Finding the Ideal Skeleton

[Malroth]

My Gravewalker Witch is 50xp from picking up Animate dead and I was concidering using my entire animation pool to create a single Bloody skeleton to serve as our party's melee since our entire team is Squishy. What creatures would make good candidates to be the "tank" for a couple levels assuming the DM will let us research the location of said beastie?

[Mystral]

My Gravewalker Witch is 50xp from picking up Animate dead and I was concidering using my entire animation pool to create a single Bloody skeleton to serve as our party's melee since our entire team is Squishy. What creatures would make good candidates to be the "tank" for a couple levels assuming the DM will let us research the location of said beastie?

You will wish to have as many HD as possible, as well as a high strength and dexterity, because those are the only actual things from the base creature that carry over. Natural attacks and big size also help. All of this should have a CR that your group can actually beat, of course.

So, let me suggest to look in the animal type. A dire bear skeleton, for example, would offer lots of strength, reach, a bite attack and 10 HD, all at a beatable CR and with moderately high availability.

If you feel brave, you could try and tackle a dire crocodile. CR 9, but it would offer amazing stats as a skeleton (if you can get it into the dungeon)

[Malroth]

Well while i was going looking for a Dire Bear, the Random encounter chart has determined that our new pet is a Bloody Skeleton 6 headed Cryohydra, Yes it's too big to fit most places we'd want to go but it does mean we might have an intresting change in pace for our overland travel options, Are Skeletons being immune to non lethal damage and Fatigue allowed to simply Run for 24 hours straight while we nap in some sort of strapped on resting platform on top?

[Greenish]

Undead creatures are immune to nonlethal damage, fatigue, or exhaustion, and thus can Hustle for indeterminate period. See Overland movement (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/exploration-movement). Though undead creatures could theoretically Run the whole way, terrain features may often prevent it, so using Hustle is probably the most functional measure over long distances.

[Fouredged Sword]

Yes, though if you can wrangle a casting of overland flight, the skeleton can indeed take nothing but run actions while flying.

[unseenmage]

I'd also ask your DM if applying templates to the base creature is allowed. There's a simple template for making things bigger for example that would help turn a mediocre animal into a powerhouse of an undead.

Not sure how useful it is to you as this is PF but in my sig there's a link to a thread where I wanted to be able to buy animals for a necromancer just so he could kill them and undead-ify them.
Has charts of most of the 3.x Animals and Vermin that could be bought via the Warbeast template as well as all the templates that wouldn't change their type.

[DarkOne-Rob]

If you are trying to travel via your minion, you probably want a swift zombie with wings. Dragons make good choices for this, obviously.

[Zanos]

I really like hill giants.

Great Str, Large, 10hd, Dex sucks, but skeletons are going to usually have crap AC without heavy investment anyway. Being Large and roughly humanoid shaped means you can strap some full plate or other encompassing armor onto it and pass it off as your silent but dedicated bodyguard who lifts. Tends to pan out for me better in most situations than coming through the city gates with some unholy monstrosity.

There are probably better Large, Humanoid shaped things around that HD limit, but Hill Giants are one you're liable to get sent at you without even having to ask.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Deinonychus skeletons are a bit squishy but can put out some nasty hurt.