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 Limit on number of controlled undead in 3,5
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Jakuta Khan
Senior Scribe

496 Posts

Posted - 11 Sep 2012 :  08:48:59  Show Profile Send Jakuta Khan a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
Hi all,

reading books and books I often stumble upon descritpions were single individuals control "dozens" or "legions" of undead creatures, quite often red wizards for example.

Is the standard Levelx4 in HD a limitation valid only for certain kinds of undead?
I think in monsters of Faerun, there are some kinds explained were no special limit is given of how many of these canbe controlled after creation.

I also recall in the trilogy about cormyr, there was an ancient elven king helping the humans against some evil clerics army of undead and other crap.

how do you guys handle this in your games, or is there definite lore about this?

Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader

USA
2717 Posts

Posted - 11 Sep 2012 :  15:53:28  Show Profile Send Jeremy Grenemyer a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Off the top of my head: there are some arcane spells that allow wizards to control undead, as well as Prestige Classes that allow for increased control of undead. I don't recall specific spell or prestige class names.

As far as my game, I'm less concerned about holding hard to the rules than I am with creating the right impression with my players. I feel that as long as I can manage the difficulty of a given encounter, I'm not going to worry overmuch about whether an evil NPC wizard or cleric has exceeded his/her maximum number of undead controlled.

If Diffan is around he might be able to mention whether he's seen a min/max build for maximum number of undead controlled, over on the Character Optimization boards at WotC.

Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver).
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist

USA
11686 Posts

Posted - 12 Sep 2012 :  01:12:02  Show Profile Send sleyvas a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Jakuta Khan

Hi all,

reading books and books I often stumble upon descritpions were single individuals control "dozens" or "legions" of undead creatures, quite often red wizards for example.

Is the standard Levelx4 in HD a limitation valid only for certain kinds of undead?
I think in monsters of Faerun, there are some kinds explained were no special limit is given of how many of these canbe controlled after creation.

I also recall in the trilogy about cormyr, there was an ancient elven king helping the humans against some evil clerics army of undead and other crap.

how do you guys handle this in your games, or is there definite lore about this?



What often happens is that the necromancer controls one undead that can then control its own undead. For instance, the red wizards had dread warriors. Other undead often have spawn. Then there's various feats, class choices, and magic items that can increase this hit dice limit.

Alavairthae, may your skill prevail

Phillip aka Sleyvas
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Diffan
Great Reader

USA
4425 Posts

Posted - 12 Sep 2012 :  06:01:23  Show Profile Send Diffan a Private Message  Reply with Quote
What sleyvas said. In addition to that, you can also cast the Summon Undead spells in the Spell Compendium which do not count against the number of Undead you can control.

Furthermore, in the book Complete Mage, it gives you solid advice on creating a Necromncer and going so far as to tell you what are some awesome spells, feats, and magic items to grab AND tells you what options are BAD.
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Kno
Senior Scribe

452 Posts

Posted - 12 Sep 2012 :  13:09:43  Show Profile Send Kno a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I've handled it with undead leadership feat - Libris Mortis, in other ways Rod of Undead Mastery and desecrate help.

z455t
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist

USA
11686 Posts

Posted - 12 Sep 2012 :  21:11:23  Show Profile Send sleyvas a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Diffan

What sleyvas said. In addition to that, you can also cast the Summon Undead spells in the Spell Compendium which do not count against the number of Undead you can control.

Furthermore, in the book Complete Mage, it gives you solid advice on creating a Necromncer and going so far as to tell you what are some awesome spells, feats, and magic items to grab AND tells you what options are BAD.



Yeah, destruction retribution is a must have. Its similar to what I used to do with imbue undead with spell ability.... a closer version of that uses craft contingent spell where you stick a fireball on an undead rat. Of course, if you have about 40 of these undead rats with destruction retribution (all with invisibility on them mind you)... and one of them has a contingent fireball that goes off whenever they approach their target or whenever they're killed which kills all the other undead rats.... makes for a pretty nasty explosion. Works even better if you send in several undead creatures first to start working on the party first... so they can take some damage but not be dead yet when all these little exploding undead rats heal them.

Alavairthae, may your skill prevail

Phillip aka Sleyvas
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WalkerNinja
Senior Scribe

USA
573 Posts

Posted - 12 Sep 2012 :  23:48:24  Show Profile Send WalkerNinja a Private Message  Reply with Quote
To maximize the size of your undead legions, skip animating skeletons--seize control of undead that themselves control other undead.

*** A Forgotten Realms Addict since 1990 ***
Treasures of the Past, a Second Edition Play-by-Post game for and by Candlekeep Sages--http://www.rpol.net/game.cgi?gi=52011
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