New Animate Dead questions! I love this spell. :P
All about variant undeads.
1: The variant undead in Vlassic Horrors don't appear to have any additional creation costs. GMs discretion seems to be the call on it, though there's three different ways that variant undead seem to be created. A: Additional spells, such as Haste for Fast Zombies. B: Increase the HD towards the undead you can control, such as with the Beheaded. C: Double the creation cost, as with Bloodied Skeletons. Plus there are other outliers like multiple bodies for the Necrocraft. Is there any common concensus on the Classic Horror undead?
2: Can you create multiple different types of undead with the same casting of Animate Dead? I've got 300gp for a scroll, and I'm thinking 1 Bloodied Skeleton (50gp), 2 Isitoq (1 HD per head, so 50gp, plus Clairvoyance and Wind Wall), and a Necrocraft (200gp for a 4 HD Medium, plus Make Whole).
Nobody? Don't mean to just bump.
I've looked and haven't been able to come up with much.
#1: You basically already have my answer on this one, I've tried looking at the FAQ for the book, but it doesn't address cost or requirements to create these kinds of undead. IMO, if you're making anything other than a basic skeleton there should be SOME monetary cost to doing it, Haste doesn't have a material cost associated with it, so why aren't ALL zombies fast zombies. If normal zombies are cheaper then at least there's a reason, "the necromancer was a cheapskate" instead of just "the necromancer was lazy".
2: Honestly, I've never tried to do this because I never thought about it. I'm not seeing anything in the rules that says you can't. I'm envisioning several bodies on slabs each with a different preparation of herbs, chemicals etc and then the animate dead spell being the final step. I probably never thought about it since my necromancers tend to have the spell and aren't relying on a scroll. So it would of been irrelevant if it took 1 casting or 4 to get the results I wanted, provided I'm able to meet all of the other costs.
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That's the worst-tasting Vlassic I ever hoid.
The variant undead in Vlassic Horrors don't appear to have any additional creation costs.That's the worst-tasting Vlassic I ever hoid.I love Vlassic Horrors! The brine zombie and the kosher corpse were some of the best written zombie variants around. No help on your question though, you're really in a pickle on this one.
Both available with garlic variants for some extra kick.
#1: You basically already have my answer on this one, I've tried looking at the FAQ for the book, but it doesn't address cost or requirements to create these kinds of undead. IMO, if you're making anything other than a basic skeleton there should be SOME monetary cost to doing it, Haste doesn't have a material cost associated with it, so why aren't ALL zombies fast zombies. If normal zombies are cheaper then at least there's a reason, "the necromancer was a cheapskate" instead of just "the necromancer was lazy".
Sorry, I did notice your other answer, though it was prior to having read about Beheaded and Necrocrafts (and therefore other variant costs). And though haste has material some wizards (like mine) need 2 extra spell slots to prep it. So there are some tradeoffs.
However, fast zombie's variant, the relentless zombie from Classic Horrors is a mystery. With no additional cost why not give them climb speed and scent for free? It also could be Classic Horror variants aren't intended for player use. Or that the CR adjustment given is intended to hint towards the cost, similarly to the beheaded or Bestiary 1 variants.