How to keep out undead and prevent their creation

[Ianuagonde]

Hi,

my next adventure is kind of wilderness-themed, where the party (all lvl 13) needs to travel through a huge forest. I'm trying to create a lot of atmosphere, but there is a slight problem.

The cleric has spent a lot of gold and feats on raising undead, and he is now followed by a dragon zombie. This removes a lot of risk and (fun) gameplay: the party can fly away, scout from the air, animals will probably avoid the party, and a Huge creature with 40 Strength is quite capable of making a path where there isn't one available. Suddenly, the forest doesn't look so scary.

I don't want to punish a player for investing in particular skills, but I was looking for a way to keep this minion out of this part of the adventure. There is no way I can 'convince' the player to leave it behind. And so far, I haven't found any way to prevent an undead creature from entering an area, that isn't totally weird for the natural environment. So I'm hoping you guys can help me out.

I'm looking for a creative (and fun) way to keep the dragon-zombie out of this adventure or, if that isn't possible, to kill it easily and effectively without it looking like I'm just bullying that particular player.

Also, because of the wilderness type of adventure, the encounters will be more monsters (from dragons to mammoths and the like) than NPCs (no humanoids with levels).
Because of that I'm also looking for a way to prevent this player from making everything an undead.
Of course he may make some monsters into undead, otherwise all the fun off playing would be lost for him, and it would be bullying again. But there are some monster which I rather not see coming back, because they present the same problems his current minion does. A zombie unicorn is fine (just a horse with a sharp point that keeps on going), but a zombie Gargantuan scorpion, not so great, because it's basically the same problem with a different body.
So I'm also looking for creative solutions around this!

[Gildedragon]

Hi,

my next adventure is kind of wilderness-themed, where the party (all lvl 13) needs to travel through a huge forest. I'm trying to create a lot of atmosphere, but there is a slight problem.

The cleric has spent a lot of gold and feats on raising undead, and he is now followed by a dragon zombie. This removes a lot of risk and (fun) gameplay: the party can fly away, scout from the air, animals will probably avoid the party, and a Huge creature with 40 Strength is quite capable of making a path where there isn't one available. Suddenly, the forest doesn't look so scary.

I don't want to punish a player for investing in particular skills, but I was looking for a way to keep this minion out of this part of the adventure. There is no way I can 'convince' the player to leave it behind. And so far, I haven't found any way to prevent an undead creature from entering an area, that isn't totally weird for the natural environment. So I'm hoping you guys can help me out.

I'm looking for a creative (and fun) way to keep the dragon-zombie out of this adventure or, if that isn't possible, to kill it easily and effectively without it looking like I'm just bullying that particular player.

Also, because of the wilderness type of adventure, the encounters will be more monsters (from dragons to mammoths and the like) than NPCs (no humanoids with levels). Staaaaaahp! Stop looking to punish the player for what you did: giving them access to a dragon corpse. And if they killed the dragon: well the forest won't be scary anyway.
Also: mobs, not single enemies.


Because of that I'm also looking for a way to prevent this player from making everything an undead.
Of course he may make some monsters into undead, otherwise all the fun off playing would be lost for him, and it would be bullying again. outsiders, elementals, plants, fey...
Also locals burning the remains, housing them in hallowed places...
But there are some monster which I rather not see coming back, because they present the same problems his current minion does. A zombie unicorn is fine (just a horse with a sharp point that keeps on going), but a zombie Gargantuan scorpion, not so great, because it's basically the same problem with a different body.
So I'm also looking for creative solutions around this!
Hordes of weak things; creatures with boosted HD (past his control cap); creatures that can rebuke, control, turn, destroy

[Flickerdart]

Your party is level 13; two levels higher than the threshold for being legendary (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/legendLore.htm). Is this a legendary forest, or just some forest? If it's not a legendary forest, the PCs should rightfully roll through it with no worries.

To make it worthwhile for the power level of the PCs, perhaps it is guarded by a powerful dragon. The dragon has cast many hallow (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/hallow.htm) spells on areas it likes, which will prevent raising the dead there. It and its minions (younger dragons) view the zombie dragon as an abomination, and can use spells such as halt undead (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/haltUndead.htm) and command undead (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/commandUndead.htm) to prevent it from entering the forest. They should take no other offensive actions against the party unless the necromancer provokes them, since they have no beef with regular humans.

[Pyromancer999]

You can't really keep it out of the adventure after giving them access to it. However, you should give them all the in-game penalties for having the dragon with them. A large zombie of any kind moving through a wooded area is bound to make noise and alert enemies to the party's presence. Similarly, it may not be able to maneuver well/physically get through some areas in the woods.

[Jowgen]

Ravages and Afflictions, from BoED, are easy to include and are surpisingly effective at disabling undead things.

Including them in your encounters and/or environment can be both easy and flavourfull.

[Janthkin]

Few things say "evil party tromping through your area" as well as a zombie dragon. Any Good-aligned fey would object & harass, as would most druids (Undead ain't natural). But they don't have to be stupid about it - obviously a party with a zombie dragon in tow is powerful. Darts & spells from the shadows, Summoned Nature's Allies, animated plants, traps both magical & mundane - plenty of ways to make the journey through the forest memorable, while not providing additional corpses worth animating.

You can also assume that any natural creatures who would be in the path of said zombie dragon are redirected out of the way by said fey/druids.

And have you ever tried to actually catch a level 11+ Druid in a forest? Unless you can toss around a lot of AMF's, you're just not going to catch them.