Plans for an Undead Nightmare

[Cantha]

Hey! I'm fairly new to D&D and my DM is quite experienced but has never gotten into planar stuff and is only mildly familiar with neutral undead dealings so this is new for both of us. I want to run my process for getting an undead nightmare as a mount past you guys to make sure I didn't make any obvious mistakes. For reference, I'm a lawful neutral cleric necromancer and my eventual goal is to be the PrC Bone Rider from the Tome of Necromancy.

Step 1: Jump to an evil plane, where nightmares are.

I haven't chosen which yet, the environment for nightmares just says "evil plane," but I'm tempted to go to Acheron because Wee Jas is there and she is my chosen deity.

Step 2: Kill a nightmare and raise it.

Nightmares are officially classified as an "Extraplanar" outsider, which is "A subtype applied to any creature when it is on a plane other than its native plane." So if that's the case, it would be native on its native plane, right? And native Outsiders can be risen, so I should be able to raise one there.

Step 3: Jump back to the material plane, undead (zombie, probably) nightmare in hand.

Success! As long as I can control it, I have an undead nightmare mount. Although I've noticed that undead get to keep their subtype and occasionally a special attack (zombie dragons still have their breath attacks), and I'm not sure how this would affect my nightmare. Do you think it would retain its flaming hoofs and blinding smoke?

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me!

[frogglesmash]

1. Outsider cannot be raised regardless of which plane they're on, but this isn't a problem since you're trying to animate one. (Raising something returns it to life, not unlife.)
2. Zombies and skeletons retain none of their special attacks (dragons are a special case because they get their own special version of the templates)and only retain their EX special qualities. If you want your nightmare to keep it's flaming hooves and breath weapon your best bet would be to use Bone Creature or the Corpse Creature template from the Book of Vile Darkness. Both of those templates let the creature keep all their special abilities and attacks as well as letting them keep their intelligence scores. The only downsides are that you need to use you need access to create undead, and you'd need to rebuke them instead of relying on Command Undead (which you should be using instead of rebuking if you're making zombies and skeles.)

[Cantha]

First oops, thank you for the correction on the terminology on both counts. Good to know! I forgot about the templates, I'll go check that out. So with the template, it seems like I would just call it a "Nightmare corpse," right? Thanks for all the help!

[NevinPL]

Why you want undead instead of standard one ? Just for better control ?

[frogglesmash]

Why you want undead instead of standard one ? Just for better control ?

Well there's also the benefits of a a mount who can travel at a full out sprint without ever getting tired, hungry, or thirsty.

[Deox]

Well there's also the benefits of a a mount who can travel at a full out sprint without ever getting tired, hungry, or thirsty.

There's the spell Call Nightmare from the BoVD. Gets you one as a loyal servant for a week. No Save, No SR. Just free nightmare for a week. Sure, there's the whole caveat of offering it a soul, but whatever.

[NevinPL]

Well there's also the benefits of..

And the drawback of it being scared off (nightmare scared off :D), destroyed by some "do-gooder" cleric, or "stolen" by not so good, just by "shining their bling".
And loosing all the cool abilities\looks (sans the templates from BoVD).

Sure, there's the whole caveat of offering it a soul, but whatever.

9th level evil character wouldn't have much trouble acquiring that.

[frogglesmash]

And the drawback of it being scared off (nightmare scared off :D), destroyed by some "do-gooder" cleric, or "stolen" by not so good, just by "shining their bling".
And loosing all the cool abilities\looks (sans the templates from BoVD).

The first two could happen even if your horse wasn't undead, the difference being that the horse startler/murderer/thief no longer has to be a cleric. I must concede to the last point however since a skeletal nightmare is no better than a skeletal horse with a couple more HD.

[Bad Wolf]

Or you could cast Planar Ally, and ask Wee Jas for a Nightmare. Not undead, and you have to pay it, but less hassle.

[NevinPL]

The first two could happen even if your horse wasn't undead...

Yes it can, but not as easily.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Well...

1. Use polymorph any object to turn your nightmare into an outsider with 11th-level spellcasting.
2. Order your nightmare to craft a phylactery. You'll have to pay for it, 120k gold. A thought bottle wouldn't hurt either.
3. Dismiss polymorph any object to get your nightmare back.
4. Order your nightmare to finish the ritual to become a lichfiend (Libris Mortis), using the phylactery it created.