This is for a homegame i take it? PFS has banned those archetypes.
Is evil alignment allowed in said game? Though gravewalker requires no evil alignment, they do use the aura of desecration, an aura of evil.
1) It sounds however MAD. (Your casting depending on 2 ability scores, leaving less for physical things.)
2) Unsure, but that sounds like extra reading effort.
3) Seems a 1HD burning skeleton would count as 2HD in your max HD you can control/make, due to said variant.
Get the appropriate species for them. I'd have to read up on it, but i 'think' the HD depends on what number of HD the creature had, before you raised it.
4) If by that rule a variant counts as double the required HD, it answers your question.
Cheers,
A gravewalker.
1- First at all I want to know if I can select Cleric (undead lord archetype) and witch (Gravewalker archetype) for my player character. Because I think it's a better option if I want to be the leader of an undead army.
There's nothing stopping you, other than alignment/deity restrictions if your GM sets those.
My idea is create a 12th level character with 6 undead lord levels and 6 gravewalker levels. I choose gifted adept (animate dead) trait and also spell focus (necromancy), spell specialization (animate dead) and undead master feats.
The gifted adept (animate dead) trait let me cast "animate dead" as +1 caster level, spell specialization (animate dead) let me cast animate dead as +2 caster levels and undead master let me cast animate dead spell as +4 caster levels.
The trait and Spell Specialization are fine, but Undead Master doesn't work the way you think. It allows you to count as four levels higher for the number of undead you can animate at once, but not for the number you can control. Given that the default is twice your caster level, you'll never actually need the boost Undead Master gives (and if you do, just get a scroll of Desecrate, which doubles the raise-at-once limit).
2- The question here if those bonus stacks and if they will work on any "animate dead" spell regardless its origin (divine or arcane).
Because if they do stack my PC should control, using animate dead, 4HD per caster level undeads (skeletons or zombies), with both classes. Considering 13 caster levels in both classes (caster level:6, +1 gifted adept, +2 spell specialization, +4 undead master = 13 cl)
Then my PC should control 13*4 = 62 HD worth undead creatures for each class with a freaking 124 HD total.
Spell Specialization and Gifted Adept would stack, yes. Removing Undead Master, you'd be left with 36 HD per class for 72 HD total. This is more than you'd get by single-classing... but honestly, it's not worth it for the loss of spellcasting progression. Especially since both cleric and gravewalker have separate control pools (through the Command Undead feat for clerics, and the command undead spell or Bonethrall ability for gravewalker).
A pure 12th level cleric could have the same 72 HD total given Spell Specialization, Gifted Adept, and the Command Undead feat. The Undead Lord companion would bring that to 84 HD.
A 12th level gravewalker, meanwhile, could control 60 HD with that base, another 12 through the command undead spell, and yet another 12 through Bonethrall; 84 total without even spending a feat.
3- So with that number in mind, I want to ask how the rules for creating variant skeleton/zombie works.
I read this:
quote:
"Editor's Note: The bloody skeleton and burning skeleton variants are created by use of the animate dead spell but count as double their normal HD when doing so."And I read you can stack more than one variant forms (except when it says it could not) i.e.: "Host Corpse: This skeleton or zombie has been infested with a swarm of vermin or Tiny undead creatures that it releases from its body. Skeletal hosts often hold carrionstorms or bat swarms in their rib cages. Acid, bloody, and burning skeletons...
For skeletons, you're only restricted by the caster level multiple; you can raise twice your caster level at once, but variants count their HD twice, so you can't make a variant skeleton whose HD are more than 1x your caster level. Burning and bloody are the only 'official' variants; others exist as monsters, but aren't specifically noted to be creatable, so it's up to your GM.
Zombies have slightly higher requirements, in that their variants require additional spells to be cast; remove paralysis or haste gives you a fast zombie, while contagion allows plague zombies.
Also, raising the dead costs components, unless handwaved, per HD.
If it is a homegame, playing a Cruoromancer (a wizard archetype) might suit your needs better. As it increases the amount of undead you can control automatically and allows for some interesting options in raising them.