Post/Author/DateTime	Post
captaincarot 05-29-07, 04:16 AM	i have developed a domain of necromancy for my own game. specifically with clerics of velsharoon in mind. it actually gives a set of spells which they can build the unique undead with that are mentioned in F&P in the velsharron entry. the other thing is the spells take hours or days to complete and rely on the properties of the body that is being modified. I think they are balanced, you get to add +1 or +2 to 1 skill of an undead that you can create at 3rd level and at 20th you could build something that's not far off being a litch. you can even add the odd spell if you can get your hands on the body of a dieing spell caster. one of the side benefits to the DM is that while the undead is walking round, the spirit of the person used to create it can't pass on, because part of it is stuck inside the undead being used to fuel the augmentation, and there is a small chance that having it done to you can mess up your alignment afterwards if you are saved and then resurrected, so it's a domain that gives both roleplay opportunities and plot lines aplenty. i have 2 quiestions, is anyone interested in seing it, and if so is this the place where i would put it.
GothWulf 05-29-07, 12:33 PM	To answer your questions in order...yes, and yes :)
katarl 05-31-07, 03:56 PM	please do, northern friend of mine. Necromancy and undead are always of great interest.
captaincarot 06-03-07, 06:42 AM	right then here goes. necromancy domain benefit extra turning 1) analyse corpse 2) prepare corpse 3) augment corpse I 4) augment corpse II 5) augment corpse III 6) augment corpse IV 7) augment corpse V 8) augment corpse VI 9) augment corpse VII brief spell descriptions: and discussion on the domain. the idea behind this domain is to give a vehicle for the creation of the unique undead mentioned in faiths and pantheons within the Velsharoon entry. in line with velsharoons being a deity of undeath, necrmancy and magic, this series of spells makes the creation of augmented undead into a process similar to the creation of a magic item. 1) Analyse corpse. Necromancy Level: Clr 1 NEC 1 Components: V S F Casting Time: 1 minute Range: touch Target: 1 corpse Duration: 2 minutes/level Saving Throw: none Spell Resistance: no allows the examination of any corpse created using the level 2 spell prepare corpse, the information gathered is, total experience, skills known, spells currently within the body. The focus is a crystal lense with the holy symbol of velsharoon cut into both faces this costs 100 gp to make. The information gathered requires a spell craft DC20 check per piece of information gathered and it takes 5 rounds per element of information gathered about the corpse. each skill that the subject knew in life is an information element, total experience is an information element, and each spell known is an information element. 2)prepare corpse Necromancy Level: Clr 2 Nec 2 Components: V S M F Casting Time: 1 round Range: touch Target: 1 corpse Duration: 1day/lvl Saving Throw: none Spell Resistance: no the focuses required for this spell are, the killing blade and a suitable gem. the killing blade is a dagger with a crystal blade and silver hilt, the holy symbol of velsharoon is cut into both faces of the blade and also on the pommel of the dagger. the second focus for this spell is the storage gem. this is a diamond worth 500 gp per level of augment undead spell that it is to be used with. this gem must have the symbol ofvelsharoon cut into 1 facet. the material component of the spell is dust from one corporeal undead of suitable power. dust required Augment undead I ground skeleton bone. Augment undead II Ground zombie. Augment undead III ground ghoul augment undead IV ground ghast Augment undead V ground mhorg Augment undead VI ground mummy Augment undead VII the dust from a destroyed vampire or lich. so to use this spell with augment undead I would require a 500 Gp diamond as focus and use skelleton dust as material component. while to cast it to be usable with augment undead VII requires a 3500 Gp diamond and the dust from a vampire or lich. to cast the spell, a living body must have the focus gem placed into it's mouth with the carved facet facing outwards, it is then sprinkled with the dust while an invocation to velsharoon is spoken, the spell is completed when the killing blade is thrust through the jugular vein so that the tip touches the focus gem. This captures the life force of the victim within the gem which begins to glow faintly the colour of the glow is dependant on the alignment of the victim. lawful good = gold neutral good = metallic green chaotic good = silver lawfull neutral = crimson neutral = green chaotic neutral = sky blue lawfull evil = black with red veins neutral evil = black with dark blue veins chaotic evil = black with purple veins if the gem is removed from the mouth of the corpse at any time before it is animated, except for as described under the augment undead spells the spell is broken and the soul released. hope you like those 2 rest to follow in the next few days
captaincarot 06-03-07, 07:24 AM	augment undead I Necromancy Level: clr 3 nec 3 Components: v s m f Casting Time: special (see below) Range: touch Target: one corpse prepared using prepare corpse Duration: 1 day /lvl Saving Throw: none Spell Resistance: no This spell consists of 2 parts, 1 the casting and 2 the creation phases. The casting phase allows the stripping of life force in the form of xp from a soul captured using the prepare corpse spell. the life force can be stripped from the soul at the rae of 1000 xp per hour of casting time, the casting can be sustained for 1 hour per 2 levels of the caster. so a 5th level cleric could remove 3000 xp from a captured soul and this process would take 3 hours, the casting phase can be stopped at any time after 1 hour and will remove 1000 xp per full hours casting. to cast this spell gems must be placed onto the forehead of the undead to be created while runes and glyphs are inscribed onto the body of the corpse. the gem required depends on the augmentation which is to be performed on the corpse. To add a subverted mind to the corpse costs 1000 xp from the soul of the corpse and requires a diamond of 1000Gp to house it. mind creation takes one day. To add +1 to any skill requires 500Xp from the soul of the corpse and a gem worth 50 Gp plus 10gp per additional +1 to be added to the skill. each skill to be added to the corpse requires its own gem. this requires 1 hour per plus point of each skill. no skill can be advanced beyond the level that the soul knew when it was alive. to add 5 hit points to the undead requires 500 xp and a gem of 50gp plus 10gp per additional hit point added this cannot take the total hit points above the level which the corpse had when it was alive, or add more than 5 to the maximum hit points of the type of undead created, whichever is greater. this requires 1 hour per hit point. if the corpse knew a spell at the time when it was killed then this spell can be stripped from the corpse and embedded within a gem which costs 1000 xp per level of spell plus 1000 xp per usage per day of the spell. the gem required must have a gp value of 1000gp plus 1000gp per level of the spell x usage per day. so for example a 1st level magic missile spell cast once per day would require 2000xp from the corpse and need a gem of 2000 gp value. but a 9th level spell used twice per day woud require 18000 xp from the corpse and need a 20000gp gem. spell gem creation requires 1 day per level of spell plus 1 day per usage of that spell. at the end the time required to create each gem a spellcraft check must be made, dc as follows, subvert mind, dc20 hit points addition, 10 plus 1 per hitpoint above 5 added. skill point additon, 5 plus 1 per skill point added spell gem creation 20 plus spell level x usage per day failure by less than 5 means that the time required is increased by 20%, failure by more than 5 means that the gem is destroyed completely and the life force used to create it is lost to the afterlife. success by greater than 10 menas that the time required is reduced by 20%, success by greater than 20 means that the soul is corrupted, see soul corruption later. To complete the spell the gems must be crushed and sprinkled over the body. then the focus gem is removed from the mouth and the gem required for the undead creation spell is put inplace and the required undead creation spell is then cast. this is the only time that the focus gem can be removed from the corpse without the spell being broken and the soul lost to the afterlife.
captaincarot 06-03-07, 10:12 AM	raising souls subject to augment undead treatments. any soul subjected to ressurection of any type is affected as follows. if the undead is destroyed before the resurrection occurs, there is no effects on the ressurected person other than that of soul corruption if this occurred during undead augmentation. if the undead is not destroyed first any spells stripped from the soul are lost as are the spell slots, all skills used to augment the undead are lost at the same level as they were used in undead augmentation. if a subverted mind exists the resurrected soul will have mental stats of 3. anyone resurrected will suffer from wild mood swings and switch randomly between their alignment and that of the created undead. and the resurrected person loses the xp used in the creation of the augmented undead. if the undead is subsequently destroyed then another resurrection spell must be cast to reunite the rest of the soul with that currently in the body. If a soul corruption result is obtained when creating the undead, then the undead is destroyed and the person resurrected, the alignment of the person who returns will have shifted half way to that of the undead that they became ad next time they die they will automatically rise 1 hour later as the un augmented type of undead that they became.
captaincarot 06-03-07, 11:10 AM	augment undead II Necromancy Level: clr 4 nec 4 Components: v s m f Casting Time: special (see below) Range: touch Target: one corpse prepared using prepare corpse Duration: 1 day /lvl Saving Throw: none Spell Resistance: no this spell is identical to augment corpse except as follows. The ammount of xp stripped from a soul in the casting phase is 2000xp per hour. augment undead III Necromancy Level: clr 5 nec 5 Components: v s m f Casting Time: special (see below) Range: touch Target: one corpse prepared using prepare corpse Duration: 1 day /lvl Saving Throw: none Spell Resistance: no the spell is identical to augment undead I except as detailed below. the numer of experience stripped from the soul is 3000 per hour during the casting phase. augment undead IV Necromancy Level: clr 6 nec 6 Components: v s m f Casting Time: special (see below) Range: touch Target: one corpse prepared using prepare corpse Duration: 1 day /lvl Saving Throw: none Spell Resistance: no This spell is identical to augment undead I except as follows. the number of xp stripped from the soul is 4000 per hour during the casting phase, and skills can be added at the rate of 2 points per hour in the creation phase. augment undead V Necromancy Level: clr 7 nec 7 Components: v s m f Casting Time: special (see below) Range: touch Target: one corpse prepared using prepare corpse Duration: 1 day /lvl Saving Throw: none Spell Resistance: no This spell is identical to augment undead IV except as follows. experience is stripped from the soul at the rate of 5000 per hour in the casting phase. the time required to add a subverted mind is reduced to 12 hours. augment undead VI Necromancy Level: clr 8 nec 8 Components: v s m f Casting Time: special (see below) Range: touch Target: one corpse prepared using prepare corpse Duration: 1 day /lvl Saving Throw: none Spell Resistance: no This spell is identical to augment undead V except as follows. experience is stripped from the soul at the rate of 6000 per hour in the casting phase. and skill points can be added at the rate of 3 per hour in the creation phase. a corrupted soul effect is obtained with a dc check success of 15 greater than the required roll. augment undead VII Necromancy Level: clr 9 nec 9 Components: v s m f Casting Time: special (see below) Range: touch Target: one corpse prepared using prepare corpse Duration: 1 day /lvl Saving Throw: none Spell Resistance: no This spell is identical to augment undead VI except as follows. experience is stripped from the soul at the rate of 7000 per hour in the casting phase. a subverted mind is automatically created without the need for the creation gem. skill points can be added at the rate of 4 per hour. created undead gain the maximum hitpoints for their type. the subject is automatically subected to the corrupted soul as if the creation DC check had succeeded by 20 ponts or more.
captaincarot 06-03-07, 02:15 PM	i think this is probably the most complicated domain but i never said things should be easy. if anyone has any suggestions for modifications or improvements i woud be glad to take them on board, maybe we coud even come up with some thing that will find it's way into print in the future. other than that any feed back will be appreciated.
katarl 06-10-07, 05:58 AM	very interesting, if obscenely complicated. any chance of simplifying the system?
captaincarot 06-11-07, 01:21 PM	i will have a thunk, i can probably get the mods and dcs in a sensible table at least, but as for changing it too much i'd have to play it oput and see if the mods broke it. anyone got any comments or thoughts on how to simplify it.