Undead selection...?

[ramrod]

Hi guys,


I have browsed through the various undead for my campaign. Due to story quirks I can pick more or less what I want. I have a few set piece, but wandering what I should fill the mook and minion ranks out with, the party of five will be level 7-8 by then.

Although I can pick pretty much anything, incorporeal undead will be rather hard to explain lol. So corporeal undead would be preferred.

Any decent options?

[Segev]

Skeletons and Zombies are generally staples.

[ramrod]

Won't they bit a bit low level? I have selected wights and bugbear zombies as fillers at the moment. Bugbear zombies are cr2, although they will be reskinned as hobgoblin zombies to fit the story

[Spore]

As standard zombies and skeletons are boring and need not much of advice, I strongly imply having your scenery be battling militia/townsfolk vs. spawning undead. The helps the feel of "If one of us dies their hordes become stronger".

[OldTrees1]

Ghouls and Ghasts are reasonable

[hemming]

Wights

I once had a prison in which the warden chained up a wight and allowed it to drain energy levels from prisoners as a form of torture/interrogation

Kept the wight on a retractable chain

[Segev]

Bigger skeletons and zombies are higher CR.

Hydras make terrifying zombies, because they don't lose their attack routine...and it takes only 1 standard action. Which zombies get.

Skulking Cysts are pretty grotesque and have terrifying implications (look them up in Libris Mortis...then look up the spell they have as a spell-like ability in the same book).

[ramrod]

The setting is in a crypt, the undead are created... Differently but all from humanoids.

I don't want to go too heavy on undead that drain, little sucks more than having to regroup after sucky con losses etc I could throw in a wand of lesser restoration, but then the ones that they do come across won't be as nearly awkward and horrific!

[herrhauptmann]

Templated undead? Necrotic burst?

[mangosta71]

At level 7-8 they should be able to handle the odd vampire/vampire spawn (certainly not all the time, but they'd be appropriate for bosses if you add a couple class levels).

Maybe one of the people interred was a big fan of hunting and had his dogs buried with him. Skeletal dire wolves.

If the crypt is old enough, maybe in ancient times the people had different funeral rituals. Mummies roam the deep passages of antiquity.

[hemming]

Bodak might be a little tougher than you are looking for

Applying the spell stitched template could work well on a lot of monsters and give you some options for varying combat

[Doc_Maynot]

Corpse Creatures (BoVD) and one or two Dragon Zombies/Skeletons (Draconomicon) might be useful.

[Threadnaught]

Here's a nice simple one that'll really annoy them straight from MM1, Ghoul.

Just have a couple hidden away and have a whole bunch of corpses just to feed them on while they're waiting for outsiders to release them into the wild. Possibly have a Ghast, or better yet. Evolved, or Gravetouched Ghoul, both templates from Libris Mortis.

A pit where bones of the older corpses are disposed of, could be beneficial. It allows for a Boneyard, also Libris Mortis. Players travel through the Boneyard, suspecting Skeleton ambush. Try to get them here by chasing them with Awakened Skeletons. Then strike with the overpowering encounter that they really should've seen coming. It may be wise to create a consecrated area that the PCs may retreat to without the Boneyard following.


Crypt Things are a, thing, from the Fiend Folio that you could use. They guard Crypts, hence the name. I dunno, I haven't been able to use them at all, but they're a decent introduction to a Crypt, keep defilers out and keep the dead in.



Right, for a "boss", maybe have a Lich/Swarmshifter at the end, planning world domination or to wipe out the local clergy for "killing" and sealing them away. It's lieutenants could be a pair of Swarmform Vampires driven insane by the isolation and a lack of feeding.

As a twist, maybe whomever sealed the Lich/Swarmshifter, did so because they needed a seal for something far more dangerous? Something the PCs wouldn't stand a chance against?
The Hullathoin from the Fiend Folio is a Huge Undead monstrosity, that unleashes Swarms of Bloodfiend Locusts which create Fiendish Vampires loyal to the Hullathoin. Sure it's a CR15 creature, but the Boneyard is a CR14 creature, less if the PCs are able to plink it to death from a safe place.
If you do include it, you could have the Hullathoin as the whole reason the crypt and nearby town was built.

[Ranting Fool]

My players love killing Blood Hulks, MM4 Page 20.

Very large HP pool. Melee undead. Easy to hit. Deal extra damage to them if you have a slashing or piercing weapon. I also add that the players end up covered in blood if they fight them in melee (this has caused some issues when they burst in to a room to save the NPC's after fighting a few Bloodhulks and look like deranged killers drenched in blood, which most adventures tend to be :smalltongue:)

[Chester]

Necromentals are cool and unusual (cruel and unsual?).

I think they're in Libris Mortis.

[MadGreenSon]

I think the one my players get the most frustration/fun combat out of is Awakened Zombies.
Specifically, Awakened Zombies set up and kitted out to fight as a unit, kinda like rotting Spartans.

Might as well get some use out of all of those teamwork feats no one ever takes...