D&D 3E/3.5 Help with melee-necromancer build 3.5

Here is what I have so far.

Cleric Vaggelis Campaign :: (Read-Only) - Myth-Weavers

We need someone to be on the front line (other players are sorc. psion and ranged rogue). I re-start lvl 8, everyone else is lvl 9.


There is a house rule that says that all the craft magic items feats are merged into one. Also, DMM errata is not accepted by the DM.
I can change ability points from one to the other, in a 1-1 ratio.

(As you can guess, the DM hits us hard enough to make it challenging anyway...and being a level behind, it could hurt me to be just above average)

I am not too sure about fell animate...it only creates zombies, and I can't find a decent damaging spell to apply it to.

Also, maybe I should take power attack to use with divine favor? It looks like a waste, but it could work maybe?

Or I should take corpsecrafter, but zombies look soooo weak with or without it.

I was considering starting lvl 7 and using craft magic items to make myself my magic items...but I am not sure it is a good idea.

Any help will be appreciated...

Slightly outdated here or there, but still an excellent handbook for general necromancy.

Check out Bone Knight from Eberron's Five Nations book. It is nice for melee clerics. Gives you a lot of Undead traits, which is good for durability, while giving you some boosts to controlling undead. Plus, IIRC, it is also full BAB, which is useful if you can't DMM Persist Divine Powah.