Necromancer gestalt character/BBEG

[TheCryingApple]

Hey guys, I've posted a few threads fairly recently about gestalt character builds.
This time its about a necromancer build, that will either serve as a character, OR as the BBEG in my next campaign.

There are some feat and class choices that would be fairly unhelpful on a BBEG but amazing on a player character, and vice versa, so I would like to ask for recommendations for both.

Level 12 is where I'm planning on staying.
One side cleric 4/ bone knight 8
Other side undecided, but preferably with the first 4 levels at full BAB for early bone knight entry.

Character concept as a BBEG is simple,
His name is Rattlebones and he was the town... oddity.
A barkeep hires the players to scare him away.
Something snaps in Ol' Rattlebones and he brings winter-y doom to the village, thus beginning the campaign.
Character concept as a player is similar, but less aimed at being a vengeful town drunk.

So, any recommendations on the second class to take for gestalt?

And for feats, I am very interested in "Lord of the Uttercold," but 3 feats to enter is a bunch.
The second dilemma is that I would have to find a way to apply cold resistance to all my minions.

One of the prereqs for Lord of the Uttercold is energy substitution, which in turn has the prereq of any other metamagic feat. Would "Fell Animate" be worth my time as a cleric based caster?
A fell animated level 0 spell would allow me to coup de grace enemies and effectively create undead without material requirement as a level 3 spell.
This is the same time as I would get animate dead, but the plus side is that they are free. Better for arcane casters, but still passable?

What about corpsecrafting?
Black lore of Moil?
Dark speech?

...Lich loved? :smallwink:

Any cool ones that I'm missing?

[Nifft]

Is this character expected to engage in melee at all?

Paladin explicitly stacks with Bone Knight, so you could make this guy a "fallen" (and un-risen) Cleric 4//Paladin 4, then branch into something else full BAB afterwards... if that fits the backstory, of course.

I feel like Warblade focused on Diamond Mind + Iron Heart would be a good match for a self-centered, methodical, and ice-cold Necromancer.

On the other hand, Swordsage is great if you plan to be a tricky hidden-master type of Necromancer, turning invisible & teleporting through shadows & generally avoiding combat rather than engaging. He would focus on Shadow Hand, Setting Sun, and Diamond Mind. But Swordsage is not full-BAB, so this would be better as an "after Paladin" strategy.

Duskblade 20 is fun, if you don't want to use your Cleric spells as round-to-round actions.

Ranger is okay, if you're going for archery rather than melee.

[TheCryingApple]

Is this character expected to engage in melee at all?

Paladin explicitly stacks with Bone Knight, so you could make this guy a "fallen" (and un-risen) Cleric 4//Paladin 4, then branch into something else full BAB afterwards... if that fits the backstory, of course.

I feel like Warblade focused on Diamond Mind + Iron Heart would be a good match for a self-centered, methodical, and ice-cold Necromancer.

On the other hand, Swordsage is great if you plan to be a tricky hidden-master type of Necromancer, turning invisible & teleporting through shadows & generally avoiding combat rather than engaging. He would focus on Shadow Hand, Setting Sun, and Diamond Mind. But Swordsage is not full-BAB, so this would be better as an "after Paladin" strategy.

Duskblade 20 is fun, if you don't want to use your Cleric spells as round-to-round actions.

Ranger is okay, if you're going for archery rather than melee.

I was thinking about Crusader as a mildly thematic way to tank up the character, but i dont think the character would benefit all that much. I could use a stat array of:
[Str: 14, Dex: 8, Con: 10, Wis: 18, Cha: 14]

And be fairly effective at low levels as a regular cleric fighter type.
With white raven maneuvers, I might even get a little more mileage out of my undead.

Duskblade interested me, but im thinking of something without (or just less of) a spell progression, something a little more focused on class features. The thought of casting a single cold spell through a full attack and healing all my nearby undead bodyguards would be cool, but of limited value at level 13.

[Nifft]

Crusader is great (for a tank). Also, I think at least some of the healing isn't based on positive energy spells, so you might be able to heal your minions.

However, the person for whom it's great is a tank, who is out front blocking access to the fragile mages behind.

It would be pretty unconventional for a Necromancer to be out front defending the undead slaves.

Not bad, of course -- it might be a very memorable character, or very forgettable if he dies the first time out -- and that whole "dies the first time out" risk is why it's an unconventional tactic.

-- -- --

What's the race?

Half-Orc Paragon / Orc Paragon -> both are full BAB, and that gets you six levels of RAGE (even if you're Lawful) and Intimidation bonuses.

Dwarf Paragon is full BAB, too.

== == ==

From a story perspective, it sounds like he's spent a lot of time living on his own outdoors, which means Ranger is a good fit.

You could also give him Favored Enemy: Humanoids (his own race) to represent the anger he feels towards the society which rejected him.