What kinds of goodies are there for a master of undead?

[Totema]

I'm a long time 3.5 player who's only recently ventured into PF, and I'm interested in character options that could make a potent necromancer, particularly the kind that controls hordes of undead. I noticed that PF's animate dead lets you apply templates to zombies or skeletons, so that's really neat, but I've also noticed a dearth of things like feats, items, and other stuff that you could pimp out a necromancer with. (And yes, I'm a big fan of 3.5's Libris Mortis, but I'd rather keep this character PF-native.) Could anyone give some tips?

[TheIronGolem]

I believe Cleric is still the king of undead minionmancy in Pathfinder, though I'm not enough of an expert to elaborate on why.

I do know this, though: The Alchemist has some zombie-related options. It's a trick, get an axe.

[Totema]

Agreed, I'm used to necromancer clerics so that's what I was primarily interested in. (though I'm open to other options) It looks like a necromancer cleric's feat loadout is primarily concerned with enhancing their channel energy, which seems a little dull honestly. Is there anything else to look out for?

[Eox]

If you're willing to lose a caster level (More than made up for w/r/t controlling undead) then Agent of the Grave (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/a-b/agent-of-the-grave) is not too shabby.

[Eox]

Charnel Soldiers (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/charnel-soldiers) is also a damn good feat if you can pick it up. It's one of the only good ways to use the usually underwhelming Betrayal feats (Chief among them Callous Casting (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/betrayal-feats/callous-casting-betrayal-teamwork))

[Totema]

Actually, Spirit of the Corps looks incredible in conjunction with Charnel Soldiers, since as a cleric I'd be able to hand out a lot of morale bonuses. :smallsmile:

[Eox]

Actually, Spirit of the Corps looks incredible in conjunction with Charnel Soldiers, since as a cleric I'd be able to hand out a lot of morale bonuses. :smallsmile:

Unfortunately, undead creatures are unable to benefit from morale bonuses.

[Totema]

Unfortunately, undead creatures are unable to benefit from morale bonuses. Agent of the Grave's undead manipulator feature lets you bypass that, at least with spells. :smallsmile: It's delightful how well these features tessellate.

[Psyren]

Bones (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle/mysteries/paizo---oracle-mysteries/bones) Oracle (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/oracle) might be a better option than Cleric due to the Charisma focus of the Oracle. You can also summon a minion from nothing to get your first corpse going, and then PrC into Agent of the Grave (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/prestige-classes/other-paizo/a-b/agent-of-the-grave) (while still advancing your Oracle's curse.)

[Totema]

You're going to have to explain how the summoned minion can help in that regard - as far as I can tell, it behaves more like a creature from a summoning spell, rather than an undead creature under your control.

[stack]

For shear hd, I believe the max is juju oracle into agent of the grave with the undead master feat. On phone, so no links. Juju increases the cap per level, agent of the grave does its thing, it all adds up.

[Psyren]

You're going to have to explain how the summoned minion can help in that regard - as far as I can tell, it behaves more like a creature from a summoning spell, rather than an undead creature under your control.

I guess my question would be, what exactly do you perceive the difference to be?

"As a standard action, you can summon a single skeleton or zombie to serve you. The undead creature has a number of Hit Dice equal to your oracle level."

The idea is that you can quickly get a scaling minion when no corpses are available, and later it gets templates to help it keep pace even more.

[Totema]

I guess my question would be, what exactly do you perceive the difference to be?

"As a standard action, you can summon a single skeleton or zombie to serve you. The undead creature has a number of Hit Dice equal to your oracle level."

The idea is that you can quickly get a scaling minion when no corpses are available, and later it gets templates to help it keep pace even more.

Ah, I initially thought you were saying that it fulfilled some kind of requirement.

[Eox]

Agent of the Grave's undead manipulator feature lets you bypass that, at least with spells. :smallsmile: It's delightful how well these features tessellate.

I suggested AotG, how did I forget that??