If I am going to actually play the character, for practical purposes, I want to control no more than 3 types of creatures and no more than 10 total creatures. Since I will also be juggling my character and a simulacrum most of the time, I think 4 zombies or 4 skeletons is more than enough. If it makes sense to forgo my main character (either for story reasons or I want something simpler to play), I could bring a Magen, Wight, or Mummy Lord to support my Simulacrum.
For flavor/background purposes, I want an ever expanding army of the dead.
I am kind of hesitant on spending my own spell slots to maintain an undead army, but I do like the idea of all my Simulacrums each having a retinue of guards. And since I am not actually maintaining those zombies, I can save my own precious spell slots for emergencies.
The simulacrums don't recover slots though. And animate dead can only be used to maintain control if you are the original caster. Eventually your sims will run out of slots and you will have wild zombies running around (except for the mummy lords and their hoards).
I also just noticed that animate dead lets you maintain 3 more than it creates, so that is at least another 24 zombies you and each mummy lord.
You also get back some slots on a short rest which I didn't account for.
Of course any level 17 wizard can skip straight to steps 7, 9, and 10. No undead, just infinite wizards.
Simulacrum can still cast Animate Dead once per long rest without expending a spell slot since it is a level 3 spell, so each Simulacrum can have four personal guards. And until I or they find more mummy lords, they can use Command Undead on a Wight temporarily.
If you are talking about signature spell, that is actually every short or long rest so 3 casts per day is reasonable. Pretty much caps you at 9 per simulacrum without spending at least 1 slot as start up.
Still ∞ simulacrums × (1 mummy lord with 50 zombies + 4~9 zombies) = ∞ zombies.
If I am going to actually play the character, for practical purposes, I want to control no more than 3 types of creatures and no more than 10 total creatures. Since I will also be juggling my character and a simulacrum most of the time, I think 4 zombies or 4 skeletons is more than enough. If it makes sense to forgo my main character (either for story reasons or I want something simpler to play), I could bring a Magen, Wight, or Mummy Lord to support my Simulacrum.
For flavor/background purposes, I want an ever expanding army of the dead.
I just thought of something interesting while reading through the spell list. If I cast Awaken on a FOD zombie, I am pretty sure that overrides my permanent control over them. However, is there a reason to assume otherwise? Is it possible to have both a perfectly obedient zombie that is smart and does not require my spell slots to maintain?
I think one way to accomplish that is to indirectly control AD zombies through Simulacrum so it does not uses up my spell slots, and my Simulacrum can just cast AD to reassert control over their AD zombies while preserving their intellect. If the Simulacrum ever dies though, then I lose control of those smart AD zombies, so making AD zombies smarter might be risky if I plan to take them into combat.
As for my own FOD zombies, the only way I can think of to increase their Intelligence score is to order them to wear and attune to the Headband of Intellect and then have them read a few Tome of Understanding until they hit an INT of 8. I assume almost every creature with an INT of 8 could read, so I can then give the HOI to another zombie to repeat the process. It is a long and slow process, but FOD zombies are permanently loyal until they die, and once they are dead, I assume their INT score goes back down to 3 and they lose their personality and most of their memories if they are raised again.
If I cast Regenerate on any smart zombie to make them look presentable like their living counterpart, I can send them into settlements and use them as spies too. Hell, if I spray them with a Perfume of Bewitching, I can even attempt to have them seduce living beings!
And since they are only CR 1/4 creatures, they can potentially become wizard sidekicks so they can cast Regenerate on their own to maintain their bodies, and they can even have their own zombies.
If I am going to actually play the character, for practical purposes, I want to control no more than 3 types of creatures and no more than 10 total creatures. Since I will also be juggling my character and a simulacrum most of the time, I think 4 zombies or 4 skeletons is more than enough. If it makes sense to forgo my main character (either for story reasons or I want something simpler to play), I could bring a Magen, Wight, or Mummy Lord to support my Simulacrum.
For flavor/background purposes, I want an ever expanding army of the dead.
Yeah, I really like that video. But due to how valuable FOD zombies are compared to AD zombies, I am kind of hesitant to use FOD zombies as combatants.
The clean up would also be a nightmare, although I guess that is what Unseen Servant is for to pick up all the bodies.
Re read the awaken spell. It says "beast or plant" zombies are undead. There is no duel typing.
Aw, darn. At least Headband of Intellect should still work I think. I just need to use Simulacrum spam to speed up the creation of multiple stat tomes and HOI, and have my Simulacrums wack AD zombies with Bonecounter for SP.
If I am going to actually play the character, for practical purposes, I want to control no more than 3 types of creatures and no more than 10 total creatures. Since I will also be juggling my character and a simulacrum most of the time, I think 4 zombies or 4 skeletons is more than enough. If it makes sense to forgo my main character (either for story reasons or I want something simpler to play), I could bring a Magen, Wight, or Mummy Lord to support my Simulacrum.
For flavor/background purposes, I want an ever expanding army of the dead.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
If you are talking about signature spell, that is actually every short or long rest so 3 casts per day is reasonable. Pretty much caps you at 9 per simulacrum without spending at least 1 slot as start up.
Still ∞ simulacrums × (1 mummy lord with 50 zombies + 4~9 zombies) = ∞ zombies.
https://youtu.be/Rsfyh3M_IKc
Check this out
I just thought of something interesting while reading through the spell list. If I cast Awaken on a FOD zombie, I am pretty sure that overrides my permanent control over them. However, is there a reason to assume otherwise? Is it possible to have both a perfectly obedient zombie that is smart and does not require my spell slots to maintain?
I think one way to accomplish that is to indirectly control AD zombies through Simulacrum so it does not uses up my spell slots, and my Simulacrum can just cast AD to reassert control over their AD zombies while preserving their intellect. If the Simulacrum ever dies though, then I lose control of those smart AD zombies, so making AD zombies smarter might be risky if I plan to take them into combat.
As for my own FOD zombies, the only way I can think of to increase their Intelligence score is to order them to wear and attune to the Headband of Intellect and then have them read a few Tome of Understanding until they hit an INT of 8. I assume almost every creature with an INT of 8 could read, so I can then give the HOI to another zombie to repeat the process. It is a long and slow process, but FOD zombies are permanently loyal until they die, and once they are dead, I assume their INT score goes back down to 3 and they lose their personality and most of their memories if they are raised again.
If I cast Regenerate on any smart zombie to make them look presentable like their living counterpart, I can send them into settlements and use them as spies too. Hell, if I spray them with a Perfume of Bewitching, I can even attempt to have them seduce living beings!
And since they are only CR 1/4 creatures, they can potentially become wizard sidekicks so they can cast Regenerate on their own to maintain their bodies, and they can even have their own zombies.
Yeah, I really like that video. But due to how valuable FOD zombies are compared to AD zombies, I am kind of hesitant to use FOD zombies as combatants.
The clean up would also be a nightmare, although I guess that is what Unseen Servant is for to pick up all the bodies.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
Re read the awaken spell. It says "beast or plant" zombies are undead. There is no duel typing.
Aw, darn. At least Headband of Intellect should still work I think. I just need to use Simulacrum spam to speed up the creation of multiple stat tomes and HOI, and have my Simulacrums wack AD zombies with Bonecounter for SP.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >