What makes a good elite undead man-at-arms?

[Errant]

Lets say you're a lich, one of an undead council ruling a city in which the mortals enjoyed your 'protection' while serving your needs.

Lets say you see the need for an elite guard, warriors (etc) immune to the effects of aging & unswervingly loyal to your rule. Creatures that retain something of their mortal psyche & abilities.

Mindless minions are no good because they have no initiative & thus need constant command & attention.

Creatures weakened by light are no good because, well, daylight is around half the time.

What sort of creatures do you create/train to protect you interests & enforce your will over the centuries?

I have an idea involving such a city behind the scenes of the campaign, & an encounter involving the PCs crossing paths with a liche on a mission for the council, with a handful of elite guards accompanying to ensure he isn't hindered. Only I'm unsure what creatures would make suitable guards.

Any suggestions?

[Edited spelling]

 

[S'mon]

Death Knights?

 

[LostSoul]

Evil elves? Their long lifespans should make them good long-term servants for a lich.

 

[hong]

Evil elves? Their long lifespans should make them good long-term servants for a lich.

cf. the "elven concentration camp" thread.

 

[Errant]

Death Knights are cool, but I'm afraid using them in groups would detract from their potential roleplaying possibilities.

I'm thinking Death Knights would make better undead generals & champions than guards/men-at-arms.

 

[S'mon]

Death Knights are cool, but I'm afraid using them in groups would detract from their potential roleplaying possibilities.

I'm thinking Death Knights would make better undead generals & champions than guards/men-at-arms.

A bodyguard of a dozen death knights for the Lich-King seems reasonable to me. There's a vast number of undead in Creature Collection 2 - something there might be usable.

You could also create your own advanced skeletons with intelligence as grunts.

 

[Black Omega]

Skeletons with levels would make a fine elite rank and file, really. I've gotten very good use out of that type of undead.

 

[Mordax]

I've always wanted to use Ghouls with a level or two of Rogue. Try those.

 

[Errant]

I don't think elves fit because they're a little too chaotic, & since you don't 'create' them, you can't choose them based on their abilties & loyalty.

A death knight bodyguard for the lich-king sounds very suitable.

I like the idea of what I'm looking for something in that (some) mortals would volunteer to become. Sure, you'll never feel love, or compassion, or sympathy again, but you can live forever!" kinda thing.

I was thinking about adapting wights. A more disciplined/less driven to extinguish all life type. Monstrous & evil more because of their dispassionate detachment from mortal concerns, rather the hateful, malevolence of typical wights.

But if they're created through magic, the Create Spawn ability seems unsuitable & I don't know what to replace it with.

Would "wights", with the Create Spawn ability replaced by, say, Damage Resistance 5/+1 seem about the same Challenge Rating?

I thought about Shades too (ex. FRCS) but they're weakened by strong light & they're not immortal. Are they?

 

[hong]

I was thinking about adapting wights. A more disciplined/less driven to extinguish all life type. Monstrous & evil more because of their dispassionate detachment from mortal concerns, rather the hateful, malevolence of typical wights.

But if they're created through magic, the Create Spawn ability seems unsuitable & I don't know what to replace it with.

Would "wights", with the Create Spawn ability replaced by, say, Damage Resistance 5/+1 seem about the same Challenge Rating?

I thought about Shades too (ex. FRCS) but they're weakened by strong light & they're not immortal. Are they?

Depending on the tone you want for your guards, you can apply one of the ghoul or wight templates to levelled characters (fighters, wizards, etc). There was a thread a few days back about these.

http://www.enworld.org/messageboards/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11429

The ghoul template is from Monte:
http://www.montecook.com/images/Ghoul.pdf

The wight template is from Andy Collins:
http://www.andycollins.net/free_stuff_files/WightTemplate.htm

Dumping the wight's energy drain ability and replacing it with temporary Con damage should be good enough for most purposes. Assume anyone taken down to 0 Con just dies.