Why do Walkers in the Waste learn Salt Mummy creation so late?

[Albions_Angel]

Specifically, why do they learn it AFTER learning to create a Sand Golem?

I know, I know. WotC are bad at balance, but come on! My ECL 9 Walker can create a CR 12, magic immune (ish) golem but 2 levels later he can only manage a CR 8 mummy? That seems very backwards.

Am I missing something?

[Gemini476]

Because Create Undead is a sixth-level spell?

While CR is kinda-sorta alright for showing how powerful a monster is when fighting PCs, there's more than that to consider: the Salt Mummy is intelligent, for instance, while Sand Golems are basically buff zombies as far as intelligence goes. Except somewhat better, since you can make amulets that let your other minions (*coughsaltmummiescough*) control them, except also worse because if some pesky adventurer kills your minion they can take control of the sand golem. Or they can just destroy the amulet and put the sand golem back on autopilot.

Also, all that class feature does is make you not need Craft Golem Construct to be able to create a Sand Golem: you still need to be level 14 and cast Geas/Quest and whatnot. And spend 20K GP and 700XP. Creating a Salt Mummy, meanwhile, takes... I don't actually know. Is it free? I can't actually find any cost. Did they mean for you to use the black onyx of Create Undead/Animate Dead, or what?

EDIT: Basically, Walker in the Waste gives you Craft Construct as a bonus feat at level 6 and lets you cast Create Undead at level 8. Except more limited in both cases.

[Tiri]

Well, as Gemini said, the mummy appears to be available for free.

It looks weak, but at the earliest level you can get it it's not really that much weaker than perhaps a fighter of equivalent level, and there are a lot of creative and useful things you could do with an intelligent minion like that.

Of course, you are likely a full caster if you're a Walker in the Waste, so any utility the mummy provides will probably become completely irrelevant fairly quickly.

That's just normal 'WotC is bad at balance', though.