I've been tossing around this great idea of a necromancer/illusionist, where he augments his actual undead minions with a horde of illusionary ones. More bluff and brains than brawn to be sure. Figure eventually I'll use shadow conjurations to give the hordes some combat effectiveness but I'm struggling with figuring out the proper race/class/classes combo to do this. I'd like to use Sorcerer for the charisma boost to bluff and intimidate, but that means slowing my access to spells and his versatility. Considered mixing in cleric for the undead control, but that again means slowing spell progression. Any thoughts on a viable combo?
Human wizard (necromancer/undead school specialist, shadowcaster archetype). Necromancy/undead school (Advanced Player's Guide) gives Power Over Undead ("You receive Command Undead or Turn Undead as a bonus feat. You can channel energy a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Intelligence modifier, but only to use the selected feat."), Bolster ("As a standard action, you can touch an undead creature and infuse it with negative energy. It gains a +1 profane bonus on all attack and damage rolls, as well as 1 temporary hit point per Hit Die and a +2 bonus to its turn resistance."), and Life Sight at 8th level. Shadowcaster (Inner Sea Magic) replaces Arcane Bond with Shadow Spells (prepare additional spells in your shadow and gain Shadowtongue as a bonus language), 5th-level bonus feat with Shadowsight (darkvision to 60 ft), and 10th-level bonus feat with Shadow Specialization (increases the effect of "shades, shadow conjuration, shadow evocation, and similar illusion spells that have a listed fraction of the strength of real effects"). Take either Deceitful or Persuasive as one of your 1st level feats (or Skill Focus in either Bluff or Intimidate) and either Bully or Fast Talker as a trait; don't dump Cha.
This should give you pretty much everything you mentioned without multiclassing. Also, look into picking up the Skeleton Summoner feat (Ultimate Magic).
great idea, thanks
If the Focused Study alternate racial trait from Advanced Race's Guide is allowed, be a Human. Instead of receiving your human bonus feat at 1st level, you get Skill Focus at 1st, 8th, and 16th levels - if you planned to take skill focus to begin with, this gives you three feats for the price of one.
You could take Skill Focus for three social skills (Bluff, Intimidate, and Sense Motive, for example), or you could spend one of them on Perception (it's always good to have more perception) or Spellcraft if you plan to use any Item Creation Feats (a +6 bonus on your Spellcraft roles will soak up the +5 DC to craft magical items in half the time).