I need some help making an undead character

[Vizzerdrix]

I have a predicament and I'm in need of aid. I'm gonna be joining an all kobold game in a few days. The DM has requested that I make mine an (intelligent) undead. At level 1. I don't know how to pull this off. Is their a template or something I can use, or should I just stick the undead traits onto the basic kobold and hope for the best?

For class, I'm going with the Mystic Ranger (can't change that at this point) so that makes undead monster classes a no go, but dragon mag material is mostly okay.

Thanks for your time.

[Malimar]

Necropolitan, from Libris Mortis. LA+0, though technically you're supposed to lose a level when you get resurrected, and Bad Things happen if you get Necropolitan'd with only 1HD, so ask your DM.

I don't know of any other LA+0 intelligent undead options other than the first level of a monster class. You could ask your DM if he has anything in particular in mind.

[NecroRick]

Well, the nice thing about being undead is that you can claim your hit dice are d12s. That implies a combo with an arcane spellcaster of some kind.

You may have to ignore templates... or just go with a common one...

Skeleton gets DR 5/bludgeoning and immunity to cold...

See also:
When a dread necromancer attains 20th level, she undergoes a hideous transformation and becomes a lich. Her type changes to undead, and she gains all the traits of the undead (see page 317 of the Monster Manual). She no longer has a Constitution score, all her existing Hit Dice become d12s, and she must reroll her hit points.

Best thing is, if you're already undead, then you don't need the tomb tainted soul feat to get infinite (but slow) healing through your charnel touch power.

If you don't want to be auto-killed by J Random Cleric, I heartily recommend one of the "undead/friendly undead in your presence get +4 turn resistance feats and/or class features". If the DM is gonna throw a lvl 10 cleric at level 1 characters in order to kill them... eh. Not much you can do. More likely is running across a level 2 cleric and accidentally getting destroyed (because the DM didn't think it through).

Dread Necro Lich body grants DR 2/bludgeoning and magic, which means your DR is good against everything except bludgeoning weapons that are also magical.

Find out whether the rest of the party is also undead, or if you're the only one, that will influence your best design. Also, try to find out what Tier they're playing at. If it's a bunch of Tier 1 or 2, then don't play the Dread Necro unless you like it's style. Their spell list is incredibly focused, so although they are originally listed as Tier 3, I think the person who rated them as tier 3 was delusional. Tier 3 should display a lot more flexibility than the DN does.

[NecroRick]

Necropolitan, from Libris Mortis. LA+0, though technically you're supposed to lose a level when you get resurrected, and Bad Things happen if you get Necropolitan'd with only 1HD, so ask your DM.

I don't know of any other LA+0 intelligent undead options other than the first level of a monster class. You could ask your DM if he has anything in particular in mind.

The back story could be that he used to be a higher level (e.g. 2), but lost a level through gaining the Necropolitan template...

I had an Artificer with a similar story - captured by monsters and forced to craft for them, whenever he gained a level they'd make him use up his craft pool, then level drain him down one so he got a fresh (but smaller) craft pool... rinse and repeat.... assume the use of life extension magic... finally rescued by a party of adventurers. Now there's a recipe for a character with ISSUES about level draining. :D

[Vizzerdrix]

The party so far is as follows:

3 players.
A fighter (I know, but that's what he's comfortable with). Has only ever used core but is open to new things.
A druid. I don't know his level of opt-fu, but he says that he often plays druid. My mystic ranger.I'm almost positive that I'll be the only undead in the group, but I'm not sure if I'll be the only oddity (I think he said something about the druid being a plant). I tend to make my characters a little strong and I've read most of the handbooks, but I try to not get too out of hand and am always willing to tone back. I'll be going ranged with a bunch of poison when I can get it and making heavy use of the ranger spells from Champions of Ruin.

The DM has a couple homebrew classes to test for the first handful of games, so we'll have some form of witch caster and a meat shield warrior along in the beginning as NPCs.

[Hirax]

Huecuva from the Fiend Folio have no level adjustment, strangely. Swordwraith from the same book is another option.

[TroubleBrewing]

Huecuva from the Fiend Folio have no level adjustment, strangely.

Well, yeah, but there's a difference between Level Adjustment -/- and Level Adjustment +0.

Huecuva aren't meant for player characters.

[Rei_Jin]

I'd either go for a Necropolitan (just assume your PC was level 2 at some point, and lost that level) or ask your DM if you can play with a higher level adjustment and get some or all of it written off.

If you can get access to the Ghostwalk book, you could possibly use the rules in it for an undead character. It has some cool options for being a ghost PC with limitations, special feats you can take to do things, etc.

[big teej]

see if the DM's okay with you slapping on the Bone or Corpse template from the Book of Vile Darkness.

[Whammydill]

+1 Necropolitan

You can fluff it to where instead of taking your life force you instead sacrificed X amount of innocents to fuel your rise to undeath....fluff never hurts.

[Keld Denar]

Gravetouched Ghoul (Libris Mortis) is pretty strong on the +2 LA scale. Yea, +2 LA is a lot and hurts, but GTG is REALLY REALLY good for what you get, especially if you do something to max out your gains from Cha. They get Claw/Claw/Bite, free Multiattack feat to go with it, Paralyzation and Disease which are both Cha based, and like, +12 or so worth of stat adjustments.

Ghoul's cunning really matches with the Ranger theme as well, since Ghouls tend to favor more hit-and-run tactics, moving in and attempting to paralyze as many targets as possible, retreating as circumstances turn against them to try to attack from another angle.

It doesn't have any RHD, which is nice, but again, the +2 LA is rough, especially since you are starting at level 1...

[subject42]

Could you use a savage progression?

[Vizzerdrix]

Thanks for all the help guys. I've talked it over and I'll be going with a Necropolitan with a cannibalistic flair. :smallbiggrin: