A zombie roper

[thepuregamer]

So does a zombie roper keep his 6 strand touch attacks? They are natural attacks so he keeps those right.

while a zombie does lose special attacks, he does

zombies special qualities wrote:

Special Qualities: A zombie loses most special qualities of the base creature. It retains any extraordinary special qualities that improve its melee or ranged attacks. A zombie gains the following special quality.

roper strands wrote:

Strands (Ex)
A roper can extend up to six thin, sticky strands from its body at a time, launching them to a maximum range of 50 feet. A roper's attacks with its strands resolve as ranged touch attacks. These strands are quite strong, but can be severed by any amount of slashing damage (a strand is AC 20). A creature struck by a strand is numbed and weakened by the strange material, and must make a DC 25 Fortitude save or take 1d6 points of Strength damage. The save DC is Constitution-based.

so is this a special attack or a special quality? I would think that the strand is a natural attack and the strands ex ability is a special quality that improves them. Is this correct?

*though upon further inspection the strands are listed under special attacks so they go away. too bad. *

[Some call me Tim]

thepuregamer wrote:

so is this a special attack or a special quality? I would think that the strand is a natural attack and the strands ex ability is a special quality that improves them. Is this correct?

*though upon further inspection the strands are listed under special attacks so they go away. too bad. *

That is what I was going to say. Strands is odd. While you would definitely lose the special attack (1d6 STR), I can see making an argument for using the strands to make the slam attack granted by the zombie template.

The one special quality that I can think off-hand is for a dragon's bite attack gaining reach. The bite itself isn't a special attack, but the reach is a special quality of the dragon that enhances that attack. At least that is how I've always played it.

In the end, if I was GM I would allow it to make a slam attack at range because its fun and unique, even if it isn't explicitly rules-as-written. Now, I probably would throw a fast-variant zombie roper at them, at least not without an increase in CR.