We have an scenario where somebody is going to be executed. We can try to make a daring escape from prison, but we're hailed as heroes in town, and help a (presumed) mass murderer to get free would ruin our reputation, would make us outlaws, and not all the people in group are Okay with the plan.
So the idea was to have the wizard raise some random corpse as a zombie, and use "Scult Corpse" so it would look like our friend. Then switch one with the other (We tough about using invisibility) So the zombie would get executed without enraging the monk and the paladin in the group (Our friend would wear a Hat of Disguise 24/7 until he could clean his name)
But Sculp Corpse is said to work in corpses, and Create Undead (And resurrection) acts just if Sculpt Corspe wasn't used at all.
Our Idea is to use Sculpt Corpse AFTER raising the zombie. So... do you think that would work?
-- Sorry for my awful english. Yo hablo español --
This spell merely changes the appearance of the corpse. Any spell or effect that targets the corpse (such as speak with dead or raise dead) treats it as if it still had its original appearance.
The RAI for the additional rules is that you cannot change the corpse and ressurect someone other. You sculpt person A to B but as soon as you ressurect him he changes back to A. 'Animate Dead' works in an other way. A corpse with a missing limb animates as a zombie with a missing limb.
This is a grey area and you have to talk with your GM.
I like the idea but on my table you need some more magic for sounds, hide the smell of rotten flesh with perfume etc. Maybe a higher illusion can do the job more easily.
So...I think you would have to you scuplt corpse before turning it into a zombie technically, but I would have wave that if it was necessary for the plan to work. (I'm not sure why you want to wait until after the zombie has been raised to sculpt it).
Do remember though, that the NPCs will get saves to realize that he is not acting right. Also a zombie's range of actions without you around might not be sufficient to keep people thinking he is a human being.
A zombie left alone will start trying to attack people and act like zombie, rather than a human. Which will probably give it away pretty quickly.
I like your ideas!
Well I was asking form something a little more oficial, more "You can do" or "You Can not".
Since we can visit our friend in prison, we can tell him that he can unkempt his appearance and do some gross things. Also, perfumes, and very -VERY- explicit orders about how to act.
Thank you everybody!
-- Sorry for my awful english. Yo hablo español --
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The RAI for the additional rules is that you cannot change the corpse and ressurect someone other. You sculpt person A to B but as soon as you ressurect him he changes back to A. 'Animate Dead' works in an other way. A corpse with a missing limb animates as a zombie with a missing limb.
I don't interpret it that way. As I understand it if you turn A to B, and then cast a spell on it, it stays B but acts like A. For example, if you make a large corpse medium you can't use lesser animate dead on it because the spell treats it as if it were large, but you can use regular animate dead on it and the new undead is medium. So, you could make a human look like an elf then resurrect them, and I see no reason why they wouldn't keep their appearance (though they'd still be human despite the appearance). You also could use sculpt corpse to repair a badly damaged body, but speak dead still might not work on it despite the corpse's appearance (it doesn't mean the corpse suddenly falls apart again)
Unless there is a more official interpretation to the contrary, I don't see a problem at all with the zombie switch.
This is a somewhat clever way to do it, though Zombies aren't very good actors, and it won't be very easy to convince people it's him. They might, however, think "He died and became a zombie in his prison cell for some reason."
sculpt corpse + undead lord = at first level gaining a gargantuan size undead companion with over 100 hit points and a 6d6+7 bite attack 4d6+7 claws and 4d6+7 tail slap DRAGON to ride and fly on. necromancy specialized wizards just became the most dangerous things in existance. Because the creature still counts as small even though it has been made gargantuan. and a first level undead lord can if built correctly animate up to 17 hit dice of undead. Lastly undeads hit dice are directly effected by their size.
WHAT EVEN IS THIS GAME WHEN LEVEL 1 NECROMANCERS SUDDENLY ALL START WALKING AROUND WITH COLLOSAL SIZED COMPANIONS
Sorry for the de-rail, but
and a first level undead lord can if built correctly animate up to 17 hit dice of undead.How, please? I'm certainly not saying it can't be done, just that I can't figure out how. So I'm curious :)
This appears to use very very loose interpretations of various abilities and feats.
Class: Cleric - undead Lord variant
Race: Human
Feats: Spell focus (necromancy), Undead Master
In theory you could take a corpse who is 5 HD. You then cast sculpt corpse on it multiple times until it is a colossal creature.
Then you animate it using Undead Lord's domain ability to gain a free undead companion. Normally, the companion could not be greater than your character's HD, but if we pretend the ability counts as an animate dead spell (since it uses the word animate in the description) then the Undead master feat allows you to raise it (since it increases your cap by 4 HD)
Lastly, a zombie created using the zombie template gains HD based on the size of the creature. Colossal undead gain an extra 10 HD on top of whatever racial HD the creature possesses.
If we pretend that these HD are gained retro-actively and that the animate spell/ability being used on the corpose only refrences the number of HD the corpse has before the spell is cast not how many HD the resulting creature is.
then we end up with a 1st level character with a 15 HD colossal zombie under their control.
I assume there is a trait, feat or option I've over looked that acts similarly to Undead Master that adds another 2 HD and it's pretended that this ability also acts retroactively.
I follow the logic but IMO it falls apart in multiple places.
Now, getting back on topic I agree with others that you need to cast sculpt corpse before animating the zombie and that It would create a zombie that looks like your friend. You can't cast it after the zombie is animated because the targeting is wrong and this is probably a good thing. since if you were allowed to use it on zombies it would basically be a free enlarge person spell that would permanently add HD retroactively to the zombie.
Had some other thoughts to consider with the deception.
1. How well known is the character being executed. sculpt corpse allows a will save for anyone who "knows" the person and if there is a large crowd gathered and everyone gets a will save, at least one person is going to say "Hey, that's not Sam!"
2. how is the hanging being treated ruleswise?
If it's a coup de grace and the undead is killed by it then it will turn to dust, ruining the ruse. However, zombies don't need to breathe and so it's possible that it would just flat out be immune. The only trouble is making sure the zombie "plays dead". Otherwise they might suspect something if he flails about well after he should be dead or worse when they take the body down he stands back up as if nothing had happened.
none of these things are necessarily deal breakers, it just means that whoever animates him will have to hang around to make sure that the zombie "acts right".
Lastly, (though I admit I could be wrong on this point) I think undead are commanded via verbal commands. People might think it's kind of weird when one person keeps on yelling at the person on the end of the noose "Play Dead!" every time the body twitches.
Going by one of the events in Carrion Crown, Sculpt Corpse may be able to be used to make a corpse look like a specific living person and then can be raised and it will still look like the person it was sculpted to look like. However, the zombies used were juju zombies and the person they were imitating had been subjugated to a long ritual that had nearly drained their entire life force so they were acting a lot like a zombie as well.