Big Zombie Pet [Archive] - Wizards Community

Big Zombie Pet [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Dudeamis
04-05-05, 05:15 PM Ok I'm looking for the baddest 20hd animate dead subject available.
I was thinking a Half-Dragon Titan or Half Gold Dragon Dread Linnorm (the dire-like dragon in MMII)

MMI,II,III, Fiend Folio, BoED, BoVD, The Complete Series, Libram Mortis and XPH all available
PhaedrusXY
04-05-05, 05:26 PM If you animate something as a zombie via Animate Dead, it's hit dice double. So you can't really turn anything with more than 10 racial hit dice into a zombie. I'm not going to look into adding crazy templates, or dig through non-core books, but an awakened zombie dragon can be quite tough. (Awakened via Awaken Undead, which is in Libris Mortis and I think another book, but I forget which).

Awakening it gives it an intelligence score and lets it take skills and feats appropriate for it's hit dice. The nice thing is that the spell doesn't mention anything about losing control of undead that you've made with Animate Dead. So you maintain control of them, but they become alot better combatants. The main weakness of zombies is their limitation of only a single move or standard action per round, but an awakened zombie dragon can make the most out of this by taking all of the flyby attack feats.

Have it take Wingover, Flyby Attack, and Improved Flyby Attack. With those three feats, and with it's naturally high fly speed, it will still be a pretty tough foe. Make sure you animate it in a Desecrated area, with an unholy shrine to a dark god, and all that stuff, for the extra hit points. Also, if you have Libris Mortis, you can take alot of the feats to allow you to make much, much stronger undead.

You might also want to read through EaglePrince's thread on how to twink out your undead. There is a link to it in the Build FAQ or Library. It's called "Death Priest and Animate Dead" or something like that. Here (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=5381919#post5381919) is a thread detailing an NPC True Necromancer that I used that you might find useful, also.

An awakened zombie dragon also makes a nice mount for a medium sized character. For skeletons, some of my favorites are hydras, and fomorians (MM2).
Dudeamis
04-05-05, 05:48 PM So the Linnorm could acually work though as a skeleton? Also has anybody read about the new undead versions in Libram Mortis like the flaming skeleton or fast zombie? Are those appliable in the animate dead casting or are those just special goodies for the DM to throw on undead to tweak the players out? Thanks PhaedrusXY for responding.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dudeamis 04-05-05, 05:15 PM	Ok I'm looking for the baddest 20hd animate dead subject available. I was thinking a Half-Dragon Titan or Half Gold Dragon Dread Linnorm (the dire-like dragon in MMII) MMI,II,III, Fiend Folio, BoED, BoVD, The Complete Series, Libram Mortis and XPH all available
PhaedrusXY 04-05-05, 05:26 PM	If you animate something as a zombie via Animate Dead, it's hit dice double. So you can't really turn anything with more than 10 racial hit dice into a zombie. I'm not going to look into adding crazy templates, or dig through non-core books, but an awakened zombie dragon can be quite tough. (Awakened via Awaken Undead, which is in Libris Mortis and I think another book, but I forget which). Awakening it gives it an intelligence score and lets it take skills and feats appropriate for it's hit dice. The nice thing is that the spell doesn't mention anything about losing control of undead that you've made with Animate Dead. So you maintain control of them, but they become alot better combatants. The main weakness of zombies is their limitation of only a single move or standard action per round, but an awakened zombie dragon can make the most out of this by taking all of the flyby attack feats. Have it take Wingover, Flyby Attack, and Improved Flyby Attack. With those three feats, and with it's naturally high fly speed, it will still be a pretty tough foe. Make sure you animate it in a Desecrated area, with an unholy shrine to a dark god, and all that stuff, for the extra hit points. Also, if you have Libris Mortis, you can take alot of the feats to allow you to make much, much stronger undead. You might also want to read through EaglePrince's thread on how to twink out your undead. There is a link to it in the Build FAQ or Library. It's called "Death Priest and Animate Dead" or something like that. Here (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=5381919#post5381919) is a thread detailing an NPC True Necromancer that I used that you might find useful, also. An awakened zombie dragon also makes a nice mount for a medium sized character. For skeletons, some of my favorites are hydras, and fomorians (MM2).
Dudeamis 04-05-05, 05:48 PM	So the Linnorm could acually work though as a skeleton? Also has anybody read about the new undead versions in Libram Mortis like the flaming skeleton or fast zombie? Are those appliable in the animate dead casting or are those just special goodies for the DM to throw on undead to tweak the players out? Thanks PhaedrusXY for responding.