Building Cheap Undead

[Irving]

So I'm tossing together a level 1 encounter for 6 players, and I want some undead in the mix. Zombies are an, um, no-brainer, but I want something more in the mix.

I'm thinking a variant on the ghoul - no paralysis (lowbie encounters should never have save or suck stuff on them), maybe a disease, more likely an extra point or two of cold damage. For fun, I'm making them the "captains" of the zombies - the zombies have to be within 15' of the ghouls or they take 1d4 damage every round.

This is a Frostburn setting, so difficult terrain is in abundance. I might need to modify the zombies to speed them up, or else this is going to be a slow, slow fight.

I'm thinking 3 ghouls, 3 zombies apiece. 6 PCs, 2 of whom are clerics. Hoping for an encounter that consumes 50% of their resources. I'm figuring the clerics will chop down the effective number of zombies before combat seriously begins. Sound right?

[Fishy]

Check out Libris Mortis- they have variants for running zombies, flesh-eating zombies, disease-bearing zombies, and that zombie that just won't die. Good stuff.

[Kaww]

Give them ice step, I think that's how it's called. They can ignore the drawbacks of ice...