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Message: <blockquote data-quote="aglondier" data-source="post: 6142911" data-attributes="member: 6747071">In the last campaign I ran, (a vs. the undead campaign), I came up with a few real nasties that could help make your badguy memorable. The key one at the low levels was what I called the Thrall Mark. The Necromancer branded his living servants/slaves/casual acquaintances with his mark, which gave them a small skill bonus that made them more valuable to him, but which cast Cause Minor Wound on them once a day...to remind them who their master is...and when they die, it casts animate dead on their corpse...and continues to cast Cause Minor Wound once per day.This made the players' opponents much nastier, since they would fight cunningly to avoid death, but when they do die, the players now have to deal with an undead. If you give it a 5-10 minute delay on animating the corpses, they party may have moved on, not realising that a zombie horde is rising in their wake. I also ruled that unless the skellies/zombies were disposed of properly, the Cause Minor Wounds would slowly repair the undead over time causing further problems for the players.Another was a Torc of minor control. It allowed the casting of Animate Dead once per month, and allowed the wearer to controll half their hit dice worth of undead. Relatively cheap for the Neromancer to make, or have his lackeys create. Not for their own use, but to grant as "favours" to allies. I scattered these things around everywhere.Picture a poor miner, barely scraping a living out of his copper mine. Then he finds this, and suddenly he no longer has to pay wages or feed his miners, and they will work 24/7 without complaint...the possibilities are endless, as is the corruption of the owners souls, and the distraction it makes for the party. Did the local labour boss dig up the graveyard for cheap labour, or was it a fell necromancer building an army?As for build. You're doing a gestalt? go Wizard 20 Cleric (death) 20 and bulk him out with Item Creation feats. Make Necromancy a favoured option, not his only option. As a generalist, he lacks limitations. Make any weaknesses he manifests be faked for the purpose of making his enemies underestimate him. Employ misdirection early and often. Dark robed masculine and imposing figure turns out to be the short, rather effeminate, younger son of the king...not the hugely muscular vampire lord who they thought they killed six months ago...who is the boss? both? neither? let them figure it out...</blockquote>

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