The zombie has 7HD, so it counts as 7.
Think of it this way:
The zombie template instructs you to remove class HD and only count racial HD. So creatures with only class HD (such as humans, elves and really most NPCs) have 0 + bonus HD.
If you didn't count the bonus HD for Animate Dead raising and controlling purposes, you'd be able to raise infinite numbers of dead humans.
The zombie has 7HD, so it counts as 7.
Think of it this way:
The zombie template instructs you to remove class HD and only count racial HD. So creatures with only class HD (such as humans, elves and really most NPCs) have 0 + bonus HD.If you didn't count the bonus HD for Animate Dead raising and controlling purposes, you'd be able to raise infinite numbers of dead humans.
Humans and other humanoids actually do have racial hit dice. It is just that, for humanoids with only one racial hit die, you drop it in place of a class level.
Humanoids with 1 Hit Die exchange the features of their humanoid Hit Die for the class features of a PC or NPC class. Humanoids of this sort are typically presented as 1st-level warriors, which means they have average combat ability and poor saving throws. Humanoids with more than 1 Hit Die are the only humanoids who make use of the features of the humanoid type. A humanoid has the following features (unless otherwise noted in a creature's entry).
So once you drop the HD from class levels, you would still have the 1 racial hit die that normally gets replaced by the class level. That is why the example zombie in the book (a human zombie) has 2 hit die. 1 racial HD, plus the one bonus HD for being a medium zombie.
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The zombie has 7HD, so it counts as 7.
Think of it this way:
The zombie template instructs you to remove class HD and only count racial HD. So creatures with only class HD (such as humans, elves and really most NPCs) have 0 + bonus HD.If you didn't count the bonus HD for Animate Dead raising and controlling purposes, you'd be able to raise infinite numbers of dead humans.
Humans and other humanoids actually do have racial hit dice. It is just that, for humanoids with only one racial hit die, you drop it in place of a class level.
Humanoids with 1 Hit Die exchange the features of their humanoid Hit Die for the class features of a PC or NPC class. Humanoids of this sort are typically presented as 1st-level warriors, which means they have average combat ability and poor saving throws. Humanoids with more than 1 Hit Die are the only humanoids who make use of the features of the humanoid type. A humanoid has the following features (unless otherwise noted in a creature's entry).So once you drop the HD from class levels, you would still have the 1 racial hit die that normally gets replaced by the class level. That is why the example zombie in the book (a human zombie) has 2 hit die. 1 racial HD, plus the one bonus HD for being a medium zombie.
Where is that quote from?
Where is that quote from?
Bestiary, description of the Humanoid type.
So if I'm a 8th lvl caster and there is a dead creature with 16 racial hit dice I could animate it as a skeliton but not a zombie?
Under normal circumstances, correct. You could animate that creature as a skeleton but not as a zombie.
There are ways around that, however. The desecrate spell doubles the amount of hit dice you can animate in a single casting. If the area were under the effect of a desecrate spell, that same 8th level caster cold create up to 32 hit dice of undead with a single casting (in addition to giving the undead created in that area bonus hit points).