So, I'm looking for a necromancer build that helps me create undead creatures that are actually strong and will help the group, one of the things that bums me out on PF2 is how using undead creatures is usually not that good or strong.
I've heard that having a few strong undead works better than a bunch of fodder and I obviously want to keep quality, but I still want to maximize their numbers as much as possible without sacrificing quality and keeping action economy in mind
What I have in mind so far is a summoner of skeletal ancestry with an undead eidolon and the undead master or reanimator for the free archetype, though I don't know which would be better. For undead master I'm thinking of a zombie vulture for that constant bonus damage.
I've heard that bones oracle, cleric or wizard might work better for a necromancer build, but the summoner seems like a really interesting class that picked my interested as soon as I read about it mostly because I'm far more used to DnD and it's a class that doesn't really have a match there.
I'd like to hear some advice, what you think is more viable for a strong and fun build that also aids the party? Btw, the entire party is magic oriented (sorcerer, magus, cleric and psychic)
Summoner Eidolon is the strongest undead Minion you can have
It comes with the downside of having fewer spells and sharing your hitpoints, bit then again offers a high degree of customisation
The undead master archetype is the Option you want to take If you want strong spellcasting yourself
Effectively an animal companion in it's capabilities it's roughly in par with i.e. playing an animal order druid
If you don't need to do much yourself you could even combine the two, Standing karge parts of combats around directing your two undead Minions who would probably be good at Team tactics
I like bards with animate dead.
Not as great as a wizard or cleric if you want to go with a permanent minion through the undead master archetype. I don't think Bards ahve the same healing options with the occult list.
However, when you are summoning undead creatures, the bard can help them punch a bit above their normal weight class through attack buffs or save debuffs.
If this is for a game with a group, I would talk to them about your idea and see if everyone is interested in the idea of Team Undead. Narratively, your character could have reanimated the entire party, and thus have one of the toughest teams of undead per level around. I think building the whole team story around the necromancer who raises the dead is really the only PF2 way to do the "master of many undead" that really fills the narrative fantasy. That the magic was so powerful that the creatures have a will of their own and have to be treated as equals makes it an interesting story, but some players might also be into the idea of having a team leader.
If the rest of the party is not interested in the "Team undead" story, it is possible that they are not really going to like playing with an undead PC or undead allies at all, and it is better to figure that out before getting to far into character creation/session 0. Building an "army of the dead" requires downtime and a story/setting where that is not going to turn the whole campaign into a story just about a new necromancer in town raising lots of undead minions. In many ways, it is like wanting to play a character who is the monarch of the kingdom, or the owner of business that might struggle to justify frequent adventuring with a group that is not working to further their own specific cause. This isn't to say it is a bad character idea, but just one that should be built collaboratively, at least in the back story and future goals department.