You got some typos, some unnecessary wordiness, some unclear wording, and you missed something.
What you wrote:
Flying Tackle. When attack a medium or smaller creature the zombie has advantage against, the zombie makes an opposed Athletics checks with advantage to grapple. If successful, it knocks enemy prone and makes two Slams attacks with advantage.
The rules mention two kinds of “Contests in Combat,” Grappling and Shoving. (Don’t forget that every monster in the game can Grapple, Shove, or take any other standard action in place of anything listed on their statblock if they wish.) They are both resolved the same mechanically, the attacker makes a Strength (Athletics) check against the defender’s check, their choice of either Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics); but the outcomes are different. This special action you are creating basically does both of those. But it would likely be easier to add Grappled as an additional result of a Shove than to add Prone as an additional result of a Grapple attempt. So, here is the same thing, but with more precise language and using 5e terminology:
Flying Tackle. Whenever the zombie has advantage on its Slam attack against a Medium or smaller creature, it can instead attempt to Shove the creature Prone, the zombie has advantage on its check. On a success, the target is also Grappled, and the zombie can immediately make two Slam attacks against the creature.
Honestly though, that’s still a little complicated compared to the way WotC usually designs similar features. To make things simpler for the DM and faster for everyone, WotC would typically calculate the average result to include on the statblock like they do for damage rolls and use it a fixed DC for the other creature to roll against. (Like providing a monster’s Passive Perception for the PCs to roll against.) For example, with neither any modifier from Strength, not bonus from Proficiency, the zombie would have a total +0 to the Strength (Athletics) check, so their Passive Athletics would be 10, and with Advantage that would statistically go up to 15(ish) on average. But a CR ⅛ creature with a DC 15 anything is unheard of, and WotC usually only calculates advantage at +3 for monster statblocks. And, whenever a creature makes a melee attack against a Prone target within 5 ft., that automatically grants advantage to those attacks, so it does need to be repeated.
I have to say though, for a CR ⅛ creature, this action is disproportionately strong. Taking one attack and turning it into Grappled, Prone, and effectively Multiattack with advantage…. (This action is stronger than anything most CR 2 creatures have.)
In addition, the real reason for using zombies isn’t how much damage they can put out, but how much they can soak up. They’re not strikers the undead monster world, they’re tanks. DMs don’t use them for their Action, but instead for their Undead Fortitude. If you dropped it from 2 free attacks down to 1 in addition to the combined Grapple+Shove attempt, and put some other limited on it, it would help balance this. So something like the following:
Flying Tackle (1/day). Whenever the zombie has advantage on its Slam attack against a Medium or smaller creature, it can replace its Slam attack with a Flying Tackle. The target must succeed at a DC 13 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check (their choice), or be Grappled and knocked Prone. The zombie then makes a Slam attack against the creature as part of the same action.
If it were me, I would honestly still consider raising this to CR ¼ creature, especially with that Skulking Dead special trait since being hidden would automatically give the zombie goblin the advantage it needs to make a Flying Tackle. I would probably omit that entirely, but if I really wanted to keep it I would personally either limit the uses/day, or raise the monster’s CR. (Why didn’t you list Skulking Dead under Bonus Actions instead of as a special trait?)
Finally, almost all* undead have the following listed somewhere in their entry, either as a Special Trait or in the Characteristics section:
Undead Nature. The zombie doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.
*(Some of the newer ones instead call it “Unusual Nature” and also use it for Constructs as well as Undead.)
The stat block for zombie goblin was pulled directly from the Big Book of Zombies available on the DMGuild website. It is considered a supplement. The skills/actions are word for word (maybe a typo because I am a typo machine) pulled from the book. I'm pretty sure I included this information in the posting. IIRC, I may have said it was expanded monster manual, but I made another post with the correction.
That is a 3rd-party publication and not in any way official. Either whoever wrote it messed up, is almost illiterate, or (most likely) English is not their first language and they used terrible translation software. (It reads like assembly instructions translated from Swedish to Chinese, and then into English. It’s terrible.)
Also, why are you posting someone else’s work in this forum?!? What is the point? This is a forum about creating one’s own homebrews or houserules, not about reposting some other person’s stuff. You’re not even asking anything about it, I assumed you were looking for feedback or something.
You're comment seems to suggest that there is something wrong with two languages. Not very welcoming. . I never claimed anything was official, I stated where it was from. Why are you so upset about post and sharing of a creature? It is in homebrew, anyone can post anything they find? All of a sudden it is a problem because....reasons?
I was simply sharing the creature. But, looks like the homebrew police showed up. Thanks for ruining it.
There is nothing wrong with speaking multiple languages. (I speak English fluently, and Italian & Spanish well enough to get by if I was airdropped.) All I said was that the translation software they used did a craptastic job. That’s nothing on the writer, it’s pro’ly Google Translate’s fault.
As to being “welcoming,” I am not the welcome wagon. I don’t work here, I just live here. I started offering help. Remember?!? The “Homebrew Police” (were they to exist) would have no jurisdiction in this case because your post has absolutely nothing to do with homebrew.
No, this forum is not for people to post “anything they find” at all. It’s for posting homebrew. If you didn’t write it, don’t post it here, post it in the appropriate forum. This forum is for people to share or get help with their own original work. Anything posted in this thread will be presumed as original work. Posting someone else’s work as one’s own is a violation of the sites forum rules and guidelines.
Posting DM’s Guild finds in this forum is akin to trying to discuss an article about climate change you read in the paper… in algebra class. Discuss algebra in algebra class, discuss climate change in earth sciences/meteorology class. If you want to discuss something you found on DMguild, there is an entirely separate forum for that. (https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/dungeon-masters-guild) It’s quite literally two forums below this one in the list, you can’t miss it.
If so, your replies are some of the most unprofessional in existence for a site with a paid subscription. Maybe, keep your personal thought/opinions out of the thread.
You really could have just directed me to the other forum. I think I'm gonna reach out to site admin see what the deal is with the rudeness.
If not, welcome to the block list because frankly who wants to interact with someone like you.
Nope, I don’t work here, I just live here. I pay $54.99+tax/year to be here.
Mods have orange swords near their names, like this: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/members/Davyd) He’s in Great Britain I believe, so he’ll likely be on soon. And he’s also giving me about As many infractions as every other Mod and Staffer combined. If you’re likely to find someone inclined to not be sympathetic towards me, that man is a decent place to start.
Staff have red borders, like this: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/members/MellieDM) Mellie is the “Comunity Manager for DDB. It is quite literally her job to be the face of DDB and is in charge of interactions between DDB and the public. If you would like to “speak with the manager,” she’s the one you want.
Feel free to complain about me,* its entire within your rights to do so. You can actually report any post I make if you feel it appropriate. Underneath every post you should see 3-4 black buttons. One towards the left says [Report], just click it and select the appropriate complaint from the dropdown. There’s even an area to write in details. They may even issue points against me or something. Heck, if they do a I’ll probably catch a 3-day forum ban. 🤷♂️ (It’s been, oh… look at that, exactly one month to the day since the last time they invited me to take a vacation from forum posting.)
In addition, if you click the little carrot next to my username above my avatar you can select to “ignore” me. if you do, you will never have to se anything I ever post here ever again. You may see me pop up as responding in some of the same forums, but you won’t actually have to see my posts at all. It’ll be next closest thing to my not existing.
*(People like to complain about me regularly, even when I used to put on my “customer service” hat. They complained about me for helping, for not helping enough, for being “too nice” and they thought I was pretending to be a Mod, hells, I’ve had people complain about me because I didn’t work here. 🤷♂️ Now I figure, I’m dipped either way, so what the heck. Snark on.)
PS- Just so ya know, if you ever do need any help actually figuring out how to use the homebrewer, just post here. I’m the guy who helps, like, 80-95 percent of folks on that score. I’ll still help you too, I honestly won’t remember who you are by your username, so I’ll help just ‘cause ya ask. (You won’t be able to read my posts if you have me on your ignore list, but I won’t bother ignoring you, so I’ll still help anyway. Just like I did back in #2, probably spent about half an hour composing all of that and getting the links together for you. (Ya know, on account of I thought you needed help with your homebrew. Ya know, ‘cause you posted in the Homebrew forum. 😉
PPS- As to why I didn’t just direct you? That was because I was really annoyed at having wasted a half an hour of my life trying to help you with something when your only problem was you couldn’t read signs explaining what went where. Good luck with that.
I took liberties with Zombie Goblin version 1.0. It did not go over well. So I present the real zombie goblin version 1.1
This Zombie is from the Big Book of Zombies. I think I said it was from Monster Manual Extended, I was incorrect. My bad.
You got some typos, some unnecessary wordiness, some unclear wording, and you missed something.
What you wrote:
The rules mention two kinds of “Contests in Combat,” Grappling and Shoving. (Don’t forget that every monster in the game can Grapple, Shove, or take any other standard action in place of anything listed on their statblock if they wish.) They are both resolved the same mechanically, the attacker makes a Strength (Athletics) check against the defender’s check, their choice of either Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics); but the outcomes are different. This special action you are creating basically does both of those. But it would likely be easier to add Grappled as an additional result of a Shove than to add Prone as an additional result of a Grapple attempt. So, here is the same thing, but with more precise language and using 5e terminology:
Honestly though, that’s still a little complicated compared to the way WotC usually designs similar features. To make things simpler for the DM and faster for everyone, WotC would typically calculate the average result to include on the statblock like they do for damage rolls and use it a fixed DC for the other creature to roll against. (Like providing a monster’s Passive Perception for the PCs to roll against.) For example, with neither any modifier from Strength, not bonus from Proficiency, the zombie would have a total +0 to the Strength (Athletics) check, so their Passive Athletics would be 10, and with Advantage that would statistically go up to 15(ish) on average. But a CR ⅛ creature with a DC 15 anything is unheard of, and WotC usually only calculates advantage at +3 for monster statblocks. And, whenever a creature makes a melee attack against a Prone target within 5 ft., that automatically grants advantage to those attacks, so it does need to be repeated.
I have to say though, for a CR ⅛ creature, this action is disproportionately strong. Taking one attack and turning it into Grappled, Prone, and effectively Multiattack with advantage…. (This action is stronger than anything most CR 2 creatures have.)
In addition, the real reason for using zombies isn’t how much damage they can put out, but how much they can soak up. They’re not strikers the undead monster world, they’re tanks. DMs don’t use them for their Action, but instead for their Undead Fortitude. If you dropped it from 2 free attacks down to 1 in addition to the combined Grapple+Shove attempt, and put some other limited on it, it would help balance this. So something like the following:
If it were me, I would honestly still consider raising this to CR ¼ creature, especially with that Skulking Dead special trait since being hidden would automatically give the zombie goblin the advantage it needs to make a Flying Tackle. I would probably omit that entirely, but if I really wanted to keep it I would personally either limit the uses/day, or raise the monster’s CR. (Why didn’t you list Skulking Dead under Bonus Actions instead of as a special trait?)
Finally, almost all* undead have the following listed somewhere in their entry, either as a Special Trait or in the Characteristics section:
*(Some of the newer ones instead call it “Unusual Nature” and also use it for Constructs as well as Undead.)
I hope that helps.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
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The stat block for zombie goblin was pulled directly from the Big Book of Zombies available on the DMGuild website. It is considered a supplement. The skills/actions are word for word (maybe a typo because I am a typo machine) pulled from the book. I'm pretty sure I included this information in the posting. IIRC, I may have said it was expanded monster manual, but I made another post with the correction.
That is a 3rd-party publication and not in any way official. Either whoever wrote it messed up, is almost illiterate, or (most likely) English is not their first language and they used terrible translation software. (It reads like assembly instructions translated from Swedish to Chinese, and then into English. It’s terrible.)
Also, why are you posting someone else’s work in this forum?!? What is the point? This is a forum about creating one’s own homebrews or houserules, not about reposting some other person’s stuff. You’re not even asking anything about it, I assumed you were looking for feedback or something.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
You're comment seems to suggest that there is something wrong with two languages. Not very welcoming. . I never claimed anything was official, I stated where it was from. Why are you so upset about post and sharing of a creature? It is in homebrew, anyone can post anything they find? All of a sudden it is a problem because....reasons?
I was simply sharing the creature. But, looks like the homebrew police showed up. Thanks for ruining it.
There is nothing wrong with speaking multiple languages. (I speak English fluently, and Italian & Spanish well enough to get by if I was airdropped.) All I said was that the translation software they used did a craptastic job. That’s nothing on the writer, it’s pro’ly Google Translate’s fault.
As to being “welcoming,” I am not the welcome wagon. I don’t work here, I just live here. I started offering help. Remember?!? The “Homebrew Police” (were they to exist) would have no jurisdiction in this case because your post has absolutely nothing to do with homebrew.
No, this forum is not for people to post “anything they find” at all. It’s for posting homebrew. If you didn’t write it, don’t post it here, post it in the appropriate forum. This forum is for people to share or get help with their own original work. Anything posted in this thread will be presumed as original work. Posting someone else’s work as one’s own is a violation of the sites forum rules and guidelines.
Posting DM’s Guild finds in this forum is akin to trying to discuss an article about climate change you read in the paper… in algebra class. Discuss algebra in algebra class, discuss climate change in earth sciences/meteorology class. If you want to discuss something you found on DMguild, there is an entirely separate forum for that. (https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/dungeon-masters-guild) It’s quite literally two forums below this one in the list, you can’t miss it.
Mise en place, neighbor. Mise en place.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Are you part of the mod team on this website?
If so, your replies are some of the most unprofessional in existence for a site with a paid subscription. Maybe, keep your personal thought/opinions out of the thread.
You really could have just directed me to the other forum. I think I'm gonna reach out to site admin see what the deal is with the rudeness.
If not, welcome to the block list because frankly who wants to interact with someone like you.
Nope, I don’t work here, I just live here. I pay $54.99+tax/year to be here.
Mods have orange swords near their names, like this: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/members/Davyd) He’s in Great Britain I believe, so he’ll likely be on soon. And he’s also giving me about As many infractions as every other Mod and Staffer combined. If you’re likely to find someone inclined to not be sympathetic towards me, that man is a decent place to start.
Staff have red borders, like this: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/members/MellieDM) Mellie is the “Comunity Manager for DDB. It is quite literally her job to be the face of DDB and is in charge of interactions between DDB and the public. If you would like to “speak with the manager,” she’s the one you want.
Feel free to complain about me,* its entire within your rights to do so. You can actually report any post I make if you feel it appropriate. Underneath every post you should see 3-4 black buttons. One towards the left says [Report], just click it and select the appropriate complaint from the dropdown. There’s even an area to write in details. They may even issue points against me or something. Heck, if they do a I’ll probably catch a 3-day forum ban. 🤷♂️ (It’s been, oh… look at that, exactly one month to the day since the last time they invited me to take a vacation from forum posting.)
In addition, if you click the little carrot next to my username above my avatar you can select to “ignore” me. if you do, you will never have to se anything I ever post here ever again. You may see me pop up as responding in some of the same forums, but you won’t actually have to see my posts at all. It’ll be next closest thing to my not existing.
*(People like to complain about me regularly, even when I used to put on my “customer service” hat. They complained about me for helping, for not helping enough, for being “too nice” and they thought I was pretending to be a Mod, hells, I’ve had people complain about me because I didn’t work here. 🤷♂️ Now I figure, I’m dipped either way, so what the heck. Snark on.)
I hope that helps.
PS- Just so ya know, if you ever do need any help actually figuring out how to use the homebrewer, just post here. I’m the guy who helps, like, 80-95 percent of folks on that score. I’ll still help you too, I honestly won’t remember who you are by your username, so I’ll help just ‘cause ya ask. (You won’t be able to read my posts if you have me on your ignore list, but I won’t bother ignoring you, so I’ll still help anyway. Just like I did back in #2, probably spent about half an hour composing all of that and getting the links together for you. (Ya know, on account of I thought you needed help with your homebrew. Ya know, ‘cause you posted in the Homebrew forum. 😉
PPS- As to why I didn’t just direct you? That was because I was really annoyed at having wasted a half an hour of my life trying to help you with something when your only problem was you couldn’t read signs explaining what went where. Good luck with that.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
IamSposta is correct on several points:
Find my D&D Beyond articles here