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Iituem
2007-01-22, 08:08 PM
Just a little doodle from the middle of the day. Came to wonder how a wizard is going to manage raising his own undead army (beyond the good old 4HD/level of zombies and skeletons) and figured a magic item might work. Hence...

Necromantic Focus: These devices take a variety of forms, from great basalt altars to staves to pendants. The item is either worn, carried or (in the case of altars and other unwieldy items) an amulet linked to the focus is worn in its place. The wearer can command up to 26HD of undead of 26HD or less (Will save DC 20 to resist) for as long as they are in possession of the focus. Undead who successfully resist cannot be affected by the same focus for 24 hours.

The undead commanded in this way must be within 30ft when he first takes control (a standard action, affects all desired undead within 30ft) and thereafter will not attack him and can be commanded by voice (they will understand him, regardless of language). The wearer may release certain undead at will (regardless of their location). Should the focus fall into the hands of another, all undead presently controlled by it will fall under her command instead. If the focus is destroyed, all undead under its control will take 1d12 damage per hit die and be released.

It is worth noting that turn resistance does not apply where the HD of the undead in question are concerned. In theory it is possible to tie multiple non-wearable foci to a single amulet (foci are tied to the amulet at creation). In such a situation, destroying individual foci would release the undead tied to that focus. Destroying the amulet (or capturing it) would destroy (or transfer command of) all undead bound to all linked foci.

Market Price: 182,000gp. Creation: Requires caster level 13, control undead, 91,000gp in materials and 7280xp. Takes 182 days to complete.

jlousivy
2007-01-22, 11:07 PM
I like this.. definitely something you DONT want any of your players to get until lvl 15ish to prevent a lvl 10 having a 26 HD undead slave
also, can they stack ie: can you have like 5 necromantic foci and have 104 HD of undead with the standard 4HD/lvl zombies&skeleton meat shield?

Krimm_Blackleaf
2007-01-23, 12:23 AM
I love this item. Bravo.

Iituem
2007-01-23, 06:44 AM
It stacks, after a fashion. If you have four, you can have a total of 104HD of undead (spread across the foci) but up to a maximum of 26HD for any one monster and the totals on each focus must add up to 26HD or less. No splitting your ghast's HD across four foci with 25HD on them.

Essentially treat each focus as its own item, even though you can have several and tie their functions all into the same amulet.

Glooble Glistencrist
2007-01-23, 12:38 PM
Actually, this is perfect for an NPC necromancer in my campaign - the PC's have to find the foci and destroy them. Straightforward, simple adventure hook. Nice work!

Fredderf
2007-01-23, 05:32 PM
Pretty cool. Needed to be done. Definately wouldn't give it to PCs though. :)