Jormengand
2016-07-30, 10:55 PM
So, the great necromancer Wossname has decided to invade the kingdom of Somewhere with his army of spooky skeletons! The king of Somewhere, King Dom, has sent you to protect the kingdom against these skeletons!
The trouble with this scenario, at least in D&D 3.5, is that Wossname can't actually control that many undedad. Let's say he's a level 20 cleric, with the domain that allows you to control an extra hit die of undead per level, and the rod that doubles the number of hit dice you can control, Wossname is controlling 200 hit dice of undead, plus 20 more that he can command using rebuke undead. Fine, cool, but... 220 hit dice of undead isn't going to threaten a kingdom. The average kingdom probably has tens of thousands of hit dice of creatures at the very least, and some of those hit dice will also be caster levels. Sure, he can throw some pretty big, mean and nasty stuff, but Dom's royal guards can probably take on the entire invasion force on their own, let alone involving his legions of foot soldiers in the proceedings.
In fact, it would be far more effective if Wossname gave up and used Storm of Vengeance to destroy an entire town at once, or cast control weather in spring and watched as tornadoes sprung up within two miles of him. Or used a fire storm to incinerate forty random places within a 300 foot sphere, basically enough to burn down most cities because no-one will be able to stop him. Terrorising the kingdom with undead isn't worth it.
On a smaller scale, you get the "Budding necromancers have been raising skeletons in the graveyard south of here, please go and put a stop to them!" kind of quest. Suppose these necromancers are, say, third level clerics, which sounds about right for a budding necromancer... well, then, they have a problem, because they can't actually raise any undead. Oops.
So, let's solve both of those.
LevelBABFortRefWillSpecial
Animate Dead
Create Undead
Create Greater Undead
1st+0+2+0+2Animate Dead, Rebuke Undead
1/day
-
-
2nd+1+3+0+3Corpsecrafter
2/day
-
-
3rd+1+3+1+3Command Limit x2
3/day
-
-
4th+2+4+1+4Bonus Corpsecrafter Feats
4/day
-
-
5th+2+4+1+4Command Limit x4
5/day
-
-
6th+3+5+2+5Bonus Corpsecrafter Feats
6/day
-
-
7th+3+5+2+5Command Limit x8
7/day
-
-
8th+4+6+2+6Create Undead
8/day
1/day
-
9th+4+6+3+6Command Limit x16
9/day
1/day
-
10th+5+7+3+7Create Ghasts
10/day
2/day
-
11th+5+7+3+7Command Limit x32
11/day
2/day
-
12th+6/+1+8+4+8Create Greater Undead
12/day
3/day
1/day
13th+6/+1+8+4+8Command Limit x64
13/day
3/day
1/day
14th+7/+2+9+4+9Create Mummies, Mohrgs, and Wraiths
14/day
4/day
1/day
15th+7/+2+9+5+9Command Limit x128
15/day
4/day
2/day
16th+8/+3+10+5+10Create Spectres
16/day
5/day
2/day
17th+8/+3+10+5+10Command Limit x256
17/day
5/day
2/day
18th+9/+4+11+6+11Create Devourers
18/day
6/day
3/day
19th+9/+4+11+6+11Command Limit x512
19/day
6/day
3/day
20th+10/+5+12+6+12Endless Ranks of the Dead
20/day
7/day
3/day
Alignment: Any Chaotic or any Evil or True Neutral
Hit Die: 1d6
Class Skills:
The class skills of the undead lord (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Disguise (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int)
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) × 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier
Weapon and Armour Proficiency
The undead lord is proficient in no kind of weapon or armour.
Animate Dead (Sp)
The undead lord can cast Animate Dead once per day per level as a spell-like ability. Every second level after first, the undead lord can control twice as many undead.
Rebuke undead (Su)
The undead lord can rebuke undead as a cleric of double his level. Every second level after first, the undead lord can control twice as many undead.
Corpsecrafter
At second level, the undead lord gains Corpsecrafter as a bonus feat. At each one of fourth and sixth level, the undead lord chooses two additional feats with Corpsecrafter as a prerequisites as bonus feats.
Create Undead (Sp)
From 8th level, the undead lord can cast Create Undead once per day, plus once more per day per two levels after eighth, as a spell-like ability. He can raise certain undead early, at the levels given on the table. He can control the undead created in this way using his animate dead pool.
Create Greater Undead (Sp)
From 12th level, the undead lord can cast Create Greater Undead once per day, plus once more per day per three levels after twelfth, as a spell-like ability. He can raise certain undead early, at the levels given on the table.
Endless Ranks of the Dead (Su)
From 20th level, the undead lord's undead are without number, and there is truly no limit to the number of undead he may control at once.
The trouble with this scenario, at least in D&D 3.5, is that Wossname can't actually control that many undedad. Let's say he's a level 20 cleric, with the domain that allows you to control an extra hit die of undead per level, and the rod that doubles the number of hit dice you can control, Wossname is controlling 200 hit dice of undead, plus 20 more that he can command using rebuke undead. Fine, cool, but... 220 hit dice of undead isn't going to threaten a kingdom. The average kingdom probably has tens of thousands of hit dice of creatures at the very least, and some of those hit dice will also be caster levels. Sure, he can throw some pretty big, mean and nasty stuff, but Dom's royal guards can probably take on the entire invasion force on their own, let alone involving his legions of foot soldiers in the proceedings.
In fact, it would be far more effective if Wossname gave up and used Storm of Vengeance to destroy an entire town at once, or cast control weather in spring and watched as tornadoes sprung up within two miles of him. Or used a fire storm to incinerate forty random places within a 300 foot sphere, basically enough to burn down most cities because no-one will be able to stop him. Terrorising the kingdom with undead isn't worth it.
On a smaller scale, you get the "Budding necromancers have been raising skeletons in the graveyard south of here, please go and put a stop to them!" kind of quest. Suppose these necromancers are, say, third level clerics, which sounds about right for a budding necromancer... well, then, they have a problem, because they can't actually raise any undead. Oops.
So, let's solve both of those.
LevelBABFortRefWillSpecial
Animate Dead
Create Undead
Create Greater Undead
1st+0+2+0+2Animate Dead, Rebuke Undead
1/day
-
-
2nd+1+3+0+3Corpsecrafter
2/day
-
-
3rd+1+3+1+3Command Limit x2
3/day
-
-
4th+2+4+1+4Bonus Corpsecrafter Feats
4/day
-
-
5th+2+4+1+4Command Limit x4
5/day
-
-
6th+3+5+2+5Bonus Corpsecrafter Feats
6/day
-
-
7th+3+5+2+5Command Limit x8
7/day
-
-
8th+4+6+2+6Create Undead
8/day
1/day
-
9th+4+6+3+6Command Limit x16
9/day
1/day
-
10th+5+7+3+7Create Ghasts
10/day
2/day
-
11th+5+7+3+7Command Limit x32
11/day
2/day
-
12th+6/+1+8+4+8Create Greater Undead
12/day
3/day
1/day
13th+6/+1+8+4+8Command Limit x64
13/day
3/day
1/day
14th+7/+2+9+4+9Create Mummies, Mohrgs, and Wraiths
14/day
4/day
1/day
15th+7/+2+9+5+9Command Limit x128
15/day
4/day
2/day
16th+8/+3+10+5+10Create Spectres
16/day
5/day
2/day
17th+8/+3+10+5+10Command Limit x256
17/day
5/day
2/day
18th+9/+4+11+6+11Create Devourers
18/day
6/day
3/day
19th+9/+4+11+6+11Command Limit x512
19/day
6/day
3/day
20th+10/+5+12+6+12Endless Ranks of the Dead
20/day
7/day
3/day
Alignment: Any Chaotic or any Evil or True Neutral
Hit Die: 1d6
Class Skills:
The class skills of the undead lord (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Disguise (Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int)
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) × 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier
Weapon and Armour Proficiency
The undead lord is proficient in no kind of weapon or armour.
Animate Dead (Sp)
The undead lord can cast Animate Dead once per day per level as a spell-like ability. Every second level after first, the undead lord can control twice as many undead.
Rebuke undead (Su)
The undead lord can rebuke undead as a cleric of double his level. Every second level after first, the undead lord can control twice as many undead.
Corpsecrafter
At second level, the undead lord gains Corpsecrafter as a bonus feat. At each one of fourth and sixth level, the undead lord chooses two additional feats with Corpsecrafter as a prerequisites as bonus feats.
Create Undead (Sp)
From 8th level, the undead lord can cast Create Undead once per day, plus once more per day per two levels after eighth, as a spell-like ability. He can raise certain undead early, at the levels given on the table. He can control the undead created in this way using his animate dead pool.
Create Greater Undead (Sp)
From 12th level, the undead lord can cast Create Greater Undead once per day, plus once more per day per three levels after twelfth, as a spell-like ability. He can raise certain undead early, at the levels given on the table.
Endless Ranks of the Dead (Su)
From 20th level, the undead lord's undead are without number, and there is truly no limit to the number of undead he may control at once.