[3.5] Race help.

[Blazerunner08]

Hello Everyone,

A friend of mine is going to be starting up an evil campaign at some point and I have decided to play D&D version of Death Knight form World of Warcraft. I already have his class breakdown (Fighter/Paladin/Blackguard) all I need now is a race that is undead.

Does anyone have a recommendation?

[ArcturusV]

Well, you can go with the Ghoul template from Libris Mortis, at only +2 it's one of the better options you will get.

Beyond the obligatory "Use Necropolitan" answer you'll probably get a few different people saying. It's not a terrible option at all.

You might want to 1 level off in some of the base monster classes from the same book. That will get you a few things, undead traits, d12 HD for everything, a couple of small bonuses, and won't impact your overall power as much as something like 4 LA for the MM version of the Ghoul, or 8 for a Vampire, etc.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

There's a Death Knight template in MM2, the update handbook puts it at LA +5. It can only be added to an evil humanoid creature of 6th level or higher, so your starting level would need to be at least 11th level to use it.


Ideally you want to use Necropolitan from Libris Mortis, and have been made into one by a Dread Necromancer 8+ (HoH) with all the Corpsecrafter feats from Libris Mortis, in the area of a Desecrate spell with an evil altar present. That would give you the following permanent benefits:
+6 HP per HD/level
+4 Enhancement bonus to Strength and Dexterity (doesn't stack with most items or spells)
+4 initiative
+10 ft. base land speed
+4 Turn Resistance (total +6 on a Necropolitan)
+1d6 cold damage to your natural weapons
+2 natural armor

Necropolitan costs you a level plus 1,000 xp, so if you gained it at 3rd level (the earliest possible to survive) you would lose 1,500 xp from the level loss plus another 1,000 xp, or 2,500 xp total. That's less than it costs to buy off a +1 LA, so it's quite a bargain for all of those benefits.


Edit: Forget Blackguard, go Paladin 4/ Bone Knight 4/ Divine Crusader 1/ Bone Knight 6/ Ordained Champion 5. You want to advance Divine Crusader casting with every prestige class level you gain after it, and ideally your Divine Crusader domain should be something that gives you Inflict Wounds/Harm so you can heal yourself, or the Wrath domain is amazing if you can squeeze it in past all the deity-specific restrictions.

[denthor]

Look at the monster manual and make the base human SKulk it gives you massive hide skills for free. Forget the undead thing you will smell the place up and be unable to hide

[Werephilosopher]

Biffoniacus_Furiou's got the right idea, having a powerful necromancer as your creator has great benefits. Beyond the ones he gave, perhaps you can swing Spell-Stitched for additional versatility- the template gives SR and a few customizable spell-likes per day.