Making Undead

[Esprit15]

So looking around, are there any ways to make undead besides zombies and skeletons with Animate Dead; ghouls, ghasts, mummies, and mohrgs with Create Undead; shadows, wraiths, spectres, and devourers with Create Greater Undead; and dread warriors with Animate Dread Warrior?

It feels like the options a Necromancer gets at higher levels don't give me things to really make use of at those levels, just things to become an NPC boss for some lower level adventurers.

[Inevitability]

Persuade to Manifest creates ghosts.

[Calthropstu]

There is also the bodak which can be created by a 20th level necromancer.

[Extra Anchovies]

A Bone Knight of 5th level or higher can create a Karrnathi Zombie or Skeleton once per day, and it's (Sp) so they don't need any material components. What's more, Karrnathi undead have Intelligence scores, which lets them have class levels! Bone Knights are pretty rad.

Death holds no terror!

[Genth]

It feels like the options a Necromancer gets at higher levels don't give me things to really make use of at those levels, just things to become an NPC boss for some lower level adventurers.

I could be wrong, but I suspect that's the point. Necromancer spells are designed for NPC bad guys. So us players who are playing Necromancers need to be creative! Remember, animate dead doesn't have to be used on people corpses. Go and find a bear.

ALTHOUGH, I will jump on this to ask - what about alternative skeleton templates like exploding skeletons? Can Animate Dead be used to make them with the same 2xHD cost as for Burning and Bloody Skeletons?

[Esprit15]

I could be wrong, but I suspect that's the point. Necromancer spells are designed for NPC bad guys. So us players who are playing Necromancers need to be creative! Remember, animate dead doesn't have to be used on people corpses. Go and find a bear.
Trust me, I know that. Zombie leopards and skeleton megaraptors and so on.


ALTHOUGH, I will jump on this to ask - what about alternative skeleton templates like exploding skeletons? Can Animate Dead be used to make them with the same 2xHD cost as for Burning and Bloody Skeletons?

That's what I've kind of been wondering. We have books and books of undead, and no way to make more than a handful of them. Or all these templates, and no obvious way to apply it. Or some of the later updates, like zombie and skeleton dragons in Draconomicon - are those covered under animate dead?

[Zanos]

There's an older thread (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=181.0) with some interesting stuff you can make. Not sure if it's complete, and not everything in there is actually a good idea to make.

Bloodhulks are excellent if your DM prefers enemies with class levels, as their strength is entirely independent of the base creatures.

[Silva Stormrage]

Bone/Corpse Creatures from BoVD are also amazing. Created by Create/Greater Create Undead they keep class levels/monster abilities and have no turn resistance so they are easy to rebuke.

[Inevitability]

Bone/Corpse Creatures from BoVD are also amazing. Created by Create/Greater Create Undead they keep class levels/monster abilities and have no turn resistance so they are easy to rebuke.

Even better, Bone creatures keep their original alignment. Kill a paladin, raise him as a Bony version of himself, and rebuke him. He's aware of the evils you're making him commit, yet he won't fall because the actions are not his. It's a perfect combination of wicked and practical.

[Name1]

I think if you create a Dread Warrior, said Dread Warrior still has his original Wisdom score.
So if you Dread Warrior a High-Wisdom character (a Cleric, for example), you can Spellstitch him to be able to cast Animate Dread Warrior 1/day on corpses you provide.

Now you just need to get good humanoid corpses.

[Esprit15]

While Spellstitching and Dread Warriors seem useful, the campaign will likely be short enough that I won't see the payoff of paying such high amounts of EXP. 9500 alone to create the Spellstitching, though more likely 10000, and the only place I'll likely get a character with that high of a wisdom score is a fellow PC, or getting very lucky and fighting a well built Cleric, which puts the price of the dread warrior at a minimum of around 3000 EXP (when the spell comes online for dread necromancers). That is quite literally the difference between 13th and 14th level.

[ace rooster]

fell drain acid splash. Turns commoners into wights. Enervation if core only, though much higher level.

summon undead 3(?) for a ghoul. Infect a commoner with ghoul fever, maybe drop a curse or two on them to ensure they fail saves, and in about a week you have yourself a permenant ghoul. Find a 4hd commoners and you get a ghasts instead. I don't know of a way to get ghoul fever in core lower level than create undead, so it is not particularly helpful there. (though gets ghasts a little faster)

mohrg's are good to know about, because they don't have the animate dead cap on HD. No non setting way to get access though.

Not about creating them, but worth remembering is that skeletons and zombies keep weapon proficiencies, so skeletal elves can use longbows. I run that skeletons can use "shoot when the robed one moves his hands (takes a standard action)" as a command, meaning that they can interupt spellcasters (DM dependent). This is useful way past the point where they are actually dangerous, particularly if the casters they are targeting are support mooks rather than the main enemy. "Stay by the fighter's side" is another useful command, simply because it can prevent the enemy dog piling in.

It is important to realise that D and D is not designed for army combat, it is very focused on PCs. Any army you make will not be as dangerous as a PC that makes it, so you have to use it in a support role, or battlefield control.

[ShurikVch]

There are some more:
Alchemical Undead (Dragon #350): CL 11, Craft (alchemy) 10, Create Undead, 100 gp of alchemical components
Bodak: Bodak Birth or Bodak's Glare (both are 8th level spells)
Bone Naga: required special ritual during casting the Animate Dead spell; only nagas know that ritual, and only nagas able to complete it because it's somatic components are impossible for humanoids
Boneclaw (Monster Manual III): to create it, you will need skeleton of Large-sized magic-using humanoid-shaped creature (such as certain types of Hags, or Ogre Magi), CL 15, Create Undead, and Greater Magic Fang; claws of Boneclaw are made from additional bones, which should be cut from still living creature
Charnel Hound (Monster Manual III): at least 200 corpses, CL 20, Create Greater Undead, 15000 gp of unholy unguents
Crawling Head (Fiend Folio): Create Undead, sacrifice of a giant who just fed on at least three sentient beings
Husk Vermin (Drow of the Underdark): Create Greater Undead
Spawn of Kyuss (Monster Manual II): Evil Cleric 15th+ lvl may create it by casting Create Undead over the grave of a killer who was buried without coffin on unhallowed ground; 250 gp of black onyx may be replaced with a living Kyuss Worm

Cheesy variant: Shrouds of the Unholy (http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/dx20021031x), as written, can create any Undead. Any!

[Coidzor]

Blood Hulks (in 3 sizes) and Necrosis Carnexs or Carnifexs are created with Animate Dead. As are the Dragon versions of Skeleton and Zombie which lack the HD restrictions on what can be created using animate dead.

[ShurikVch]

Some more spells:
Field of Ghouls
Grim Revenge (Book of Vile Darkness) makes a Wight (in the form of floating hand)
Necrotic Burst, Necrotic Eruption, and Necrotic Termination are all create a Skulking Cyst
Undeath After Death inflicts Crypt Spawn template

Also, if you somehow will get access to Bonefire disease, you will be able to create Boneworms (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20020817a)