A question about evil clerics and undead [3.5]

[Sharkman1231]

Okay, I am running an evil/evil-ish campian. One of my players is a LE cleric, and another is thinking about being a cleric too. So if they start making undead, they would have a small army of undead especially if they use desacrate and stuff. I really don't want them to control lots of undead. What I was thinking was an "undead familiar" from the variant rules in the SRD (variant rules->classes->necromancer wizard)
Is this a good idea?
I dunno... tell me your opinions.
Thanks:smallsmile:

[Whammydill]

Why do you not want them to have undead? Too much upkeep to worry about? You could just limit them to how many they could have, maybe in relation to their own HD.

Or if you wanna have fun with them. If they have different gods they follow then have their undead keep fighting each other. Gods, especially evil ones don't like competition :smallbiggrin:

[Strawman]

You could make it so that they can only raise a small number of undead, but they can enhance the undead in a variety of ways. So you could make a single killing machine, or two dozen pieces of fodder. If you design it so that it will usually be a better decision to make the stronger undead, you would only see the small army in rare situations where it makes sense to make a small army.

[Blaine.Bush]

What are the chances that all of us have zombie-tars? No, I have nothing to contribute.

[Krrth]

Okay, I am running an evil/evil-ish campian. One of my players is a LE cleric, and another is thinking about being a cleric too. So if they start making undead, they would have a small army of undead especially if they use desecrate and stuff. I really don't want them to control lots of undead. What I was thinking was an "undead familiar" from the variant rules in the SRD (variant rules->classes->necromancer wizard)
Is this a good idea?
I dunno... tell me your opinions.
Thanks:smallsmile:

What deity do they worship? Just because a deity is evil doesn't mean they approve of undead.

Also, make sure to enforce the HD limit on undead.

If after those, they still have too many undead, remember this: The locals aren't going to appreciate hordes of undead. That's the kinda thing adventuring parties get called in to stop.

[TheCountAlucard]

Why do you not want them to have undead?How about the fact that it slows combat down to a crawl through tar and tacks? If a cleric has four different undead under his control, his turn alone can and often will take five times as long.

[Mongoose87]

If they're summoning too many Undead, pit them against a Good Cleric or three.

[ashmanonar]

If they're summoning too many Undead, pit them against a Good Radiant Servant or three.

Fixed it for you.

[Telonius]

The mere creation of this thread summoned three zombies immediately, so I think I can see the OP's concern. :smallbiggrin:

More turns means more time. It's a simple fact of D&D life. I'd have no problem putting a limit on either the number of undead or the time he takes in doing his actions.

If he really wants to have hordes of undead, I'd suggest treating undead mooks of the same type as a single unit, possibly using Swarm rules. They'd be able to attack only one target per turn.

The Undead Familiar idea is another good one.

[Whammydill]

How about the fact that it slows combat down to a crawl through tar and tacks? If a cleric has four different undead under his control, his turn alone can and often will take five times as long.

Ahh, much like when a good cleric turns and doesn't destroy, you have to spend round after round hunting them down or waiting for them to come back.

Thanks for the reply Sharkman....oh wait you aren't Sharkman! :smalleek:

No really, I understand the logistics of it, I was just curious as to his not wanting them there to better facilitate his question.

[Feliks878]

It's worth noting that by the time the cleric would actually be able to have a large swarm of undead, they'd be suitably useless. Having DM'd a game where this appeared to be a problem (a dread Necromancer and a cleric of Nerull were both participating), a little encouragement led to the creation of only 1 or 2 powerful undead minions as opposed to hordes of human warrior skeletons. I would try to encourage this in your players - it ended up being more powerful, less time consuming, and, as a DM, gives you something you can blow up with little regret or remorse.

[kamikasei]

Let me make my standard suggestion in this sort of thread:

Ask the players nicely not to create undead, because you find it to be a hassle you'd rather not deal with. Just ask that they use their spells for other things, and make characters who that fits; or that if they do want to create undead, they limit them to offscreen or utility tasks such as guarding a location or acting as a mount or whatever.

There's no need to houserule when you can just agree.