Animate undead un such

[Drimoran]

How can my character know how many HD a creature has, in order to pay its cost in onyx stones and in order to know if I can or not animate it? Also, am I aware of the exact number of HD I am controlling or how many HD do a skeleton has or anything?

Can my master say that my character don't know when he has come to his limit so I should just try and get a surprise?

How can I treat character knowledge to all these spells wich depends on HD of anyone creature?

[.seth]

the monster subtypes each correspond to a knowledge skill that they can make checks to learn information about, like how many hd they have. or they could add one 25gp onyx at a time until the corpse gets up and starts dancing around?

[Gilarius]

Knowledge skills.

If your GM won't allow you to work it out in character, maybe he should offer you the chance to rebuild your character into a non - necromancer?

[VRMH]

Just stuff the corpse's mouth full of small onyxes and then order the newly formed undead to cough up the remainder - excess material compounds should be unaffected by the spell.

[Robb Smith]

Gilarius wrote:

Knowledge skills.

If your GM won't allow you to work it out in character, maybe he should offer you the chance to rebuild your character into a non - necromancer?

I would frankly have to agree with this sentiment. This sort of question is not even a question in every game I have ever played in. You either do a little bit of research (off-camera) and get the answer or it's just hand-waived anyway because it's not worth wasting play time on.

If your GM is asking questions like this, or even hinting at the concept that you don't know how close to your controlled limit you are, it's pretty obvious they don't want you playing a necromancer character (and frankly, I don't really blame them for it.)

I am, however, a proud member of both the "Class features are meant to be boons, not banes." and "Class features should not inadvertently kill the party" camps.