I'm making an Aasimar Cleric of Urgathoa in a campaign starting at Level 3.
Rolled Starting Stats:
Strength: 8
Dexterity: 10
Constitution: 15
Intellegence: 10
Wisdom: 16 +2 racial
Charisma: 16 +2 racial
Domains: Undead (Death) and Divine (Magic)
Feats: Command Undead, and Improved Channel
Traits: Sacred Conduit, Seeker
I'm also using the Undeath Variant Channel
GM's Homebrew gimmicks are that we start off with lv1 starting gold, but a free magic item of 10000gp or less. I'm planning on taking a Headband of +2 Wisdom and +2 Charisma.
DM said that I am allowed to have my undead followers created by the start of the adventure assuming that my animated undead were created using spells that my character can cast (Lesser Animate Dead so no templates) in a Desacrated area, and my Command Undead . . . undead are allowed to be stolen from someone else (so they can have a template). All of which are free!! : )
I have 12 HD worth of Undead and 3 HD worth of Command Undead, however I'm having difficulties understanding how to properly apply the Skeleton and Zombie templates to creatures. For example, if I wanted to make a Skeleton from a 4th level human fighter, would the skeleton have 4HD, or would it only have 1 because it was made using a Human and loses all class level?
Please go wild and leave suggestions for some good undead followers to have that fit within my 12 HD and 3HD limit, as well as any other advice you may wish to contribute.
Also I was looking at the Undead Lord Archetype, and was considering taking it. Is it worth it? I'm mostly just interested in freeing up my 1st level feat for Scribe Scroll, using the Corpse Companion as a fancy undead backpack, and empowering my negative channel healing. Is it worth losing the domain?
For example, if I wanted to make a Skeleton from a 4th level human fighter, would the skeleton have 4HD, or would it only have 1 because it was made using a Human and loses all class level?
It would only have 1 hit die. All class levels are lost when applying the skeleton or zombie templates. As a general rule of thumb, this means humanoids are the worst targets for animate dead since they'll be so weak. Use animals like wolves or bears instead.
Also I was looking at the Undead Lord Archetype, and was considering taking it. Is it worth it?
While losing a domain is pretty harsh, the real decisive factor here is that you're locked into the undeath domain spells, and they aren't very good. Having another domain not only grants you those powers, but also lets you prepare more useful domain spells.
I see. Thank you for clearing up the template problem I was having.
Is there a better domain for me to pick to make up for the Undead domain than Divine (Magic) for an Urgathoa Cleric?
I would prefer to keep worshiping Urgathoa for character reasons and so I can use the Undeath Variant Channel, however if another God would be a better choice for Domains, Variant Channeling, and possibly Sacred Summons synergy then I'm all ears.
You will get a ton of undead lord hate on the boards, but having played one I think it is, at least as good, if not better as a necromancer.
Here's what you loose:
Only one Domain: Ouch this is big. You also loose the flexibility of choice as your locked into undeath. Your 1st level ability deaths kiss is alright, but nothing to write home about. It becomes more useful at higher levels to let you heal your allies with your negative energy, saving some resources. Luckily, your one domain does let you eat negative energy at level 8, while harming your foes! You can channel to harm and target your self and you heal! This is excellent, hurting foes while healing yourself is a good thing.
Spells: You are limited to the domain slots of death (undead). While many of these are very good, some are pretty bad.
What You gain:
Corpse Companion: The companion is decent at level 1-4, ok at level 5-7, and near worthless past that. See if your GM will let you take Leadership and make your companion a leveled cohort. Mine did and it made it much better. If not its ultimately fodder that will perish a lot. This isn't really relevant to the class though so its ok.
Domain Spells: Outside of cause fear and ghoul touch its a pretty solid domain spell list. Not the best you could do but decently strong.
2 Bonus Feats This always is overlooked by naysayers of the undead lord. You get 2 bonus feats! And both were ones you needed in your build anyway. The undead lord is feat starved (I didn't finish my feat build out until level 13 with the 2 bonus feats and we earned a free feat during the game from a friendly dragon) so I'll take all the feats I can take.
Unlife HealerThis ability right here makes you the best healer in the entire game. So, you always want to take Variant Channeling (undeath) when your a necromancer. We'll compare this to the Aasimar Life Oracle using FCB abuse. At level 4, she heals as a 6th level cleric which is 3d6 for an average of 10.5. The undead lord(or anyone with undeath somain) heals 2d6*1.5 or 10.5. At level 8 you empower all healing again. So the Life oracle heals 6 dice for 21 healing. The undead lord now heals 4*2 dice for 28 healing. Nice! Now, if this isn't good enough we can go to level 16. At level 16 the life oracle heals an impressive 12d6 dice for 42 healing. You on the other hand channel 8d6(Maximized at 48)*2 for 96 healing! You could also use a spell like inflict critical wounds mass to damage your enemies for 4d8+16 damage while healing your allies/minions/self for 96 damage! Oh, and harm heals 225 HP's now. You just became a bomb of destroying your enemies while simultaneously healing your allies.
If you can talk some of your party members into getting negative energy affinity all the better. I talked 2 out of 4 of my allies into it, and it saved them more than a few times. Personally, I think the pay off is well worth it, but you should at least weigh it objectively. Especially going with Urgathoa (she doesn't really have great domains, Zon Kuthon is more of a toss up IMO) your losses are minimal.
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The Undead Master feat requires Spell Focus: Necromancy, but will let you control an extra 20 hit dice of undead critters. Quite a bit of extra firepower (and higher DCs on some nasty debuffs) for a pair of feats!
Also, instead of animating humans as simple skeletons or zombies, consider getting yourself a battalion of Belching Severed Heads. They're fragile - 100GP for each one for just 4 hit points - but with flying and a ranged touch attack energy damage, they can pester groundbound enemies quite well. Oh, though you will need access to the spell Fly somehow... Perhaps there's a wizard around who isn't too opposed to the idea of enchanting heads for you?
Under A Bleeding Sun: Thank you pointing out the pros of the Undead Lord. Gotta admit I am a sucker for Bonus Feats. :3
Reynard_The_Fox: I like them! They're like little undead Lantern Archons~. And I AM an Aasimar after all . . .
As for Undead Master, I remember reading in the Guides that it's a trap because it only increases the amount of Undead you can animate at a time, and doesn't actually do anything for the amount you can have follow you. If I had access to the Command Undead spell with it's unlimited number of potential undead minions, it'd be a different story.