D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5] Gearing up for an Undead Assult

[Wonka]

In my current campaign, we are currently in the process of planning to reclaim one of our party mate's ancient homeland, which is currently under the control of a LOT of undead. While we have the backing of an army, our groups is mostly going to be focused on small strikes on high priority targets. As such, Im looking for some good choices as far as gear goes to prepare for the assault. We are in some serious good standing with the king backing us for our assult, so we have good accsess to magical items within reason (we have cash, just need the time it takes to aquire/create them). We are all level 12, the party consists of a Cleric 10/ Radiant Servant of Pelor 2 (Our turning machine), a Monk 10/ Paladin 2 (the heir to the lands we wish to reclaim), a Duskblade 12 (techincally a Duskhammer as that is his weapon of choice), and myself a Swordsage 12 with a focus on Shadowhand and Tiger Claw disciplins mixed with a splash of Diamond Mind. My focus is on stealth and being almost rogue-like. Right now the obvious choice I have for my weapons is undead bane, but after that Im stumped. Im looking for any and all suggestions you might havefor items that could be of help, so I can figure out how to best prepare myself to help Thanks is advance!

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Get as much Death Ward and Protection from / Magic Circle Against Evil effects/scrolls as you can. I don't know how much money you can ask for, so I'll just throw out a lot of ideas.

Phylactery of Undead Turning is expensive, but would be very good for the Cleric. If this is going to be a one-day strike, there is no reason for the cleric not to make use of Incense of Meditation.

Other than that, I assume you're familiar with DMG items, so I'll point out some from Magic Item Compendium.

For armor crystals, a crystal of lifekeeping would be helpful in lieu of Death Ward. As a sneaky scout type, you may want Bane Blind enhancement (cost of +15,000 gp to armor) keyed to Undead, which would let you 3/day be undetectable by them for 10 rounds or until you attack. It prevents blindsense, tremorsense, scent, etc... Unfortunately, it only foils nonmagical senses.

Truedeath weapon crystals may be a good idea, as is the Sacred weapon property (+1; +1d6 damage to undead or +2d6 to evil outsiders; weapon is good-aligned). If you have ghost touch on your weapon already, you can upgrade it to Ghost Strike for another +1 modifier, which lets you SA and crit undead. The greater version of truedeath crystal (10,000 gp, only works on +3 or better weapon) also lets you SA (but not crit) undead. Not sure either is worth it, even if you have Assassin's Stance.

Goggles of Lifesight (p. 108) let you figure out if something is alive, undead, or neither.

Ring of the Darkhidden (p. 122) is cheap and hides you from darkvision. I believe all undead have darkvision, and if it is dark (likely, considering most undead-infested lands tropes), this will make being sneaky all the easier.

Sepulchral Vest (p. 133) gives +5 on saves against undead-generated effects 3/day, and is cheap.

Reliquary Holy Symbol (p. 120) is cheap and could give the cleric more uses of Turn Undead, but takes up the neck slot (ie, the +wis slot ). Could always pay double for a non-body slot... Of course, if the DM allows Night sticks or whatever they're called from Libris Mortis, not much point in getting this.

For item sets, if possible anything from the Vestments of Divinity set would help, though some of the items in the set are only useful to clerics and paladins. The Wraith's Woe set would be useful to anyone in the party. The Vest of Free Movement from the Fleet Warrior's Array is the cheapest means of Freedom of Movement I know of, other than potion, wand, or scroll. At 12,000 gp it's still probably too much, even if the DM lets you request item set pieces on demand.

 

[Shin Okada]

Are you likely to see many incorporeal undead creatures? If so, having ghost touch property for weapon wielders would be very important. Also, casting Mage Armor or Greater Mage Armor on all the members will help, even if they are wearing good physical armor. Or, your melee warriors can buy armor made of Astral Driftmetal (shown in Planar Handbook).

If you don't like to buy magic weapons with ghost touch property, your cleric may cast Ghost Touch Weapon spell in Spell Compendium. But IMHO 3rd-level spell slots should be better used for casting other spells. Alchemical Weapon Capsules in Complete Adventure worth checking.

Regarding buff spells, Undead Bane Weapon in Spell Compendium will be must-have. This is a hour/level spell and thus often better than buying magic weapons with undead bane ability. This spell makes a weapon "good" aligned, too. Buy some scrolls and/or wand if your party cleric can't afford to use his precious 4th-level slot for this spell.

 

[Dragonwriter]

Holy weapons are absolutely cruel against evil creatures. And undead are oh-so-evil. +2d6 damage on every hit against an evil-aligned creature.

Death Ward is a must have. Too many undead have drain effects for you to ignore the spell. See if the Cleric could get a bunch of scrolls of it.

Rather than flat-out purchasing the Ghost Touch ability (though I would suggest Ghost Strike, if you can afford it) you could buy Ghost Oils out of Libris Mortis. If my memory serves (away from books...), it functions like Silversheen. And a couple bottles of that would probably be handy. Never know when you're going to fight something that must be hit with silver...

 

[Wonka]

Thank you all for your suggestions. They have all been more than helpful Keep them coming, I like to be prepared, and am still new to the game as is, less than a year of experience under my belt, so don't assume I know of what might be common items to experienced players I had looked at ghost strike, I only have a 2d6 sneak attack from my assassin's stance, but being able to crit undead did seem nice. The truedeath weapon crystal also seemed nice, doing the same thing as ghost strike, but seems expensive at 10k. However, weapon wise I think that going with +2 keen weapons, then popping in greater truedeath crystals and letting our cleric cast undead bane (at an hour per level, and he effectivly casts as a 14th level caster for that spell) is the way to go.

 

[Starbuck_II]

Thank you all for your suggestions. They have all been more than helpful Keep them coming, I like to be prepared, and am still new to the game as is, less than a year of experience under my belt, so don't assume I know of what might be common items to experienced players I had looked at ghost strike, I only have a 2d6 sneak attack from my assassin's stance, but being able to crit undead did seem nice. The truedeath weapon crystal also seemed nice, doing the same thing as ghost strike, but seems expensive at 10k. However, weapon wise I think that going with +2 keen weapons, then popping in greater truedeath crystals and letting our cleric cast undead bane (at an hour per level, and he effectivly casts as a 14th level caster for that spell) is the way to go.

Most undead are land walkers: Getting yourself a Earth Bound (+1 cost from Ebberon Campaign Handbook) enhancement to your weapon will boost it by +2 hit/damage.

Keen is useful (if you can crit undead). But Earthbound will be useful most of the time.

 

[Wonka]

Most undead are land walkers: Getting yourself a Earth Bound (+1 cost from Ebberon Campaign Handbook) enhancement to your weapon will boost it by +2 hit/damage.

Keen is useful (if you can crit undead). But Earthbound will be useful most of the time.

Well, i did plan on getting the greater truedeath crystal, which would let me crit and SA undead, but my main reason for getting keen was i wanted these daggers to be useful for not just this raid on the undead, but outside of this too. I figure with +2 keen, it will be more useful elsewhere, and just get our cleric to cast undead bane for 14 hours of undead bashing goodness each day. Not to familiar with Ebberon, Il have to see if my DM has that book.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Just how much money is available? It sounds like you're able to secure a rather large amount of gear on the spot...

 

[Wonka]

Well, between our party funds, we have nearly 50,000g to spend. So its quite a bit of cash, but not quite near as much as I would like So while we will be able to get a few things, we wont be able to totally strap up. The way my brain works tho, i just like to know everything out there, then we can figure out which is going to be most beneficial.

 

[Herobizkit]

Sun Blade

This sword is the size of a bastard sword. However, a sun blade is wielded as if it were a short sword with respect to weight and ease of use. (In other words, the weapon appears to all viewers to be a bastard sword, and deals bastard sword damage, but the wielder feels and reacts as if the weapon were a short sword.) Any individual able to use either a bastard sword or a short sword with proficiency is proficient in the use of a sun blade. Likewise, Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization in short sword and bastard sword apply equally, but the benefits of those feats do not stack.

In normal combat, the glowing golden blade of the weapon is equal to a +2 bastard sword. Against evil creatures, its enhancement bonus is +4. Against Negative Energy Plane creatures or undead creatures, the sword deals double damage (and ×3 on a critical hit instead of the usual ×2).

The blade also has a special sunlight power. Once per day, the wielder can swing the blade vigorously above her head while speaking a command word. The sunblade then sheds a bright yellow radiance that is like full daylight. The radiance begins shining in a 10-foot radius around the sword wielder and extends outward at 5 feet per round for 10 rounds thereafter, to create a globe of light with a 60-foot radius. When the wielder stops swinging, the radiance fades to a dim glow that persists for another minute before disappearing entirely. All sun blades are of good alignment, and any evil creature attempting to wield one gains one negative level. The negative level remains as long as the sword is in hand and disappears when the sword is no longer wielded. This negative level never results in actual level loss, but it cannot be overcome in any way (including restoration spells) while the sword is wielded.

Moderate evocation; CL 10th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, daylight, creator must be good; Price 50,335 gp; Cost 25,335 gp + 2,000 XP.

Also, any weapons with the Holy and Ghost Touch enhancements will be teh awesome.