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I am constructing a witch to be the "Big Bad" for the sleepy little town my PCs started in. I'm pairing her with some undead of my own creation that function in almost every way like burning skeletons, except they deal negative energy damage instead of fire, and their aura empowers negative energy effects within 5 ft. (CR1)
My party is well-built, balanced, and tactically intelligent. They handled a CR6 encounter at level 2. I'm trying to decide at what level to bring in the witch.
I can't wait too long, as the build loses effectiveness pretty quickly.
She can control (L) HD of undead, so if I brought her in at 6th level, she'd have 2 channel dice, 6 minions, and level 3 spells. She'd be CR5, and each of the skeletons would be CR1, resulting in a CR7 encounter. But most of the power is centered in one creature.
Mm, she also has animate dead as a patron spell, and could conceivably raise 12HD of undead in one go (twice caster level, right?). I'm also unsure of how that interacts with bone thrall, though it would appear she has both pools of undead to pull from. Maybe she'll raise a skeletal T-Rex if she gets in trouble. We're in the mwangi expanse, after all.
Is this challenging or a TPK in the making? What kinds of tactical advantages should I give the PCs to make this fight a fight worth remembering?