Hey everyone, I've been trying to write up an Undead Lord as a backup character for the adventure my group is currently playing. I'm writing him up at level 10, and was wondering a few things about the Corpse Companion feature.
1) Is it better to go with a 10HD skeleton or use the "create a variant skeleton such as a bloody or burning skeleton, but its Hit Dice cannot exceed half her cleric level." approach?
2) If I go with the variants, can multiple variants be added, so long as the HD does not come above 5? eg: 3HD monster with Skeletal Champion giving +2 Racial HD, as well as burning, or acid? Or is it only one variant cap?
3) Skeletal Champions seem to be a really good way to go to me, so the next thing to look for would be a monster I could skeletonize with good STR, DEX, and CHA scores, (min int 3) so it would be a formidable fighter and have decent HP, any suggestions?
Thanks in advance for any help, I hope I can get this figured out.
Thanks for the response!
So then the only thing left I guess is number 2: can multiple variants be constructed? ie: take a 5HD monster and raise a bloody, burning skeleton, or is it only one variant per skelly?
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My understanding is that when creating the Skelly, the bloody part makes it twice the HD, and so does the burning part.
You can make a Bloody Burning Skelly, but it raises the HD cap.
The only question is whether or not the cost increase really is x3 or x4. See this thread for a discussion regarding this matter.
Ideally, if the modifiers stack like typical modifiers, x2 + x2 should = x3 HD modifier...meaning the max you could raise as a bloody burning skelly with a 10HD cap would be a 3hd skelly...
but if its x2 +x2 = x4, then it would of course be a 2hd bloody burning skelly instead.
1)Variant
2)You cannot do champion, stick with bloody.
3)You cannot create skeletal champions.
You are misinformed. Skeletal champions are variants of skeletons.
Variant Skeletons
Numerous variant skeletons exist, such as those whose bones burn with an unending fire and those who drip with gore and reassemble themselves over time. Both of these variant skeletons can be created using animate dead, but they count as twice their normal number of Hit Dice per casting. Once controlled, they count normally against the controller's limit.
Perhaps the most dangerous variant skeleton, though, is the skeletal champion. This skeleton retains its intellect, and often any class levels it possessed in life. A skeletal champion cannot be created with animate dead—these potent undead only arise under rare conditions similar to those that cause the manifestation of ghosts or via rare and highly evil rituals.
Each of the following skeleton types modifies the base skeleton in a few key ways. Except as noted, these variations can be stacked with one another—it's possible to have a bloody burning skeletal champion.
Emphasis mine.
Consider the last part of that, though. At the worst, if I were GMing, I would require the Undead Lord to provide something extra to create the champion. Might be a costly reagent, might be a longer ritual, might require some sort of connection to the thing being raised (i.e. dead party member, family member, any friend, not just some random dude).
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1) Variants are better. Go check out Classic Horrors Revisted. There are more variants in there, some of which are just balling. Check with your GM before try to use one, though, because while it is Paizo, it's not in the core books.
2) Refer to the spoiler. It's not incredibly clear on how it works, but I think it's intended that each variant cuts the max HD in half. Check with your GM. If you can use it, do so at your discretion - at some point, you are probably weakening the creature too much to benefit from the added abilities.
3) This depends on what you want to do with it. I created an Undead Lord whose companion was an undead minotaur barbarian skeletal champion. He carried around a large coffin on his back. When battle would start, he would sling it off and slam it on the ground. The coffin was linked to a permanent demiplane where the cleric kept his undead horde. He'd then call out whatever he needed - archery skeletons, magus (spellcasting skeletons from Undead Horrors Revisted), cannon fodder, whatever. The little guys, combined with the spellcasting from the character, was the primary offense. The skeletal champion defended the coffin (it was a weakness - if destroyed, the access to the demiplane would be lost) and the cleric.
However, having an offensive companion is definitely a viable route. Barbarians will be your friend in this, but you could just run a solid fighter. I don't know how some classes would interact with this (like, think about an undead summoner companion... so much potential cheese, but it might not mesh, I haven't looked into that at all).
Wow, thanks a ton, So now if i want to make a skeletal champion i have to find a 3HD monster thats actually got good feats and ability scores.