Seeking Undead CR 0-5

[Fouredged Sword]

Good day Playground. I was wondering if you can help me out. I am running a undead heavy game and am looking of a more diverse set of foes. Are there any ideas for undead CR 0-5?

Also is there a good way to make an undead spellcaster at low levels?

Also any undead templates are welcome.

Please attach page numbers and book if you know them. Or a web reference. I want to be able to find and use what you suggest.

DND 3.5. I'll look at homebrew.

Thankyou Playground. Have fun!

[Optimystik]

Make it all Shadows and Allips.

Ow! Stop throwing your dice at me! Why do people hate when I DM?

[Flickerdart]

If you don't want to use run of the mill Zombies and Skeletons, an Incarnum Zombie (Magic of Incarnum) is an excellent twist on the template. A Wight is a dangerous opponent for a party that can't deal with negative levels.

[Thelas]

Make it all Shadows and Allips.

Ow! Stop throwing your dice at me! Why do people hate when I DM?

As a fellow hated-DM-at-least-in-real-life-though-not-as-much-on-PbP-from-what-I-see:

protection from arrows (which, incidentally, functions equally well against d4s).

[nedz]

You should have a look over on the Crystal Keep Lists site. There are several monster lists there. Take a look at the Template list also as there are lots of quite interesting undead templates.

[BobVosh]

Crystal keep isn't bad, but Here is by far my favorite monster finder.

If found bloodhulk fighter amongst lot o' other things. I love those bloodhulks.

[Chiron0224]

I just tried bobvosh's link and I must say it is an excellent monster finder indeed. I found plenty of low CR undead using it that should keep you players busy until they can face the higher level stuff. Of note, however is what I like to call Rank and file vs. boss guy. I made an undead adventure recently for my players using only the MM and had a hard time finding low CR guys. So I made the tomb where the adventure took place in 3 distinct encounter zones. In the first one the trusted warriors(read Skeletons) of the evil king who was buried in this tomb were buried and rose to attack the PCs. In the second zone were the courtiers(read Zombies. I used zombies for the courtiers due to their lack of weapons or armor). And the final zone contained the evil king himself(second level fighter with the ghost template). basically the skellies and zombies would have been too low level(adventure was intended for 3rd level characters) but they were meant to be the dungeon fodder. Also I increased the EL of the encounters by sending waves of them at the players(kind of in keeping with the general theme of undead anyhow). However, the ghost had a high enough CR that it was ok that the players hadn't been challenged much on their way to him(i.e. he was the boss) since they would need their strength(and turn checks/cure spells). When running undead you have to ask yourself one question though. "is there a cleric?" if the answer is yes and especially if he's a good cleric, you can usually get away with larger CRs. It's like how you can send the players against high level fire elementals if they all have frost weapons and fire protection gear.

[Saintheart]

Diverse undead foes: look at Libris Mortis, and Heroes of Horror.

[Thurbane]

Also is there a good way to make an undead spellcaster at low levels?

A Ghast Sorcerer 4 is only CR 5, using the non-associated class rules for CR.

[The Glyphstone]

When running undead you have to ask yourself one question though. "is there a cleric?" if the answer is yes and especially if he's a good cleric, you can usually get away with larger CRs. It's like how you can send the players against high level fire elementals if they all have frost weapons and fire protection gear.

Don't count on this though - remember that Turning is based on HD, and undead increase HD to CR at a 4-1 ratio. A good cleric will allow you to throw larger groups of low-HD undead (which would be a higher CR), but won't necessarily be of help against a single high-CR undead, who will have many more HD.

[Runestar]

A Ghast Sorcerer 4 is only CR 5, using the non-associated class rules for CR.

Necropolitan works as well. Note that for undead with class lvs, the class lvs' HD is not automatically upgraded to d12s. So a ghast sorc4 rolls 4d12+4d4 for its hp, not 8d12.

Alternatively, you can give them SLAs via evolved or spellstiched templates, but bear in mind that some of the SLAs can prove too powerful for their cr (for example, a ghoul can access cloudkill).

[Curmudgeon]

You want more challenging undead? Stick with simple skeletons, but add magic. Boost your CL and cast Extended Haste on bunches of them for more speed and more attacks. Or, if you want to get really nasty, cast Unliving Weapon (Book of Vile Darkness, page 108) on some of them. They'll explode for up to 10d6 damage either when hit, or at a predetermined time.

[Endarire]

Undead Caster: Make a Necropolitan (Libris Mortis). I prefer Wizard.

[Runestar]

Dragons also make for very challenging low-cr zombies/skeletons, given the right conditions.

Look at the stats of a very young white dragon skeleton. 9 dragon HD, 6 natural attacks, cr2. Throw on awaken undead and you make that darn crab look like some kobold commoner1.

[WeeFreeMen]

Completely Unrelated, however, I just have to say it.
Thank you so much BobVosh for this Monster Finder. It is indeed awesome.

[SaintRidley]

Necropolitan works as well. Note that for undead with class lvs, the class lvs' HD is not automatically upgraded to d12s. So a ghast sorc4 rolls 4d12+4d4 for its hp, not 8d12.

Alternatively, you can give them SLAs via evolved or spellstiched templates, but bear in mind that some of the SLAs can prove too powerful for their cr (for example, a ghoul can access cloudkill).

Sort of depends on how the thing became undead. Template seems to change all HD, current and future, to d12. Non-template undead seem to generally have d12 for racial and class HD for class levels.