The Necromancer [3.5 PEACH, Halfway through editing]

[DecimalPoint]

Hey all, so this is not a rewrite of the dread necro or anything like that, this is an adaptation of another necromancer-type class found on D&D wiki called the Mortician (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Mortician_(3.5e_Class)). That class is more of a Dr. Frankenstein style class, whereas my Necromancer is more of a mix, a spellcaster who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. I'll be putting my thoughts into these spoilers in case you are bothered about what went through my mind :smallbiggrin:


The Necromancer

Alignment: Usually evil or chaotic.
The nature of the magic this class weaves means that members tend towards evil and/or chaotic, but this is not a hard and fast rule.
Hit Die: d6
Class Skills: Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Disguise (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Heal (Wis), Listen (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Spot (Wis).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) × 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.

{table=head]
Level|
Base Attack Bonus|
Fort Save|
Ref Save|
Will Save|
Special|
1st|
2nd|
3rd|
4th|
5th|
6th

1st|+0|+2|+0|+2|Cantrips, Gentle Repose|1|-|-|-|-|-

2nd|+1|+3|+0|+3|Steady hands|2|-|-|-|-|-

3rd|+2|+3|+1|+3|Desecrate|2|-|-|-|-|-

4th|+3|+4|+1|+4|Stitch up 1d8|3|1|-|-|-|-

5th|+3|+4|+1|+4|Animate Dead|3|2|-|-|-|-

6th|+4|+5|+2|+5|Eschew Materials (Desecrate)|4|2|-|-|-|-

7th|+5/+2|+5|+2|+5|Eschew Materials (Animate Dead)|4|3|1|-|-|-

8th|+6/+1|+6|+2|+6|Stitch up 2d8, Create Undead|4|3|2|-|-|-

9th|+6/+1|+6|+3|+6|Enduring Life|5|4|2|-|-|-

10th|+7/+2|+7|+3|+7|Aura of Desecration, Eschew Materials (Create Undead)|5|4|3|1|-|-

11th|+8/+3|+7|+3|+7|Revive undead|5|4|3|2|-|-

12th|+9/+4|+8|+4|+8|Stitch up 3d8|6|5|4|2|-|-

13th|+9/+4|+8|+4|+8|Eschew Materials (Revive Undead)|6|5|4|3|1|-

14th|+10/+5|+9|+4|+9|Create Greater Undead|6|5|4|3|2|-

15th|+11/+6/+1|+9|+5|+9||7|6|5|4|2|-

16th|+12/+17/+2|+10|+5|+10|Stitch up 4d8, Eschew Materials(Create Greater Undead)|7|6|5|4|3|1

17th|+12/+7/+2|+10|+5|+10|Improved Aura of Desecration, Raise Dead|7|6|5|4|3|2

18th|+13/+8/+3|+11|+6|+11|Lasting Life|7|7|6|5|4|2

19th|+14/+9/+4|+11|+6|+11|Plague of Undead|8|7|6|5|4|3

20th|+15/+10/+5|+12|+6|+12|Stitch up 5d8|8|7|6|5|4|3
[/table]

N.B.
This rewrite assumes a house rule where all full casters use Wisdom and Intelligence as main stats; Wisdom to determine DCs and Intelligence to determine bonus spells (this is to try to balance magic by making it more MAD like the melee classes). Deepbluediver inspired this rule.

Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: The Necromancer is proficient with all simple weapons and with no armour or shields.

Spells: A Necromancer casts arcane spells drawn from the Necromancer spell list (see below). He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time.

Like other spellcasters, a Necromancer can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Intellect score.

Unlike a wizard or a cleric, a Necromancer need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his spells per day for that spell level.

Necromancers begin play knowing two 1st level spells, and four 0th level spells. They learn 2 new spells at every level after first. 1 spell must be of the highest level spell they can cast, and the second must be of any other level (he can cast).

Cantrips:Necromancers learn a number of cantrips, or 0-level spells, as noted on the above table. These spells are cast like any other spell, but they do not consume any slots and may be used again.

Gentle Repose (Sp): At first level, A Necromancer may cast gentle repose a number of times per day equal to his Wisdom modifier + 1.

Steady Hands (Ex): A Necromancer gets a bonus on Heal checks equal to half his class level +1.

Desecrate (Sp): At 3rd level, a Necromancer may use the desecrate spell as a spell like ability a number of times per day equal to his wisdom modifier + 1.

Stitch Up (Ex): Starting At 4th level, a Necromancer gains the ability to surgically heal both the living and the living dead, this ability takes 1 minute, and a successful heal check (DC 14) On a successful check, the Necromancer can heal 1d8 plus his level hit points of the subject. He must have his surgical tools to do this, or else he takes a -5 penalty on the check. the healing increase to 2d8 at 8th level, 3d8 at 12th, 4d8 at 16th, and finally 5d8 at 20th. He can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + his wisdom modifier.

Animate Dead (Sp): Starting at fifth level, A Necromancer can cast Animate Dead as a spell-like ability a number of times per day equal to his Wisdom modifier + 1. At eighth level the Necromancer can also use Create Undead and Create Greater Undead at fourteenth level each as a spell-like ability a number of times per day equal to his Wisdom modifier + 1.

I gave him these spell-like abilities because there was a (small) chance that players wouldn't choose those spells from the spell list, and what's a necromancer without undead minions? So the solution is to remove the option and just give him the ability as standard.

Eschew Materials (Ex): starting at 6th level, The Necromancer gains the ability to ignore the required material components for certain spell like abilities. At 6th, 7th, 10th 13th, and 16th level, a necromancer can eschew the materials for the spell-like abilities as shown in the above table at no extra cost.

Enduring Life (Ex): At 9th level, a Necromancer gains Enduring life as a bonus feat.

Aura of Desecration (Su): At 10th level, a Necromancer begins to exert his authority over undead. This aura is identical to the effects of the Desecrate spell except that it affects only allied undead and the range is 5ft per two caster levels.

Revive Undead (Sp): Starting At 11th level, A Necromancer can cast Revive Undead as a spell-like ability once per day.

Improved Aura of Desecration (Su): At 17th level, a Necromancer has obtained so much power of the living and the undead that his aura grows. His Aura of Desecration now has a range of ten feet per 2 class level.

Raise Dead (Sp): Starting At 17th level, A Necromancer can cast Raise Dead as a spell like ability once per day.

Lasting Life: At 18th level, a Necromancer gains Lasting Life as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites for it.

Plague of Undeath (Sp): Starting At 19th level, A Necromancer can cast Plague of Undeath as a spell like ability once per day.


New Feat:

Undead Mastery
Prerequisites: Ability to cast animate dead or use it as a spell-like ability
Benefit: a character can control 4 + her Charisma bonus HD worth of undead creatures per class level
Normal: a character can normally control only 4 HD worth of undead per level.


Alternative Class Feature

Sneaking Undeath
The necromancer abandons his abilities to heal damage to the living and living dead and instead turns his attention to dealing damage to the living and the living dead.
Level: 1st
Replaces: If you select this class feature, you do not gain the stitch up ability.
Benefit: Instead, you gain sneak attack +1d6 at 1st level, +2d6 at 5th, +3d6 at 9th, +4d6 at 13th and +5d6 at 17th level. This is identical to the rogue’s ability of the same name, except it also works against the undead.

[DecimalPoint]

Necromancer Spell List

Spells are from either the Player's Handbook (PHB), Spell Compendium (SC) or Book of Vile Darkness (BoVD).

0th
• Disrupt Undead (PHB)
• Preserve Organ (BoVD)
• Touch of Fatigue (PHB)

1st
• Angry Ache (BoVD)
• Cause Fear (PHB)
• Chill Touch (PHB)
• Curse Water (M) (PHB)
• Death Grimace (BoVD)
• Death Knell (PHB)
• Deathwatch (PHB)
• Decomposition (SC)
• Doom (PHB)
• Ray of Enfeeblement (PHB)
• Spirit Worm (SC)
• Touch of Fatigue (PHB)

2nd
• Bestow Curse (PHB)
• Command Undead (PHB)
• Death Armour (F) (SC)
• Desiccating Bubble (SC)
• False Life (PHB)
• Ghoul Glyph (M) (SC)
• Ghoul Touch (PHB)
• Healing Sting (SC)
• Life Bolt (SC)
• Ray of Sickness (SC)
• Ray of Weakness (SC)
• Scare (PHB)
• Stolen Breath (SC)
• Stone Bones (SC)
• Wither Limb (SC)
• Wracking Touch (SC)

3rd
• Clutch of Orcus (SC)
• Dehydrate (SC)
• Delay Death (SC)
• Disrupt Undead, Greater (SC)
• Fear (PHB)
• Ghoul Gesture (SC)
• Halt Undead (PHB)
• Haunting Tune (SC)
• Healing Touch (SC)
• Incorporeal Enhancement (SC)
• Infestation of Maggots (SC)
• Poison (PHB)
• Ray of Exhaustion (PHB)
• Rejuvenative Corpse (SC)
• Reveille (SC)
• Skull Watch (SC)
• Spark of Life (SC)
• Speak with Dead (PHB)
• Spider Poison (SC)
• Undead Lieutenant (SC)
• Undead Torch (SC)
• Vampiric Touch (PHB)

4th
• Blight (PHB)
• Consumptive Field (SC)
• Cursed Blade (SC)
• Death Ward (PHB)
• Enervation (PHB)
• Greater Bestow Curse (SC)
• Grim Revenge (BoVD)
• Heart Ripper (SC)
• Iron Bones (SC)
• Last Breath (M) (SC)
• Miasma of Entropy (SC)
• Wrack (SC)


5th
• Charnel Fire (BoVD)
• Death Throes (SC)
• Ghoul Gauntlet (SC)
• Graymantle (SC)
• Incorporeal Nova (SC)
• Magic Jar (F) (PHB)
• Mass Contagion (PHB)
• Miasma of Entropy (SC)
• Permanency (XP) (PHB)
• Slay Living (PHB)
• Soul Shackles (BoVD)
• Spirit Wall (SC)
• Stop Heart (BoVD)
• Symbol of Pain (M) (PHB)
• Waves of Fatigue (PHB)

6th
• Aura of Terror (SC)
• Awaken Undead (XP) (SC)
• Circle of Death (M) (PHB)
• Ectoplasmic Enhancement (BoVD)
• Finger of Death (PHB)
• Imperious Glare (SC)
• Sword of Darkness (SC)
• Symbol of Fear (M) (PHB)
• Undeath to Death (M) (SC)
• Wave of Pain (BoVD)
• Waves of Fatigue (PHB)

[Silva Stormrage]

Hm, interesting class. It seems like a melee death knight type of class to be honest with the Full BAB and necromancy.

Things I would suggest:

Increase the level at which he gains animate dead. Especially as a spell like ability this is gained too early. At low levels almost infinite disposable minions is too strong. I would either increase it to 5th (But make the ability cost material components) or 8th (Without material components). Maybe make it progress so that later it doesn't take material components but early on it does.


Resistance to energy drain is a bit odd since most negative levels don't have fort saves for application only at the end. I would make this more unique such as getting the enduring life feat from libris mortis and later on the lasting life feat also from libris mortis. Those are cool mechanics behind negative levels but they are far too specific to ever be taken in a normal campaign.

Aura of Desecration: What is the level 10 range for the aura? Also shouldn't the 17th ability be named Improved Aura of Desecration?

[eftexar]

Definitely one of the better necromancer write-ups I've seen around, though I wonder about the full BaB. The combination of healing, sneakiness, and 6th level spells is potent as is. I would drop the BaB to 15.

[edit]: Unless I'm missing something I don't see any proficiencies. What weapons is the Necromancer proficient with?

[UrsielHauke]

I would highly suggest that you limit Stitch Up to once per day per target creature, or it's bound to be abused. Maybe you could make up a feat for people who wanted to use it more frequently, say, 2 per creature per day. Maybe make a feat chain to improve or alter the ability in a unique way, with that as a prerequisite; have some fun with it. Being able to stop for a few minutes after every encounter and heal back to full is quite broken, though.

Also, will the animate dead and related spell-like abilities require the normal 25 gp/hd material component? Maybe it could be like the warlock invocation, with a temporary duration if you didn't use it, and permanent if you did. Just a thought.

The high BAB seems a bit out of place, as a side note. It doesn't seem like someone focused on animating the dead would have that much combat training & skill, especially if their minions were doing most of their fighting.

As a final note, I would suggest an ability that increases the number of hit dice of undead you can control, making it based on an ability score. The similar ability of the Dread Necromancer from Heroes of Horror, for example, increases it to 4+CHA HD per level.

On the whole, though, this looks like a class that would be a lot of fun to play. I look forward to seeing where it goes.

[DecimalPoint]

I would drop the BaB to 15.


The high BAB seems a bit out of place, as a side note. It doesn't seem like someone focused on animating the dead would have that much combat training & skill, especially if their minions were doing most of their fighting.

Looking over it again, I'm inclined to agree with you, Will drop it.

[EDIT]: actually, on my copy in MS word, it does had 3/4 BaB, I don't know how it got full BaB. I must've copied the wrong code for the table outline :smalleek:


Increase the level at which he gains animate dead. Especially as a spell like ability this is gained too early. At low levels almost infinite disposable minions is too strong. I would either increase it to 5th (But make the ability cost material components) or 8th (Without material components). Maybe make it progress so that later it doesn't take material components but early on it does.

You're absolutely right. How about I raise the level at which he gets the animate dead ability to 5th (with material), and give him the ability to eschew the material components for each animate dead ability individually (that way I'll avoid dead levels)?


I would suggest an ability that increases the number of hit dice of undead you can control, making it based on an ability score. The similar ability of the Dread Necromancer from Heroes of Horror, for example, increases it to 4+CHA HD per level.


Even better (read, less powerful): let him take it as a feat?


Resistance to energy drain is a bit odd since most negative levels don't have fort saves for application only at the end. I would make this more unique such as getting the enduring life feat from libris mortis and later on the lasting life feat also from libris mortis. Those are cool mechanics behind negative levels but they are far too specific to ever be taken in a normal campaign.

Yeah I like that idea; he has enough abilities which scale (what with sneak attack, stitch up etc).


Aura of Desecration: What is the level 10 range for the aura? Also shouldn't the 17th ability be named Improved Aura of Desecration?

level 10 range is 5ft/2 levels, and 17th level is typo, will edit.


What weapons is the Necromancer proficient with?

Very good point, I had completely forgotten to implement proficiencies; only simple weapons would do for the archetype I think :)


I would highly suggest that you limit Stitch Up to once per day per target creature, or it's bound to be abused. Maybe you could make up a feat for people who wanted to use it more frequently, say, 2 per creature per day. Maybe make a feat chain to improve or alter the ability in a unique way, with that as a prerequisite; have some fun with it. Being able to stop for a few minutes after every encounter and heal back to full is quite broken, though.

Nice idea, Will have a ponder regarding the feat chain.

Thank you all for the feedback, I appreciate it ^_^

[Hanuman]

Spells:
I think necromancer spells are straightforward, consider scrounging through sourcebooks and compendiums as a whole, finding all the spells you like from all classes, taking a special look at the BoVD to get some... darker flavor.

I would also consider using the rule for unlimited usage of level 0 spells.

SA:
Not a fan of the SA advancement, as I feel this should be optional to the archetype. ACF to either allow or change SA advancement would be great.

Gentle Repose:
Solid

Desecrate:
Good, solid

Stitch Up:
Great flavor, multi-tool lay on hands with good flavor.
Heal checks are a great bonus on flavor.

Eschew Materials:
Solid, great pick, I would also allow this to allow the necro to convert a substance into a universal material component for spells and (Sp) of the necromancy school or general flavored to the necro. Either that or have it be a feat. It could sanctified corpse matter, such as eyeballs, blood, bones, or even souls.

Create Undead:
I know this class feature is meant to be added because the necromancer will always get this spell, but I feel that it could be much more of an incentive to play the class over a flat wizard.
Customizing undead, stitching them together and literally crafting undead.
Why not? A ribcage here, some spines sticking out from there, some intestine tentacles coming out of skull mouths that wrap around peoples necks and retract them in.
Read up on Swarmlord, Evolutionist and Ozodrin (GitPG forums) for how to add modular modifications to undead piece by piece.

Everything else seems pretty decent if not plain, Euthanize seems a bit lack-luster. I would really think this would be more along the lines of a lich ascention or similar magical bind to the cosmos as a mastery OVER death rather than a mastery of physically and manually causing it like an assassin.

[DecimalPoint]

Spells:
Consider scrounging through sourcebooks and compendiums as a whole, finding all the spells you like from all classes, taking a special look at the BoVD to get some... darker flavor.

I would also consider using the rule for unlimited usage of level 0 spells.


Good idea, but I don't want any of the inherently 'evil' spells. The necromancer class isn't inherently evil (if you've read the women of the otherworld books by kelley armstrong, you'll know what I mean). That being said, I'm not knowledgeable on the BoVD. I have it, but I haven't read it extensively. I'll do some more research in regards to the spell list.
In addition, letting him use 0-level spells at will does sorta fit as at the moment he only has 4 spells of that level.



Not a fan of the SA advancement, as I feel this should be optional to the archetype. ACF to either allow or change SA advancement would be great.

I do apologise; I have no idea what you're on about, I'm not familiar with those acronyms. I assume SA is sneak attack, but I still don't know what ACF is :smalleek:

[EDIT]: It's just hit me; Alternative Class Feature! An Alternative Class Feature for sneak attack. Yeah that'll do, and it gives me an excuse for doing away with the euthanize capstone.


Eschew Materials:
Solid, great pick, I would also allow this to allow the necro to convert a substance into a universal material component for spells and (Sp) of the necromancy school or general flavored to the necro. Either that or have it be a feat. It could sanctified corpse matter, such as eyeballs, blood, bones, or even souls.

If I'm understanding your point, you're suggesting either a class feature or a feat to give the necromancer the ability to substitute a necromantic-style material for the material components of his spells. If so, then that's a great idea, but it'll only really count for fluff and costly material components.



Undead:
I know this class feature is meant to be added because the necromancer will always get this spell, but I feel that it could be much more of an incentive to play the class over a flat wizard.
Customizing undead, stitching them together and literally crafting undead.
Why not? A ribcage here, some spines sticking out from there, some intestine tentacles coming out of skull mouths that wrap around peoples necks and retract them in.


I'm not quite sure what you mean here, are you suggesting removing the animate dead (sp) chain and replacing it with more of a frankenstein's monster feature?
and re: customizing undead, I want to avoid creating complex game mechanics (i.e. mechanics where one has to read up about a new concept, which is why I'm not a fan of the warlock's invocations or the witch's hexes from pathfinder).
Off topic, I'm working on a warlock rewrite which does away with invocations, playtesting it now. And I've already written a witch rewrite :smallbiggrin:




Everything else seems pretty decent if not plain, Euthanize seems a bit lack-luster. I would really think this would be more along the lines of a lich ascention or similar magical bind to the cosmos as a mastery OVER death rather than a mastery of physically and manually causing it like an assassin.

I think the only saving grace of the euthanize ability is the fact that it works on undead; but even then, it's still a bit meh. Yes, this needs rethinking.

Wow, what started as a nice little class write-up is evolving into something a lot bigger and better than what I initially imagined! :smallcool:

[CharityB]

Maybe since you reduced the BAB you could let the euthanize ability work from a range somehow. I feel like right now it reminds me a lot of a slightly modified version of an assassin's death touch but letting it hit from farther way would make it more unique and 'wizardly' (most wizards don't like getting up close to melee combat and the class isn't really themed after hand-to-hand combat anyway)!

[DecimalPoint]

You could let the euthanize ability work from a range somehow.

I may do, if I can't think of a better capstone ability :smallsmile:

[Hanuman]

Well, if you want to write a simple class mechanic vs. a complex one then there's nothing wrong with that, I could see how a lot of necromancer players, as the class stands now, finding it difficult to choose wizard spells, so I don't think people on that side will be missed. The others will be people coming down from wizard, and the necromancer won't have even a fraction of the bells and whistles available, in fact, most of his flavor is geared towards class features replacing spells at a non-advancing rate and will seem quite tame and without much reason to create a true necromancer, or even just splash it.

Creating a system to improve your undead is something necromancers really should have, they should be able to create undeath out of practically anything, fire, water, earth, air, bone, blood, flesh, wood, metal, spectral energy.
They are masters of undead, by higher level it's not about being proficient and controlling undead, or being able to create sufficiently powerful undead, it's really about mastery, and mastery is the skill of imagination -> reality.