Dread Necromancers using planar binding for corpses.

[magicalmagicman]

Planar binding seems to have a seriously bad rep. I read in the dread necromancer handbook this is why those spells are in his repertoire, however, my google searching said that by RAW you need a magic circle to even cast planar binding.

That aside, is using planar binding to get an infinite supply of outsider corpses frowned upon, or considered standard usage for the class?

Also, which outsiders net skeletons? It is my understanding that outsiders and their souls are one, so if they die they fade away.

[The Viscount]

Planar bindig does assume that you are using a magic circle to hold the target, and it doesn't really address what happens without the circle. I would assume it acts as if you failed your caster level check to keep it in the circle. As for using it to make outsiders into undead, that seems generally understood to be the point for the class. Besides, it's not unlimited since animate dead has a cap, albeit an enlarged one due to undead mastery. Many say the magic circle spells should simply be added since the list is so poorly animated it has one spell on it twice. Please talk to your DM before animating an army of undead, as it can make combat really difficult for others. As for outsiders, nearly all of them can be made into skeletons; the only restriction is that they have a skeleton, so lemure is an example of an invalid base for skeleton. As for outsiders and souls, they don't interact in quite the way you mentioned. Outsiders have a soul that is inherent in their body, so they cannot be raised by raise dead. They still leave a body behind (unless you use the variant FCI rule) so are valid targets for animate dead.

[magicalmagicman]

Thanks for your reply.

I just like consistency in my plays, and planar binding will give me consistent types of skeletons across different games.

I've experienced first hand on how much skeletons slow down combat so I won't be raising an army.