Controlled Units, Commander Action, Detaching/Reattaching

Three-ish questions:

What's best practices for controlled units?

Bob, a 7th level chaotic cleric, can control a company sized unit of zombies, by virtue of the "D" result for him turning zombies. That mechanic essentially leaves them charmed, under his control. 

-- He's also capable of acting as a hero - can he? Or is controlling the zombies his only option? If he's eligible by level to detach and act independently, may he, still controlling the zombies if they are in his ZOC? ... I guess this boils down to if controlling charmed creatures is the same action as controlling/ordering regular creatures.

He may also, if I'm interpreting the scaling rules right, control a battalion of zombies because of being 7th level - he can act as a lieutenant at that scale.

-- That relationship doesn't invert - he cannot control 4 companies of zombies at company scale? - i.e. act as a "division commander" with those zombies in his ZOC, more or less - as he's eligible to be a commander at the company scale. (if he was 9th level, he could be a lieutenant for a brigade of 1,920 zombies...)

Lastly;

-- There doesn't seem to be any indication against heros detaching from one unit and attaching to another (one of the D@W:B examples shows two heroes in one unit, though obvs. only one will act as a commander at any given round). If Bob cannot control multiple units by virtue of higher level, can Bob detach/attach to different units controllable by him, leaving the units he's not attached to dormant and unreactive?

 

 

Good question!
 

I'm pretty sure that controlled units require a lieutenant, so you need one controller per unit, even if you have a really strong caster.

I think you're correct about Bob being able to move freely between units, but the RAMIFICATIONS of leaving a contrlled unit remain a mystery. See: The thread about ghost lions

[quote="susan_brindle"]

I'm pretty sure that controlled units require a lieutenant, so you need one controller per unit, even if you have a really strong caster. [/quote]

Probably, but, ya never know. I feel like it's kinda related to the second part, in that:

[quote="susan_brindle"]

I think you're correct about Bob being able to move freely between units, but the RAMIFICATIONS of leaving a contrlled unit remain a mystery. See: The thread about ghost lions [/quote]

The charmed effect of a successful control undead lasts for 1 turn; 10 rounds. edit: lasts for a full day. What's the capacity of a given mindless undead to follow an order? "Stay" seems pretty straightforward.

Actually, that brings up something about L&E. Controlled undead are charmed, therefore by L&E, tame. Tamed controlled creatures are implicitly allowed to be ordered around.

Do they, while controlled, know tricks, then, in that "tricks" are the function that an order calls?

I can tell my skeletons to guard, or work. They can act as hunters in this case, and be ordered to attack. It seems like it. So what's the duration of an order?

Would in the case of Bob being unattached to a zombie unit he controls start a "counter" of sorts, that would tick down every round until the charm duration ceases? Does that particular caveat apply to permanently controlled creatures? (turn lasts a day, well within single battle duration)

I dunno. The fictional world tells me Bob ought to be able to yell out "Shamble, my pretties!", point at a unit, and hope he gets back to them at some point . (maybe, he is chaotic). Not sure where the reality of a rules-based system decides to intrude there.

 

So; the text about being a lieutenant comes after text about size of armies and officer qualifications; so I'm withdrawing that part of my question, anyway. No cleric can get a "D" result on skeletons until 6th, zombies till 7th, anyway, so I'm not necessarily gaining anything making the distinction, at that - it's not like I can assign a 5th level cleric to the task.

Presumably then if that LT can qualify as a detached hero, the key part is staying within their ZoC to order the units, though I'd still wonder what the duration and scope of a single order is.

I think the real key here would be using the Custom Spellcaster Creation from the Patreon to make a dedicated necromancer that can utilize a lower level version of Animate Dead - if you can get something nice at 3rd level, a 5th level arcane caster could be utilized at the proper lieutenant level - the spellcaster that animated them also counts as a qualified LT.