What I'm picturing here is a weapon that can cast Animate Dead X times/day or any number of times/day, holds the charge on its own and has it's own pool of controlled undead. If it leaves your possession, the undead become uncontrolled. If someone else gets it, they control them. If it breaks, the undead crumble. Thoughts?
Make it an intelligent item, presumably an evil one, and use the usual rules for giving it spell abilities. Don't give it many more powers if you want the wielder to maintain control! This should give you 95% of what you're looking for.
....Can you intentionally create intelligent items?
I'm not sure about normally, but there are rules for it in Mythic Adventures. Basically it's a template for treating the object as a character with stats, spellcasting levels on a point-based system, etc.
As a DM? Sure. Craft an intelligent rock for all you care.
As a player? Ask your DM.
After a full examination, it seems a bit expensive to make this a intelligent item. Would any DMs allow it just as a Magic Item Creation-built item?
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hector212121 wrote: After a full examination, it seems a bit expensive to make this a intelligent item. Would any DMs allow it just as a Magic Item Creation-built item? Probably. I'm sure there's at least one DM who would allow this.
Just ask your DM if it is allowed, because his opinion is the only one that matters.
Try tying it to lesser animate dead, that might bring the cost down.
But if you want the item to control the critters, then ya, it will need to be an intelligent item, as mentioned.
I think a fun limitation would be to have the sword only be able to animate those it was used to kill - maybe such a limitation could be factored in to reduce the cost?
Just a thought.
The intelligent sword idea would be cooler if it were wielded by the most powerful undead it had created. :)
I was actually thinking of using it to kill mooks while it had held charges. Just like, "Eight against one? Man, you must suck at counting even worse than I do. It's six against three!" Proceed to murder two.
Might require Death Knell to instakill at -1 hp, tho.
Oh, and for clarity, I don't want the sword to control the undead... I want the wielder to have a extra pool of undead granted by the sword because it has it's own magic supporting them, and the drawback is that you have to control them while having the sword. Think remote control, not artificial intelligence.
hector212121 wrote: I was actually thinking of using it to kill mooks while it had held charges. Just like, "Eight against one? Man, you must suck at counting even worse than I do. It's six against three!" Proceed to murder two.
Might require Death Knell to instakill at -1 hp, tho.
Oh, and for clarity, I don't want the sword to control the undead... I want the wielder to have a extra pool of undead granted by the sword because it has it's own magic supporting them, and the drawback is that you have to control them while having the sword. Think remote control, not artificial intelligence.
In that case, since the number of HD of undead you can control is linked to your caster level, I'd probably model it on the phylactary of positive energy (adds 2 to your level for purposes of channel damage), except with increased cost because of being slotless.
Hm, why was this moved to suggestions/homebrew? Felt like it was a rules question, asking how it could be done.
Also, it would either have to use character level for non-casters, or be totally useless for non-casters if you did that, Duiker.
I understand what you want...you're trying to get around the material cost of frequently casting Animate Dead. And/or not having the classes to do so.
If I allowed it...expect it to be bloody expensive. Because not only do you want an item for free undead animation, you presumably are looking to combine this functionality with that of a magic weapon to boot.... a Frostmourne... economy class.
The sword costs 25*100 for the material. Minimum, probably more like 100 times 100, then the spell calculation.
Also, wasn't planning to make it a magic weapon, actually.
The reason I want this for my cleric is to get MORE undead and to be able to NOT prepare Animate Dead every day when I can't use it because i'm in a country that currently has it outright banned.
CampinCarl9127 wrote: As a DM? Sure. Craft an intelligent rock for all you care.
As a player? Ask your DM.
Intelligent rock... hrm... pet rocks suddenly make sense.
Give it the ability to fly and you have something there. :D
hector212121 wrote: The reason I want this for my cleric is to get MORE undead and to be able to NOT prepare Animate Dead every day when I can't use it because i'm in a country that currently has it outright banned. Wouldn't an acolyte for the Cleric be a simpler solution then?
Well, yes, I plan to take the Leadership feat eventually. But even then, in order to get a decent number of minions, you need level 5; 3 for just one per cast. That means a small group of necromancers and necromancers-in-training... once I can actually get the feat. Also, my GM said that I'd have to train them with downtime.
Also, then they wouldn't be under my direct command. Which is bad.
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