Ultimate Summon Undead, Negative energy, Etc. build

[Invader]

What are everyone's opinions on the most powerful undead summoning, negative energy using build. I know there can be some leeway on that because you can optimize for those things separately so in short we'll make this thread about all things death, undead, etc.

All material can be used as well as races and template so if you think the LA for a lich is worth it, then knock yourself out.

Instead of fleshing out a full 20 levels do something in the 6-8 and 11-13 range give or take so we can see how they play in a more average level campaign.

[Piggy Knowles]

Cloistered Cleric 3/Church Inquisitor 1/Master of Shrouds 10

For the last six levels, use anything you like - just make sure that it progresses casting. Honestly, just finishing out with Cloistered Cleric is boring but it works (and it means you'll be pretty decent at commanding undead, too). Six more levels of Church Inquisitor is also really not bad, and there are the standard cleric-y dips (Contemplative, etc).

Take the Time domain for haste, for extra fun. (This is assuming that haste works with the touch attacks of your spectral army... if not, there are other options that are better here.)

By ECL 6, you will be summoning shadows 3+Cha times per day. Shadows make amazing scouts, and are really pretty difficult for most enemies to deal with at that level. (Seriously, pull up the Monster Filter on d20srd.org and see how few enemies can actually deal with a shadow effectively). And as you gain levels, you'll be able to summon more and more of them. Oh yeah, we mentioned getting haste earlier. Two hasted shadows flanking an enemy can drain 4d6 points of strength per round. That's pretty brutal for the low levels. (And at higher levels, it just gets better and better - I played a variation on this and, by the mid-levels, was watching my spectral army dish out eight negative levels a round.)

You are also just one level behind a regular cleric, so you'll still be getting access to things like animate dead faster than your wizard buddies. As a cleric, you can get Divine Metamagic and all that fun stuff, too. And if you have any extra rebuke attempts left over, you can use them to command undead.

Oh, you'll also be an excellent debuffer thanks to having a tweaked out dispel magic check. By the way, dispelling is a pretty nice way of dealing with most things that are capable of hurting your shadows, or preventing energy drain. (Suppress the magic weapons that can hurt them, get rid of death ward effects, etc.)

(By the way, wraiths are a trap. Enemies get a save to avoid the constitution drain of a wraith, whereas shadows and spectres automatically drain strength or levels away from their enemies without a save.)

If you wanted to, you could instead do something like Cloistered Cleric 2/Monk 1/Master of Shrouds 10 and get in a level earlier. You'll be better in the lower levels, but worse as you level up, when your spellcasting starts becoming more powerful than your summon undead class feature. Your mileage may vary, but I prefer the Church Inquisitor option.