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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FalcWP" data-source="post: 3818047" data-attributes="member: 16858">One option (though, admittedly, it isn't a great fix, especially at higher levels) is the Dread Necromancer from Heroes of Horror, who can control 4 + Charisma Modifier HD of undead per level with Animate Dead.  Its a few more, but if 20 zombies isn't a challenge, neither is 30.The easier method really is to break the rules a bit, or create a reason that it works.  Maybe the caster has recovered the Scepter of Unlife and can control many more zombies than before.  Use a feat to control more undead.  The Desecrate spell lets you create more undead - maybe there's a spell that lets you control more.As for them not being a threat... they're fairly easy, yes.  Unless you're like my group, where the only slashing weapons are a few daggers.  Its a group of fifth level characters, and they're about to hit a tomb which has zombies, skeletons (the only bludgeoning weapons are a warhammer, a boomerang that nobody is proficient in, and fists) and a few dread necromancers for support.  If you can find a way to limit the longswords and battleaxes, zombies suddenly become a bit more of a threat, since that DR 5/Slashing kicks in.Also useful is having zombies grapple and pile on to the characters - make it a lot easier to hit the PCs.  Sure, the target gets an AoO... the first time.  Funny thing about a zombie horde... its gonna be tough to keep from getting grappled without Combat Reflexes.  Down at lower levels, this alone can be enough to threaten PCs, particularly folks like rogues and arcane casters who have lower strength scores and limited HP - they're now easy targets, and those slam attacks can add up.Admittedly, they're still going to get pretty trivial at higher levels, and work better as a plot device (the necromancer is sending a horde of zombies to attack the town!) than an encounter (both because there is no number of human zombies that is reasonably threatening to higher level PCs and because even trying to run a combat at that number would be pointless for a million reasons).</blockquote>

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