg it as an undead.

For fort. save, see above. and as for humanoid, well, the zombies in L4D never die, they are just sickened and have the symptoms of zombies. Again, they never actually died.




One last thing: these zombies are CR 1/2, meaning level 5 adventurers with some healing spells could take out a horde quite easily, especially with AoE attacks and Cleave. But what should the CR be on boss zombies?
I'd say:

Boomer: CR 1 (Same stats as generic undead with spit+explosion abilities and 1/2 speed. A boomer is weaker then generic undead in the game; his only plus is the abbility to blind survivors and attract hordes.)

Hunter: CR 2 (10 HP with same other stats as general infected, only with a claw attack that deals 2d4+2 (enough to kill mages quickly) and a HUGE leap attack (say, 30 ft range, up to 15 ft high) that gives him an automatic grapple if it hits.)

smoker, witch, and tank coming soon!

[Jimp]

I don't think that making the infection incurable is too harsh. Considering the average magic level of a D&D setting, making the infection curable by magic would make it much less scary.

[Demons_eye]

I actually had the Left for Dead thing done 3 years ago.... back on another forum.. Then I brought it here months before its release was ever announced... I WOULD call plagirism on ValvE, but they have patents now...

That kinda funny cuz they started development on it mid 2005 meaning they had to think it up before that.

[Fan]

That kinda funny cuz they started development on it mid 2005 meaning they had to think it up before that.

Well, I FINISHED it back in 2006, and according to the copy right LAW It's my property from the moment I create it. NOT the moment you think it up.
Also, I STARTED it as a project back when I first saw House of the dead back in 2004 because I thought "Hey, all these zombies are the SAME damned thing OVER, and OVER again. Why not toss it up abit?", so yeah... If it weren't for the patents that they now have I'd be suing their ASSES off right now.

[Rutskarn]

I actually took a laughably poor stab at the special infected on da blog, which I won't link to because I'm trying to cut back on my excessive self-promotion.

Just kidding. Here.

Anyways, one point: the infected don't seem to eat what they kill, or at least not immediately. They're definitely not conventional zombies.

Also, they should have ranks in climb and jump, yeah.

[Demons_eye]

If you copy righted it then why not put patents on it? From what I looked up The only thing I could find is were you posted it here in 2008. I would be happy if you could post the site from 3 years ago and I would shut up and admit I was wrong. But if you lost it or what ever I think I can just take your word for it and let it be.

[Fan]

If you copy righted it then why not put patents on it? From what I looked up The only thing I could find is were you posted it here in 2008. I would be happy if you could post the site from 3 years ago and I would shut up and admit I was wrong. But if you lost it or what ever I think I can just take your word for it and let it be.

I dunno, maybe because I'm under 18, and POOR?
Patents cost money... Hell even visible copy rights on art work cost money if you want to do it with a computerized program.
Also, It was back in 2005, and hat was on a forum which is sadly down due to the costs of bandwith being far too much for the site provider.
Believe me if I could I would... I do still have my paper (E Hand written) logs, and the like..
Although the only thing they copied was the zombies....
The story line is a entirely different story.
Also, ironic use of words is ironic.

[Demons_eye]

No I will keep my word I will let it be.

[Solaris]

Gentlemen, Ma Nature did the 'mindless diseased killer' thing long before any of us. It's called rabies. If you want to continue arguing about who invented it, though...

Comically unimportant argument aside, what about the disease itself, Babale? Gonna stat out its progression? How about doing this critter as a template rather than a simple creature entry IOT more easily represent, say, orc infected?
I'm unfamiliar with the setting. Are there intelligent forms of Infected?

[Tempest Fennac]

Onne Minor point; Int should be - rather then 0 and Cha should either be - at least 1 (pretty much every creature, including mindless ones, has a Cha of at least 1). I'd also say that making in incurable is harsh due do how it sees as though getting infected would amount to an automatic Game Over.

[Another_Poet]

I dunno, maybe because I'm under 18, and POOR?
Patents cost money... Hell even visible copy rights on art work cost money if you want to do it with a computerized program.
Also, It was back in 2005, and hat was on a forum which is sadly down due to the costs of bandwith being far too much for the site provider.
Believe me if I could I would... I do still have my paper (E Hand written) logs, and the like..
Although the only thing they copied was the zombies....
The story line is a entirely different story.
Also, ironic use of words is ironic.

Being poor and under 18 does not prevent you from suing for plagiarism - if you have proof.

If the person who plagiarised your work went on to copyright the (stolen) work, you can STILL sue and win - if you have proof.

If the forum in question no longer exists, try searching the Waybackmachine at archive.org; there may be a copy of the thread archived there, conveniently dated to prove how long ago you had the idea.

Also, try searching google with the former url of the website and a few keywords (something like site:www.url.com/forums FF_Fanboy zombie infected) and then click on the cached copy of any results you get. Even if the website is gone the cached copy may still exist because it was archived by Google.

If none of the above works then contact the owner or administrator of the old forum. Perhaps they can't afford to pay bandwidth and keep it active, but that doesn't mean they deleted everything. They could provide you with the thread in question, and probably would if you just ask politely and explain why.

If none of that works then look at the notes you mentioned and see if there is anything that proves a date. What is the "created" date on the computer files? Did you mail or email any of it to anyone, thus creating a dated postmark or electronic timestamp?

How many friends did you share it with? In other words, how many witnesses do you have that it was created before the L4D?

That's 5 ways to start building evidence. Take it to a lawyer and say, look, I have no money but I have proof. This is a huge company and you'll make a lot of money on this case. Any lawyer would jump at that chance and take you on for free (well, no fee unless you win) - if you have proof.

But frankly I gotta say if your thing is "they ripped off my zombie idea" and none of the plot, characters, etc. are similar - do you really think that's plagiarism? The L4D zombies aren't that unique. They're somewhere between 28 Days Later and Resident Evil as far as I can tell. Doesn't it seem more likely that L4D is a logical next step of the genre? Rather than creative professionals from a major company trolling internet messageboards to rip off monster ideas from kids?

If the above pararaph sounds totally off and you're sure the L4D zombies are a ripoff of your work, then start builduing that evidence, show it to a lawyer, ??? and profit profit profit.

But if maybe, just maybe, the reason you haven't sued so far is because you don't really think you have a case - well, then stop throwing the p-word around. That's a serious accusation.

My two bits...

ap

[Debihuman]

Aw, quit being so harsh on the kid. It's quite possible that he and the game designers simply thought along similar lines. Unfortunately, you can't win a suit like that. Ideas aren't copyrightable or patentable. Only specific characters are. Product Identity is copyrightable but you have to have a basis.

For example: So my 12-year-old self wrote a Batman story about how Alfred's niece came to to live with him. Yes, it was a Mary Sue but I was 12! It's not like I was writing the great American novel.

Low and behold, decades later the movie Batman and Robin shows up. Just because I had a similar idea doesn't mean that I could sue over it. It just proves that movie executives have as much insight as 12-year-old little girls. I had a good chuckle in the theater when I saw but honestly, a common trope is hardly unique.

Let's be clear here, every trope about zombies pays a bit of an homage to White Zombie (1932) and to Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1969). From that movie, every movie has built upon the kind of zombie. I also recommend doing a google search on zombie and D20 and you'll find a ton of homebrews -- many are quite similar because well, they're zombies!

A lot of people can have the same idea, it's all in the execution of that idea that makes it unique.

Debby

[Another_Poet]

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound harsh. I actually largely agree with you, Debihuman; most likely it was pure coincidence and there's not much that can (or should be) done about it.

However, FF Fanboy says that he posted his complete and detailed idea online before the game had been fully developed. If he feels that the monster design in that game is so startlingly and perfectly similar to his own monster design that it must have been ripped off, he most certainly can attempt a lawsuit. Certainly monster design is the copyright of the original designer; it's not "only specific characters" that are covered by copyright law.

The example of your 12-year-old writing is a little different because you were doing fan fic (ie working with characters & settings who are already the intellectual property of someone else, without license to do so). It would also hurt your case that your story was never put out on the internet (I presume) where other people could've seen it; FF Fanboy says his was, so he has a better leg to stand on evidence-wise.

My point is not to side either way; I think it's unlikely that FFFB's work was the source of the L4D zombies but, if he feels otherwise, he still has the means to proceed despite his age and income.

ap