Dread Necro Help [Archive] - Wizards Community

Dread Necro Help [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
donut159
10-27-07, 04:18 AM Ok i will soon be playing a Dread Necromancer and my DM has told us that "full" back-story is a requirement to play in this campaign. (normally we don't do very much roleplaying and we are going to do a lot more of it this time) I have some ideas of what his story will be but i would also like to see what you guys come up with.

Here is what i have so far: (you can run with this or come up with something completely different i just want options)

My Human Dread Necromancer was born in a small town (name unknown as of yet) and at an early age became obsessed with death and particularly what it feels like to die. As he grew he began to realize that he had "special powers" like the ability to make plants and small animals wither and die with just a touch (Charnel Touch). He began researching all he could about death and magic and of course found Necromancy. Completely enthralled with the prospect of finding out more about the anomaly known as death he dove headfirst into every ancient and unholy book he could get his hands on. Finally after many years of research he discovered a small cabal of necromancers that were in the process of forming a school for necromancy. He signed up immediately.

Skip to the present. He is now a mildly powerful (level 8) Necromancer and low level teacher at the Scholomance ("School of Necromancy" and yes i play WoW ^.^). He will, however, leave the Scholomance to go out and further his own goals of gaining power and finally becoming a lich.

Ok i know the background is rather corny but thats where you come in......
so i eagerly await any and all help, ideas, suggestions, and comments.

KTHNX ^.^
Terjon of the Blue Rose
10-27-07, 06:46 AM Hopefully your DM is willing to allow you to help shape his world because with that background you should almost certainly be coming out of a highly magic-dominant society. Chances are that every commoner has a basic command of reading and writing and wizards and sorcerers walk the streets without a second glance.

Assuming that's the case the next thing you need to know is if the campaign is occuring in an area like this or if you'll be travelling abroad (easily explained with your quest for knowledge).

If my assumptions are acceptable pre-reqs for the campaign a simple backstory like that will be fine. To make it a more full background you'll want to add in more details. Examples include your first run-in with both magic and with death, your experiences when explaining you plans to study so exclusively in such a morbid subject, etc. You should also give your character a little background outside of his class such as family, friends, teachers, and even students in your case.

A few good questions to ask yourself are:

Is your character fairly normal outside his obsession or does he allow this one passion to drive forth his every decision in life?
Does he have a goal behind his research?
If so when did he set such a goal since he has had his obsession for so long?

Also ask these about where he is from:

Is death something much feared there?
Is there a strong clerical presence and if so what do they teach of death?
If not what does the common man know of it and what mythos has been built around it?
Given my assumption of a highly magical society how do they feel about undead? Ressurection?

All these questions help you to understand where he comes from and how he became who he is. This in turn lets you know who he is.
Terjon of the Blue Rose
10-27-07, 06:49 AM By the way. Nothing wrong with WOW. My game's rules lawyer plays WOW... of course there is something wrong with him but thats another story.
Grimcleaver
10-28-07, 06:15 AM Hmm. There's a lot of good stuff here. I wonder a little about the "power to make plants wither and animals die" as more of a sorcerer element--with powers springing forth unbidden. I almost like the idea better that he's just really obsessed with the idea of dying. Makes me wonder where it came from. Did he almost die? Perhaps out away from town he fell through the ice, or tumbled off the roof of the barn, or maybe was playing "swords" with some farming impliments and got a nasty deep cut that almost bled him out before his friend brought back help. Maybe it wasn't that at all, but someone close to him that died--a twin brother maybe (and because of his twin bond he felt his brother's death as though he had died too...) or an aged wizened grandfather. Maybe he met some kind of undead creature like a ghost and got a glimpse of the other side. Maybe he witnessed a death of someone else--maybe an adventurer staying in town.

Then there's the town's reaction. Yeah, maybe they're cool with it. What does that say about the town. Maybe the town has a certain reverence for necromancy--they've seen enough hard winters that those who have sway over the power of death are feared and appeased, and a new acolyte with interest and talent might be offered to him as a kind of sacrifice, trudged out along a muddy road in the middle of the night and left standing at the doorstep of his tower while the villagers huddle a distance off with torches to see if their offering will be accepted. On the other hand, a lot of small towns hate necromancers and see them as disturbed villains, or at least an ill omen. Perhaps you were forced to run from your hometown, or escape the stocks or maybe even a dungeon. Perhaps they threw you down a well. That sort of thing.

I would also be greatly interested in the time between childhood and 8th level striving for lichdom. Seems like a lot of life happened there. Any relationships? That would be interesting. Any enemies he's made, or favors he's earned? That would be fun to explore too.
munchlord
10-28-07, 08:13 PM I don't know if this can provide any inspiration... maybe for a student or whatever
Malcom, searching for a lost love (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=944213)
meto30
10-28-07, 11:11 PM Check the history section on www.worldofwarcraft.com they have some nice inspiring pieces about Necromancers, although they're almost entirely fanatics.

I think death of a family member while he was young makes sense as his first motivation to study death, and I think Grimcleaver's idea is very good too. A personal experience of death will bring a lot of obsession in his personality, though.

You can also have him a very cynical man, and not very careful with words. Also, a story of how the Scholomance became to be founded and stories related to it will help. The Scholomance instance in WoW has a long backstory, although I doubt many people realize it.

By the way, I'm a level 70 human warrior in Eonar(Korea) / 66 dwarf hunter in Eonar(Korea). My warrior has five dragon eggs, six netherdrake steeds, a badge that summons a baby netherdrake, a sword that summons a baby green dragon, and three mechanical dragons. I am the greatest collector of dragons in my Server! :D
-Winter-
10-29-07, 06:39 AM I think you should consider the source of your powers, even if your character isn't aware of it.

Did it develop through chance or is it something inherited from your great great granddaddy, maybe a family member had necromantic or undead connections in the past, Maybe there is sorcerous blood in the family and you just happen to have an exceptional aptitude for necromancy

Also if you are taking the feat tomb tainted soul from libris mortis (negative energy healing rocks) it asks some interesting questions about your childhood environment.

That said what is his family's reaction to a son studying necromancy?
Pleased that an arcanist is in the family?
Disgusted that someone is playing with death daily?
Not applicable because they are all dead?
Pleased because they are undead?

I play a Dread Necro in a Campaign at the moment and i love it.

As far as my back story goes:
She is the daughter of a Wizard (nercomancer) and a sorceress who were adventurers.
She's elven so somewhere in the hundred years it takes to grow up, Mommy got Vampired on a mis-adventure and Daddy put the wheels in motion to achieve lichdom to ensure he could keep the family together.

Around the time I was just starting to develop the first hint of sorcerer powers the entire family (self included) was 'cleansed' by Narrow minded Clericy types...

Luckily Killing Daddy didn't take and lil' Winter was able to be raised through necromantic rituals and such. (read: clone spell)

After dying the sorceress powers that developed (and were helped along by daddy) had a decidedly Necromantic bent.

Charnel Touch manifested later and resulted in accidentally killing her first boyfriend. (think like Rogue from X-men.)
donut159
10-30-07, 03:25 AM O.k. i see now that i made it very unclear that when i say "he dove headfirst into every ancient and unholy book he could get his hands on." i didn't mean while he was still at home. He traveled around going from city library to city library and was not above robbing tombs and graves for more study "material". The world he lives in is more middle-magic then high-magic in that it is not uncommon for a big city to have mages but most little hamlets and towns do not. And in general Necromancy isn't banned outright <except for the creating of undead specifically> but it is looked down upon, so after finding whatever book he was looking for he would usually move to the next town to avoid suspicion. ((He would usually introduce himself as a generalist wizard and say that he had a problem of a necromantic nature to research and leave before anyone asked too many questions))

Next, i really like the idea of him having a brush with death at an early age and i think that i will add a fear of dying (in that same manner) to him. I haven't yet decided what mode of death he narrowly dodged but it won't be anything to kool. Something like drowning would work.....

In our campaign, we will be using the maps from WoW and a lot of the locales as well. So the Scholomance will have the same "ruff" backstory.

And on that subject i would also like to add that he will have made some friends during his time as a student (like Doctor Theolen Krastinov, AKA "The Butcher" who is one of the teachers and a master of building flesh golems) but because he has no desire to be forever ruled over by Darkmaster Gandling (The headmaster of the Scholomance) he will also have made a few enemies which eventually led to his departure from the school.

And someone said something about the tomb-tainted soul feat. Yes he will have that feat and he will have acquired it from living in the Scholomance which is housed in a set of tombs under a ruined city keep.

ok so add this to my first post and let me know what i'm still missing and any other ideas.

Thank you all so much for the help. ^.^
meto30
10-30-07, 02:18 PM So, will you feature the ruined city of Cael Darrow? (I don't know if I spelled it right. Korean WoW has all names written in Korean) Might be nice to have all those ghosts around as plot hook generators!

Maybe some of them remembers the necromancer when they see him.

Also, you might want more faculty working in the Scholomance than featured in WoW. Just 8 core faculty members feels a little small to me.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
donut159 10-27-07, 04:18 AM	Ok i will soon be playing a Dread Necromancer and my DM has told us that "full" back-story is a requirement to play in this campaign. (normally we don't do very much roleplaying and we are going to do a lot more of it this time) I have some ideas of what his story will be but i would also like to see what you guys come up with. Here is what i have so far: (you can run with this or come up with something completely different i just want options) My Human Dread Necromancer was born in a small town (name unknown as of yet) and at an early age became obsessed with death and particularly what it feels like to die. As he grew he began to realize that he had "special powers" like the ability to make plants and small animals wither and die with just a touch (Charnel Touch). He began researching all he could about death and magic and of course found Necromancy. Completely enthralled with the prospect of finding out more about the anomaly known as death he dove headfirst into every ancient and unholy book he could get his hands on. Finally after many years of research he discovered a small cabal of necromancers that were in the process of forming a school for necromancy. He signed up immediately. Skip to the present. He is now a mildly powerful (level 8) Necromancer and low level teacher at the Scholomance ("School of Necromancy" and yes i play WoW ^.^). He will, however, leave the Scholomance to go out and further his own goals of gaining power and finally becoming a lich. Ok i know the background is rather corny but thats where you come in...... so i eagerly await any and all help, ideas, suggestions, and comments. KTHNX ^.^
Terjon of the Blue Rose 10-27-07, 06:46 AM	Hopefully your DM is willing to allow you to help shape his world because with that background you should almost certainly be coming out of a highly magic-dominant society. Chances are that every commoner has a basic command of reading and writing and wizards and sorcerers walk the streets without a second glance. Assuming that's the case the next thing you need to know is if the campaign is occuring in an area like this or if you'll be travelling abroad (easily explained with your quest for knowledge). If my assumptions are acceptable pre-reqs for the campaign a simple backstory like that will be fine. To make it a more full background you'll want to add in more details. Examples include your first run-in with both magic and with death, your experiences when explaining you plans to study so exclusively in such a morbid subject, etc. You should also give your character a little background outside of his class such as family, friends, teachers, and even students in your case. A few good questions to ask yourself are: Is your character fairly normal outside his obsession or does he allow this one passion to drive forth his every decision in life? Does he have a goal behind his research? If so when did he set such a goal since he has had his obsession for so long? Also ask these about where he is from: Is death something much feared there? Is there a strong clerical presence and if so what do they teach of death? If not what does the common man know of it and what mythos has been built around it? Given my assumption of a highly magical society how do they feel about undead? Ressurection? All these questions help you to understand where he comes from and how he became who he is. This in turn lets you know who he is.
Terjon of the Blue Rose 10-27-07, 06:49 AM	By the way. Nothing wrong with WOW. My game's rules lawyer plays WOW... of course there is something wrong with him but thats another story.
Grimcleaver 10-28-07, 06:15 AM	Hmm. There's a lot of good stuff here. I wonder a little about the "power to make plants wither and animals die" as more of a sorcerer element--with powers springing forth unbidden. I almost like the idea better that he's just really obsessed with the idea of dying. Makes me wonder where it came from. Did he almost die? Perhaps out away from town he fell through the ice, or tumbled off the roof of the barn, or maybe was playing "swords" with some farming impliments and got a nasty deep cut that almost bled him out before his friend brought back help. Maybe it wasn't that at all, but someone close to him that died--a twin brother maybe (and because of his twin bond he felt his brother's death as though he had died too...) or an aged wizened grandfather. Maybe he met some kind of undead creature like a ghost and got a glimpse of the other side. Maybe he witnessed a death of someone else--maybe an adventurer staying in town. Then there's the town's reaction. Yeah, maybe they're cool with it. What does that say about the town. Maybe the town has a certain reverence for necromancy--they've seen enough hard winters that those who have sway over the power of death are feared and appeased, and a new acolyte with interest and talent might be offered to him as a kind of sacrifice, trudged out along a muddy road in the middle of the night and left standing at the doorstep of his tower while the villagers huddle a distance off with torches to see if their offering will be accepted. On the other hand, a lot of small towns hate necromancers and see them as disturbed villains, or at least an ill omen. Perhaps you were forced to run from your hometown, or escape the stocks or maybe even a dungeon. Perhaps they threw you down a well. That sort of thing. I would also be greatly interested in the time between childhood and 8th level striving for lichdom. Seems like a lot of life happened there. Any relationships? That would be interesting. Any enemies he's made, or favors he's earned? That would be fun to explore too.
munchlord 10-28-07, 08:13 PM	I don't know if this can provide any inspiration... maybe for a student or whatever Malcom, searching for a lost love (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=944213)
meto30 10-28-07, 11:11 PM	Check the history section on www.worldofwarcraft.com they have some nice inspiring pieces about Necromancers, although they're almost entirely fanatics. I think death of a family member while he was young makes sense as his first motivation to study death, and I think Grimcleaver's idea is very good too. A personal experience of death will bring a lot of obsession in his personality, though. You can also have him a very cynical man, and not very careful with words. Also, a story of how the Scholomance became to be founded and stories related to it will help. The Scholomance instance in WoW has a long backstory, although I doubt many people realize it. By the way, I'm a level 70 human warrior in Eonar(Korea) / 66 dwarf hunter in Eonar(Korea). My warrior has five dragon eggs, six netherdrake steeds, a badge that summons a baby netherdrake, a sword that summons a baby green dragon, and three mechanical dragons. I am the greatest collector of dragons in my Server! :D
-Winter- 10-29-07, 06:39 AM	I think you should consider the source of your powers, even if your character isn't aware of it. Did it develop through chance or is it something inherited from your great great granddaddy, maybe a family member had necromantic or undead connections in the past, Maybe there is sorcerous blood in the family and you just happen to have an exceptional aptitude for necromancy Also if you are taking the feat tomb tainted soul from libris mortis (negative energy healing rocks) it asks some interesting questions about your childhood environment. That said what is his family's reaction to a son studying necromancy? Pleased that an arcanist is in the family? Disgusted that someone is playing with death daily? Not applicable because they are all dead? Pleased because they are undead? I play a Dread Necro in a Campaign at the moment and i love it. As far as my back story goes: She is the daughter of a Wizard (nercomancer) and a sorceress who were adventurers. She's elven so somewhere in the hundred years it takes to grow up, Mommy got Vampired on a mis-adventure and Daddy put the wheels in motion to achieve lichdom to ensure he could keep the family together. Around the time I was just starting to develop the first hint of sorcerer powers the entire family (self included) was 'cleansed' by Narrow minded Clericy types... Luckily Killing Daddy didn't take and lil' Winter was able to be raised through necromantic rituals and such. (read: clone spell) After dying the sorceress powers that developed (and were helped along by daddy) had a decidedly Necromantic bent. Charnel Touch manifested later and resulted in accidentally killing her first boyfriend. (think like Rogue from X-men.)
donut159 10-30-07, 03:25 AM	O.k. i see now that i made it very unclear that when i say "he dove headfirst into every ancient and unholy book he could get his hands on." i didn't mean while he was still at home. He traveled around going from city library to city library and was not above robbing tombs and graves for more study "material". The world he lives in is more middle-magic then high-magic in that it is not uncommon for a big city to have mages but most little hamlets and towns do not. And in general Necromancy isn't banned outright <except for the creating of undead specifically> but it is looked down upon, so after finding whatever book he was looking for he would usually move to the next town to avoid suspicion. ((He would usually introduce himself as a generalist wizard and say that he had a problem of a necromantic nature to research and leave before anyone asked too many questions)) Next, i really like the idea of him having a brush with death at an early age and i think that i will add a fear of dying (in that same manner) to him. I haven't yet decided what mode of death he narrowly dodged but it won't be anything to kool. Something like drowning would work..... In our campaign, we will be using the maps from WoW and a lot of the locales as well. So the Scholomance will have the same "ruff" backstory. And on that subject i would also like to add that he will have made some friends during his time as a student (like Doctor Theolen Krastinov, AKA "The Butcher" who is one of the teachers and a master of building flesh golems) but because he has no desire to be forever ruled over by Darkmaster Gandling (The headmaster of the Scholomance) he will also have made a few enemies which eventually led to his departure from the school. And someone said something about the tomb-tainted soul feat. Yes he will have that feat and he will have acquired it from living in the Scholomance which is housed in a set of tombs under a ruined city keep. ok so add this to my first post and let me know what i'm still missing and any other ideas. Thank you all so much for the help. ^.^
meto30 10-30-07, 02:18 PM	So, will you feature the ruined city of Cael Darrow? (I don't know if I spelled it right. Korean WoW has all names written in Korean) Might be nice to have all those ghosts around as plot hook generators! Maybe some of them remembers the necromancer when they see him. Also, you might want more faculty working in the Scholomance than featured in WoW. Just 8 core faculty members feels a little small to me.