thinking about a thing for my big lich game concept
specifically, a take on the concept of a death knight:
start with a regular, living human underling (they will not stay living nor human for long.) take them to your lair's alchemical lab, place them in a vat. have your alchemists infuse them with essences, both conjured and harvested from monsters: undeath, minotaur's strength, dragon's vitality, and so on. they will die from this, it is inevitable, but the essence of undeath pumping through their veins will keep them functional.
take this titanic undead warrior to your forges, now; graft layered plates of steel and more arcane metals directly to their slowly rotting flesh and their nigh unbreakable bones. grant them a weapon worthy of your power, and turn them on your foes.
don't worry, the process doesn't hurt a bit. ignore the screaming from inside the vat for the first few seconds.