Undead Army

[alex1g]

I'm running a campaign and looking for advice on creating an undead making machine. The plot is that there are 5 Generals are in charge of wiping out the country. I'm looking for something that creates more undead from the victims it slays, sort of like a wight or wraith but much more powerful. I got one Vampire General in mind but I need some more suggestions. I don't want to have thousands necromancers in the campaign so looking for some ideas.

[Falontani]

Creatures slain by negative levels rise as wights. There are many places where a means of inflicting negative levels may be seen.

some suggestions:
Shadows/Umbral Creatures (MM, Savage Species, Libris Mortis) Shadows are an iconic dnd creature and have a good way of overrunning many areas.
A Soul Eater (Book of Vile Darkness) Soul Eaters are actually not undead, yet deal negative levels quite readily and specifically gain the ability to create Wights and control them. This could be a good general to surprise a party with as it isn't undead nor is it a necromancer!
Bleakborn (Libris Mortis) Bleakborn are powerful creatures that aren't easily slain. They raise humanoids slain by a bleakborn rise as zombies quickly. It's own aura will slay most standard commoners that enter the aura, and they will rise as zombies in 6-24 seconds. This thing is super bulky for an 8 HD undead, and when turned into a general can quickly become an extremely difficult fight (I'd say that hit for hit they are more dangerous than normal vampires).

The final suggestion would be to have a necromancer. There are many themes one could go down for creating a necromancer, and they will vastly change how your undead will be perceived and behave.

1: Standard Lich Necromancer. They are standard for a reason. They are adaptable, hard to kill, and usually very powerful.
2: Quell Ur-Priest. (LM/CD) This combo is especially insidious. Combining something that wishes to commit deicide with something that straight up steals power from the divine, and can sever the link between a priest and his god is scary, and really gives a reason for why this whole undead army exists.
3: Artaaglith Cleric/Death Master (Ghostwalk). A demon that serves Orcus, The Demon Prince of Undeath. Quite a different flavor, and should have some Blood Fiends as well as many demonic undeads.
4: A Worm that Walks (or a Favored Spawn of Kyuss). Yet another horrific creature with an emphasis of necromancy. These things are terrifying, and if you haven't already, definitely read up on their lore.


I can create builds for any of these if you wish, even if you only use them for inspiration. Give me some time and I'll create something fantastic with them if you'd like.