If a creature is killed and then made into a Juju Zombie does it retain any special abilities the original creature had which aren't incompatible with the undead type?
For instance, if there's an outsider which has Regeneration 5 it would lose that when it becomes a Juju Zombie since you need to have a Constitution score to have Regeneration and undead don't have one. What if the same creature had Scorching Ray as a spell-like ability though? Would the Juju Zombie still have that SLA?
The description says that the Juju Zombie "retains the skills and abilities it possessed in life", but I'm not sure if that's just flavor text or really means it. The actual rules for the template don't seem to say one way or the other.
Ughh, this template. It's horribly vague and ridiculously broken. I would highly recommend from personal experience to just ban it.
Yes, it would retain the SLAs, but would lose Regeneration.
Compare the Juju Zombie template to the normal Zombie template. The Zombie template specifies you lose all class based HD, all special attacks, and most special qualities.
Juju zombies lose none of those things.
However, as you say, Regeneration itself requires a Con score.
I'm definitely beginning to think that there could be balance issues here and have advised the DM in question of that concern. I suspect that any potential "ban" she decides on might be enforced less as, "No, you can't make Juju Zombies" and more like, "Ok, you can make it, but since it is intelligent it will get saves to break free, and if it does it will do its worst."
That said, I think that by RAW a Juju Zombie would keep most SLAs. That seems pretty powerful. The creature I was statting up already had AC 31 as a Juju Zombie compared to 14 or 15 as a bloody skeleton or fast zombie. CL12 Scorching Ray at will seems like a pretty good deal for a 600gp minion, and that's just the tip of the SLA iceberg. Efreet Juju Zombies seem like an obvious abuse, but even short of that there could be a lot of crazy powers available.
My PC isn't the necromancer here. I'm just helping out with what options are available and applying the templates.
Since it is intelligent it is already entitled to make will saves every day to break free at its own discretion.
With the Command Undead spell I think folks generally just apply it again before the duration expires. It seems like maybe the 2nd level spell should offer the same daily saving throw that the feat does, but per RAW it doesn't seem to.
I wonder if either the feat or the spell would let you know when a creature currently under your control has succeeded on a saving throw against further control. If not there could be some interesting surprises...
The command undead spell has a natural limit from its duration. I assume that's why it doesn't offer a new save each day.
Back to the original topic, it doesn't sound like anybody so far thinks the Juju Zombie would lose special abilities the creature possessed in life unless it no longer qualified for them for some reason (like not having the Con score for Regeneration)
As for the saves or lack thereof, I suppose that Charm Monster could lead to similar concerns without even the barrier of hit die limits. It seems almost like there's an unspoken rule against using Charms to amass minions though, at least in the groups I've played in.
Ughh, this template. It's horribly vague and ridiculously broken. I would highly recommend from personal experience to just ban it.
Really? It's not that stronger than a Zombie Lord, it has an handful of better statistics but that's it.