Best way to go about creating an undead elite minion


Advice


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I would like to preface this by saying that I am pretty new to pathfinder so apologies if I sound somewhat dumb or if I miss something obvious.
So I am currently playing a neutral evil asmodean priest who is lv 8 , he has evil and death domain.

My GM has made onyx gems hard to come by so I do not wish to waste them on disposable undead horde. My plan is to create a single undead minion that can take a punch and hopefully return a half decent. Also it needs to be able to blend in and go into buildings. Any advice would be appreciated.


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Fast Zombies are probably the best chassis for single elite minions you should be able to get 32 hit die worth of zombie, but making a fast Zombie takes double the dice in the creation progress (although not for controlling purposes once you've made me)

therefore you want 2 16HD fast zombies in my opinion. Jungle and Taiga Giants both have 15 so they're quite good options but they're both huge. Dire Tigers have 14 so not quite as good but they're large so a bit more mobile still probably can't go in normal buildings though. They also have pounce and more attacks though so thats good.

The other idea would be a bloody skeleton, they don't hit as hard but they get regenerate.


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The secret to making strong, single undead or a pack of undead you want to stick around for as long as you can make use of them is to make them bloody skeletons. While fast zombies might be generally stronger in terms of damage output, as Chromantic points out, they are not nearly as survivable as bloody skeletons due to the simple fact that bloody skeletons, unless killed and consecrated with holy water or killed with positive energy, simply get back up again. This makes them an extremely safe investment.

Another thing worth remembering with zombies in general is that, based on their size, they gain additional HD that you do need to factor into their onyx price and HD limit when you cast Animate Dead (RAW). This is also doubled when you want to make Fast Zombies, so you might not be able to raise the strongest creatures you come across into zombies to begin with, and so it's often more functional to create skeletons (though make a zombie under consecrate and you'll probably be fine, and get a super tanky creature to boot). That said, getting a big monster as a fast zombie can be really, really good as a reliable and generally tanky damage dealer, mostly thanks to the additional HD.


Make a some tiny plauge zombies, keep them in an extradimensionsl space when not in use. Use spells /channels to control the zombies they create. Won't be most effective, but can get around onyx restrictions. But yeah bloody skeletons, burning bloody if GM oks it( seems grey area of rules). Also if Gm ok's it, the heads of big critters make great flying mounts if gm okays creating "beheaded" .


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I do have currently two bloody pirate skeletons...Who are underwhelming to say the least.

Will definitely try fast zombies next time we kill a tiger or dire bear.
However they can be somewhat suspicious to have in a city.

Is there a way to make a efficient humanoid skeleton ?
Any corpse in particular I should look out for ? (That is humanoid)

Btw thanks for the current suggestions


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Once you hit 11th level and create undead becomes a possibility, you get a ton more options. Skeletal champion is a good choice. Especially because it gets to keep its class HD. If you kill a wizard for example you could have a skeletal champion with wizard levels.


Also, a juju zombie!


The reason zombies are useful (when skeletons are usually "better") is because of an unguent of timelessness. Fresh, bloodless corpse, plus a ton of unseen servants applying unguent of timelessness everywhere means an unrotten/almost-alive-looking corpse. Add a minor illusion (like, say, disguise other and you have the "perfect servant" - a never-speaking eternally-loyal bodyguard-cum-man servant who always does exactly what you say and never leaves your side...


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Tacticslion wrote:
The reason zombies are useful (when skeletons are usually "better") is because of an unguent of timelessness. Fresh, bloodless corpse, plus a ton of unseen servants applying unguent of timelessness everywhere means an unrotten/almost-alive-looking corpse. Add a minor illusion (like, say, disguise other and you have the "perfect servant" - a never-speaking eternally-loyal bodyguard-cum-man servant who always does exactly what you say and never leaves your side...

Technically disguise other will only let you make your zombie look like another form of undead, not anything alive. The "can't change your type" aspect of disguise self gets pretty silly in situations like this.


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This is pretty much what the Appearance of Life spell is for. Note that any Medium of smaller undead can be affected, and it doesn't specify the undead has to be humanoid in shape beforehand. So long as you only create bloody skeletons or fast zombies of medium size or smaller, you're fine.


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MichaelCullen wrote:
Once you hit 11th level and create undead becomes a possibility, you get a ton more options. Skeletal champion is a good choice. Especially because it gets to keep its class HD. If you kill a wizard for example you could have a skeletal champion with wizard levels.

One thing to be worried about when creating zombie lords/skeletal champions, and any creature through create undead, is that you don't have control over them whatsoever. Unless you constantly cast Control Undead on them to keep them complient, these undead are under your DM's control, and that can prove to make them...unreliable. Even dangerous to you. Fair warning unless you take Leadership and make them your cohort.


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I feel obligated to mention the Experimental Spellcaster feat, which allows you to take a single Word of Power (choose Undeath) and add it to your spell list. That will help with the lack of onyx. (Undeath, as a Word of Power, has no expensive material component) You essentially get a free, at-range, 2nd-level Create Undead. Excellent for the budding necromancer.


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Since I don't see it mentioned, I assume you need the spell or feat, Command Undead? Don't see anything in the word saying they are under your control, just that you create them.. or am I just missing/assuming they don't start under your control?


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x_Gabriel_x wrote:
Since I don't see it mentioned, I assume you need the spell or feat, Command Undead? Don't see anything in the word saying they are under your control, just that you create them.. or am I just missing/assuming they don't start under your control?
Undeath wrote:
These creatures rise as either skeletons or zombies, as decided by the caster. These undead follow the caster's commands to the best of their limited ability.

They rise under the casters control. Though worth mentioning that there is nothing for wordcasters to make templated undead (not that it matters too much for anything but zombies), and they also can't create creatures from the Create Undead list. While cheaper, it doesn't necessarily make it better. You also have to deal with the limited options from Wordcaster :\


I do already have control undead feat so create undead won't be an issue.
I do like the idea of combining leadership with create undead and since undead like ghouls can reproduce that could give me an undead army. (Somehow I doubt my GM will let me get away with that XD)


Yeah I'm in the same boat as you kinda, I have a lvl 11 Sorcerer, in Skulls and Shackles, who has yet to come across or able to buy a single Onyx Gem... never even knew about the words and such lol

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