Decent Undead Template for a Warrior

[Kid Jake]

So, a couple of sessions back I unceremoniously murdered one of my PCs (ala Se7en (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1giVzxyoclE)) to remind them that the bandits in the area are a threat. It started off as a simple mugging after they split the party, and escalated quickly once the PC in question told them he was the local sheriff. The bandits knocked him out and then ransomed him back to the town, before revealing it was all a scam because they just wanted to milk more gold out of his murder.

Everyone liked the reveal, especially the guy in question and he originally turned down my offer of a way to come back so he could try out other characters. But after a session of playing a druid things fell apart, his new character's become a recurring villain (it was scary how fast things devolved, but he's the one who said "After what I just did...I don't think I can still play this character and fit into the story.") and he's pining for his old character that had a significant place in the story(considering the story was don't let these two guys get killed for betraying the Duke).

Anyway, his murdered PC was sold by the other player to a mad scientist styled wizard wanting to play god (along with the murdered PC's house) and after some talk about how he could get his old character back under these circumstances; he loved the idea of waking up as an undead and finding out that his supposed best friend sold his corpse and all of his property before he was even cold.

His character's a straight (extremely unoptomized) fighter (Had 11 constitution and 15 charisma before his death and he considered himself the meatshield.) and his buddy is a cleric with a pretty good handle on the game who's about to get 4th level spells; so I'd be comfortable handwaving an LA or two to keep him useful; but I'm still having trouble picking out a good template for him.

We're playing Pathfinder, but I've already told them that I'll bring in 3.5 material if they find something they like. At present I'm leaning towards Nosferatu (without telling him he has a vampire template) since it gives some interesting stuff to introduce as he goes along and doesn't let him infect the whole town to make minions (which I'm positive he'd try to do if he so much as came down with the flu) but I'm not completely sold on it.

Anyone have any advice to help him out?

[Promises Kept]

You might want to look into the Gravetouched Ghoul template, from Libris Mortis. Very solid LA +2 template for a fighter-type undead which retains intelligence. It says that alignment changes to CE, but you could handwave that, I believe. The more... intriguing part of the template is that the character becomes diet-dependent on flesh. That can be handled, but would certainly add to the horror of the situation

[Necroticplague]

Or the corpse template.Is relatively easy to add on, doesn't have anything really complicated or weird associated (no diet dependent, no unusual weakness, no supernatural abilities). Simple lose con, turn HD to d12,+4 str,-2 dex, add nat armor based on size (+2 for medium), add size attack based on size (1d6 for medium).

[Kid Jake]

You might want to look into the Gravetouched Ghoul template, from Libris Mortis. Very solid LA +2 template for a fighter-type undead which retains intelligence. It says that alignment changes to CE, but you could handwave that, I believe. The more... intriguing part of the template is that the character becomes diet-dependent on flesh. That can be handled, but would certainly add to the horror of the situation

Yeah, he was already 'Chaotic Neutral' and had murdered or tried to murder half the named PCs I've introduced to stop them from undermining his authority; I don't think the alignment'll be a problem. :smalltongue:

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check that out for him.



Or the corpse template.Is relatively easy to add on, doesn't have anything really complicated or weird associated (no diet dependent, no unusual weakness, no supernatural abilities). Simple lose con, turn HD to d12,+4 str,-2 dex, add nat armor based on size (+2 for medium), add size attack based on size (1d6 for medium).

I was considering the corpse template but wanted something a little beefier to help him out. Thanks for the suggestion though.

[Sayt]

Skeletal Champion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/skeletal-champion-CR-1) is an intelligent Undead which retains its mental faculties on resurrection, the only problem is that by standard canon they can't be intentionally created, and being a template that's applied onto a templated creature it can get a little fiddly. Zombie Lord (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/zombie-lord) is much of a muchness. Toughness instead of Improved Initiative, a Slam instead of two claws, different DR. On the other hand, you have meat which can be gentle repose'd. These will get the job done, are low power enough that the character's level progression shouldn't really be affected by them that much.

Next up the ladder is Mummified Creature (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/mummified-creature-cr-1). A nice bump to natural armor, frightful presence, DR/-, 2/day swift action haste for one round, and punching people into dust. On the downside, you get a random vulnerability to one element.

Graveknight (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/graveknight-cr-2)(Which is really good considering it has almost the same CR adjustment as Skeletal Champion) is probably one of PF's most powerful undead templates for non-casters. Delicious stat bumps, half a dozen bonus feats, elemental damage, inability to be killed again, etc. The only problem is that by canon it's difficult to become one. Definitely worth a level or two given how much stuff you get.

[mostlyharmful]

http://www.realmshelps.net/monsters/templates/curst.shtml

Curst's are great for meatshields, auto-rezundead as a class feature, just make sure to remember that text trumps table so as long as his wis doesn't drop to 2 by taking the template he's not got to worry about the madness thing. Adds immunity to two energy types (including the most common), fast healing 1 and immunity to turning as well. Lovely on a meatshield that's not got much con to start with.

[meschlum]

Well, if you go here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?352704-Templates-and-you), you can see my analysis of a lot of the undead options.

Among the +1 CR templates, Mumified is terrible, Juju Zombie is decent, and Penanggalen is pretty good if idiosyncratic. Skip Skeleton and Zombie Lord and use Juju Zombie instead (or Trench Zombie for more immunities).

CR +2 templates have a crazy amount of undead options, most of which are good mainly for caster types. Graveknight is fairly impressive, and Nosferatu isn't exceptional melee-wise (go with an Advaced Penanggalen instead), but the immortaliy and at will telekinesis will seriously change things and probably overwhelm the cleric for a while. Plain Vampire is a plausible melee option (though spawn are a problem).

In all, a Graveknight could work well thematically (the armor was made by the wizard and attached to his corpse), a Penanggalen has the bonus of being unaware of what you are (by day) and displaying the wizard's experiments with body horror, and a Juju (or Trench) Zombie is a decent tank boost.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Good ol' Necropolitan, and say he was turned into one by a character with Dread Necro 8+, a Wizard dip for Enhance Undead (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/specialistWizardVariants.htm#necromancerVariants), Fell Energy Desecrate, and the entire Corpsecrafter line of feats.

He gets a permanent +4 Enhancement bonus to Str and Dex from more than one of those, luckily these don't stack. The other Corpsecrafter feats give him more turn resistance, a natural armor bonus, +4 initiative, +10 ft. land speed, and a few other benefits.

Dread Necro, Enhance Undead, and Corpsecrafter each give him +2 HP per level, luckily these do stack so he gets +6 HP per level. Fell Energy is a metamagic feat that makes any bonuses granted to undead increase by two, so Desecrate's normal +1 HP per level becomes +3 HP per level, and then it gets doubled for having an evil altar present, for another +6 HP per level. That puts him at 1d12+12 HP per level for whatever classes he takes. Meat. Shield.

On top of that, give him the Zhentarim Soldier (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060327a) substitution levels (reflavored to match his new undead status), and encourage him to take the feat Imperious Command from Drow of the Underdark plus the Never Outnumbered skill trick in CS. I'd even give him a free Psychic Reformation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/psychicReformation.htm) that lets him repick all his feats and skill points all the way back to 1st level. Don't forget about free class features (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20061013a) as well.