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There are numerous threads about making Necromancers with hordes of undead, but in general I prefer quality over quantity. So my question is are there options (feats, traits, classes, etc.) specifically for controling more powerful undead over more undead?
We currently prefer the term "befriend" to "control" undead. "Awaken" instead of "create". We're not objects or tools.
I know of one way to have 1 more powerful undead minion - sorry, "friend" - around. However that method doesn't work as good for undead as it does for non-undead, unless you can get your GM to agree to one small change. Oh, and it requires several feats obviously. :D
Once you are able to cast Summon Monster III, you can learn the Summon Guardian Spirit feat. This basically allows you to select one creature, that qualifies to be an improved Familiar, to be adapted into a summonable creature. This creature is unique, can only be summoned by you, and when it is killed, you have to wait until tomorrow to summon it again. If you're familiar with the Summoner class, this creature becomes something like your Eidolon, just not as strong. I show you 3 options for creatures to become your Guardian:
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Option 1
If you want an Undead as your Guardian Spirit, the only standard option is a Beheaded. You would have to work with your GM to bring this creature up to "Improved Familiar" status, of which there are two ways, as a Beheaded is appropriate for a 3rd-level caster:
A neutral evil spellcaster can gain a beheaded as a familiar at 3rd level by taking the Improved Familiar feat. A beheaded familiar loses the mindless trait and has an Intelligence score appropriate for its master’s level.
Improved Familiars are usually appropriate for 7th-level casters (the Imp Consular being the sole exception as it requires 8th level).
The first way: Every 2 levels should correspond to +1 CR, so your GM should allow you to select 2 improvements for your Beheaded familiar (or just the Swarming improvement, which counts as 2 improvements).
Then you can apply the lowest level of the Guardian Spirit template and you have a new Undead minio... friend!
The other way: You can apply one of a select few templates to your familiar. You have these template options:
Celestial (Good), Fiendish (Evil), Resolute (Law), Entropic (Chaos) -- automatically available;
Aerial (Air), Chtonic (Earth), Aqueous (Water), Fiery (Fire), Dark (Shadow), Primordial (-) -- available via the Versatile Summon Monster feat;
Counterpoised -- available via the Summon Neutral Monster feat
Since a template only adds a +1 CR, you could ask your GM to give you 1 improvement and 1 template on your Beheaded, or 2 of these templates.
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Option 2
If you don't want a Beheaded, you can choose a creature from the standard familiar list instead and apply the School Familiar (Necromancy) archetype to it. The School Familiar archetype does not replace Speak with Animals of its Kind and is therefore an allowed option for an Improved Familiar. And while there is a lot of text about wizards and their specialized school, there is no actual prerequisite to select this archetype, so you don't have to be a Wizard with the Necromancy school archetype.
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Option 3
This one requires your GM to allow a small change. If you have the Skeleton Summoner feat, you can apply the Skeleton template to a creature. This is usually for creati... awakening ordinary undead though and it removes pretty much all useful abilities from the chosen improved familiar creature. Since Skeleton Summoner also allows adding the Skeletal Champion to the list of summonable beings, you could ask your GM if you can instead apply the Skeletal Champion template, which preserves the creatures abilities instead. This requires you to select a creature from the standard familiar list or up to 5th-level improved familiar list. The creature also needs either an internal skeleton or an external carapace, so no Elementals.
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Once your selection is made, you apply the lowest level of the Guardian Spirit template, which makes it stronger. You can improve this Guardian by summoning it with a higher level Summon Monster spell. Details in the template.
Now you have 1 unique Undead companion, who scales with you as you learn higher level spells. If you're more of a summoner than a necromancer, you can also make use of any of the summoning feats you learned for this.
And since it is always the same creature that is summoned, you can improve its capabilities by buying equipment for it, since the Eidolon item rules do not apply.
You can also use permanent spells (e.g. Permanency + Greater Magic Fang, Enlarge Person, Telepathic Bond, Resistance, Appearance of Life) on it.
While summoning it, you can also use implements like a Rod of Giant Summoning to summon it in an even stronger form (by temporarily applying the Giant template).
Finally, if you like cheese, make use of the old Mount + Alter Summoned Monster trick, so you'll always have your Undead m... friend around!
p.s.: [Long post, sorry]
Most of these options are also available via Summon Nature's Ally instead ofSummon Monster, except for the Dark template, the Counterpoised template, and the Skeleton/Skeletal Champion template.
Also, you don't have to actually attune or use the higher level versions of Summon Monster/Nature's Ally, you can instead just apply the Heighten Spell metamagic, since the strength of the Spirit Guardian depends on the spell level, not the specific spell. However, Heightened would have no effect on other creatures summoned with such a spell.
This is mainly useful for conserving your Spells Known (sorcerers, oracles) and for using metamagic rods & traits; e.g. when you take both the Magical Lineage/Wayang Spell Hunter trait for Heighten +2 on Summon Monster III and add 3 doses of Djezet (600gp), you can cast the spell as a 6th-level spell while only using a 3rd-level spell-slot.
I mean. Animate Dead lets you control 4HD/caster level worth of zombies and/or skeletons, and 2HD/caster level in one casting. A lvl7 necromancer could have two frost giant skeletons at their command, assuming they had access to the bodies. And at a CR two higher than character level, it's probably not too unlikely that the necromancer and their party would be able to obtain them. And two buddies with 63hp, AC15 and +18/+13 (3d6+13) for attacks at lvl7 seems...potent?
A smaller number of more powerful skellies or zombies (as few as possible really) seems like a better call than a horde of 1 HD mooks so uh...the basic animate dead spell has you covered?
Threads aiming at the horde of mooks exist because that's hard to do. No such difficulty exists with using animate dead with the 2 biggest bodies you can find.
There were feats from the 3rd or 3.5 book Libris Mortis. Corpsecrafter gave your dudes +2 Str and +2hp/HD. Another one gave them +2 natural armor. +1d6 cold damage on natural attacks. Negative energy death throes.
Desecration doubles the number of HD you can animate in one shot, so that lvl7 necromancer can get all 28 HD in one go. So...20HD skeleton...dragon, probably?
But seriously, how much more do you want? For the cost of 700gp, you get four 3d6+13 attacks in addition to being a lvl7 wizard.
There's the undead master feat for even more undead (doesn't just stack with desecrate, it's multiplied by it), you can get a reliquary to make desecrate a more effective buff and a few archetypes give you a skele/zombie that scales with your level and doesn't count against the HD limit.
But a necromancer with an undead minion or two from carefully selected corpses is as high op as you need. Getting those particular corpses is where you'll want to direct your energy, not looking for another +1 somewhere.
Yeah, I'm going to second that. Necromancy is already very powerful in pathfinder. It's just about finding the right corpses. If you need help figuring out which corpses you want to hunt down, Brewer's Guide to Undeath is a bit old but still a great resource. There's a color coded list of animate dead targets towards the bottom with the most relevant statistics included.