Would this work?

[Othesemo]

I'm DMing a 3.5 campaign with some friends, and one of them is playing a Dread Necro. He has devised the following plot for amassing an army of shadows, and I'd like to know if it would actually work.

Firstly, he requires several hundred helpless victims. Since this is an evil campaign, and they're fairly high level, this shouldn't be too much of a problem.

He first restrains a victim. Then, using Summon Undead V, he summons a shadow. The shadow uses its draining touch against the restrained victim, until it has 0 str. The victim then rises as a shadow itself. The dread Necro then rebukes it (he's high level/has 28 charisma, so he automatically succeeds). He then transfers control of the shadow to his undead lieutenant, an awakened Storm Giant skeleton. Using the new shadow, he repeats, turning all of his victims into shadows. Rinse and repeat ad infinitum.

Anyways, would this trick work? I'd like to know, since the player is bothering me about it, and I'd like to have an answer for him before our next playing session.

[Onikani]

It could work, but the only problem i see is how many he can control at once...?
(I vaguely recall some formula using level and undead HD).

How does he "hand them over" to his general, and how does the general control them?
If the general controls them because the he rebukes them, then you are looking at the general's limit.
If the general controls them because the Dread Necro is forcing them to obey the General, then they fall under the DN's Limit.


So while it should probably work, i'm sure there is some kind of limit to the amount that can be controlled.
Lol and i'm sure there are some ways to enhance that standard limit...

[tyckspoon]

Yes, up until the point where he fills his Rebuke control pool; it's not all that large, and it doesn't benefit from the Animate Dead pool expansion Dread Necro gives. Note that unless his lieutenant has its own undead-controlling ability, assigning it control doesn't actually release the undead from the Dread Necro's pool- it just means the lieutenant can give the shadows orders too. At 3HD a shot he won't be able to fit all that many shadows in on just Rebuke commands.