Corpsecrafter Deluxe: Variant Necromancy, art rather than science

[katarl]

Necromancy Variant: Corpsecrafting

For many necromancers, the dark art is not just a school of magic, but a complete world in itself, and many give themselves over to the dark to learn the terrible secrets that the earth keeps. While undead naturally occur, whether from links to the negative energy plane, acts of extreme depravity or by mere happenstance, many are artificially created to serve a master.

These masters combine their formidable arcanic acumen with their practical skills of embalming to create the ultimate servant.

http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w229/minx_summerstorm/Necromancer.jpg
courtesy of minx_summerstorm

Corpsecrafter [Metamagic]

For you, creating undead is an art form, a method of expression that your creations now benefit from.

Prerequisite: Able to create or animate undead using necromancy spells

Benefit: Undead you create using necromancy spells with this metamagic feat now receive the corpsecrafted subtype, and you may bestow a variable number of benefits from table 1.01 before animation, with a special corpsecrafter level check, modified by your prime ability modifier: dc 10 + ½ undead hd (round up) + misc. modifier.

You may bestow a maximum number of benefits equal to half your level. Only one check is made for each spell, failing the check results in no special benefits to the created undead. Each undead created by the spell receives the same benefits.

In addition to passing this check, you must also sacrifice material components equal in value to the gp cost shown. Using this feat does not increase the spell level of the necromancy spell it is applied to.

This feat can only be applied to necromancy spells that create or animate, as opposed to summon, undead. Corpsecrafted subtype is mainly arbitrary, and serves only to differentiate 'natural' from 'artificial' undead, other than the traits applied from table 1.01, they recieve no additional bonuses or penalties. Some spells may only affect 'natural' undead, or only 'artificial' undead, as described in its entry.


Table 1.01

Vitality
+2 strength or dexterity +1 dc +50gp
+4 strength or dexterity +2 dc +100gp
+6 strength or dexterity +4 dc +200gp
+8 strength or dexterity +8 dc +400gp

Vigour
+1hp/hd +1 dc +50gp
+2hp/hd +2 dc +100gp
+3hp/hd +4 dc +200gp
+4hp/hd +8 dc +400gp

Grace
+5ft base speed +1 dc +50gp
+10ft base speed +2 dc +100gp
+20ft base speed +4 dc +200gp
+30ft base speed +8 dc +400gp
Remove single actions only trait +4dc +200gp

Energy
Add elemental damage 1d6 to melee attacks+4dc +200gp ^^
-harming undead with nonreach weapon does this damage; immunity to element, weakness to opposition +4dc +200gp (must have above)^^

Resilience
+2 turn resistance +2 dc +100gp
+4 turn resistance +4 dc +200gp
+6 turn resistance +8 dc +400gp

Endurance
+1 natural or dodge ac +1dc +50gp
+2 natural or dodge ac +2 dc +100gp
+3 natural or dodge ac +4 dc +200gp
+4 natural or dodge ac +8 dc +400gp

Ferocity
any natural attack
Increase die damage by one grades +2dc +100gp
Increase die damage by two grades+4dc +200gp
Increase die damage by three grades +8dc +400gp

Potency
any undead special ability
Increase ability dc +2 +2dc +100gp
Increase ability dc +4 +4dc +200gp
Increase ability dc +6 +8dc +400gp

Toughness
Virtual hit die +1 +2dc +100gp
undead gains extra hit die that does not count when controlling
Virtual hit die +2 +4dc +200gp
undead gains two extra hit die that does not count when controlling
Virtual hit die +3 +8dc +400gp
undead gains three extra hit die that does not count when controlling
Reanimation +10dc +500gp*
recovers with 1hp after 1d4 rounds, can only be permanently killed by holy water or good aligned attacks
Increases DR +4dc +200gp
doubles DR or increases by 5, whichever is less

Eldritch
Spell-like ability 3/day^^^
CL=HD; DC 10+spell level+ charisma modifier
0 level +1dc +250gp
1st level +2dc +500gp
2nd level +4dc +2600gp
3rd level +8dc +3400gp

Cerebral
Psi-like ability 3/day^^^
ML=HD; DC 10+power level+ charisma modifier
0 level +1dc +250gp
1st level +2dc +500gp
2nd level +4dc +2600gp
3rd level +8dc +3400gp
(must be using psionic animate dead to add any of these traits)

Shade
Mystery 3/day^^^
SL=HD; DC 10+ spell level+ charisma modifier
Fundamental +1dc +250gp
1st level +2dc +500gp
2nd level +4dc +2600gp
3rd level +8dc +3400gp
(Apprentice level only)

Bound
Vestige Permanently bound^^^
+Vestige binding DC-10 (Vestige binding DC-10)x50gp
(sign always shown, always under influence)

Soulborn
upcoming

Durability
+2 untyped bonus to one save +1dc +50gp
+4 untyped bonus to one save +2dc +100gp
+6 untyped bonus to one save +4dc +200gp
+8 untyped bonus to one save +8dc +400gp

Dead Walkers
Hive Mind 100ft +2dc +100gp
telepathy with all other corpsecrafted creatures with this trait, 100ft
Special Mark +1dc* +50gp
a unique magical ‘watermark’, cannot be copied, visible to normal senses or magical senses (necromancers choice)
Cache Undead +2dc* +100gp
mindless undead loses spiteful tendencies, immobile while not directly controlled by a necromancer

Combine
Grafted Weapons +1dc each +50gp
undead loses hand/foot; weapon cannot be disarmed, gain +1 insight bonus to attack and damage with weapon
Grafted Armour
does not take armour check penalties or speed loss, still takes maximum dexterity
-light +1dc +50gp
-medium +2dc +100gp
-heavy +4dc +200gp

Disguise
Inbuilt Disguise
cannot be changed, as disguise skill, fools stated senses
+5; sight +1dc +50gp
as normal disguise check, with +5 circumstance modifier
+10; touch +2 dc +100gp
searching no longer applies a bonus on spot checks to overcome disguise
+15; smell +4 dc +200gp
only registers as creature disguised under scent
+20; hearing (voice) +8 dc +400gp
sound of voice is indistinguishable, if applicable, from real thing

Knowledge
Skill Ranks**
mindless undead cannot take intelligence based skills
4 ranks +2dc +100gp
8 ranks +4dc +200gp
12 ranks +8 dc +400gp

Stygian
Negative Energy touch +6dc +300gp
deals 1d6 negative damage as melee touch attack/2 hit die
Negative Aura +4dc +200gp
living creatures within 10ft take -2 all saves
Explode in negative energy +4dc +200gp *
deals 1d6 negative energy in 10ft burst per 2 hit die.
Aura of Fear +6dc +300gp *
30ft radius, will dc 10+1/2 hd +cha mod or shaken

Regeneration
Fast Healing 1 +2dc +100gp
Fast Healing 2 +4 dc +200gp
Fast Healing 3 +8 dc +400gp

Athleticism
Powerful Build +4dc +200gp
Climb speed +2dc +100gp
Swim speed +2dc +100gp ***
Fly speed +6dc +300gp ***
New natural attack +1dc +50gp ***

Element
Energy Resistance (any) 5 +1dc +50gp ^^
Energy Resistance (any) 10 +2dc+100gp ^^
Energy Resistance (any) 20 +4dc +200gp ^^
Energy Resistance (any) immunity +8dc +400gp ^^

Spell-control
Permanent Illusion +4dc +200gp ^^^
As Major Image
Natural (greater) Invisibility +10dc +500gp ^^^
As Invisible Stalker
Natural Blur +6dc +300gp ^^^
As Blur
Natural Blink +8dc +300gp ^^^
As Blink
Natural Displacement +10dc +500gp ^^^
As Displacement Beast

Extra Feat +2dc each +100gp **


*- unique ability specific to certain organizations of necromancers
**- either creator or corpse must have at least same number of ranks, or specific feat
***- requires extra material, such as separate limbs or flesh
^- requires created undead has a mind
^^- requires elemental substance
^^^- requires necromancer be able to cast stated spell, spell-like ability or supernatural ability

Circumstance Modifiers

Optional Variant: Preparation/Time

Creating corpsecrafted undead can take time, if one does it properly, so these modifiers apply as bonuses, or penalties, to your corpsecrafter check result. Cost is unaffected.

Circumstance Modifier
Undead is prepared in a specialised necromantic lab +1
Increase casting time to 10 minutes +1
Increase casting time to 1 hour +2

[katarl]

Examples

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q197/KaosRampage/RF/Unused/necrof.jpg
courtesy of KaosRampage

****

Dr. Jonathan Astern wants to create a medium sized medic-type zombie that can withstand the kind of assaults his troops are getting used to. Necrosis carnex's keep getting blasted and clerically turned into oblivion, so he needs something a bit more robust.

He starts with a ghaele eladrin corpse, a 10 HD outsider and spontaneously casts a corpsecrafted animate dead as a full round action.

It's 20HD, so that's a base DC of 10+(20/2), which is 20. It costs him 500gp in onyx.

He adds negative energy touch from the Stygian list, perfect for all those cuts and scrapes, and healing 10d6 a touch. That increases the DC to 26, and increases the cost to 800gp.

He also adds the medium armour graft from the combine list, he likes women in armour, and grafts a masterwork suit of breastplate armour, to enhance later. This increases the DC to 30, and increases the cost to 1000gp.

He thinks about adding fast healing, but eventually decides it is unnecessary as she already has negative energy touch. He decides on a more mundane +2hp/HD, which increases the DC to 32, and increases the cost to 1100gp.

Happy with this, he does it all in a desecrated area with a permanent shrine to Nerull, and makes the check. He's a 10th level dread necromancer with a charisma bonus of +7, he needs a 15 to pass.

Remember that when a undead is made and destroyed, it cannot be remade, so if he fails, he'll need a new corpse.

****

[katarl]

Design Notes

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/Darkspawn93/Necromancer.jpg
courtesy of Darkspawn93

These rules may not be perfect for every campaign, but the hope was to give creative dms and players a chance to 'customise' their undead beyond what the rules allowed.

The idea was a bit of a combination between the libris mortis' corpsecrafter chain, Kerik's and I's homebrew corpsecrafter and the rules presented for Necromantic Templates, as well as wanting to allow players to create their own specialised undead such as the baneguard and necrosis carnex, without requiring seperate rules.

I didn't want to allow customization to such a degree that they steal the thunder from other undead, so I only put in traits that did not replicate abilities such as the ghouls paralysis, or the vampires summoning, only generic traits were used. You will notice that there is no trait that allows undead to be evolved, or that gives them a mind, as this would render the rules for creating these obsolete.

The pricing system is to make your undead more part of the system, and to put a limit on the number you can control. Although many players complain that necromancy is too expensive, there are definite reasons for undead costing so much, and I have seen various games broken by swarms of undead stealing the limelight. Perceptive readers may notice that the costing system is 50gp/+1DC, which translates to 2HD of undead. So for a DC 20 10hd undead with +5 traits, you could buy 4 5HD undead or 1 20HD undead without them. That's to balance the abilities of those with this feat and those who use 'natural' undead.

The DC's are to reward players who stick with this feat to high levels, better necromancers will inevitably make better undead, although a lucky apprentice might make a truly enviable creature. You can't take 10 or 20 with this feat (at least not yet), so there's always a chance that the crafting might fail, which lends a certain amount of anticipation at how powerful this creature is going to be, better suited to the 'art rather than science' credo above.

The feat is actually a little weaker in some ways to the corpsecrafter chain, which grants bonuses irrespective of the HD, and the bonuses granted by each feat are quite difficult to replicate with this version, and cost a lot more. However although less powerful, it allows a great deal more versatility than the rules normally allow, which more than makes up for any lacking in power.

You may notice the wording that the word corporeal is not used, you can currently add the corpsecrafted template to ghosts and incorporeal undead, so long as you create them with a necromancy spell. This may well be quite deadly if someone knows the Putrefaction spell.

The reasoning behind making it a metamagic spell was to make it optional, you can still make hordes of 'natural' undead rather than a few corpsecrafted ones if you want, rather than have the bonuses flatly handed out to everything you make. While many necromancers will be finicky about what they churn out, it allows, again, for a great deal more versatility in choosing your creations.

I tried to make it so that a corpsecrafter feat is worth +4dc, for example deadly chill, but this was not always possible.

[katarl]

Miscellany

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h311/Dark-Angel-Underworld/ss2681.jpg
courtesy of Dark-Angel-Underworld

Equipment


Corpsecrafter's Tools

A lacquered black box laden with silver cutting tools, measuring devices and weights, corpsecrafter's tools enhance a necromancer's ability to enhance undead that they create. They are a common sight among the deadwalker's society.

Prerequisite: Only characters with the corpsecrafter feat can use this item.
Activation: Using the tools contained within the black case requires 1 hour of uninterrupted work per undead prepared.
Effect: Undead prepared by the corpsecrafter's tools are more pliable to work done later, meaning a +2 competence bonus on the special corpsecrafter check to give them the corpsecrafted template.
Aura/Caster Level: Faint Transmutation. CL 3rd.
Construction: Craft Wondrous Item; Corpsecrafter feat; Ghouls Touch; 1130gp, 32XP, 2 days
Variants: +1 on corpsecrafter checks (-600gp), +4 on corpsecrafter checks (+2400gp), +6 on corpsecrafter checks (+6400gp), +8 on corpsecrafter checks (+12000gp).
Weight: 10lbs
Price: 1530gp

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f195/Kraven118/undead.jpg
courtesy of Kraven118

Deadwalkers Guild

Symbol: A white circle surrounding a smaller, black circle, inside which is a white, skeletal hand.

Background, Goals and Dreams: The Deadwalkers Guild is a secret society masterminded by an unusually altruistic lich, who held a strong belief that the lives of ordinary living beings would be vastly improved by depending less on their own muscle and emotions, and instead delegating their menial labours to mindless undead, as he did. It was this vision of the future that led the lich to cultivate the beginnings of the guild among disillusioned citizens of various major cities, who enthusiastically embraced the special training and resources that the lich offered. The deadwalkers guild exists primarily to train its members in the arts of necromancy, and shelter them from outside interference, and secondarily, it exists to further the ideals of pragmatism and the strength of order over chaotic behaviour, or entropy.

Enemies and Allies: As a necromantic cult-like group, the deadwalkers have many enemies, most notably the church of Pelor, whose clerics ceaselessly attempt to destroy the deadwalkers. The deadwalkers mostly try to recruit from young, intelligent humans and treat their members extremely well, so can have allies in some very strange places. Many a noble did not suspect that their teenage son or daughter was secretly receiving training in necromancy. The guild also receives a cool but cordial reception from the churches of Wee Jas, Hextor and Evening Glory.

Type: Cabal (Social)
Scale: 11 (Multi-regional)

Criterion Affiliation Score Modifier
Character level +1/2 level
Tomb-tainted Soul feat +1
Ability to cast animate dead +1
Ability to cast create undead +2*
Ability to cast create greater undead +3*
Donates undead to organization +1 per 10 hd
Goodly Aligned -4
Chaotic Aligned -10

Affiliation Score Title: Benefits and Duties
3 or lower No affiliation or junior member with no benefits
4 - 10 Neophyte: Free access to desecrated areas and special training in necromancy (e.g. for purposes of gaining the corpsecrafter feat).
11 - 15 Acolyte: The cost of purchasing material components for casting necromancy spells that create corporeal undead are reduced by half (for animate dead, that would be 12.5gp/hd rather than 25/hd). You must now donate 10% of your income to the guild.
16 - 22 Adept: You may now add the deadwalker mark on any mindless corporeal undead you create through necromancy spells.
23-29 Master: You recieve a +4 profane bonus to any corpsecrafter checks you make to enhance corporeal undead You must now spend at least 40 hours a week teaching younger deadwalkers. Each failure to do so causes you to lose 2 from your affiliation score.
30 or higher Grand Master: You gain a +4 bonus on all attempts to influence the attitude of undead or fellow deadwalkers. In addition, if still alive, you are invited to become a necropolitan, and suffer 1000xp less cost for doing so (you still lose a level).

Deadwalkers Mark (special) - may be added to any corporeal undead you animate or create with necromancy spells. An undead with a deadwalkers mark is significantly less violent and hateful than is normal for undead of their type. A marked mindless undead starts with an indifferent attitude to living beings and attacks only when ordered to. The deadwalkers use this to cache their undead safely, and to familiarise recruits with undead with less risk.

Intelligent undead similarly suffer less from their necromantic condition, and lose less of their ‘humanity’ during the transformation. If they possess an inescapable urge, they are no longer subject to it, but diet-dependency remains.

In addition, marked undead rot at a much slower rate than normal, perhaps 400 times less, so that zombies animated and marked on the day of their death appears normal for many decades, and may mask their eventual deterioration as simple old age.

A deadwalkers mark is a ritual, not a curse and may only be removed by a wish spell or equivalent, and is not subject to dispelling or suppression.

[Yeril]

Relentless

Corpsecrafted Troll Skeleton
HD: 6d12+12 (48)
Int: +7
Speed: 50ft
AC: 16 (+2 dodge -1 size +3 dex, +2 natural)
Base attack/Grapple: +3/+13

Attack; Claw +8 Melee (1d6+6)
Full attack: 2 claws +8 melee (1d6+6) and bite +3 melee (1d6+3)

Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft
Special Qualities: Dr 5/bludgeoning, Darkvision 60ft, Immunity to cold, Undead traits, Reanimation, Fast healing 2
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +5
Abilities: Str 23, Dex 16, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1
Feats: Improved Initiative

Corpse Crafted Effects: +20ft base speed, Reanimation, +2 dodge bonus to AC, Fast healing 2, +2hp/HD

DC: 35
Price: +1100gp


Tada?

[Guyr Adamantine]

I must say this seems rather brilliant. I'm a Necro fan(Hello, Libris Mortis!), but the feats were somewhat limited. Your earlier corpsecrafting feats changed it but now, WOW! This is going into my Eberron campaign, and Karnnath shall be even more wicked!:smallbiggrin:

[Pronounceable]

A very nice take on necromancy. Much better than the standard one. It's a bit too ruley for my tastes (but I realize it must be so to preserve a strange quirk called "game balance" that somehow got hardwired into DnD), the basic idea is solid gold.

[katarl]

Relentless

Corpsecrafted Troll Skeleton
HD: 6d12+12 (48)
Int: +7
Speed: 50ft
AC: 16 (+2 dodge -1 size +3 dex, +2 natural)
Base attack/Grapple: +3/+13

Attack; Claw +8 Melee (1d6+6)
Full attack: 2 claws +8 melee (1d6+6) and bite +3 melee (1d6+3)

Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft
Special Qualities: Dr 5/bludgeoning, Darkvision 60ft, Immunity to cold, Undead traits, Reanimation, Fast healing 2
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +5
Abilities: Str 23, Dex 16, Con -, Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1
Feats: Improved Initiative

Corpse Crafted Effects: +20ft base speed, Reanimation, +2 dodge bonus to AC, Fast healing 2, +2hp/HD

DC: 35
Price: +1100gp

Well, 6hd, thats base 13dc, plus 2, 10, 2, 4, 2, which makes dc 33. 33-10x50=1150gp.

I'm thinking about reducing the cost, it makes creating armies of undead a complete nightmare, although the cost is per casting, not per undead, which is worth keeping in mind. So 40HD of skeletons would all recieve the same bonus for just one increase in dc and cost.

Nice creature, by the way.

[dyslexicfaser]

If that's the case, you'd probably get more mileage out of a horde of wimpy kobold corpses than half a dozen trolls, right?

Interesting system, by the way - I might have to see how my DM feels about this variant.

[Dante & Vergil]

I thought I recognized you, katarl. I see you sometimes over at the wizards boards.

[JackMage666]

Only problem with this is the Spell-like Ability thing.... It allows you to cast spells without a Material Component, so you could imbue a creature with Animate Dead, and ever increase your army for little cost, or have an Identify-bot zombie, and things of that sort...

A simple clause stating the Undead still needs the material component, or focus if that's the case, should do the trick. But free spells for the Necromancer could be problematic.

Other than that, looks awesome, though lots of bookwork. If you're into that, that's cool, but I perfer to keep things simple myself. If I used this, I'd only keep one or two undead slaves.

That said, it would be awesome to use just to alter up some Zombies, and the players can't ask "how?"

[Lizardfolk Lich]

You say that ^ means you need an intelligent undead, can you make an intelligent undead?

[katarl]

I thought I recognized you, katarl. I see you sometimes over at the wizards boards.

Usually, if you see katarl on the internet, it's either a cat-girl or me. If necromancy is involved, you can be doubly certain it's me.


Other than that, looks awesome, though lots of bookwork. If you're into that, that's cool, but I perfer to keep things simple myself. If I used this, I'd only keep one or two undead slaves.

That said, it would be awesome to use just to alter up some Zombies, and the players can't ask "how?"

Yes, it is worryingly complicated, and often mindblowingly expensive too. I definitely need a tune-up here, or it's only ever going to be useful for big undead. I'm thinking its too big a project for me, though, i may just write a simpler but less versatile variant that people can actually use for all undead, and post it or submit it to the new Dragon Insider thing.


You say that ^ means you need an intelligent undead, can you make an intelligent undead?

Yes, you could use create undead, though anything you make would be uncontrolled. Or awaken undead might work (or if you're a Boneyard Necromancer).

[Xuincherguixe]

This was a great post if only for the awesome artwork.

I've always kind of felt that D&D could use more Frankenstein like villains. The way that artificial life is so often so generic makes this fairly hard. So any sort of rules that allow for customization are certainly welcome.

Naturally, as a DM you can just make stuff up, but that doesn't work nearly so well for when you're playing the walking attrocity who holds nothing but contempt for the laws of nature.

[Maerok]

This is complete awesomeness. I've always found that there wasn't enough artistic license when playing (unholy) god in the DnD world. :D This single feat saves the hassle of the 'okay' CC feats in Libris Mortis while allowing for, above all else, flexibility!!!

Are the +Str or +Dex modifications (the first set listed) unnamed bonuses? How fast are the climb/fly speeds? Is there a modification for an intelligent zombie/etc.?

So is the check 1d20+caster level+primary spellcasting modifier vs. a DC of 10+1/2 hd of undead+misc. modifiers? How does it handle something like plague of dead where undead of different HD are created? Use the highest one?

[Lizardfolk Lich]

Never heard of a Boneyard Necromancer. Anyway, any chance of somebody statting Garradors, Regenerators, or Iron Maidens from Resident Evil 4 using these rules?:wink:

[Skelengar]

this is great. I am soo using this

[katarl]

this is great. I am soo using this

Yay! I'm really glad this stuff is useful to someone, i'm still not satisfied with it though.


Never heard of a Boneyard Necromancer. Anyway, any chance of somebody statting Garradors, Regenerators, or Iron Maidens from Resident Evil 4 using these rules?

Heh, i didn't really expect anyone to get that reference, BYN is a creation of mine posted three years ago.

If you can stat these creatures using these rules, of course, feel free. If you need to alter dcs and abilities to make it work, as you may need to, you can use this system to work out a price.


Are the +Str or +Dex modifications (the first set listed) unnamed bonuses? How fast are the climb/fly speeds? Is there a modification for an intelligent zombie/etc.?

Unfortunately, i didn't specify what kind of modification they are. They are currently unnamed bonuses, but obviously don't stack with corpsecrafter, since this is a variant of that feat. But they might well do with undead mastery, depending on how generous the dm wants to be. The effect isn't really an enhancement bonus, you're increasing the flow of negative energy, so it's untyped.

Speed as well, it's natural for the undead to use these methods when they're created. Intelligence in undead cannot be made using this feat, as that would make the awaken undead obsolete. I purposefully did not include any abilities that made certain spells or undead useless (other than near-skeletons, like the necrosis carnex).


So is the check 1d20+caster level+primary spellcasting modifier vs. a DC of 10+1/2 hd of undead+misc. modifiers? How does it handle something like plague of dead where undead of different HD are created? Use the highest one?

The original idea was to add all the hd together! I'm thinking thats too harsh, the highest single hd is a much better plan. It makes larger armies more cost effective, and makes single undead less so, creating a sort of mass production feel.


This was a great post if only for the awesome artwork.

Thanks, everything is from photobucket, under necromancy and undead.



Naturally, as a DM you can just make stuff up, but that doesn't work nearly so well for when you're playing the walking attrocity who holds nothing but contempt for the laws of nature.

The project was very focused around players, my goal was make something balanced and versatile, but it ended up a bit rulesy and clunky, i'm working on a more elegant design, currently.

[Maerok]

I think you've singlehandedly/singlefeatedly made constructing an army of the undead actually worthwhile; it helps to cover the CR gap between one's minions and the creatures they are fighting at their own CR.

[Jimbob]

I love this idea, I love playing nerco's and building massive armys. But my question is about the skill checks. Do you add your level plus and Cha bonus or if your a wizard your int bonus? and things like taking the true necro which you are wiz/sor 2 cleric 2 true necro x which class do you use for the check or is it your total class level???
And my final question, if I want to make 40 1hd skeletons, is the DC the same or do I have to make a check for each one? and do I need to spend the same amount of gold on each or is that a total for all 40 skeletons??

Hope that makes some sence

[katarl]

I think you've singlehandedly/singlefeatedly made constructing an army of the undead actually worthwhile; it helps to cover the CR gap between one's minions and the creatures they are fighting at their own CR.

:smallcool:


I love this idea, I love playing nerco's and building massive armys. But my question is about the skill checks. Do you add your level plus and Cha bonus or if your a wizard your int bonus? and things like taking the true necro which you are wiz/sor 2 cleric 2 true necro x which class do you use for the check or is it your total class level???
And my final question, if I want to make 40 1hd skeletons, is the DC the same or do I have to make a check for each one? and do I need to spend the same amount of gold on each or is that a total for all 40 skeletons??

1. yep, whatever your prime ability stat is, int for wiz, wis for clr etc.
2. you can choose which prime stat to use, if you have more than one, and use both classes, and true necro level (it's more like casting than item creation)
3. if you want to make 40 1hd skeletons, the dc would ordinarily have started as a base of 30 (10+1/2hd), but you may wish to rule that its the highest hd so the base is 11 instead. Its the same amount of gold regardless.