Necromancy that isn't evil [Archive] - Wizards Community

Necromancy that isn't evil [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
enigma1717
02-19-07, 08:53 PM I recently began a campaign where PCs had to make characters that were one band of a mercenary adventuring guild. Few rules were given on backgrounds or characters, except that the players could not be evil. One player rolled up his character and submitted it to me: Level 6 Chaotic Neutral Wizard Necromancy Specialist with Undead leadership.

Right off the bat I knew I had a problem because Chaotic Neutral is my least favorite alignment picked by players, I rarely see it roleplayed well. Instead, players take it as a free ride to do whatever they want, be it good or evil. Then I thought of the monstrosities that would occur from this player, such as summoning undead armies, walking into towns with his ghoul friend just doting along behind him. I sat down with the player.

Me: "Undead following players around generally doesn't bode well in most of the cities you will be working in, they might arrest you or even attack you on sight."
Him: "Well, then I will have to defend myself."
Me: "This isn't an evil campaign you shouldn't be attacking the town guards. Just the same you shouldn't be provoking them to attack you. I would like to work with you on this. Perhaps you could choose something undead that isn't so ghastly or something you could cover up when you are in town. And remember that necromancy isn't just about undead, its the powers of life and death and a fasination with such. Basically, I just don't want you ruining my game by trying to be evil in a non-evil campaign."
Him: "Hmm, well I will work on a good background and get back with you."

In the meantime, I wanted to get some ideas from the character development forums on my own so that when he comes to me I can have my own suggestions. What are good ways of making a necromancer that doesn't get a crowd of torches and pitchforks called on you when you are in town. How would a neutral or good necromancy that takes a liking or fascination to undead look or act like in your opinions? Is it possible?
trickydevl666
02-19-07, 09:16 PM Well... there are two ways of looking at it given through K's Tome of Necromancy (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=632562) in the first parts of it.
1. Necromancy is evil because negative energy is evil and since that what animates dead then that means that anyone who uses negative energy is evil.
2. Necromancy isn't evil, just a physical property in the universe like cold or fire and not an evil act at all.
It also gives what general types of undead are like and how they would act under each scenario as well as sort of moral implications of the spells.

But if you want, you could go about with a positive energy necromancer using the deathless from the eberron campaign setting. They are like undead except they are created through positive energy instead of negative energy and otherwise, save a couple of things nearly identical to undead.
Starchaserva
02-19-07, 09:36 PM Take for example, the Dread Necromancer class, a full class dedicated to necromancy, but one that you don't have to be evil to join. You can be Chaotic Neutral. Characters born with innate magical abilities are commonplace in fantasy settings, but what happens when you have a child who possesses a natural ability for necromantic magic, though not the morbid/evil personality that usually goes with it? It makes for a great tortured hero, he wants to do good the best way he can, but the problem is that he has to work in secrecy in case someone gets the wrong idea. A squad of skeletons can be just as easily sent to defend a good city as it can whip out that same city's gate guards. Perhaps the reason why he's CN instead of being straight good is that he's a bit jaded or sarcastic. He realizes that even though he does good, he'll still be ostrasized by those he seeks to protect. Plus, chaotic neutral isn't so bad, you just need to let your players know that they'll face penalties if they use it as a vehicle for doing whatever they want, would you rather him try to be straight evil?
NerdNumber1
02-19-07, 09:55 PM Generally, necromancy is evil in all its forms. I think that is an idiotic idea that Wizards of the Coast has to go by to reduce the accusations that D&D is connected to the accult. It is up to the DM (you) to decide if necomancy is evil in his/her world. For example, undead could do the dangerous or dull jobs that we use robots to do in the real world.
DojiHoturi
02-19-07, 11:39 PM First off,

Do not let him be chaotic neutral...

Second off,

Remind him that actions have consequences. However you decide to run Necromancy in your campaign (good light or bad light), he will have to understand that he could very quickly become a public nuisance and earn himself bands of adventurers bent on terminating his existance.

Yeah, he may have rolled into town with some ghouls in tow.
Yeah, the local militia turned up to remove them, forcibly if necessary.
Yeah, he was 'forced to defend himself'.
Yeah, he killed those local militia and was able to keep his ghouls.
Yeah, the next several towns heard about it, including the county's magistrate or noble.
Yeah, said noble put out a call to have this Necromatic scourge wiped from his lands.
Yeah, said Necromancer is now having to fight for his life everywhere he goes...something like that.

Not very fun for everyone for him or everyone else is it. As long as he understands that and keeps that in mind while he is roleplaying, Necromancy (good or bad) should be doable. Just do not let one of the other players be something that hates Undead, because that will create other issues you do not want to deal with.

2 pennies,

Doji

edited for some missing words and poor grammar, lol
AllWillFall2Me
02-20-07, 09:42 PM Dragon had an article on this a while back. (early 3.0 while) and discussed how each alignment played a necromancer. Essentially, it boiled down to this: Good used them to perform tasks that would be harmful, unhealthy, or dangerous for humanoids to perform, ie: Tending sewers, draining swamps, hauling stones for temples/pyramids, etc. Or to oppose evil in ways that good could not. Ghouls don't care about a vampire's domination gaze, energy drain or blood sucking ability, as they're immune to them all.
Neutral used the undead as tools, to perform tasks they needed done. They used/viewed the undead as a smith would his hammer. They assigned no evil to the creation, and did not use them as monsters or weapons against their foes.
So it is entirely possible to use necros of these alignments, and make for interesting characters.
robertliguori
02-20-07, 10:02 PM Whenever a discussion of this nature come up, I feel the need to summarize a bit of dialoge that happened between a set of NPCs in one of my campaign worlds.

Sentient Sword: "Aha! Agents of the law! Guards! Guards! I demand that you arrest my current bearer immediately! I am stolen property!"
Guard 1: "Huh. Your weapon appears to be talking."
Rogue PC: "Yeah, it does that."
Guard 2: "Uh, sir, what do we do now?"
Guard 1: "I'm glad you asked, son. We're gunna use logic."
PC: "Logic?"
SS: "Logic? What logic? My so-called wielder has-"
Guard 1: "Either that there sword is stolen, or it ain't. Now, if it ain't stolen, we've no call to interfere. But if it is stolen...well, lad, you wanna be the one to try to arrest someone who could steal a talking sword."
Guard 2: "Ah. I see your logic now, sergeant. Best of luck with your sword, sir!"
*Guards cheerfully wave PC on, then hastily proceed in opposite direction*
*Sword swears in long-forgotten tongue, and fails another Ego check*

Point being, having undead servitors at your beck and call is pretty much the calling card of warrior1s and warrior2s being utterly unable to threaten you. Said warriors should be aware of this fact, and no mass-town-guard butchery should occur. I mean, if a red dragon drops into town, the town guard is not going to be trying to arrest it 4d6 rounds later, are they? This sort of thing is hero work or nothing.

Now, having this PC's interactions with the townfolk mirror those of Captain Carrot's on the way to Uberwold is perfectly reasonable (common folk scream and run, taverns empty if he pauses near them, shopkeepers hide, etc.), but "Burn the witch!" is not a behavior that selects for survival when the witch can burn back much harder.

That being said, one of my favorite characters is a non-evil necro, who does indeed make a point of sending undead to fight undead whenever possible, and sometimes is forced to run from bands of paladins and Good clerics rather than fight them. Luckily, undead horses can run flat-out all day without tiring; paladin mounts cannot.
DarthDave
02-20-07, 10:19 PM Undead-summoningcharacters would attract more attention from the local churches than the town guards.

I also agree with dropping chaotic neutral alignments. One player in my group was CN, and always flipped a coin about what to do. His reasoning was sound, if such makes sense. All statistics are 50-50%. It either happens, or it doesn't.

Alignments are like bikinis...what they reveal is interesting...what they hide is VITAL.
Adolph_Kheebler
02-21-07, 03:58 PM Just point out to me where it says that necromancy is evil. Can you find it? I didn't think so.

Necromancy is LIFE FORCE! It is not solely death magic.

But now more to the point since this seems to be an undead summoning necromancer. I would think that a neutral necro would basically see it like this:

1. Someone dies.
2. They are not being ressurrected so the soul goes to Kelemvor (or whatever the closest equivalent is. Campaign Setting?)
3. The body is not them. It is just supplies. He doesn't see why anyone would have an attachment to the remains. Since it isn't a person, why should anyone care if it is used as a tool. I'd have him visiting local mortuaries and trying to buy supplies. Basically use the logic of "well, they're not using it anymore."

On second thought, this sounds like a fun character and something I'm probably going to steal for my next campaign.
zhaleskra
02-21-07, 05:27 PM Heh. Even in our reality, people mistake the body for the person.
JusticeZero
02-21-07, 11:16 PM 1. Necromancy is evil because negative energy is evil
2. Necromancy isn't evil, just a physical property in the universe like cold or fire and not an evil act at all.
I actually do both. =) How I justify it is essentially a cosmology one; the universe has guidelines by which it adjusts a character's attunement to the alignment planes, and this attunement is usually relatively accurate, and is what alignment testing spells check. Using negative energy however skews one's attunement toward evil powers, just as using positive energy skews one's attunement toward good. Thus, one can be a very pious and noble person, regularly use necromantic powers, and read as evil to magical effects; likewise, a villain can render themselves without fear from 'Detect Evil' by nosy paladins by regularly casting Cure spells and other such positive energy effects. This doesn't actually affect where one's soul goes on death, by the way, as all souls pass through an appeal process.

By that reasoning, I had a character once who was a surgeon, selfless and devoted to the common good, but they consistantly read as "snotball evil", were able to fully use magic items reserved for Evil characters, and were generally blasted terribly by the reverse; they were a necromancy specialist who both studied and used necromantic arcane spells almost exclusively, which they had encountered through their extensive studies of anatomy and non-divine means of healing.
Khadmus
02-22-07, 10:19 AM "Minions, wait here". Problem #1 solved.
Most people who want an army hire soldiers. He hires undead. Issue #3 solved.
Item #2, I believe, has been efficiently answered. Necromancers mostly take advantage of the fact that undead work endlessly and feel no emotion. They use this however they want. Good people help people, Neutral people do whatever, and Evil people kill.
zhaleskra
02-22-07, 12:29 PM I remember reading something similar in the Complete Book of Necromancers (AD&D2E). A Neutral use of undead is to have them carry your luggage, or something to that effect. The whole White/Gray/Black Necromancy bit.
Karish
02-23-07, 06:39 PM Necromancy is never associated with any alignment in my campaigns.

An undead, unless sentient, does not "trap" the soul. Skeletons and zombies are an extention of the necromancer's soul. "Souled" (Intelligent) undead are either willing, or dominated by a nongood necromancer (except special circumstances).

Good necromancers have willing servants or unintelligent undead, but might dominate an evil undead to stop it from acting in an evil fashion. Neutrals are usually either using only the unintelligent or commanding anything that decides to threaten them. Evile ones use them in the classical "evil" method. In addition, many nonevil necromancers are "deanimators", who use the unintelligent undead as well as controlling magic to hunt, dominate, and eliminate evil undead.

So yeah. Just have him play a deanimator, and peacefully explain his undead.
Rathmun
02-23-07, 09:49 PM The solution I usually use... you can fit an absolutely obscene number of undead on your person using bags of holding (works best with skeletons/bone creatures/incorporeal/...)

And the best part? the town guard has no idea you're packing undead.
NerdNumber1
02-23-07, 10:05 PM For in-city defence, you can use a couple robed skeletons or other undead (with the proper air fresheners, of course) while leaving the rest outside town or in a portible hole.
grasharm
02-24-07, 01:23 AM I've read the post and I kinda think that everyone missed the point of the original question. I may be wrong but you seem to be looking for personality quirks than rules justifications and cosomolgical viewpoints. To that end I put to you some archtypes for "good" undead army generals.

1) Good wins when evil is turned against itself. You practice the forbidden arts and perform dark rituals in order to serve the greater good. You are the warrior of forbiden arts and though you know this makes you a target you bear their scurges without complaint or fighting back because you more than anyone know how right they are to fear your dark arts and someday if you do your job right you may be able to lay down your terrible burden.

2) Death is universal. Fearing it is pointless. Only by studying it can you hope to overcome it or fight against it. Research isn't enough though. You have to have some field work also. You have to get your hand dirty and study death in all it states including and maybe especailly when it thrown off by magic reanimating and returning some illusion or semblance of life. Your research is all important. If you have to hide it from the ignorant in order to keep them from recklessly destroying your research materials then so be it after all not everyone can be as enlightened as you.

3) Life is the positive, death is the negative. It's all the same just diffent values are attached. So my friends are living challenged. They are "alive" just not in the conventional sense. It may be hard to communicate with them but it can be rewarding. We are all one. Living, dead, undead, tofu eating nut. Let's hold hands.. hey put that sword away... go limp! don't resitst!... OW! not the face! not the face! (not my fav. archtype)

As for Chaotic Neutral.... Tag! someone else is it :P

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
enigma1717 02-19-07, 08:53 PM	I recently began a campaign where PCs had to make characters that were one band of a mercenary adventuring guild. Few rules were given on backgrounds or characters, except that the players could not be evil. One player rolled up his character and submitted it to me: Level 6 Chaotic Neutral Wizard Necromancy Specialist with Undead leadership. Right off the bat I knew I had a problem because Chaotic Neutral is my least favorite alignment picked by players, I rarely see it roleplayed well. Instead, players take it as a free ride to do whatever they want, be it good or evil. Then I thought of the monstrosities that would occur from this player, such as summoning undead armies, walking into towns with his ghoul friend just doting along behind him. I sat down with the player. Me: "Undead following players around generally doesn't bode well in most of the cities you will be working in, they might arrest you or even attack you on sight." Him: "Well, then I will have to defend myself." Me: "This isn't an evil campaign you shouldn't be attacking the town guards. Just the same you shouldn't be provoking them to attack you. I would like to work with you on this. Perhaps you could choose something undead that isn't so ghastly or something you could cover up when you are in town. And remember that necromancy isn't just about undead, its the powers of life and death and a fasination with such. Basically, I just don't want you ruining my game by trying to be evil in a non-evil campaign." Him: "Hmm, well I will work on a good background and get back with you." In the meantime, I wanted to get some ideas from the character development forums on my own so that when he comes to me I can have my own suggestions. What are good ways of making a necromancer that doesn't get a crowd of torches and pitchforks called on you when you are in town. How would a neutral or good necromancy that takes a liking or fascination to undead look or act like in your opinions? Is it possible?
trickydevl666 02-19-07, 09:16 PM	Well... there are two ways of looking at it given through K's Tome of Necromancy (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=632562) in the first parts of it. 1. Necromancy is evil because negative energy is evil and since that what animates dead then that means that anyone who uses negative energy is evil. 2. Necromancy isn't evil, just a physical property in the universe like cold or fire and not an evil act at all. It also gives what general types of undead are like and how they would act under each scenario as well as sort of moral implications of the spells. But if you want, you could go about with a positive energy necromancer using the deathless from the eberron campaign setting. They are like undead except they are created through positive energy instead of negative energy and otherwise, save a couple of things nearly identical to undead.
Starchaserva 02-19-07, 09:36 PM	Take for example, the Dread Necromancer class, a full class dedicated to necromancy, but one that you don't have to be evil to join. You can be Chaotic Neutral. Characters born with innate magical abilities are commonplace in fantasy settings, but what happens when you have a child who possesses a natural ability for necromantic magic, though not the morbid/evil personality that usually goes with it? It makes for a great tortured hero, he wants to do good the best way he can, but the problem is that he has to work in secrecy in case someone gets the wrong idea. A squad of skeletons can be just as easily sent to defend a good city as it can whip out that same city's gate guards. Perhaps the reason why he's CN instead of being straight good is that he's a bit jaded or sarcastic. He realizes that even though he does good, he'll still be ostrasized by those he seeks to protect. Plus, chaotic neutral isn't so bad, you just need to let your players know that they'll face penalties if they use it as a vehicle for doing whatever they want, would you rather him try to be straight evil?
NerdNumber1 02-19-07, 09:55 PM	Generally, necromancy is evil in all its forms. I think that is an idiotic idea that Wizards of the Coast has to go by to reduce the accusations that D&D is connected to the accult. It is up to the DM (you) to decide if necomancy is evil in his/her world. For example, undead could do the dangerous or dull jobs that we use robots to do in the real world.
DojiHoturi 02-19-07, 11:39 PM	First off, Do not let him be chaotic neutral... Second off, Remind him that actions have consequences. However you decide to run Necromancy in your campaign (good light or bad light), he will have to understand that he could very quickly become a public nuisance and earn himself bands of adventurers bent on terminating his existance. Yeah, he may have rolled into town with some ghouls in tow. Yeah, the local militia turned up to remove them, forcibly if necessary. Yeah, he was 'forced to defend himself'. Yeah, he killed those local militia and was able to keep his ghouls. Yeah, the next several towns heard about it, including the county's magistrate or noble. Yeah, said noble put out a call to have this Necromatic scourge wiped from his lands. Yeah, said Necromancer is now having to fight for his life everywhere he goes...something like that. Not very fun for everyone for him or everyone else is it. As long as he understands that and keeps that in mind while he is roleplaying, Necromancy (good or bad) should be doable. Just do not let one of the other players be something that hates Undead, because that will create other issues you do not want to deal with. 2 pennies, Doji edited for some missing words and poor grammar, lol
AllWillFall2Me 02-20-07, 09:42 PM	Dragon had an article on this a while back. (early 3.0 while) and discussed how each alignment played a necromancer. Essentially, it boiled down to this: Good used them to perform tasks that would be harmful, unhealthy, or dangerous for humanoids to perform, ie: Tending sewers, draining swamps, hauling stones for temples/pyramids, etc. Or to oppose evil in ways that good could not. Ghouls don't care about a vampire's domination gaze, energy drain or blood sucking ability, as they're immune to them all. Neutral used the undead as tools, to perform tasks they needed done. They used/viewed the undead as a smith would his hammer. They assigned no evil to the creation, and did not use them as monsters or weapons against their foes. So it is entirely possible to use necros of these alignments, and make for interesting characters.
robertliguori 02-20-07, 10:02 PM	Whenever a discussion of this nature come up, I feel the need to summarize a bit of dialoge that happened between a set of NPCs in one of my campaign worlds. Sentient Sword: "Aha! Agents of the law! Guards! Guards! I demand that you arrest my current bearer immediately! I am stolen property!" Guard 1: "Huh. Your weapon appears to be talking." Rogue PC: "Yeah, it does that." Guard 2: "Uh, sir, what do we do now?" Guard 1: "I'm glad you asked, son. We're gunna use logic." PC: "Logic?" SS: "Logic? What logic? My so-called wielder has-" Guard 1: "Either that there sword is stolen, or it ain't. Now, if it ain't stolen, we've no call to interfere. But if it is stolen...well, lad, you wanna be the one to try to arrest someone who could steal a talking sword." Guard 2: "Ah. I see your logic now, sergeant. Best of luck with your sword, sir!" Guards cheerfully wave PC on, then hastily proceed in opposite direction Sword swears in long-forgotten tongue, and fails another Ego check Point being, having undead servitors at your beck and call is pretty much the calling card of warrior1s and warrior2s being utterly unable to threaten you. Said warriors should be aware of this fact, and no mass-town-guard butchery should occur. I mean, if a red dragon drops into town, the town guard is not going to be trying to arrest it 4d6 rounds later, are they? This sort of thing is hero work or nothing. Now, having this PC's interactions with the townfolk mirror those of Captain Carrot's on the way to Uberwold is perfectly reasonable (common folk scream and run, taverns empty if he pauses near them, shopkeepers hide, etc.), but "Burn the witch!" is not a behavior that selects for survival when the witch can burn back much harder. That being said, one of my favorite characters is a non-evil necro, who does indeed make a point of sending undead to fight undead whenever possible, and sometimes is forced to run from bands of paladins and Good clerics rather than fight them. Luckily, undead horses can run flat-out all day without tiring; paladin mounts cannot.
DarthDave 02-20-07, 10:19 PM	Undead-summoningcharacters would attract more attention from the local churches than the town guards. I also agree with dropping chaotic neutral alignments. One player in my group was CN, and always flipped a coin about what to do. His reasoning was sound, if such makes sense. All statistics are 50-50%. It either happens, or it doesn't. Alignments are like bikinis...what they reveal is interesting...what they hide is VITAL.
Adolph_Kheebler 02-21-07, 03:58 PM	Just point out to me where it says that necromancy is evil. Can you find it? I didn't think so. Necromancy is LIFE FORCE! It is not solely death magic. But now more to the point since this seems to be an undead summoning necromancer. I would think that a neutral necro would basically see it like this: 1. Someone dies. 2. They are not being ressurrected so the soul goes to Kelemvor (or whatever the closest equivalent is. Campaign Setting?) 3. The body is not them. It is just supplies. He doesn't see why anyone would have an attachment to the remains. Since it isn't a person, why should anyone care if it is used as a tool. I'd have him visiting local mortuaries and trying to buy supplies. Basically use the logic of "well, they're not using it anymore." On second thought, this sounds like a fun character and something I'm probably going to steal for my next campaign.
zhaleskra 02-21-07, 05:27 PM	Heh. Even in our reality, people mistake the body for the person.
JusticeZero 02-21-07, 11:16 PM	1. Necromancy is evil because negative energy is evil 2. Necromancy isn't evil, just a physical property in the universe like cold or fire and not an evil act at all. I actually do both. =) How I justify it is essentially a cosmology one; the universe has guidelines by which it adjusts a character's attunement to the alignment planes, and this attunement is usually relatively accurate, and is what alignment testing spells check. Using negative energy however skews one's attunement toward evil powers, just as using positive energy skews one's attunement toward good. Thus, one can be a very pious and noble person, regularly use necromantic powers, and read as evil to magical effects; likewise, a villain can render themselves without fear from 'Detect Evil' by nosy paladins by regularly casting Cure spells and other such positive energy effects. This doesn't actually affect where one's soul goes on death, by the way, as all souls pass through an appeal process. By that reasoning, I had a character once who was a surgeon, selfless and devoted to the common good, but they consistantly read as "snotball evil", were able to fully use magic items reserved for Evil characters, and were generally blasted terribly by the reverse; they were a necromancy specialist who both studied and used necromantic arcane spells almost exclusively, which they had encountered through their extensive studies of anatomy and non-divine means of healing.
Khadmus 02-22-07, 10:19 AM	"Minions, wait here". Problem #1 solved. Most people who want an army hire soldiers. He hires undead. Issue #3 solved. Item #2, I believe, has been efficiently answered. Necromancers mostly take advantage of the fact that undead work endlessly and feel no emotion. They use this however they want. Good people help people, Neutral people do whatever, and Evil people kill.
zhaleskra 02-22-07, 12:29 PM	I remember reading something similar in the Complete Book of Necromancers (AD&D2E). A Neutral use of undead is to have them carry your luggage, or something to that effect. The whole White/Gray/Black Necromancy bit.
Karish 02-23-07, 06:39 PM	Necromancy is never associated with any alignment in my campaigns. An undead, unless sentient, does not "trap" the soul. Skeletons and zombies are an extention of the necromancer's soul. "Souled" (Intelligent) undead are either willing, or dominated by a nongood necromancer (except special circumstances). Good necromancers have willing servants or unintelligent undead, but might dominate an evil undead to stop it from acting in an evil fashion. Neutrals are usually either using only the unintelligent or commanding anything that decides to threaten them. Evile ones use them in the classical "evil" method. In addition, many nonevil necromancers are "deanimators", who use the unintelligent undead as well as controlling magic to hunt, dominate, and eliminate evil undead. So yeah. Just have him play a deanimator, and peacefully explain his undead.
Rathmun 02-23-07, 09:49 PM	The solution I usually use... you can fit an absolutely obscene number of undead on your person using bags of holding (works best with skeletons/bone creatures/incorporeal/...) And the best part? the town guard has no idea you're packing undead.
NerdNumber1 02-23-07, 10:05 PM	For in-city defence, you can use a couple robed skeletons or other undead (with the proper air fresheners, of course) while leaving the rest outside town or in a portible hole.
grasharm 02-24-07, 01:23 AM	I've read the post and I kinda think that everyone missed the point of the original question. I may be wrong but you seem to be looking for personality quirks than rules justifications and cosomolgical viewpoints. To that end I put to you some archtypes for "good" undead army generals. 1) Good wins when evil is turned against itself. You practice the forbidden arts and perform dark rituals in order to serve the greater good. You are the warrior of forbiden arts and though you know this makes you a target you bear their scurges without complaint or fighting back because you more than anyone know how right they are to fear your dark arts and someday if you do your job right you may be able to lay down your terrible burden. 2) Death is universal. Fearing it is pointless. Only by studying it can you hope to overcome it or fight against it. Research isn't enough though. You have to have some field work also. You have to get your hand dirty and study death in all it states including and maybe especailly when it thrown off by magic reanimating and returning some illusion or semblance of life. Your research is all important. If you have to hide it from the ignorant in order to keep them from recklessly destroying your research materials then so be it after all not everyone can be as enlightened as you. 3) Life is the positive, death is the negative. It's all the same just diffent values are attached. So my friends are living challenged. They are "alive" just not in the conventional sense. It may be hard to communicate with them but it can be rewarding. We are all one. Living, dead, undead, tofu eating nut. Let's hold hands.. hey put that sword away... go limp! don't resitst!... OW! not the face! not the face! (not my fav. archtype) As for Chaotic Neutral.... Tag! someone else is it :P