hypothetical wizard issues;

[bookkeeping guy]

1) Demon summoner Wizard;

How do you summon demons and make sure they can't eat you? What kinds of protections would you have to put up to make sure they can't lifetap you, or mind control you, or just physically attack you while you are establishing control over them? (Not just succubi but other demons too.)

2) Do necromancer undeads always have to be icky and have rotting flesh etc?

It seems like necromancers could be fun to play and do. The idea of undead minions sounds cool too. But the catch is there would have to be some kind of flesh repair skill, anti-smell, ant-rotting spells of some kind, and maybe a way to make the bodies look even better than they looked as human right? Are there spells like this somewhere? I think this would be fun to do but this would need attention. I mean just your friends at school you are going to notice if they haven't bathed in 3 weeks...so undead would probably be worse smell than that. What kinds of spells are there for repairing undead magically? And how would you end up with intelligent undead rather than the idiot no brain versions? If you play a necromancer kit what are your options for undead that actually might be semi-good looking or beautiful even?

Thanks I wanted to research and build on necromancers in a positive way. :)

[Venger]

1) Demon summoner Wizard;

How do you summon demons and make sure they can't eat you? What kinds of protections would you have to put up to make sure they can't lifetap you, or mind control you, or just physically attack you while you are establishing control over them? (Not just succubi but other demons too.)

2) Do necromancer undeads always have to be icky and have rotting flesh etc?

It seems like necromancers could be fun to play and do. The idea of undead minions sounds cool too. But the catch is there would have to be some kind of flesh repair skill, anti-smell, ant-rotting spells of some kind, and maybe a way to make the bodies look even better than they looked as human right? Are there spells like this somewhere? I think this would be fun to do but this would need attention. I mean just your friends at school you are going to notice if they haven't bathed in 3 weeks...so undead would probably be worse smell than that. What kinds of spells are there for repairing undead magically? And how would you end up with intelligent undead rather than the idiot no brain versions? If you play a necromancer kit what are your options for undead that actually might be semi-good looking or beautiful even?

Thanks I wanted to research and build on necromancers in a positive way. :)

1) you use the magic circle spells, which hold them inside so they can't do anything to you

2) no

depending on how certain monsters are fluffed, if you cared, you could make use of the disguise undead spell.

there are a huge variety of different undead monsters out there, many of which are intelligent. since minor traits of physical appearance have no mechanical effect on the game, as long as they're within normal parameters for the monster, your gm will probably let you describe them how you like.

what kind of physical appearance are you looking for? are there any special powers in particular you want from your undead minions?

[Kelb_Panthera]

1) First thing's first, there's summoning and then there's calling. What you're asking about sounds like calliing. Have a handbook: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?135096-Planar-Binding-and-You-(Bonus-Stories-Included) be aware that -some- of what's advised there may get shot-down by a DM, RAW be damned.

Now if you actually meant summoning, there's also this: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?255219-The-Summoner-s-Desk-Reference-D-amp-D-3-5

Finding just the right fiend to bind, however, depends entirely on what you need from it.



2) Standard embalming as well as the spell gentle repose and items based on the same can keep a corpse fresh while animated. Repairing them is as simple as hitting them with inflict spells or harm.

[Deophaun]

With 2, it's arguable, but gentle repose might--might--be allowed to keep undead fresh and clean. I believe there are fluff statements in official WotC material about intelligent undead that use that spell, but by strict reading of RAW it probably doesn't work.

Otherwise, pack your zombies and salt and turn their musculature into the equivalent of beef jerky. If there's no moisture, bacteria can't survive and make all the stinky gases that cause corpses to reek. Then just perfume them with sandlewood or rosemary or mint or teriyaki... garlic, allspice, ginger, pineapple, chopped habaneros...

[Mordaedil]

1) Demon summoner Wizard;

How do you summon demons and make sure they can't eat you? What kinds of protections would you have to put up to make sure they can't lifetap you, or mind control you, or just physically attack you while you are establishing control over them? (Not just succubi but other demons too.)

Protection from Evil, or Magic Circle against Evil takes care of most of the trouble-some features of summoned demons. Just also cast dimension anchor after they are summoned and you don't have much of a worry.

[barakaka]

Just summon/raise skeletons! They're free of that rotting flesh and they make a sweet jangle on the xylobone!

The Master of Shrouds prestige class totally summons ghosts/wraiths. They still look pretty scary, but they don't smell!

[sleepyphoenixx]

Just summon/raise skeletons! They're free of that rotting flesh and they make a sweet jangle on the xylobone!

The Master of Shrouds prestige class totally summons ghosts/wraiths. They still look pretty scary, but they don't smell!

People usually summon demons because they want access to those SLAs and Su abilities. Which skeletons don't get.
And Master of Shrouds is only good if you use early entry and stops scaling entirely at the high-mid levels, so unless your game is limited to that specific period it's a pretty bad choice.