Create Incorporeal Undead and Bodies

[Xar Zarath]

So you're and evil wizard who plans to start a incorporeal undeadpocalypse. You've got dead bodies and you cast Create Undead and bring in a shadow when you touch the body.
But what happens to the body itself when you create the shadow?
Is the body still there and does that mean you can bring in another undead like a ghoul or vampire?

[Kelb_Panthera]

So you're and evil wizard who plans to start a incorporeal undeadpocalypse. You've got dead bodies and you cast Create Undead and bring in a shadow when you touch the body.
But what happens to the body itself when you create the shadow?
Is the body still there and does that mean you can bring in another undead like a ghoul or vampire?

According to the lore surrounding undead, no. Well, not quite. The shadow created is the soul of the corpse targetted so it would be impossible to bind that same soul into the corpse and create an intelligent, corporeal undead. Can't see any solid reason you couldn't make skellies or zombies out of the leftovers though.

[DrMotives]

According to the lore surrounding undead, no. Well, not quite. The shadow created is the soul of the corpse targetted so it would be impossible to bind that same soul into the corpse and create an intelligent, corporeal undead. Can't see any solid reason you couldn't make skellies or zombies out of the leftovers though.

Pretty much this. Anything created from Animate Dead doesn't use the original soul of the body at all, so making those lesser undead is still viable. There's plenty of lore, both in D&D and otherwise about ghosts seeing their body still lifeless while they walk. The body won't look any different from a dead body that hasn't had an incorporeal undead rise from it.

[g3taso]

And then you have some more fun.
1. Raise as skelly and then awaken undead, or
2. Polymorph any Object into a dog or other animal, and then Awaken. (Maximized, Empowered of course).