Controlling Intelligent Undead

[SteveTheBored]

I plan on running a game of World of Warcraft D&D for some friends where they will play as a group of bounty hunters. One encounter that I have planned would be them having to hunt down a member of the Cult of the Damned (Necromancer cult who work for the Lich King/Scourge/Ner'zhul). Two members of the group play Forsaken (Intelligent Undead) and I wanted to give it and eerie feel. I planned on playing on the whole necromantic elements, undead popping up out of no where, ambushes, etc, but the big finally would be the group of 4 facing off against a necromancer. The necromancers first tactic would be, upon seeing the two forsaken, mind controlling them and forcing them to fight their allies.

What spells/items would allow someone to control intelligent undead and force them to attack allies. Will saves would still apply, and you could assume that all the rules and spells are available as they are in 3.5/3.0 D&D. The group members would be level 3+.

Also any suggestions to increase the "spookiness" of their encounter would be greatly appreciated. I've always wanted to run a bit of a horror campaign, but I'm not too inventive.

[Frathe]

Evil clerics can command undead whose total Hit Dice do not exceed their level. This includes full mental control. However, they have to take a standard action to give commands.

[TaiLiu]

Command Undead (Level 2 spell)
Control Undead (Level 7 spell)
Rebuke Undead (Cleric/ Dread Necromancer Class Feature)

[SteveTheBored]

Thank you, I wasn't sure if there would be any abilities that would allow you to control someone and make them fight their allies. I thought that charm person made something friendly to you, but didn't allow you to make them attack allies, so I assumed you couldn't do the same thing to undead.

[TaiLiu]

Thank you, I wasn't sure if there would be any abilities that would allow you to control someone and make them fight their allies.

There are plenty:

Dominate Person (Spell)
Dominate Monster (Spell)
Geas, Lesser (Spell)
Geas/Quest (Spell)
Dominate, Psionic (Power)
Dominate (Mindbender Class Feature)
Diplomacy (Skill)

[Kobold Esq]

The most important thing to remember about Necromancers: The best Necromancers aren't Necromancers. They are clerics.

Evil cleric with some boosts to turning (5 ranks in knowledge (religion), Improved Turning, Unhallowed areas, etc) will take care of all of it.

[TuggyNE]

Thank you, I wasn't sure if there would be any abilities that would allow you to control someone and make them fight their allies. I thought that charm person made something friendly to you, but didn't allow you to make them attack allies, so I assumed you couldn't do the same thing to undead.

The interesting thing about undead is how often they're immune to common things, but even more how often they're extremely vulnerable to specialized tactics. This is definitely one of those cases, since command undead etc don't give mindless undead a save at all, unlike the more usual mind-affecting dominate and co. (And, of course, as mentioned, it's already a thing for regular people, so undead are certainly not exempt.)