A single zombie is challenge rating 1.
As such it is considered an easy fight for a first level party and should eat up about 20% of the party's resources (meaning HP, spells, items, and such).
Two such zombies would be considered a challenge rating 3 encounter with 4 zombies being a challenge rating 5 encounter.
An encounter with a challenge rating 1 higher than the party level is supposed to be tough, a challenge rating 2 higher is supposed to be very tough, while one 3 or higher than party level is supposed to be epic with a high chance of party death.
What you unwittingly did was throw too much at your party at once. Now this was a honest mistake -- after all you are new.
I would highly recommend reading the section of the core rulebook titled "gamemastering" it will help you understand the game system better and avoid some common early mistakes.
If you have or can get a copy the book "Gamemaster's guide" by Paizo has a lot of very useful advice for a new GM. You don't need it -- but it would be helpful.
That is correct. Did you roll really well or did they have low AC's? A +4 or +6 should still not be hitting them on a consistent basis. The fight was a CR 2 overall, but I am still surprised they won. You might want to use skeletons next time. They are less dangerous.
A zombie can charge and attack in the same round, but can only move up to it's speed.
No you did it all right, unlucky rolls by the players I guess because at 1HD they should have been dropping them with one attack (maybe not the witch) After they dropped the cleric what did the players do?
A zombie is CR 1/4 by the way Abraham
A zombie is CR 1/4 by the way Abraham
Is it? I should have double checked -- as such the encounter was a CR 2(ish) and not quite as difficult but still at possibility of dropping the party fast.
It also depends on player's newness and builds -- if they are all knew at this then that could account for some of it too.
Edit: Since it is actually CR 1/2 that means it was a CR 3 encounter.
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Skeaf: The damage reduction of a zombie is DR 5/Slashing.
This does not mean "Damage reduction of five versus slashing".
This means "Damage reduction of five, bypassed by slashing".
That's a common mistake, but slashing is effective against zombies (because you're cutting off limbs etc) whereas bludgeoning usually just tenderizes them and piercing just pokes holes in them.
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And then a damage reduction against slashing makes it very difficult to kill one as fast as they need to not be killed themselves. If they're unlucky enough to only carry a slashing weapon.
Slashing weapons are good against zombies! DR 5/ slashing means that slashing weapons overcome their Damage Reduction.
EDIT: Ninja'd by Lyrax.
According to the PRD they are CR 1/2.
My bad I forgot to add the medium size HD
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Thanks for the fast replies!
The zombies were close enough to charge. I'll have to keep that in mind for the next time they run into zombies, maybe position them a little bit further away so they can't charge.
Oh and the DR! Makes a lot more sense now, no idea how I could have read it so wrong. Now I ignored the DR altogether so that didn't affect the outcome in the end.
And yes their rolls were horrific while my rolls were the opposite. The only reason they survived was because I had some friendly NPCs intervene.
About the CR. We're running the Serpent's skull campaign and according to that it says "Human Zombies (4) CR 1/2)". So that means the whole encounter is at CR2? Then maybe reducing the number of zombies would have been good.. or just hope the players roll better next time :)
I’m not familiar enough with the adventure to know where this particular encounter occurs, or whether it was a set encounter or a random encounter, but keep in mind that this particular adventure has a sort of ‘sand-box’ feel to it; as such, the group may occasionally run into things that are of a CR above what they can easily handle. In such cases, experienced players may rightly choose to run away!
In this case though it seems that it really came down to unfortunate dice rolls. A party of 4 first level characters of the classes you describe should probably be able to handle an encounter with 4 zombies well enough if they are prepared and use reasonable tactics, but certainly zombies do hit hard.
It’s probably really unfortunate for your group that the cleric was taken down in the first round, otherwise he / she could have used Channel Positive Energy to keep the rest of the group on its feet and/or damage the zombies. Hopefully now they have learnt as a group to protect their cleric, and make sure that he is not in a position to be charged and taken down in the first round.
About the CR. We're running the Serpent's skull campaign and according to that it says "Human Zombies (4) CR 1/2)". So that means the whole encounter is at CR2? Then maybe reducing the number of zombies would have been good.. or just hope the players roll better next time :)
4 zombies would be CR 4, an epic challenge for a first level party.
Bad rolls happen, don't beat yourself up over it. it takes time for players to learn good tactics. Don't go too easy on them, or they'll never be motivated to get better. Crushing them every session, of course, is just as bad.
Sounds like you handled it just fine. You just don't want your players to start thinking that the cavalry is always just around the corner. Unless, of course, they have arranged for the cavalry to be just around the corner, in which case, "Hooray!", they're learning.
Clerics are worth their weight in gold, and now your players learned. You really did all you can, sometimes the dice just don't treat you well. Zombies are a good thing (especially since it sounds like these were early in the adventure) to just run from while peppering with ranged attacks, if you become overwhelmed.