Yes

by Brian Lampman

Created on: May 06, 2010

There are two kinds of "slow zombies". These are the Dungeons and Dragons or magically created zombies, or the George Romero zombies. First of all, Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) zombies are magically created with specific arcane (wizard like spells) or divine (spells granted by a deity) are controlled specifically by a spell caster, with various means to  boost the number and strength of the zombies not only can one tame a zombie, they come right out of the box tamed, and willing to do your bidding!

Now this pro argument is of course not directed toward Romero zombies, D&D zombies being much easier of the two specified zombies to tame. But D&D zombies offer what ever type of services may be required for any position, need a gardener? Zombie labor is not only relatively inexpensive, they have no hourly wage to pay, and with the magical control one may be able to garner over then, they're sure to keep their brain eating needs in check! Any feeling of discomfort "owning" a zombie can be easily overcome with the blessing of your local priest, generally they charge a small fee, give you a smile and a cupcake and tell you its alright, seeing as how this zombie is under control and doing good work. 

The specific mechanisms for taming a zombie are as varied as the schools of necromantic magic. The product of these short rituals is a spell generally called raise dead (Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook  v. 3.5), which can give way to stronger spells, granting a given spell caster the ability to raise dead of various kinds, all of which must be tamed in order to do the bidding of the raiser of said dead or Master of Dead, as i will refer to them as. 

These bodies do not feel pain, and in the case of zombies have only a vague sense of awareness. Strong magical bonds are needed too assure complete and total supremacy, so when the Master of Dead calls, each undead knows its place, zombies have a tendency of making up the bulk of an undead army, as such strict rules of conduct should be in place, basically the Master of the Dead writes what is essentially an arcane or divine program which the zombies must follow, seeing as the corpse is animated by the program. 

In my experience the program so to speak has never failed, this has been due to long hard practiced routines which spell caster tend to rely on. Should one prove to be unruly I can say with a high degree of certainty that it would be un-made, the magic which has animated the corpse would in fact be severed, rendering the zombie lifeless. Experience has also taught me that having a friendly cleric who can stave off the advances of undead can be most helpful when adventuring into any evil bog, ancient palace, or dungeon of any number species. 

Zombies are quite tame, but they only serve one master, and if you don't control it, or can't make undead of your own, that is not you, best course of action is take something, and bash it's head in, or have a good or neutrally aligned cleric turn them for you. Don't know the term turn? Don't worry, your local neighborhood cleric surely will! 

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