Getting Past The HD Cap

[BananaNomNom]

So, as of the moment I have a plan of getting a Behemoth Eagle from SRD. the problem is that I need a way to animate it as the Animate Dead spell has a cap of 20 HD max and it has 21 HD. Anyways to circumvent this would help.

[GilesTheCleric]

Hit it with a negative level, wait one day. If you can animate undead, you can probably accomplish that without much extra effort.

[BananaNomNom]

Hit it with a negative level, wait one day. If you can animate undead, you can probably accomplish that without much extra effort.

Bit of a problem with its SR of 30 :l I can kill it but idk how to get around the cap. but I wanted it for a kinda flying bomber/Dropship for my undead since it is colossal it has over 16 tons of carrying capacity for a light load. But for that it needs to be a zombie so it would have 42 hitdice instead :l. Though i would love to find a other flying creature that could support a lot of weight.

[Uncle Pine]

Reserves of Strength is a wonderful feat from Dragonlance Campaign Setting that just happens to fit exactly your needs:

Prerequisite
Iron Will (PH) , Spellcaster Level 1

Benefit
When you cast a spell, you can decide to increase your caster level with that spell by 1, 2, or 3, but you are stunned for an equal number of rounds immediately after doing so. Your increased caster level affects all level-based variables of the spell, including range, area of effect, spell penetration, and the difficulty of dispelling the spell. You can exceed the normal level-fixed limits of a spell withthis feat, so a 9th-level wizard could use Reserves of Strength to cast a Fireball as a 12th-level wizard and deal 12d6 fire damage.
If you are not subject to stunning effects, you instead suffer 1d6, 3d6, or 5d6 points of damage when you call upon your Reserves of Strength feat.
There is an open debate regarding the uncapping effect of the feat (about whether the new cap is up to the original level plus 3 or nonexistent), but since you just need to get from max 20 HD to 21 there should be no problem.

[BananaNomNom]

Reserves of Strength is a wonderful feat from Dragonlance Campaign Setting that just happens to fit exactly your needs:

There is an open debate regarding the uncapping effect of the feat (about whether the new cap is up to the original level plus 3 or nonexistent), but since you just need to get from max 20 HD to 21 there should be no problem.

Oh for clarification the HD cap is this Part


Drop any Hit Dice gained from class levels (to a minimum of 1) and raise remaining Hit Dice to d12s. If the creature has more than 20 Hit Dice, it can’t be made into a skeleton by the animate dead spell.



Drop any Hit Dice from class levels (to a minimum of 1), double the number of Hit Dice left, and raise them to d12s. If the base creature has more than 10 Hit Dice (not counting those gained with experience), it can’t be made into a zombie with the animate dead spell.

[Uncle Pine]

Right, it's a restriction of the template, not the spell. Reserves of Strength shouldn't help you then.

But Giles's suggestion works: if you can give the eagle a negative level and let it stick leading to a permanent loss of a single HD, it'll become a valid target.

[OldTrees1]

Problem:

If the base creature has more than 10 Hit Dice (not counting those gained with experience), it can’t be made into a zombie with the animate dead spell.

You need to find a 10HD creature.

Also I don't think you can avoid this limit. It cannot be increased since the limit is part of the template and the target of Animate Dead is a corpse(corpses cannot have negative levels)

However Dragons use their own template and that does not have a HD limit

[InvisibleBison]

So, as of the moment I have a plan of getting a Behemoth Eagle from SRD. the problem is that I need a way to animate it as the Animate Dead spell has a cap of 20 HD max and it has 21 HD. Anyways to circumvent this would help.

Get a mohrg (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/mohrg.htm) to kill the eagle. Since its create spawn ability doesn't reference animate dead, it should be able to bypass that spell's HD limits.

[BananaNomNom]

Problem:


You need to find a 10HD creature.

Also I don't think you can avoid this limit. It cannot be increased since the limit is part of the template and the target of Animate Dead is a corpse(corpses cannot have negative levels)

However Dragons use their own template and that does not have a HD limit

Then could you Suggest a good dragon for carrying around up to huge undead?

[Inevitability]

A CL 18 scroll of Create Undead costs 3500 GP, and can be used to animate a morgh (which can, in turn, animate the eagle). Just make sure you have a way to establish control over worm-entrails.

[flappeercraft]

So, as of the moment I have a plan of getting a Behemoth Eagle from SRD. the problem is that I need a way to animate it as the Animate Dead spell has a cap of 20 HD max and it has 21 HD. Anyways to circumvent this would help.

Maybe wait a bit or buy a scroll of Create Undead and create it as a bone creature instead?

[OldTrees1]

Get a mohrg (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/mohrg.htm) to kill the eagle. Since its create spawn ability doesn't reference animate dead, it should be able to bypass that spell's HD limits.


A CL 18 scroll of Create Undead costs 3500 GP, and can be used to animate a morgh (which can, in turn, animate the eagle). Just make sure you have a way to establish control over worm-entrails.

The HD limit is in the template not the method. Mohrg does not bypass this.



Maybe wait a bit or buy a scroll of Create Undead and create it as a bone creature instead?

Bone Creatures take up the Rebuke Pool instead of the Command Undead(spell) pool. A valid but non ideal solution.


Then could you Suggest a good dragon for carrying around up to huge undead?

What is your party average level? I would guess you can acquire any dragon whose CR is up to 3 higher than your average party level.

CR
12: H White
19: G White
None of the Monster Manuel Colossal Dragons were CR 23 or less.

[BananaNomNom]

The Hd limit in the Template is only for the spell animate dead as the mhorg does not use animate dead it should work?

[Inevitability]

The HD limit is in the template not the method. Mohrg does not bypass this.

Right and wrong.


If the base creature has more than 10 Hit Dice (not counting those gained with experience), it can’t be made into a zombie with the animate dead spell.

Note the last part. Animating something with more than 10 HD by means other than animate dead is completely fine.

[OldTrees1]

Right and wrong.



Note the last part. Animating something with more than 10 HD by means other than animate dead is completely fine.

Huh. I would suggest asking the DM first. I know I would extend the limit to Mohrgs too.

[Malimar]

Find a way to acquire the Deathbound domain (Spell Compendium)? I vaguely recall the existence of a spell that lets you temporarily switch your domains around, but I don't remember what it's called or where it's from.

[flappeercraft]

Find a way to acquire the Deathbound domain (Spell Compendium)? I vaguely recall the existence of a spell that lets you temporarily switch your domains around, but I don't remember what it's called or where it's from.

The spell is called Substitute Domain but it only allows you to substitute for a domain your god provides not any.

[Uncle Pine]

But Giles's suggestion works: if you can give the eagle a negative level and let it stick leading to a permanent loss of a single HD, it'll become a valid target.
Need to reduce your target's HD by more than 1? Maybe 11? Repeat the above 11 times. You'll end up with the corpse of a behemot eagle with 10 HD, a suitable target for your needs.

[ShurikVch]

Plague of Undead spell can make zombies, and don't depend on Animate Dead RAW

Shrouds of the Unholy (http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/dx20021031x) - get your Zombie for 1550 gp; you can even try to add some Zombie-specific templates on top - such as Fast, Fleshvigor, or Unkillable