3.5 Base Class Necrotic Infester PEACH

[Silva Stormrage]

The Necrotic Infester

Info: The Necrotic Infester is someone harboring a necromantic semi intelligent tumor inside them, a Mother Cyst. This tumor however is not harmful and grants the character newfound strength and grants him the ability to cast numerous necromantic divine spells as well as the ability to infect others with similar Necrotic cysts.

Characteristics: The class focuses on debuffs, attempting to infect as many targets as possible with a necrotic cyst and then unleashing its fearsome save or die spells upon them. If they prove to either be resilient than the Necrotic Infester will send bolts of negative energy to drain their levels and ability to resist their necromancy.

Alignment: Necrotic Infesters can be any alignment but most are either neutral or evil. A good Necrotic Infester probably had no choice in developing a Mother Cyst and will usually want to gain control over it to make sure that the cyst does not overtake them.

Religion: Necrotic Infesters do not have a tendency to worship gods. If they do worship though it is usually a god of disease or necromancy.

Background: All Necrotic Infesters get infected with a Necrotic Cyst sometime during their life, wether purposefully or against their will. This cyst then evolves and expands into something beneficial. The Necrotic Infester can either choose to try and control its powers and channel this newfound power to protect others or to inflict others with a similar fate.

Other Classes: Necrotic Infesters tend to be loners, good Necrotic Infesters don't want to lose control and hurt others while Evil ones tend to infect potential allies with Necrotic Cysts and simply control them. However, if a Necrotic Infesters does need allies it usually does not care who it travels with. It does find a camaraderie with Dread Necromancers and Necromancy specialist wizards due to the same focus on the necromantic arts. Paladins and good aligned clerics tend to be nervous and cautious around Necrotic Infesters though.

Role: The role that a Necrotic Infester should play is a debuffer. Using his massive amounts of penalties and necromantic spells the Necrotic Infester can quickly reduce the strongest opponents into a weak shell of its former self.

GAME RULE INFORMATION
Necrotic Infesters have the following game statistics.
Abilities: Intelligence is the most important ability for a Necrotic Infester because it affects their save dc's and other class abilities. Charisma is also important because it gives them more rebuke undead attempts and at 20th level determines HP. Dexterity is also important to hit with ranged touch attacks.

Goals: I wanted to make a tier 2-3 class that focused on save and dies and debuffing an enemy. I also wanted to make a necromancer that only relied on necromantic spells not undead minions. However, I think I may have gone overboard with some of the debuffs in this class. Please provide feedback.

Alignment: Any
Hit Die: d6
Starting Age: As sorcerer.
Starting Gold: As cleric

Class Skills
The Necrotic Infester’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Disguise (Cha), Knowledge (All Taken Individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis),

Skill Points at First Level: (2 + Int modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier

Necrotic Infester

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Mother Cyst, Necrotic Power, Rebuke Undead, Unrestricted Necromancy	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Empowered Necrotic Cyst	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Necrotic Blight	5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Death's Grasp	6	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Necrotic Weakening	6	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Sickening Aura	6	5	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Eternal Cyst	6	6	4	-	-	-	-	-	-
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Soul Tether	6	6	5	3	-	-	-	-	-
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6	Necrotic Body	6	6	6	4	-	-	-	-	-
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Necrotic Control	6	6	6	5	3	-	-	-	-
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Devouring Cyst	6	6	6	6	4	-	-	-	-
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8		6	6	6	6	5	3	-	-	-
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Necrotic Body	6	6	6	6	6	4	-	-	-
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9		6	6	6	6	6	5	3	-	-
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9	True Empowerment	6	6	6	6	6	6	4	-	-
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Cyst Aura	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	3	-
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Necrotic Body	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	4	-
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11		6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	3
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11		6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	4
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Undead Apotheosis	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5

Class Features

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Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Necrotic Infester.

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Necrotic Infester are proficient with all simple weapons and light armor.

Spells: An Necrotic Infester casts divine spells which are drawn from the Necrotic Infester spell list. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time and has knowledge of his entire spell list.

To cast a spell, a Necrotic Infester must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Necrotic Infester’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the Necrotic Infester’s Intelligence modifier.

Mother Cyst:(Ex) The Necrotic Infester gains Mother Cyst as a bonus feat and is immune from any spell requiring a Mother Cyst unless he wishes to be affected.

Unrestricted Necromancy:(Ex) For the purpose of casting necromancy spells only you can ignore any alignment-based restrictions that forbid the Necrotic Infester from casting evil spells. Also simply casting of Mother Cyst related spells does not threaten to change the Necrotic Infester’s alignment. Using Mother Cyst related spells for evil means still will cause the Necrotic Infester to become evil and many of those spells have very limited options for good and morale uses.

Necrotic Power:(Su) Every time a Necrotic Infester infects a target with a necrotic cyst the Necrotic Infester can siphon strength from the target. For 10 rounds the Necrotic Infester gains a + 1 to his caster level through his siphoning. This stacks up to 1/3 of the Necrotic Infester’s level (minimum + 1 caster level).

Rebuke Undead The Necrotic Infester can now rebuke undead as a cleric of equal level. He may do this 3 + his charisma modifier times per day. He may only rebuke and control sulking cysts with this ability.

Empowered Necrotic Cyst:(Ex) Any target infected with a necrotic cyst also takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls and armor class. At level 6 the penalty on saves increases to -4. At level 8 the penalty on attack rolls and armor class is increased to -4. At level 14 the penalty on saves is increased to -6 and at 16 the penalty on attack rolls and armor class is increased to -6. In addition, if the Necrotic Infester wishes to he can cause an implanted necrotic cyst to not impose any penalties on the infected creature.

At level 10 the DC to remove a Necrotic Cyst increases by the Necrotic Infester's intelligence modifier.

At level 17 the DC to remove a Necrotic Cyst increases by the Necrotic Infester's caster level or their intelligence modifier whichever is higher.

Necrotic Blight:(Su) Anytime the Necrotic Infester casts a necromancy spell of second level or higher he can expend a turn attempt. If he does so then anyone effected by that spell is also affected by a necrotic cyst spell heightened to whatever the other spell’s level is. The necrotic Cyst spell is saved against first and may cause opponent’s saving throws to be lower.

Death’s Grasp:(Su) Any melee touch spell can now be used as a ranged touch attack if the target is infected with a Necrotic Cyst. The target has to be within close range (25ft + 5ft/2 caster levels) for this attack.

Necrotic Weakening:(Su) All necrotic cyst based spells are enhanced with the Fell Weaken metamagic feat. This only applies to Necrotic Cyst Spells that deal damage.

Sickening Aura:(Ex) The Necrotic Infester can surround themselves with a sicking plague of disease. Any creature that comes within 10ft of the Necrotic Infester has to make a fort save (Dc equal to ½ Class level + 10 + intelligence modifier) or become sickened. A successful save means the target is immune to the same Necrotic Infester’s Sickening Aura for 24 hours. The sickened condition lasts for one round per caster level. The Necrotic Infester can suppress or resume this aura as a free action. This is a necromantic effect

Eternal Cyst:(Su) The Necrotic Infester has figured out how to worm their parasites around common wards and spells. The spell "Protection from Evil" and similar spells no longer stop the Necrotic Infester from infecting targets with Necrotic Cysts. Targets affected by Protection from Evil and similar spells gain a +4 bonus on their saving throw against being infected by a Necrotic Cyst.

Soul Tether (Su): Any time a target affected by a necrotic cyst that doesn’t inflict penalties dies due to hp damage the Necrotic the necrotic cyst attempts to stabilize them. The necrotic cyst holds the targets vitals together long enough for help to hopefully arrive. The target is alive but unconscious for one round. However, each additional round the target is kept alive by this ability he must make a fort save DC 15 or die this DC increases by 5 each round. If the target gets healed above -10 hit points than the target is stunned for one round as the cyst contracts allowing the targets body to take back over its normal functions. This ability can not stabilize creatures whose bodies have been crushed, destroyed or mangled beyond natural repair.

Necrotic Control (Sp): Whenever a free willed sulking cyst is going to spawn due to a spell the Necrotic Infester has cast the Necrotic Infester can instead summon a spectral blade under their control. This blade lasts for 5 rounds and can be directed to attack enemies by the Necrotic Infester as a free action. This blade has a 30ft movement speed and attack with an incorporeal touch attack once per round with an attack bonus of the Necrotic Infester’s caster level plus their intelligence modifier. Creatures hit with this touch attack take 2d6 damage and have to make a fortitude save or be infected with a necrotic cyst (DC 10 + ½ class level + intelligence modifier). Otherwise this sword is treated as a 3rd level necromancy spell effect.

Devouring Cyst (Su): Now at the beginning of the Necrotic Infester’s turns he may cause any necrotic cyst within line of sight to devour ongoing spell effects affecting the creature they have infected. One random ongoing spell effect targeting the creature is automatically dispelled. This ability never dispels a spell cast by the Necrotic Infester himself. The Necrotic Infester does not need to target a creature with this ability if he does not want to. This ability can only remove spells that could be removed with Greater Dispel Magic.

Necrotic Body:(Ex) The Necrotic Infester’s body starts to share some traits with the undead as his mother cyst starts to take control over more and more of his bodily functions.
At 9th level the Necrotic Infester becomes immune to ability damage and gains 10 negative energy resistance.
At 13th He gains immunity to ability drain and is now healed by negative energy as an undead creature. If he is healed by positive energy he is still healed by it.
At 17th He gains 25% fortification and his body can handle necrotic power much easier. The spell Necrotic Empowerment lasts for 1 Minute per caster level instead of 1 round per caster level.

Necrotic Metamagic:(Su) As a swift action the Necrotic Infester can consume either a Spectral Blade summoned through Necrotic Control or a necrotic cyst in a target. This allows him to reduce the cost of a single metamagic feat by 1 for one round. This can not reduce a metamagic feat's cost to zero.

At 19th Level he can reduce the cost by 2 but still can not reduce it to zero.

True Empowerment:(Ex) When the Necrotic Infester is under the effects of the spell Necrotic Empowerment he can still use other necrotic cyst related spells and abilities.

Cyst Aura:(Su) When a target is within 10 feet of the Necrotic Infester it is treated as if it has a necrotic cyst for the purposes of being targeted with Necrotic Cyst spells. If a creature without a necrotic cyst within this aura fails a saving throw against a necrotic cyst spell they are automatically infected with a permanent necrotic cyst. If such a creature succeeds on a saving throw against a necrotic cyst spell then they do not suffer any effects from such a spell even if it deals partial damage or has secondary effects on a successful saving throw.

Undead Apotheosis:(Ex) The Necrotic Infester's cyst within him has now taken over the majority of his body turning him into an undead creature. He gains the undead type as well as +2 HP per HD. In addition, he is treated as if under a permanent Necrotic Empowerment that can not be dispelled. The temporary HP are refreshed every time the Necrotic Infester regains spells.

Spell List

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First Level Spells: Ray of Enfeeblement, Cause Fear, Inflict Light wounds, Bane, Bestow Wounds, Necrotic Awareness, Necrotic Cyst, Summon Undead I, Ray of Clumsiness, Necrotic Scry, Doom, Reaving Aura
Second Level Spells: Curse of Ill Fortunes, Desiccate, Shroud of Undeath, Summon Undead II, Waves of Grief, Blindness/Deafness, Darkness, Inflict Moderate Wounds, Scare, False Life, Ray of Weakness, Necrotic Bloat, Ghoul Touch, Delusions of Grander, Kelgore’s Grave Mist, Gentle Repose
Third Level Spells: Clutch of Orcus, Contagion, Crushing Despair, Blade of Pain and Fear, Summon Undead III, Ray of Exhaustion, Vampiric Touch, Inflict Serious Wounds, Necrotic Drain, Stinking Cloud, Bestow Curse, Plague Carrier, Dispel Magic
Fourth Level Spells: Summon Undead IV, Inflict Critical Wounds, Fear, Enervation, Delay Death, Death Ward, Negative Energy Aura, Sheltered Vitality, Burning Blood, Wrack, Necrotic Skull Bomb, Necrotic Domination
Fifth Level Spells: Summon Undead V, Contagion Mass, Necrotic Burst, Curse of Ill Fortune Mass, Cloudkill, Magic Jar, Spirit Wall, Waves of Fatigue, Nights Caress, Inflict Mass Light Wounds, Slay Living, Necrotic Pulse,
Sixth Level Spells:: Fleshshiver, Circle of Death, Undeath to Death, Inflict Mass Moderate Wounds, Necrotic Eruption, Acid Fog, Waves of Exhaustion, Greater Dispel Magic, Sinister Necrotic Cyst
Seventh Level Spells: Chocking Cobwebs, Energy Ebb, Spark of Life, Blood to Water, Bestow Curse Greater, Withering Palm, Avascular Mass, Finger of Death, Mass Inflict Serious Wounds, Necrotic Tumor, Plague
Eighth Level Spells: Avascular Mass, Veil of Undeath, Death Ward Mass, Mass Inflict Critical Wounds, Blackfire, Horrid Wilting, Energy Drain
Ninth Level Spells: Wail of the Banshee, Mass Harm, Imprison Soul, Undeath's Eternal Foe, Necrotic Spell Leech, Maddening Scream

New Necrotic Cyst Spells

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Necrotic Drain
Necromancy (Evil)
Level: Necrotic Infester 3, Wizard/Sorcerer 3, Cleric 3
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 1 Standard Action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target: Living Creature with Necrotic Cyst
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fort half.
Spell Resistance: No

By siphoning energy from a nearby Necrotic Cyst you can heal yourself. This ability deals 1d6 negative energy damage/level (Max 10d6). A successful fort save halves the damage. You heal 1/2 of the damage dealt. If the target fails his fort save than the next time he has to make a saving throw he takes a -2 penalty.

Focus: The caster must have a mother cyst.

Necrotic Pulse
Necromancy (Evil)
Level: Necrotic Infester 5, Wizard/Sorcerer 5, Cleric 5
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 1 Standard Action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Area: 20 ft. Burst
Duration: 1 hour a level.
Saving Throw: Fort Half.
Spell Resistance: No

The Necrotic Infester sends a pulse of negative energy through the area. Anyone within the area that is infected with a Necrotic Cyst takes 1d6 negative levels. Anyone without a Necrotic cyst takes 1 negative level. Normally negative levels threaten to inflict permanent level loss but the ones from Necrotic Pulse don't last long enough to cause permeant level loss.

Focus: The caster must have a mother cyst.

Sinister Necrotic Cyst
Necromancy (Evil)
Level: Necrotic Infester 6, Wizard/Sorcerer 6, Cleric 6
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 1 Standard Action
Range: Touch
Target: Living Creature with Necrotic Cyst
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: No.
Spell Resistance: No

This spell functions like Necrotic Cyst except it does not offer a saving throw to resist.

Focus: The caster must have a mother cyst.

Necrotic Spell Leech
Necromancy (Evil)
Level: Necrotic Infester 9, Wizard/Sorcerer 9, Cleric 9
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: 1 Standard Action
Target: Personal
Duration: 1 Round/Level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

While this spell is active anytime the caster inflicts at least one negative level to a spellcaster infected with one of his necrotic cysts he gains the spells lost to negative levels. These spells can be cast just as if the target had cast them and the caster can hold a number of spells equal to his primary casting ability score modifier. The caster can hold a spell gained this way for one hour.

Focus: The caster must have a mother cyst

[Maerok]

Well I'm not sure of the fluff behind it but as far as being alignment-neutral I'm almost certain afflicting people with sentient necrotic tumors is less justifiable than creating undead creatures. That said this is a neat revival of one of my favorite feats in LM.

Arcane casting might be more appropriate.

Maybe include an ability to resorb cysts to heal/buff the caster.

Necrotic Control seems a bit out of place. Maybe an automatic Control Undead or gain the ability rebuke/bolster cysts as a cleric of equal CL with a +X bonus. If you want to keep the original effect or increasing contagion I'd move it up a bit to something like level 14ish.

Have you taken a glance at the Cancer Mage PrC from BoVD to see if there's anything you might want to include from a like-minded class?

[Sypher667]

About a Necrotic Awareness that cont be dispelled...

You realize that prevents him from casting all other "Necrotic" spells, for the duration (read: forever), right? Or was that unintended?

[Silva Stormrage]

Well I'm not sure of the fluff behind it but as far as being alignment-neutral I'm almost certain afflicting people with sentient necrotic tumors is less justifiable than creating undead creatures. That said this is a neat revival of one of my favorite feats in LM.

Arcane casting might be more appropriate.

Maybe include an ability to resorb cysts to heal/buff the caster.

Necrotic Control seems a bit out of place. Maybe an automatic Control Undead or gain the ability rebuke/bolster cysts as a cleric of equal CL with a +X bonus. If you want to keep the original effect or increasing contagion I'd move it up a bit to something like level 14ish.

Have you taken a glance at the Cancer Mage PrC from BoVD to see if there's anything you might want to include from a like-minded class?

Thanks for the feedback!

The fluff I am going to add at some point (Stupid AP exams this week >.>) involves that the character got a mother cyst unwillingly and draws its spells and powers from it's mother cyst. That was why I made them cast divine spells because they cast drawing power from another source (Correct me if thats not what the difference is, not that much of a difference between Arcane and Divine spells mechanically anyway ).

With that same reasoning a good creature can theoretically gain the Mother Cyst and try to expand their power over it so it doesn't consume them. Also I think I might add some more beneficial class features like necrotic tether so that the Necrotic Infester has a reason to keep a cyst on his allies.

I will be adding some more homebrew necrotic cyst spells and I believe one of them will be a life steal type of attack.

I agree Necrotic Control seems out of place due to the emphasis on a lack of summons with this class. The only reason I added it was that I hate the sulking cyst that spawns after killing people with necrotic cyst spells. Also a class feature that just made you not spawn a hostile creature seemed really weak. Not sure if it really needs to be bumped back to 14th level though. I mean the only spells that really spawn a necrotic cyst at that level is Necrotic Burst or Explosion both only summoning one. And that one will deal 1d6 + 5 damage per hit... not a whole lot of damage. Mostly it should be used to spread more cysts around. Maybe limit the swords to applying one cyst per sword?

I haven't looked at the cancer mage yet but that is a good idea. I always just thought of festering anger abuse when thinking about that class .


@Sypher True Empowerment allows the Necrotic Infester to continue casting while Necrotic Empowerment (I assume thats what you meant) is up. Otherwise ya that would be a pretty bad capstone.

[Silva Stormrage]

Any comments on this class's strength? I am particular curious what the Playground thinks its tier is.

[Demidos]

I would vote low tier2/high tier 3. It seems to be very....unipurpose? Powerful, certainly, but focused, which is what ive always heard tier 2 defined as. Spell list is far more limited than sorcerer, but, duh, the class features.
My two cents, anyway
Your picture is certainly...appropriate

Edit: Also, nitpicky here for Mantel switch the l and e (Mantle)

Edit: Oh yes, also, I suggest the alignment as non-good. Just my take.

[Silva Stormrage]

I would vote low tier2/high tier 3. It seems to be very....unipurpose? Powerful, certainly, but focused, which is what ive always heard tier 2 defined as. Spell list is far more limited than sorcerer, but, duh, the class features.
My two cents, anyway
Your picture is certainly...appropriate

Edit: Also, nitpicky here for Mantel switch the l and e (Mantle)

Edit: Oh yes, also, I suggest the alignment as non-good. Just my take.

Ya it is very unipurpose. Thanks for the response thats about where I want it to be. Ya the class features should make up for the weaker spell list


Ya but once again I dislike any type of alignment constraints except on classes that require you to eat babies.

[Vulaas]

Sorry if this is counting as thread Necromancy, I know it's borderline. In any case, a couple questions on the class.

Permanent Necrotic Empowerment: How do the 100 temporary HP work? Is it essentially improving my max HP by 100? Do I get to reset the 100 any time I want? Does it make it so when I cast Necrotic Empowerment it has Permanent Duration and is unable to be dispelled, and thus I have to recast it to get the 100 back?

Can you choose not to use Soul Tether? Because otherwise that seems like a buff for your enemies, to get an extra round.

Why no abilities helping you inflict cysts at range? It seems a bit counter intuitive to force a d6 hit die caster into melee, especially as while they have armor proficiency with light armor they do not gain the ability to cast in it.

[Silva Stormrage]

Sorry if this is counting as thread Necromancy, I know it's borderline. In any case, a couple questions on the class.

Permanent Necrotic Empowerment: How do the 100 temporary HP work? Is it essentially improving my max HP by 100? Do I get to reset the 100 any time I want? Does it make it so when I cast Necrotic Empowerment it has Permanent Duration and is unable to be dispelled, and thus I have to recast it to get the 100 back?

Can you choose not to use Soul Tether? Because otherwise that seems like a buff for your enemies, to get an extra round.

Why no abilities helping you inflict cysts at range? It seems a bit counter intuitive to force a d6 hit die caster into melee, especially as while they have armor proficiency with light armor they do not gain the ability to cast in it.

Well I don't think its quite thread necromancy but anyway I appreciate the feedback .

I completely forgot about the temporary HP to be honest. I think I will have it refresh at the beginning of every day when the Necrotic Infester regains spells.

Yes you do not have to use soul tether it is an ability to help your allies live long enough to get them some heals.

I am confused about the last one. Necrotic Blight is exactly that, it may only work a limited times per day due to turn attempts but it is very effective at spreading them if you attach it to an AOE necromancy spell (Not many I know).

[Vulaas]

Holy crap, I entirely missed the Necrotic Blight ability! That is AWESOME!

Also, was the lack of casting in armor intended, then, or an oversight?

[JoshuaZ]

I'm a big fan of necrotic cysts so a whole base class built around them... that's very nice.

Specifying which abilities are (su) and which are ex) would be helpful.

Soul Tether is very confusing- what is the point of that? It seems to help people who have the cysts but in a weird way? Is it meant to be an option they can use when they implant the cyst?

Necrotic Metamagic- You may need to talk more about the mechanics. Does the target who is getting its necrotic cyst consumed need to be a target of the spell itself? Is there a maximum range they need to be? Does any necrotic cyst work or does it need to have been one implanted by you?

The 20th level ability seems a bit too much with permanent Necrotic Empowerment. That includes a +8 enhancement bonus to wis, int and dex. And how do the 100 temporary hit points function?

Devouring Cyst- "buff" not a well-defined term. Do you just mean one spell with a duration other than permanent or instantaneous? If so, one could use this to remove spells that are really hard to get rid of by implanting a cyst and then using it to remove the spell. This needs to be more thought out.

Eternal Cyst- The ability makes sense but the name doesn't fit.

In general, they should be allowed to choose whether or not when implanting a cyst to use any of the additional abilities. So for example, Empowered Necrotic Cyst should be optional.

Necrotic Blight- I presume that this allows turning or rebuking?

Spell list- "Vamparic Touch" should be "Vampiric Touch" The spell list is extremely restrictive. In comparison to a Dread Necromancer (which is T3) this is a lot more restrictive. And a DN gets all the basic necrotic spells if they just take a single feat. The DN is in the upper end of the 3 range. This seems to be more a T4, since they can do necrotic stuff very well, but will be useless in many other circumstances. So this seems as is to be T4 mainly based off the spell list.

You may want to give them Animate Dead as an additional spell..

The wording of Necrotic Spell Leech and Necrotic Plague needs some work.


Hmm, with all this necrotic stuff here, maybe I should post some of the necrotic stuff I've been working on. Still mainly in very weak drafts though.

[Silva Stormrage]

I'm a big fan of necrotic cysts so a whole base class built around them... that's very nice.

Specifying which abilities are (su) and which are ex) would be helpful.

Soul Tether is very confusing- what is the point of that? It seems to help people who have the cysts but in a weird way? Is it meant to be an option they can use when they implant the cyst?

Necrotic Metamagic- You may need to talk more about the mechanics. Does the target who is getting its necrotic cyst consumed need to be a target of the spell itself? Is there a maximum range they need to be? Does any necrotic cyst work or does it need to have been one implanted by you?

The 20th level ability seems a bit too much with permanent Necrotic Empowerment. That includes a +8 enhancement bonus to wis, int and dex. And how do the 100 temporary hit points function?

Devouring Cyst- "buff" not a well-defined term. Do you just mean one spell with a duration other than permanent or instantaneous? If so, one could use this to remove spells that are really hard to get rid of by implanting a cyst and then using it to remove the spell. This needs to be more thought out.

Eternal Cyst- The ability makes sense but the name doesn't fit.

In general, they should be allowed to choose whether or not when implanting a cyst to use any of the additional abilities. So for example, Empowered Necrotic Cyst should be optional.

Necrotic Blight- I presume that this allows turning or rebuking?

Spell list- "Vamparic Touch" should be "Vampiric Touch" The spell list is extremely restrictive. In comparison to a Dread Necromancer (which is T3) this is a lot more restrictive. And a DN gets all the basic necrotic spells if they just take a single feat. The DN is in the upper end of the 3 range. This seems to be more a T4, since they can do necrotic stuff very well, but will be useless in many other circumstances. So this seems as is to be T4 mainly based off the spell list.

You may want to give them Animate Dead as an additional spell..

The wording of Necrotic Spell Leech and Necrotic Plague needs some work.


Hmm, with all this necrotic stuff here, maybe I should post some of the necrotic stuff I've been working on. Still mainly in very weak drafts though.

First off thank you for the in depth review of this class .

I completely forgot to actually add those tags. Added those now.

Ya a lot of people seem to be confused about soul tether I will clarify it's purpose. I wanted allies of this class to have a reason to actually BE infected by a necrotic cyst and figured this would be a somewhat reactive delay death effect. The Necrotic Infester would chose wether or not to have this activate when he infects them with a cyst. I hope that clears that up, any idea on how to phrase the wording of the ability so it sounds like that?

For Necrotic Metamagic they don't need to be the target of the spell. Also I thought that if a range wasn't specified for an ability it defaulted to anywhere within LoS and LoE. If not thats what it is intended for. Didn't think about other people's necrotic cysts, I will change that.

I don't feel that Necrotic Empowerment permanently active is that strong to be honest. It is really just a + 2 int + 2 dex and probably + 8 wis (Though this class really doesn't use wisdom for anything by will saves). Since it gives the ability bonuses as enchantment not untyped they won't stack with the really cheap + 6 items that everyone will have at level 20. Comparing it with the Dread Necromancer's Lich Transformation (Or the Dry Lich's which is better) I don't think its too much. Also the Temporary HP is refreshed whenever the Necrotic Infester regains his spells. I kinda forgot about that, whoops .

For Devouring Cyst I didn't think about removing things like curses from the target. I changed it so that it can't effect anything that can't be removed by dispel magic.

What would you suggest as a better name for Eternal Cyst? I would agree the name doesn't fit right now, the ability originally allowed you to target the cyst a couple rounds after the target died hence the name. When I changed the ability I didn't really think the name was too bad at the time so I didn't change it.

Yes Necrotic Blight expends a turn undead or rebuke undead attempt.

Thank you for the typo fix, spelling was always by weakness

I don't think its spell list is that restrictive to be honest. In combat it has a way of targeting, will saves, fort saves, touch ac, and it can use effects that give no save or spell resistance. Even if something is immune to Necrotic Cyst they won't be immune to it's entire spell list. Out of combat you have more of a point. Their only real out of combat spells are necrotic tumor and necrotic scry. Both of which are situational. Though the Dread Necromancer doesn't have many out of combat spells either (Ignoring Planar Binding because I will never add that spell to one of my classes due to it's absurd strength.)

You think its tier 4? Thats actually really funny, my friends all say its tier 2 almost tier 1, (They don't fully understand the tier system but what they mean is that it's on par with Sorcerer maybe a little stronger). I would agree that Dread Necromancers are stronger but not by that much. The main benefit the Dread Necromancer has is its absurdly large army that it can have. And also there are very few things that Necrotic Cysts won't work on. With Eternal Cyst (Pending on name change) Necrotic Cyst can effect anything that isn't a construct or incorporeal. And RAW incorporeal creatures can be hit too, I just think that infecting an insubstantial creature with a physical tumor is a bit ridiculous .

What exactly is confusing about Necrotic Plague and Necrotic Spell Leech? Not arguing with you but as you can probably tell by now, I am not the best at getting my intentions across .

Holy crap, I entirely missed the Necrotic Blight ability! That is AWESOME!

Also, was the lack of casting in armor intended, then, or an oversight?

??? um the class casts divine spells so there is no somatic spell failure for wearing armor. The only penalties it has for armor is being unproficient.

[Silva Stormrage]

Alright this is an old one, one of my first homebrews and man did it have some issues. Lots of things I thought were cool at the time but were overpowered (It could very easily stack -15 to saves on anyone within 10ft of him) and various combos I didn't think about (Cyst aura for targeting creatures without cysts with necrotic cysts spells and then cast Necrotic Tumor for automatic dominate or suggestion even if they pass their saving throw). Various abilities needed cleaning up and fluff justification.

Still I like where it is right now even if I do need to clean up the spell list and 1) list where all spells are from and 2) alphabetize them.

Tell me if you have any comments!