the party got a level-inappropriate pet. how to react?

[King of Nowhere]

i set up a little adventure with some animal zzombies in a forest as a low level quest. there was actually a deeper plot hook set in it, that the party found but haven't yet deciphered, but that's not what's relevant.
I had planned the final boss to be a large bear zombie with 12 hd. the party turned out to be poorly suited to fight zombies, as they have invested heavily in precision damage (2 rogues) and don't have much appropriate against zombies; so, instead of having a large number of lesser enemies, i decided to have just the single boss.
the wizard had prepared command undead.

who the hell is the brain-dead moron that writes a level 2 spell with no saving throw or hit dice limit????

i didn't anticipate it because i didn't knew the spell in detail. i've been banning or nerfing several high-power tactics to keep the power level consistent, but I always announced it well in advance. I can nerf stuff on the spot if there was extreme need, but there is always the risk of turning into an obstructive control freak master. the power level derailment wasn't too unsustainable, so i decided to not forbid it.

Now, the party is level 3. they all have +1 LA races, and they are well above WBL (I am running a high magic world where even commoners have minor magic items, so everyone is well above wbl). let's call them effectively level 5, or 6, for the purpose of confronting power.
the zombie bear has 144 hp, AC 19, 2 claws attacks at +15 for 1d8+9. It was a decent boss fight. it's certainly far stronger in combat than any party member alone. to make things worse, my world have guns, and most people use them, and guns are quite poor against a zombie damage reduction.

i also don't want to randomly destroy the minion, at least not immediately. that would be a jerkass move, just like changing the spell on the fly would have been an equally jerkass move.

I'm taking suggestions on how to deal with it.
(there is a chance that the minion is destroied if certain conditions are met, conditions related to the plot hook. but that's basically random chance and i cannot count on it)

[NontheistCleric]

Is there any reason an enemy couldn't use the same spell on the minion?

[GrayDeath]

Command Undead requires gfailing a will save to get intelligent targets, and Charisma checks to boot.
And the Wizards CL should be low enough that this does not often end in commanding anything at the level you`re at.

A single uncommanded mindless undead is intentionally easy pickings.

So the main mistake is you not knowing what the spell actually did and making a "boss" encounter that was mindless.
Given they are already above WBL and now have a good Tank, I would simply raise the CR of mosnters facing them accordingly (say by +1 in general and by +2 when its only combat, noc asting enemies), and be done with it.

Edited for clarity and precision.

[ExLibrisMortis]

There could be in-world repercussions for walking around with a zombie bear. Say, the local priesthood protests. They may not go straight into "turn or destroy" mode, but they might make it very clear that the PCs are going to have a problem if they don't get rid of the pet. It's up to the PCs whether a zombie bear is worth the trouble.

Alternatively, the bear is a former animal companion. A druid is willing to provide magical aid (spellcasting services, superior leafweave plate armour, magic items) to buy the bear's final rest.

Edit:
Command Undead requires gfailing a will save.
And the Wizards CL should be low enough that this does not often end in commanding anything at the level you`re at.
It doesn't allow a save to unintelligent undead, and does not have a HD limit. It does not work like Rebuke or Command Undead, the cleric ability.

[ApologyFestival]

Your wizard player planned extremely well, and I wouldn't do anything that might come across as punishing them for this. Command undead isn't a particularly powerful spell; it's entirely in-line for a second-level spell, and only appears stronger in this circumstance because it effectively nixes what was intended to be a powerful enemy. Here's the rub, though -- it ain't. Mindless creatures, undead or otherwise, are prone to getting devastated by first-level spells and fancy planning. That's a rough lesson to learn. I fell for that one the first time I ran an undead-heavy dungeon and got clowned by minor illusions and cantrips all day.

Mindless undead are a lot scarier when mixed with a master -- someone, ideally a cleric or wizard, who commands them. Maybe even multiple weaker spellcasters, as part of a cult or similar. Abilities like rebuke undead or their own command undead spell would allow them to seize control of undead. It may not be too late to introduce an enemy like that, who could come after their prized bear.

Maybe you would find it more fun to take this as an opportunity to make a new story thread? If your players are heroes (or even neutral), they will inevitably butt heads with frightened villagers when they're carting around a terrifying undead monstrosity, and have to decide where their priorities lie. If there is a good-aligned church in your setting, they will not take the creature's continued existence lightly. If there are druids about, they will want the bear put to rest. Depending on your players actions, such factions could be understanding (even friendly), and offer a reward for permission to safely destroy the beast. If your players decide to keep the creature, they could incur the hatred and distrust of the locals, and that's interesting too!

[KillianHawkeye]

the zombie bear has 144 hp, AC 19, 2 claws attacks at +15 for 1d8+9. It was a decent boss fight. it's certainly far stronger in combat than any party member alone.

Well one thing to remember is that zombies can't full-attack. I also don't think it would retain any improved grab ability that a bear might normally use to initiate a grapple. So it's really just a huge bag of hit points with one good attack if it doesn't need to move more than its speed.

Strong, but easy for intelligent enemies to avoid. Any difficult terrain that would prevent it from charging will make it pretty useless, but cramped quarters that limit mobility work to its advantage. It's definitely a good minion, especially at their level, but it's not unstoppable or unbeatable. It can be the party tank, but it's more like a battlefield intimidator that will force most enemies to try to stay away from it.

[Falontani]

Zombie Bear is a fun companion, but definitely not anywhere near overpowered if the party is roughly CR 5-6. Remember that zombies do not heal naturally, so it only heals when subject to inflict spells or similar magics. Wear and tear will eventually get the best of the bear. Most places don't take kindly to undead, scary creatures, or larger creatures. Sure the bear is only large so about the size of a horse, but it is a scary creature and undead.
I will second the comments about different organizations having poor feelings towards the bear. If you are in Eberron there is an argument that any undead merely by existing is slowly deteriorating Eberron by leaking out Mabarian energies. (completely fluff). You can tell the wizard that while command undead is not an evil spell, the fact that creating undead is evil, and most forms of commanding undead also require evil, that using the bear for too long may have negative impacts on the wizard's alignment (definitely not all at once! it would probably be several months and longer before it really starts messing with his alignment too much, but the statement alone might make the wizard wary).

Finally: The bear is large. Plothook requires them to go into a smaller area and possibly be out of sight of the bear, long enough that something could kill the bear or take over the bear if it isn't given appropriate commands. Zombies won't defend themselves unless ordered to, if ordered to defend itself, and some archer plinks at it from 100 ft, the bear will storm off that way, and as the archer walks away and continues plinking, the bear will keep running off. Even if the bear isn't killed, it is gone. You could even give the party listen checks to hear the bear thundering off, but give them a reason to not just abandon whatever they are doing to rescue a dumb zombie. A poorly worded command could have the bear become hostile as well, possibly accidentally harming a companion or worse, a civilian.

[Ramza00]

Read some New Mutants comics for inspiration. After all Chris Claremont himself stole practically all his ideas from seeds of other things, before he germinated the concept with his loving care.

[ManicOppressive]

Throw a Paladin or Cleric at the party, along with some buddies of their own. Party's running around with a zombie bear, some church is going to be not okay with that. Build an optimized Cleric a couple of levels higher than the party and give them a couple martial buddies a level lower than the party. Give the Cleric armor of light fortification--that will help them against your party's precision damage, and it's a nice and non-game-dangerous reward if they beat them. If they don't beat the Cleric, good news! That is a good aligned enemy, and is not going to kill them. The cleric is here to destroy the zombie, and should the cleric beat the party they can just lecture them on undead (they don't have to be correct, mind--they're religious, they just need to be preachy) and maybe put a Mark of Justice (using a scroll since you really don't want to dunk a 9th level cleric on any 3rd level party no matter what their WBL looks like) on the Wizard that goes off if he's controlling undead.

None of this is suggesting railroading them completely out of the bear. If the party thumps the cleric, or handles them well outside of losing the zombie, then it's a good sign that they're handling the stuff around that level fine and can probably keep the bear. Throw in an occasional caster in future encounters with Command Undead, or a divine caster with Turning, and make it a challenge for them to keep it. Mindless undead really aren't that scary to anyone with basically any access to magic.

An alternative to all of the above if you're not comfortable running good aligned enemies is to just replace all instances of "cleric" and Turn" with "Dread Necromancer" and "rebuke or command." Or I guess just an evil cleric, there's no reason it has to be someone good aligned. Point is the party is running around with the corpse of a paragon-tier bear. Imagine running around the apocryphal Ancient Greek countryside with even just the mundane, non-animated pelt of the Caledonian Boar while being known as chumps. SOMEONE is gonna track you down to take it. Now multiply that up for the bear's hide being a village-destroying weapon in and of itself because it's animated, and combine that with the fact that anyone with a Command Undead spell could take a shot at the player to take it, and you've got a pretty good reason for the party to fear keeping the bear or learn to use it extremely well.

This is basically the solution any time a party gets their hands on ephemeral power (wealth, political power, weird items like undead bears, anything that can be taken casually from them) that turns out excessive. Just throw the kinds of people who are powerful enough to equal and want that power at them until they're either leveled to match it from all of the fighting or they've given up on keeping the zombified albatross-bear.

Edit: I walked away before submitting to make dinner and got swordsaged

[Bronk]

A poorly worded command could have the bear become hostile as well, possibly accidentally harming a companion or worse, a civilian.

Not only that, but you can also police the rest of the party because of this line: "Any act by you or your apparent allies that threatens the commanded undead (regardless of its Intelligence) breaks the spell." If the party aren't careful, the wizard will need to keep one of their spell slots filled with 'command undead' in case of accidents. Could be fun.

[NigelWalmsley]

First of all: that HP number is wrong (were you maxing all its hit dice?). The attack and damage numbers say +6 BAB and a +9 Strength modifier, which means 12 hit dice, which is 81 HP (ref: Minotaur Zombie), not 144.

But anyway, I wouldn't actually be that worried. The zombie bear is only CR 4 by the book, and zombies are pretty crappy as anything other than a meatshield. It's like an unoptimized Fighter who can't make ranged attacks and can be kited by any enemy that can move (seriously, melee combatants can kite zombies if they have a way to stop the partial charge). As long as you avoid giving the PCs combat encounters inside literal or metaphorical closets for a little bit, and maybe power up the party by a level or two, it's not that big of a problem. Particularly if they don't have a way to heal the damn thing.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Set it on fire. It has no Int score so it won't put itself out. It will take 1d6 fire damage until the party puts it out, or it's destroyed.

Evolved Undead in LM is a +1 LA template that can be applied to any undead, and if it's 5+ HD it can gain Dispel Magic as a 1/day spell-like ability. Best if you can put two against them, or give it the template twice for another +1 LA and make that usable 2/day. Technically it doesn't need to be 5 HD despite what the template says, since there's no minimum LA for a spell-like ability (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#spellLikeAbilities), but that's sort of playing dirty, and there's a higher chance it will fail.

Have a patrol from the local authority happen upon them and their giant zombie bear. They'll think the party is necromancers and once the party explains themselves, the guards will demand that the monster be destroyed immediately. Make them strong enough to fight it if the party doesn't want to cooperate, which will make the party criminals. This one's a bit too heavy handed for most games.

[Ramza00]

Give them a hard challenge, one that is obviously beyond their capabilities where they will be forced to retreat but use the zombie bear as a distraction / meta shield to buy time.

They sacrifice the bear and get XP for surviving the hard encounter.

[Bohandas]

Zombie Bear is a fun companion, but definitely not anywhere near overpowered if the party is roughly CR 5-6. Remember that zombies do not heal naturally, so it only heals when subject to inflict spells or similar magics. Wear and tear will eventually get the best of the bear.

That's a good point. This is a semi-limited use thing

[newguydude1]

throw stuff with dr at them. my zombies are terrible against fiends cause they cant overcome dr and the fast healing on top of that. so throw that at them.

[icefractal]

I wouldn't worry about it. At this point, it's strong, but not overwhelmingly so. As they level up, it will become less and less relevant. Unless you're running a very slow pace of leveling and they have the negative energy spells to keep it healed up, this is going to be a short-term problem.

In fact, I wouldn't even make fights any tougher right away. There's this idea that every fight needs to be challenge - IME, not remotely true. Players ****ing love steam-rolling things occasionally, all the more so when it was because of an unexpected plan (preparing Command Undead may or may not count as a plan, but it is a somewhat niche spell). Let them smash some foes, and then after a session or two amp up the difficulty as required (and personally speaking, it's better to do this 'organically', but that depends on campaign style).

[KillianHawkeye]

That's a good point. This is a semi-limited use thing

Even assuming the party healer expends enough resources preparing inflict wounds spells to keep this zombie alive for a while, it will eventually come down to a choice between healing the zombie or healing the party. And sooner or later the zombie loses that choice.

[Biggus]

Mindless creatures, undead or otherwise, are prone to getting devastated by first-level spells and fancy planning. That's a rough lesson to learn. I fell for that one the first time I ran an undead-heavy dungeon and got clowned by minor illusions and cantrips all day.


I've not encountered this, how does it work?

[Ramza00]

I've not encountered this, how does it work?

You can make a mindless undead believe "the silent image illusionary wall" is actually there without a will save, for he is not smart enough (mindless) to realize these illusionary "road runner / scooby doo - physics" do not make sense. There is no interaction if the undead is only using sight to determine perception.

Now if you make an illusionary monster try to scare the undead that gets a will save.

[King of Nowhere]

There are good suggestions here, that i cannot discuss openly because some of my players read this forum.

One thing i'd want to clarify is what happens if another wizard cast control undead on the minion. I'm not aware of any specific ruling, though i have a few options. Opposed caster level check to fight for control. Or opposed charisma check. Or perhaps the bear really is trying to obey both at the same time. What could be more appropriate?

A few more things
- i decided to give full hit dice for everyone. Goes for the pcs, for the npcs, and for monsters. That's why it has 144 hp
- i houserule that for people with multiple weapon a simple attack can use all the weapons. Because dual wielding is weak enough anyway. It helps the party members, it also lets this bear use 2 claws (i decided to skip the bite though)
- in my campaign world animating undead is not inherently evil and undead are commonly used as laborers, so having someone hunting zombies is not an option. Though this is not a standard zombie and this may have interesting consequences.
I actually hope that they will eventually stumble on some of the hints i planted there

[Zanos]

One thing i'd want to clarify is what happens if another wizard cast control undead on the minion. I'm not aware of any specific ruling, though i have a few options. Opposed caster level check to fight for control. Or opposed charisma check. Or perhaps the bear really is trying to obey both at the same time. What could be more appropriate?

RC 137 says this:

Sometimes magical effects that establish mental control render each other irrelevant, such as a spell that removes the subject’s ability to act. Mental controls that don’t remove the recipient’s ability to act usually don’t interfere with each other. If a subject is under the mental control of two or more controllers, that subject obeys each controller to the best of its ability and to the extent that each controller’s effect allows. If the subject receives conflicting orders simultaneously, the competing controllers make opposed Charisma checks to determine which one the subject obeys.

[KillianHawkeye]

Well those house rules certainly benefit a zombie even more than other creatures, but I don't think it changes the situation too much. Be sure to enforce the zombie's lack of intelligence, requiring the controller to give it specific and explicit instructions, and the effort needed to use and maintain the creature should more or less balance out the benefits of having it.

[Fouredged Sword]

I would just pull the players aside and go "Good show, you won the encounter. I didn't anticipate you keeping the bear. Please don't plan on keeping it long term."

Dealing with players doing something unexpected frequently boils down to setting expectations so nobody feels cheated.

I actually played around with a houserule that I as DM could fiat encounters and rolls as I pleased without player's complaining, but every time I did so the player in question got a fate point. Fate points could be spent to nat 20 a roll.

It takes the sting out of sitting down with the player and telling them that the next town is going to have a paladin of Palor who is REALLY going to object to the presence of an undead bear and they can ether choose to dispose of it or watch as it is disposed of and get lectured by a paladin about how undead are always bad.

Maybe they let the paladin kill the bear. Maybe the next encounter the wizard sends it suicidality into the fray because he doesn't plan on keeping it. Doesn't matter. Ether way the imbalance is resolved, the player gets a reward for playing ball with the story, and the game continues.