21+ HD zombies and skeletons

[Fero]

The Monster Manual entries for the skeleton and zombie templates say that you cannot use the Animate Dead spell to create skeletons/zombies over 20 HD. This begs the question, what other methods exist to create skeletons/zombies that are not subject to this limit? So far, all I can think of are:

1- Fell Animate MM feat
2-Yathrinshee MM.

Any other ideas?

[Zanos]

Plague of Undead(Sor/Wiz, Clr 9) and using Create Undead to make a mohrg to do it for you both come to mind.

[Biggus]

Use a dragon as the base creature. The Skeletal Dragon and Zombie Dragon templates in the Draconomicon don't mention a HD limit, and the sample Skeletal Dragon is 22HD.

[Fero]

Plague of Undead(Sor/Wiz, Clr 9) and using Create Undead to make a mohrg to do it for you both come to mind.

Wow, I always undersestoma6ed the usefulness of Morghs. I will have to reasses. Thank you.

Plague of Undead is great, but lvl 9. I wonder if any other spells allow the creation of skeletons or zombies.

[ShurikVch]

Class Features
Pale Master (Libris Mortis) - Deathless Master's Touch:
A living foe of up to one size category larger than a pale master hit by the pale master's touch attack must succeed on a Fortitude save or die. A slain creature automatically animates 1 round later as a zombie and is under the pale master's control as if he had animated it. Undead created using this power do not count against a pale master's HD total for controlling undead.
Prerequisite: Class level 10th.

Spells
4th:
Seed of Undeath - arguably: "Should the subject die before the spell expires, however, it rises as a zombie 1 round later (as per the animate dead spell), as long as a sufficient corpse remains."

4 (or 5)th:
Animate Legion - arguably: "See animate dead, page 199 of the Player's Handbook, for information on what is required to create a skeleton or zombie from a corpse."

4 (or 6)th:
Animate Undead Legion - [War] spell (Dragon #309)

7th:
Greater Seed of Undeath - as Seed of Undeath, but AoE effect

9th:
Plague of Undead - arguably: "The bones and bodies required for this spell follow the same restrictions as animate dead."
Putrefaction - (Dragon #300) - victim is aging rapidly (1 age category per round); when age go beyond venerable - victim dies, their body animates as a zombie, and soul becomes a Ghost

Invocations
The Dead Walk - arguably: "You can turn the bones or bodies of dead creatures into undead skeletons or zombies (as the animate dead spell)."

Items
Shrouds of the Unholy (https://web.archive.org/web/20161101074900/http://archive.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/dx20021031x): able to create any Undead, period

Creatures
Kyuss worm (Monster Manual II, Dragon #336, Exemplars of Evil, Elder Evils):
Once the worm reaches the brain, it deals 1d2 points of Intelligence damage per round until it either is killed (by remove curse or remove disease) or slays its host (death occurs at 0 Intelligence). A Small, Medium-size, or Large creature slain by a worm rises as a new spawn of Kyuss 1d6+4 rounds later; a Tiny or smaller creature quickly putrefies; and a Huge or larger creature becomes a normal zombie of the appropriate size.

Rot Reaver (Monster Manual III):
Animate Dead (Su): As a standard action, a rot reaver can animate any dead creature within 60 feet that was affected by its wound rot ability within the last 24 hours. Creatures animated by a rot reaver rise as zombies.
A rot reaver can animate a number of Hit Dice of creatures equal to its own Hit Dice.
ROT REAVER
Medium Aberration
...
Advancement: 11–20 HD (Medium); 21–30 HD (Large)Up to 30 HD! And no "as the spell of the same name" clause!

[sleepyphoenixx]

Do they have to be undead?

Yellow Musk Zombies (FF) don't have a HD cap. They're also plants instead of undead so they're immune to turning/anti-undead spells.
They only last a few weeks before rotting, but unlike undead you can stuff them into a bottle with Smoky Confinement like pokemon.
You can summon Yellow Musk Creepers with SNA IV or wild shape into one at druid 15, so making them isn't hard either.

Myconid Sovereigns (MM2) have a similar ability that animates corpses as mushroom-zombies. Those are literally just the zombie template with the type changed to plant.
Druids can wildshape into those at level 8 with Enhance Wild Shape.

Also not really a zombie but if you pick up Assume Supernatural Ability or Metamorphic Transfer a level 20 druid (or 16 with a Wildshape Amulet) can also turn into a Mosslord (from the Mind's Eye web articles) that can turn any living non-plant creature into a shambling mound that's friendly to him.

[ShurikVch]

Do they have to be undead?

Yellow Musk Zombies (FF) don't have a HD cap. They're also plants instead of undead so they're immune to turning/anti-undead spells.
They only last a few weeks before rotting, but unlike undead you can stuff them into a bottle with Smoky Confinement like pokemon.
You can summon Yellow Musk Creepers with SNA IV or wild shape into one at druid 15, so making them isn't hard either.

Myconid Sovereigns (MM2) have a similar ability that animates corpses as mushroom-zombies. Those are literally just the zombie template with the type changed to plant.
Druids can wildshape into those at level 8 with Enhance Wild Shape.

Also not really a zombie but if you pick up Assume Supernatural Ability or Metamorphic Transfer a level 20 druid (or 16 with a Wildshape Amulet) can also turn into a Mosslord (from the Mind's Eye web articles) that can turn any living non-plant creature into a shambling mound that's friendly to him.
For "plant-type zombies", there are also Fungus Minions (https://web.archive.org/web/20161101075005/http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mm/20020519a)

[SirNibbles]

There are a handful of diseases which can create zombies with no mention of any HD limit:

Necromantic Infection (Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, page 16)
Byoki no Oni Zombie Plague (Oriental Adventures, page 186)
Spiritual Corruption (Sharn: City of Towers, page 178)
Grave-Tainted Well Sickness (Dragon Magazine #350, page 40)

Of those, only the Byoki no Oni Zombie Plague states that the zombie created is under your (the Byoki no Oni's) control. However, you can always use normal methods of controlling undead.

[ShurikVch]

Ulgurstasta (Fiend Folio): living creatures swallowed by ulgurstasta are transformed into skeletons - no mentions of Animate Dead; if ulgurstasta somehow manages to swallow and transform a leShay (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/leshay.htm) - it would be 50 HD Skeleton

[Fero]

There are a handful of diseases which can create zombies with no mention of any HD limit:

Necromantic Infection (Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, page 16)
Byoki no Oni Zombie Plague (Oriental Adventures, page 186)
Spiritual Corruption (Sharn: City of Towers, page 178)
Grave-Tainted Well Sickness (Dragon Magazine #350, page 40)

Of those, only the Byoki no Oni Zombie Plague states that the zombie created is under your (the Byoki no Oni's) control. However, you can always use normal methods of controlling undead.

These diseases are interesting. Do you happen to know if there is any way to access the diseases without somehow first obtaining the underlying monster?

[SirNibbles]

These diseases are interesting. Do you happen to know if there is any way to access the diseases without somehow first obtaining the underlying monster?

Nosomatic Chirurgeon (Dragonmarked, page 114) and Cancer Mage (Book of Vile Darkness, page 52) allow you to transmit pretty much any disease.

For those diseases which are Ex, Wild Shape is an option; for Su diseases, Wild Shape combined with Assume Supernatural Ability or some other method for getting the supernatural abilities of your Wild Shape form works.

EDIT: I am stupid and forgot that you can't Wild Shape into undead, even with Master of Many Forms. Byoki no Oni works since it's an Outsider so you could do it with Planar Shepherd.

[Olive_Sophia]

Blackguard can obtain an Undead Companion with more than 20HD, as long as it’s a medium creature. He doesn’t actually create it, it just shows up and serves. But still. It’s also an intelligent skeleton/zombie, which is a rarity.

[Fero]

The Worm Within from Dragon 343 can also create uncapped HD zombies but the target must be huge or larger and you must kill them with the spell.