Undead recommendation

Sammael99 · Jan 29, 2002

I'm not sure this is the best forum to post, feel free to shift me around.

Next game I GM, my players will encounter a false Church to the god of death which is in fact a church to the god of undeath (think Vecna in Greyhawk.)

The main protagonists are going to be clerics of said deity and necromantic mages. Obviously, these will protect themselves with undead minions. The average level in the party member being Lvl 5 (3 members), which undead minions would you recommend as being potentially created by the clerics/mages and challenging enough to stop the characters from homing on the mages straight away and killing them off ? Zombies would fit stylistically but wouldn't pose much pf a threat... I was thinking of having 2 mages Lvls 5 and 3 and two clerics Lvls 5 and 3...

Thanks for any help.

Guacamole · Jan 29, 2002

Undead munchies.....

Ghouls and Ghasts would probably be challenging. Ghasts might be a bit high, so maybe only a few. Tinker with the templates in the Monster Manual to create things like skeletal crocodiles, or lions, which can also be challenging.

novyet · Jan 29, 2002

Grab the zombie and skeleton templates from wotc's site and make some zombie animals, or ogres, and things like that, monte cook's website has templates like that as well. ( I think he may have the ghoul and ghast templates but I can't remember anymore)

HTH

UofMDude · Jan 29, 2002

Just don't put too many ghouls in one place. A few failed saves (say, 3 in a row in my party's case) can wipe out the entire party very quickly.

UofMDude

Dieter · Jan 29, 2002

Zombies are always crowd pleasers, although not much of a threat unless they're in mass quantities.

Ghouls and Ghasts are probably your best bet, but you have to be careful of the level drains...too many and your 5th level party could be screwed.

Schmoe · Jan 29, 2002

First, I think you are understimating the zombies. Several large groups of the creatures (8-16 zombies) will be enough of a threat to weaken the party and use some of their resources.

Ghouls would also be very appropriate in groups of 3-5. Throw in a couple shadows (groups of 1-2) and a Huge zombie for some added undead muscle.

If I were putting the encounters together, I'd probably do something like the following:

8-9 zombies (CR 5)
6 zombies (CR 4)
3 ghouls (CR 4)
Mage 5 and 1 shadow (CR 6)
Cleric 3, Mage 3, and 4 zombies (CR 6)
Cleric 5, Huge zombie, and 4-5 zombies (CR 7)

That's very challenging for a group of 3 5th level characters and, depending on their resources, may require that they retreat to rest and recuperate (which would allow surving cultists to re-animate some undead). You know your group the best. If they are strong vs. undead (powerful cleric, paladin, etc.) and/or have an NPC to aid them (at least 4th level), then what I've outlined would present a reasonable, if difficult, challenge. Otherwise, you might want to reduce the numbers a bit.

Nightfall · Jan 29, 2002

Yep you're right

Monte has the ghoul and ghast templates.

While you probably don't want TOO many, a shadow or two will DEFINATELY keep the party really busy. Ghouls and Ghast though are the way to go with some zombie templated creatures as well as skeleton templated ones. Zombie wyrmlings are good choice, as they would be pretty hard up to beat in my mind.

The Sunderer · Jan 29, 2002

Tyrantfog Zombies in Monsters of Faerun can be a bit of a challenge...

Other than that go with the Zombie and Skeleton Templates with maybe the odd Ghoul or Ghast

Daedalus · Jan 29, 2002

Could someone post a link to the skeleton template please?

Angelsboi · Jan 29, 2002

Skeleton Template
http://wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/mm/mm20010126a

Zombie Template
http://wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/mm/mm20011027a

Undead recommendation

Sammael99

First Post

Guacamole

First Post

novyet

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UofMDude

First Post

Dieter

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Schmoe

Adventurer

Nightfall

Sage of the Scarred Lands

The Sunderer

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Daedalus

Explorer

Angelsboi

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