Segev
2015-08-31, 08:27 AM
One of the iconic designs of a necromancer bad guy is to command a genuine unending horde of shambling corpses. However, in D&D, there are limits to this. Means do exist to have chains of authority - control a wight, and have it order its spawn to obey you - but you have to be careful not to let that wight die.
Spellstitch your undead minions, however, and you can create more chains: animate dead from your controlled minions is potent (though getting a mindless undead with the requisite Wisdom is tricky). Intelligent undead are harder to control, especially for the arcane caster who lacks Rebuke/Command class features.
But there's a way to gain more direct control. It's an inversion of what one might expect, and it requires the master necromancer to be undead: undead lieutenant. It's a 3rd level sor/wiz spell which allows the caster to grant control of his undead minions to another undead of Int 5 or higher. Spellstitch it into your minions who can create spawn or otherwise gain control of undead they create (such as also being Spellstitched with animate dead). Have them use it on you.
Yes, "obey him as you would me" works, too, but this spell ensures that the control lasts for the rest of the day even if some mishap occurs to your chain-of-command minion.
This is particularly useful because ghouls are capable of being spellstitched with undead lieutenant, and (with a cleric's help) animate dead. And you can create ghouls which are under your own animate dead cap through the spell ghoul gauntlet.
(It's a bit weird that ghoul gauntlet is the only way to get non-skeletons/zombies under that control cap, as well as for an arcane necromancer to control intelligent undead for more than a minute/level. They can 'charm' them with command undead, but that's not going to compel them the way that is so iconic to necromasters.)
Spellstitch your undead minions, however, and you can create more chains: animate dead from your controlled minions is potent (though getting a mindless undead with the requisite Wisdom is tricky). Intelligent undead are harder to control, especially for the arcane caster who lacks Rebuke/Command class features.
But there's a way to gain more direct control. It's an inversion of what one might expect, and it requires the master necromancer to be undead: undead lieutenant. It's a 3rd level sor/wiz spell which allows the caster to grant control of his undead minions to another undead of Int 5 or higher. Spellstitch it into your minions who can create spawn or otherwise gain control of undead they create (such as also being Spellstitched with animate dead). Have them use it on you.
Yes, "obey him as you would me" works, too, but this spell ensures that the control lasts for the rest of the day even if some mishap occurs to your chain-of-command minion.
This is particularly useful because ghouls are capable of being spellstitched with undead lieutenant, and (with a cleric's help) animate dead. And you can create ghouls which are under your own animate dead cap through the spell ghoul gauntlet.
(It's a bit weird that ghoul gauntlet is the only way to get non-skeletons/zombies under that control cap, as well as for an arcane necromancer to control intelligent undead for more than a minute/level. They can 'charm' them with command undead, but that's not going to compel them the way that is so iconic to necromasters.)