Panicing D&D 3.5 DM!

[NewJeffCT]

For him, and for each other character in your party, every group of 5 or 6 encounters should include:
1 "star" encounter that really lets that character shine, where his unique abilities will let him "win". For an undead army raiser, that would probably be an open field battle with many weak foes, or with one strong enemy that can be contained by the horde.

1 "nemesis" encounter that seriously challenges the character, that aims at his weaknesses or deficiencies. This does NOT mean making the character powerless or helpless, but it should take away his standard best tactic or reduce its effectiveness, forcing him to rely on others and/ or find a different trick. An enemy cleric that can evaporate his army on round one is not cool, but one who can wrest control of some minions from him, creating a tug of war for dominance, is great fun. One character's nemesis encounter is frequently another character's star encounter.

And 3 or 4 normal encounters, where each character can use their abilities reasonably well. If these tend to turn into star encounters for one PC, that's

Good points - I definitely agree with this concept.

Also, if something is a big change in the rules (i.e., you seemed surprised that zombies could only take partial actions) compared to how you guys have played so far, I would discuss it with him out of game first. Tell him you have been playing it wrong and that zombies should only get partial actions. I think if you just pulled it off in game when he went to the move, he might be rather put out...

edited to add - I meant the OP was surprised about zombies and partial actions, not On Puget Sound.

 

[Tamlyn]

i do believe there is a fast zombie template somewhere.

Fast Zombie It's Pathfinder though, not 3.5.

 

[Marius Delphus]

i do believe there is a fast zombie template somewhere.

Good point!

No Libris Mortis (or, while we're at it, other templated zombies), either.

 

[Scott DeWar]

Also remember the investment of the material component for creating undead:

from the Hypertext D20 srd:

Material Component

A clay pot filled with grave dirt and another filled with brackish water. The spell must be cast on a dead body. You must place a black onyx gem worth at least 50 gp per HD of the undead to be created into the mouth or eye socket of each corpse. The magic of the spell turns these gems into worthless shells.

emphasis is mine in above text. 100 gp of black onyx per zombie. That can add up quickly especially if there is an inquisitor type looking for that kind of purchase by someone. Then the inquisitor's spies can track down the necromancer and lead him/her to the pending army of defilement and corruption.

A good way for a nemisis npc to be introduced, but remember, that is a signifcant investment by the pc.