Too Many Undead? [3.5]

[Volos]

My players decided to walk out on an adventure I had been planing for some time (my fault really), so I had to come up with something. Being that they are trying desperately to get back to the mainland, I've decided that zombie pirates is the only way to go. The only problem is that I have done the math, and it seems like there are way too many undead. Check my math?

Aventi (aquatic race) Vampire Sorceror 11 Master Vampire 1
With Undead Leadership (Leadership Score of 24) he has...
110 First Level Followers
11 Second Level Followers
6 Third Level Followers
3 Forth Level Followers
2 Fifth Level Followers
1 Sixth Level Followers
with a Cohort Level = 17th

But with Extra Followers (Heroes Of Battle) He recieves double the regular number of followers... and with Undead Leadership, they are undead of course so now he has...

220 First Level Followers
22 Second Level Followers
12 Third Level Followers
6 Forth Level Followers
4 Fifth Level Followers
2 Sixth Level Followers
with a Cohort Level = 17th

His one level of Master Vampire gives him double the number of vamperic Spawn, so he has 48HD of Spawn. Animate Undead allows him 48HD of Undead before his Stitched Flesh Familiar (Rat) allows him an Extra 4 HD of Undead, to a total of 52HD! And this is before I concider his Vampire Cleric Cohort (10th lvl). Who would have similar control over many undead through Animate Undead, Vamperic Spawn, Rebuke Undead, without even needing to take leadership.

So have I done my math right?
48HD of Spawn
52HD of Undead under direct Control
266 Followers

[Ranos]

I'm pretty sure leadership limits your cohort level to two levels below yourself, which would make it cohort level 10. Also, this seems to be a fairly high level campaign seeing as your villain is ECL 20 or so. Players shouldn't have too much trouble dealing with armies by that point, a few spells will do the trick. Get ready to give them ****loads of XP though, all these monsters add up.

[holywhippet]

What level is the party? What classes are they?

They shouldn't be taking on all those enemies at once which lessens their impact. Low level enemies can be taken out quite rapidly via a spell, a turn undead effect or even just a fighter with greater cleave and a decent BAB.

A well prepared spellcaster can take out a lot of undead in short order.

[deuxhero]

Make the lower level zombies a mob (DMGII, but there was a redone verison in the homebrew section a while ago)

[Artemiz]

Make the lower level zombies a mob (DMGII, but there was a redone verison in the homebrew section a while ago)

This.

You will not have a good time checking off the countless undead minions slaughtered by the wizard's AoE spells. If you must put large amounts of weak monsters in a scenario, group them together as one big ol' swarm (not necessarily in the MM sense of the word).

[Volos]

I'm pretty sure leadership limits your cohort level to two levels below yourself, which would make it cohort level 10. Also, this seems to be a fairly high level campaign seeing as your villain is ECL 20 or so. Players shouldn't have too much trouble dealing with armies by that point, a few spells will do the trick. Get ready to give them ****loads of XP though, all these monsters add up.

Sorry, I forgot to put the word "Max" infront of cohort, and ECL isn't my concern at the moment. His CR is technically 14, so that's all I'm worried about.

Make the lower level zombies a mob (DMGII, but there was a redone verison in the homebrew section a while ago)

Yes! I was thinking the same thing, but unsure of where to look. Thank you very much. I just played the first of a three session run with the zombie mobs (on a sinking fire ridden boat no less!) and it was amazing. The players actually enjoyed it, which surprised me. Usually they see undead and just end up running away or getting bored fast.