[3.5] Reduce, reuse, re-raise

[Flickerdart]

When you're short on corpses and short on minions, sometimes you have to make do with what you have. Recycling undead infuses them with more negative energy than normal, but leaves them physically brittle.

Recycled Undead

Recycled Undead is am acquired template that can be added to any corporeal undead creature. This template may be added more than once.

Size and Type
As base undead.

Hit Dice
The hit dice of a recycled undead are reduced by one category (d12 to d10, d10 to d8, and so on). Remove 2 HD from the base creature (and readjust its BAB, saves, feats and skills accordingly). An undead creature with a d4 hit die or 2 HD or less cannot be made into a recycled undead.

Speed
The base undead's movement speeds are all reduced by 5 feet.

Armour Class
The base undead's natural armour is reduced by 2, to a minimum of 0.

Attacks
As base undead.

Damage
Reduce damage from all natural weapons by one step. Each of a recycled undead's natural weapons deal an extra two points of negative energy damage.

Special Attacks
Add +2 DC to the following special attacks, if the base undead has them: Despair, Energy Drain, Fear Aura, Frightful Presence, Paralysis, Paralyzing Touch, Stench.

Special Qualities

Rebuke Resistance (Su)
Recycled undead are more difficult to rebuke due to their infusion with negative energy. Treat its HD as 2 higher for the purposes of being rebuked or controlled.

Light Sensitivity (Ex)
Recycled undead gain light sensitivity (they are dazzled in bright sunlight). Every subsequent application of this template increases the dazzled penalty by 1.

Abilities
-2 STR, -2 DEX, -2 WIS, -2 INT (if base undead is intelligent), +2 CHA. These adjustments cannot reduce an ability score below 1.

Challenge Rating
As base undead.

Level Adjustment
--

Reanimate Dead
Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Clr 3, Death 3, Sor/Wiz 4
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Targets: One or more destroyed undead touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This spell reanimates a destroyed undead creature and applies the recycled undead template to it. The undead remains animated until destroyed, but it is not under your control by default.

You cannot recycle more undead per casting than twice your caster level (the desecrate spell doubles this limit).

Material Component
Scroll of any spell with the [Lightning] descriptor and caster level equal to the total HD of undead to be reanimated.

[Temotei]

I rather like this, and will probably use this at least once in each of the campaigns I'm running.

When I saw this, I thought it was going to be a template or spell that made undead rise up again and again, possibly weakening each time they were "killed" until someone took them down three times, or something.

[Flickerdart]

I rather like this, and will probably use this at least once in each of the campaigns I'm running.

When I saw this, I thought it was going to be a template or spell that made undead rise up again and again, possibly weakening each time they were "killed" until someone took them down three times, or something.

Everybody knows that when you kill something and it pops back up, it's supposed to come back stronger.

[Eurus]

Why a charisma bonus, out of curiosity?

[Flickerdart]

Well, I felt that they should gain a positive stat boost out of all the negative energy bits, and CHA powers most undead save DCs. Additionally, Derro gain CHA from their madness, and the idea of an undead creature going more and more insane (and more and more persuasive!) as it's brought back tickles my fancy.

[DracoDei]

Well, I felt that they should gain a positive stat boost out of all the negative energy bits, and CHA powers most undead save DCs. Additionally, Derro gain CHA from their madness, and the idea of an undead creature going more and more insane (and more and more persuasive!) as it's brought back tickles my fancy.

Ah, and here I was sure that was going to turn out to be a typo...

For cross-referencing purposes, I am going to mention that if you are more efficient at the start you don't have to worry as much about recycling... of course, combining the two is even better. See my extended signature (under "Full list of Homebrew") for how to get 9 or more undead out of almost any corpse (some being more useful than others).