low-level solo or elite undead

[tribble]

I want to confront my players with a paladin of the PC's paladin's god who has been enslaved by the forces of evil as an undead of some kind. My players are only level three, and I don't have a copy of the PHB, so I can't just build a DM PC for them to fight. Are there other monsters I haven't thought of with statblocks that work for an undead knight?

[Crasical]

What books do you have?

Open Grave has the Dread Zombie as a level 5 zombie soldier that has plate, a shield, and attacks with a longsword. Stick a template on it and turn it into an elite, either the class template for Paladin if you want the creepiness of him still having divine powers, or something like Deathhunger (Give him a minion to chew on when the players first attack) or Relentless Killer to make him more dangerous as an undead.

[NecroRebel]

Creatures built as player characters don't make very good monsters anyhow; they're relatively frail, with fewer hit points and lower defenses than equal-level monsters, but don't have to ration daily resources, so they tend to be ridiculous glass cannons.

Unfortunately, there aren't many low-level solo creatures that aren't dragons, and it would be difficult to refluff a dragon as an undead paladin. At level 3, though, you've got options from up to level 8 or so. You probably want brute or soldier role monsters for this, too. Most if not all of the books with monsters in them have a list of monsters by level, role, and elite or solo status. I'd suggest simply going through the books you have, finding the elites and solos in the right level range, and examining their stats to see what could be refluffed.

For instance, the Orc Bloodrager from MM1 is a L7 elite brute with a strong melee attack, a power that is usable when bloodied that grants significant healing, and an ability that lets it heal when it hits a bloodied opponent. Consider a vampiric paladin - they'd probably have a strong melee attack, they'd have powers that grant them significant healing, and would have a bloodsucking ability to heal themselves when they hit a bloodied creature. Hey look, those descriptions are, mechanically, identical. Changing the fluff is easy.

[tribble]

Yeah, I looked through again and realised the mummy guardian could work if I scaled it down. If I wanted it to be elite, would it work to just leave it at a higher level than the party, or is the elite tag more sophisticated?

-EDIT: I have the DMG and MM1.

[NecroRebel]

Levels increase defenses more than the elite status does, but the elite status increases hit points by far more and every elite enemy has more options. The Mummy Guardian would be extremely boring to fight because it only has the one attack option. However, leveling it down to 7, or even 6, and then applying the Paladin template would work... Except you don't have PHB1 to give it paladin powers. Hmm. Maybe apply the Battle Champion, Bodyguard, or Death Knight (with the Unholy Flames power nerfed to 2d8 or 3d8+con) template.

[Crasical]

Phantom Warrior + Death Master or Shadowborn Stalker?

Skeleton + Paladin or Battle Champion?