First thoughts on party make up?

[Jermz]

I just think the idea of commanding a group of undead is cool as hell.

Sorry to harp on you over this, but you do know that if you follow this path it'll bring you into direct conflict with the paladin, right? Assuming he doesn't kill you beforehand. With experienced players this could be fun, but with newbies it could definitely feel like you're trying to force his character to fall or even turn him to PvP. Best case is that he'll decide that he'll just change characters, but then, what have you accomplished with that? I'm just not sure where you're trying to go here with the group dynamic, mainly. What do YOU see happening? What would you WANT to happen? What's your ultimate goal as player/DM?

Again, I believe that mixed good/evil groups can work, as can mixed paladin/evil groups (for a short time at least - working against a common evil, for example), but for the most part this is something to avoid unless you're a fan of party tension and PvP.