beauty on the inside

[aphilosoraptor]

TLDR: should I raise a skeleton or zombie bulette

In the Pathfinder game I am in we just killed a bulette and as every one was talking over each-other about striping it if its armored plats and teeth I raised the point that I has just hit level 7 with my bone-shaman necromancer and had a pile of onyx burning a hole in my pocket. After the group settled down it seemed that everyone was pretty OK with the idea of me raising it.

So to get to the point, should I raise it as a zombie or skeleton?

my character has an affinity for skeletons due to you know bone shaman but I'm not opposed to a zombie tank thrall I was just wondering which would be the most useful in a relatively

[denthor]

In the past I have found zombie to be far superior for the same price.

Example orge zombie has a 25 strength in 3.5.

Orge skeleton not near that.

[Quarian Rex]

I think that this really depends on what you want to get out of your minion. Do you want a mobile skirmisher to throw at your enemies weak spots? Do you want a slow but sturdy tank that will last you a while? That's the distinction that you are looking at.

Skeleton to hit on attacks will drop by 2 (due to BAB change in creature type), drop the AC by 8 (NA goes from +12 to +3 but it also gets a +1 from the Dex boost), and avg. HP goes from 84 to 36, but it does retain full speed and full attack options with all three natural attacks.

Zombie gets an extra 4 HD which is quite a boost, overall giving +2 to hit (+1 from BAB adjustment, +1 fron Str. increase), AC drops by 9 (NA goes from +12 to +4 but it also gets a -1 from the Dex penalty), is constantly Staggered and so can only move at half speed or make a single attack per round, but the avg. HP does only drop from 84 to 54.

In the end, I would choose based on what annoys you less. Having your speedy/shreddy minion dying too soon, or having your tanky minion being too slow to get into combat when you need him.

Not sure what you get from being a Bone Shaman Necromancer (couldn't find that under Shamans or Wizards) but that might tip the scales.

[Eldariel]

Zombies are kinda annoying due to how slow they are. Being restricted to a single attack on normally full-attacking creatures sucks too. Much of Bulette's power is in full attacks and overall its offense so I think it's better suited to be a Skeleton but it's fairly squishy either way. It's also rather fast naturally so Skeleton plays more to its natural features (not to mention, saves your control pool). Just be careful on what you sic it at so that it doesn't get pulverized; its AC and HP both go down the drain in its newly undead state even if you have access to Desecrate and an evil altar.

Note that if this is Pathfinder, you have other options too like Fast Zombie and Plague Zombie (much better than the default one even though DR is pretty nice). Bloody Skeleton is awesome for being immortal (no enemy is gonna carry the means to destroy it permanently) though it's expensive control pool wise. In 3.5, Skeleton takes the win but in PF, I might lean towards Fast Zombie or Bloody Skeleton.

[King of Nowhere]

If you don't get any special benefit from the undead being a bulette (I mean, letting the thing keep a bit of extra natural armor would make sense) then it's probably more efficient to strip the armor from the bulette, and use something else as undead minion.

[Eldariel]

If you don't get any special benefit from the undead being a bulette (I mean, letting the thing keep a bit of extra natural armor would make sense) then it's probably more efficient to strip the armor from the bulette, and use something else as undead minion.

What makes you say that? Bulettes have 27 Strength and three natural attacks; they hit like veritable trucks and are very good choices for a 9HD Skeleton. It's hard to beat magical beasts far as simple stats are concerned in general (Giants are another strong type - magical beasts suffer a bit more of the type shift of course). While sure, it loses BAB and HP in skeletonification, it's a very potent underling especially on this level; DR, speed, very solid damage output and some AC are all fine.

[Oberron]

Since you are playing pathfinder you can slap on the fast zombie template if you can cast the right spell for it. It's one of the variety things with animate dead to summon special undead.
Edit: haste or remove paralysis are the spells that need to be cast before animate dead.

[King of Nowhere]

What makes you say that? Bulettes have 27 Strength and three natural attacks; they hit like veritable trucks and are very good choices for a 9HD Skeleton. It's hard to beat magical beasts far as simple stats are concerned in general (Giants are another strong type - magical beasts suffer a bit more of the type shift of course). While sure, it loses BAB and HP in skeletonification, it's a very potent underling especially on this level; DR, speed, very solid damage output and some AC are all fine.

I don't know the rules here. is a bulette skeleton any stronger than the skeleton of any other huge creature? If so, go for it. If not, then get something less valuable to animate.

[Eldariel]

I don't know the rules here. is a bulette skeleton any stronger than the skeleton of any other huge creature? If so, go for it. If not, then get something less valuable to animate.

Both 3.5 and Pathfinder Skeleton (and Zombie) templates are based on the attributes of the base creature. Only Natural Armor gets replaced.