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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cheiromancer" data-source="post: 3036268" data-attributes="member: 141">The Animate dead seed is a pain in the neck.  The uneasy relationship between CR and HD, and the inapplicability of using sums of either HD or CR to determine the challenge of groups of undead... I finally decided to invoke my CHI/RHO formula, even though it sounds like a recitation of the Pythagorean Theorem.  I changed the Spellcraft Prerequisite to the average of Animate Dead and Create Undead.  Numerically it fits better.  I also dropped the flexibility factor requirement and rolled the CR and HD stipulations together for the more advanced undead:Seed: Animate Dead Necromancy [Evil] Root Spell: Animate dead, create undeadSpellcraft Prerequisite: 20+ Components: V, S Casting Time: 1 standard action Range: Touch Target: One or more corpses touched Duration: Instantaneous Saving Throw: None Spell Resistance: No The caster can turn the bones or bodies of dead creatures into undead skeletons or zombies that follow his or her spoken commands, or alternatively create more powerful undead which he or she must control through some other means. A destroyed undead can’t be animated again. At a base Spellcraft Prerequisite of 20, the caster can use the animate dead seed to create undead:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Up to 40 HD of skeletons and/or zombies may be created. The undead can follow the caster, or they can remain in an Area and attack any creature (or a specific type of creature) entering the place. The undead remain animated until they are destroyed, and remain under the caster’s control indefinitely. Factors: For each additional 2 HD of undead created, increase the Spellcraft Prerequisite by +1. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Control: A caster can naturally control 4 HD per caster level of mindless undead creatures he or she has personally created, regardless of the method used. If the caster exceeds this natural limit, newly created creatures fall under his or her control, and excess undead from previous castings become uncontrolled (the caster chooses which creatures are released). If the caster is a cleric, any undead he or she commands through his or her ability to command or rebuke undead do not count toward the natural limit. Factor: For every 4 HD of skeletons or zombies that will not count towards the natural limit, increase the Spellcraft Prerequisite by +1.  These undead will be automatically controlled.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The caster can also create undead other than skeletons and zombies, including intelligent undead and undead with templates: a templated undead is built upon the race, class, hit dice and abilities which the target creature or character possessed in life. Intelligent undead can follow more sophisticated commands and have a base attitude of indifferent, but are not automatically under the control of the caster.  The caster may create any single undead with a CR less than or equal to half the caster level.  This has a Spellcraft Prerequisite of 20, or twice the CR of the undead created, whichever is higher.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Multiple undead of the same type can be created as long as the highest CR undead is less than or equal to half the caster level, and the sum of the squares of the CRs of the undead creatures is less than or equal to one quarter the square of the Spellcraft Prerequisite.  If the sum of the squares of the CRs is too high, the highest CR subject or subjects are not affected.</li> </ul>Example: A 29th level necromancer decides to animate a party of low level human adventurers as vampires using his Undead Horde spell.  This spell includes an Animate Dead seed Spellcraft Prerequisite raised to 32.  The CR of each adventurer is given by their character level, which for this party was 5, 5, 6 and 7.  The vampire template adds +2 CR, so the CRs of the resulting monsters would be 7, 8, 8 and 9. 9 is less than half the necromancer’s caster level.  The sum of the squares of the CRs is 49 + 64 + 64 + 81 = 258, which is more than 256, one quarter of the square of the Spellcraft prerequisite.  The three lowest level characters rise as vampires.</blockquote>

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