I'm late to the party, I know, but I just finally, for the first time, got 100 Conjuration and Dead Thrall, and well I'm pretty much loving it.

I know this probably isn't a big deal to anyone else, but I am absolutely loving having a customizable army following me all across Tamriel and Solstheim. Even more so when my army of undead can summon undead minions of their own.

What mods are you using?
I mean conjuration/necromancy mods if any.

Welcome brother, you have finally embraced the beautiful art known as Necromancy.

Necromancy is the only way to go. Welcome to the family.

Oh, I have been a necro fan for quite some time! For some reason, despite 200+ hours of gameplay (albeit 2 different characters) focused on necromancy Conjuration, I never got up to 100 in it. But I'm loving it!

Do have one question: Does The Ritual Stone summon undead in addition to my thralls? Or will it replace them?

Make that 2 questions: Will I keep my Thralls active if I go into Vampire Lord form?

None. I play on X-Box 360.

The Ritual Stone reanimations are in addition to Your Thralls.

EDIT added spoiler tags

It's nice having an army of Draugr following me around. A shame it can't be done in vanilla though. For all intents and purposes, Draugr are "humans" and are already dead. lolbethesda.

I'd like Dead Thrall if the level restriction and the humanoid only limiters were removed. Such arbitrary restrictions ruin the spell for me.

Yes! Dead Thrall Bears... even Horkers!

Just an FYI in case you were unaware, but you can keep named NPCs, that don't respawn, around forever if you place a persistent/permanent item on their person. http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Permanent_and_persistent_items

It's great if you want to switch up between your thralls. Also having a house full of corpses is fun.

ETA: It may help keep respawning generic NPCs around longer too, but I'm not certain. So don't go placing something you want to keep on a generic bandit.

Yes, I agree. I was trying to reanimate some draugr and falmer with it. I figured they'd be humanoid enough.

How is that not a spoiler?

By far one of my initial most favored spells of all. The best followers, bar none. I actively search for female Bandit Chiefs, w/ a full set of Steel Plate and they must not have the Opposite Gender Animation, active. Improve their armor to Legendary, Give them an ebony sword, shield and bow... and hold on.

The only downside is... If they fall in battle against another Necro, the enemy will raise them before you can get to them and turn the powerhouse you created against you.

... not good.

The worst of it? They will turn to ash so they are essentially lost forever, if that happens and the hunt for a replacement specimen in on again.

And they can carry an unlimited amount of loot.

Well this thread has taken an interesting turn. I might consider this in the future. No corpse eating though.

How many dead thralls can you use at a time?

2 if you have a certain perk. cant remember the name of it.

Two with the Twin Souls Perk, on a PC there are ways to cheat the limit like the Bashed Patch from Wrye Bash, or a Mod.

Twin Souls

Yeay thats what i thought

You can have two, but if you pick your thralls correctly, you may as well have 4-5. Thrall a couple of Master Vampires who themselves can raise the dead and you are a walking undead army. Have Sanguine Rose as well and you ARE a an army. Or, if you are like me, just have a couple of hte baddest dudes in the game as thralls - Orchendor and Malkoran.

Conjuration is why I can keep my health at 100 and blast through 70+ levels in the game as a mage.

I tend to kose mine during fast travel. Aby tricks for getting them back.

Just learned that the whiterun guard armor that you find inside the dragon killed at the watchtower is persistant and will remain with the merchant you sell it to. Im going to fibd it and give it to my thrall. Thanks for tip

humanoid limitation is unfortunate, I want a lurker or spriggan earthmother

If u give sanguine rose to a dead thrall will he use it?

And if he dies can u loot the rose back?

What is the best trick to keep a good dead thrall alive and well protected?

Yep it's one of my favorites too.

I could never get into it. I tried it, but the moaning is just unbearable. And I lost a few bodies, walking away from a fight thinking they survived, when they died.

Plus the level cap svcks the fun out of it for me.

I recently acquired the skill, including the twin souls perk, and am quite the novice. Thus far, I haven't been impressed. I've only tried bandit chiefs and vampires, neither of which performed well. I think I need to improve their gear for better performance? But, after they expired, I notice the spell still active in my effects for like 90,000 hours. My character is constantly confronted with "ugh, could you douse that magic", even when no thralls are active. Not sure if this is normal, or if I am doing something wrong...