Arcane necromancers [Archive] - Wizards Community

Arcane necromancers [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
DarkerDreams
06-08-05, 05:20 PM Aside from using unearthed arcana to put some life back in specialist wizards, homebrew spells (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=328678), and hijacking PrCs (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=323361), does anyone have any ideas how to give the idea of Evil Arch-Wizards with Hordes of undead at least as much credibility as Clerics?
smrtgmp
06-08-05, 05:28 PM Libris Mortis has some great stuff. The corpsecrafter feat, when combined with the necro varients from UA, will yield some badass undead. I've got true necromancer NPC in my game as a pseudo villian (the party is all neutral or leaning towards evil, so they make allies in the strangest of places) who uses this. Everything animated gets +8 to str, +4 to dex, and +4hp/HD. And thats not even with the other feats from LA for which corpsecrafter is a prerequisite.

Other than that, I would petition the DM to let you research arcane equivaltents of many divine necromancy spells. I would allow it, especially if the character in question is a necromancer. If you devote your life to the study of a particular type of magic, you should be damn good at it IMO.
DarkerDreams
06-08-05, 05:39 PM <-- usually is the DM. has jerks who don't like casters for DMs when he plays.

aside from that bit of bitterness. I agree about the LM, I was just dissappointed they seemed to cling so tightly to the "undead hordes are a cleric thing and wizards need to back off" riff.

aside from that, noted. I'd still like to see necromancers with hordes (making a better zombie is good, sometimes you just want extra cold bodies, or to control the undead that are standing over there)...
maybe I'm just asking the wrong questions.
smrtgmp
06-08-05, 05:48 PM <-- usually is the DM. has jerks who don't like casters for DMs when he plays.I can sypathyse with that. I'm a co-DM, and the other guy in our group doesnt like anyone who does things other than damage. He wants us to wade through enemy HP one at a time like a fighter, and gets upset when you use spells to bypass hp totals.

aside from that bit of bitterness. I agree about the LM, I was just dissappointed they seemed to cling so tightly to the "undead hordes are a cleric thing and wizards need to back off" riff.I agree with you here. I dont like what was done to arcane necromancy in the current edition. If you can find a copy, the 2nd edition Complete Book of Necromancy has some great ideas in it. Obvioulsy they would have to be updated to 3.x, but its worth the work if you like necromancy.
DarkerDreams
06-08-05, 07:50 PM never even heard of that one.
smrtgmp
06-08-05, 08:38 PM Its a TSR book. Blue cover. One of the soft cover complete books they had, like the complete book of fighters/druids/whatever. There are some truly awesome spells in there, among other things.

Mine is burried in my backyard shed. I wish I could find it, but going through that thing is like a life and death game of Jenga.
bossloki
06-08-05, 08:42 PM In LibrisMortis the Pale Master PRC has an attack at tenth level that is awesome for creating undead hordes.
If the target fails its save it becomes a zombie under your control. The best part is that undead created this way do not count against your total number of undead that you can control.
That is in addition to a lot of other good abilities.
DarkerDreams
06-08-05, 08:50 PM I dislike the pale master PrC as written because it pigeonholes all arcane necromancers in way's I'm not sure I like. in the original post on this thread I have a link to an alt; pale master- though I'll revisit the original to double check that ability.

"life and death game of jenga" my players are going to hate you without even knowing who you are for that.
Familiar with many of the complete books, but somehow I'd never even heard of that... I will investigate.
smrtgmp
06-08-05, 08:57 PM lol. stick it to em.
Pasquirlio
06-09-05, 02:24 AM Libris Mortis has some great stuff. The corpsecrafter feat, when combined with the necro varients from UA, will yield some badass undead. I've got true necromancer NPC in my game as a pseudo villian (the party is all neutral or leaning towards evil, so they make allies in the strangest of places) who uses this. Everything animated gets +8 to str, +4 to dex, and +4hp/HD.

Sadly its only a +4 to Str, both str bonuses are enhancement effects.

However note that should you go for true necromancer(i love this class) the hitpoints bonuses get even higher^^
Venom of the Yuan Ti
06-09-05, 02:46 AM I agree about the LM, I was just dissappointed they seemed to cling so tightly to the "undead hordes are a cleric thing and wizards need to back off" riff.

Two words.
PALE MASTER.
Sargon
06-09-05, 03:05 AM Why are you against the UA ? somewhere in that book is the domain wizard, basically instead of getting a extra spell for school specialization you pick a domain.. Death domain.. get raise dead at third level.. True Necormancer from there up.
smrtgmp
06-09-05, 05:41 AM Sadly its only a +4 to Str, both str bonuses are enhancement effects.
Really? For some reason I thought one of the bonuses was unnamed.
bossloki
06-09-05, 08:51 AM The hitpoint bonus is unamed.
Anskiere
06-09-05, 11:45 AM Libris Mortis has some excellent feats in it for arcane casters.
There is one feat, which when applied to arcane spells will cause the spell's target to rise as a zombie when killed by the spell. (works great with magic missile)

I was playing a drow sorcerer who specialized in Necromancy and with a little research was easily as powerful as our party's :schemes: :dragon: sorcerer/dragon disciple character.
DarkerDreams
06-09-05, 12:02 PM Note, on revieing my books, the pale master is fine with me as long as the flavor text of "necrophillic urges" and hacking off his arm to graft a new one on are ditched...

Actually I really like UA for the options it gives especially for wizards (specialists) and a few other things (flaws, traits, etc). Problem is, some DMs don't agree with me, so I want to find things that I can use on both sides of the screen... I also use UA to cover what I feel is a discrepency in power between wizards and other classes, and particularly specialists. So...

Anskiere; I want to point out that you don't talk about specialists, but sorcerers with their particular focus. While your actual point is well taken, and this note is not really pertinant to this discussion, I just thought it was worth highlighting.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DarkerDreams 06-08-05, 05:20 PM	Aside from using unearthed arcana to put some life back in specialist wizards, homebrew spells (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=328678), and hijacking PrCs (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=323361), does anyone have any ideas how to give the idea of Evil Arch-Wizards with Hordes of undead at least as much credibility as Clerics?
smrtgmp 06-08-05, 05:28 PM	Libris Mortis has some great stuff. The corpsecrafter feat, when combined with the necro varients from UA, will yield some badass undead. I've got true necromancer NPC in my game as a pseudo villian (the party is all neutral or leaning towards evil, so they make allies in the strangest of places) who uses this. Everything animated gets +8 to str, +4 to dex, and +4hp/HD. And thats not even with the other feats from LA for which corpsecrafter is a prerequisite. Other than that, I would petition the DM to let you research arcane equivaltents of many divine necromancy spells. I would allow it, especially if the character in question is a necromancer. If you devote your life to the study of a particular type of magic, you should be damn good at it IMO.
DarkerDreams 06-08-05, 05:39 PM	<-- usually is the DM. has jerks who don't like casters for DMs when he plays. aside from that bit of bitterness. I agree about the LM, I was just dissappointed they seemed to cling so tightly to the "undead hordes are a cleric thing and wizards need to back off" riff. aside from that, noted. I'd still like to see necromancers with hordes (making a better zombie is good, sometimes you just want extra cold bodies, or to control the undead that are standing over there)... maybe I'm just asking the wrong questions.
smrtgmp 06-08-05, 05:48 PM	<-- usually is the DM. has jerks who don't like casters for DMs when he plays.I can sypathyse with that. I'm a co-DM, and the other guy in our group doesnt like anyone who does things other than damage. He wants us to wade through enemy HP one at a time like a fighter, and gets upset when you use spells to bypass hp totals. aside from that bit of bitterness. I agree about the LM, I was just dissappointed they seemed to cling so tightly to the "undead hordes are a cleric thing and wizards need to back off" riff.I agree with you here. I dont like what was done to arcane necromancy in the current edition. If you can find a copy, the 2nd edition Complete Book of Necromancy has some great ideas in it. Obvioulsy they would have to be updated to 3.x, but its worth the work if you like necromancy.
DarkerDreams 06-08-05, 07:50 PM	never even heard of that one.
smrtgmp 06-08-05, 08:38 PM	Its a TSR book. Blue cover. One of the soft cover complete books they had, like the complete book of fighters/druids/whatever. There are some truly awesome spells in there, among other things. Mine is burried in my backyard shed. I wish I could find it, but going through that thing is like a life and death game of Jenga.
bossloki 06-08-05, 08:42 PM	In LibrisMortis the Pale Master PRC has an attack at tenth level that is awesome for creating undead hordes. If the target fails its save it becomes a zombie under your control. The best part is that undead created this way do not count against your total number of undead that you can control. That is in addition to a lot of other good abilities.
DarkerDreams 06-08-05, 08:50 PM	I dislike the pale master PrC as written because it pigeonholes all arcane necromancers in way's I'm not sure I like. in the original post on this thread I have a link to an alt; pale master- though I'll revisit the original to double check that ability. "life and death game of jenga" my players are going to hate you without even knowing who you are for that. Familiar with many of the complete books, but somehow I'd never even heard of that... I will investigate.
smrtgmp 06-08-05, 08:57 PM	lol. stick it to em.
Pasquirlio 06-09-05, 02:24 AM	Libris Mortis has some great stuff. The corpsecrafter feat, when combined with the necro varients from UA, will yield some badass undead. I've got true necromancer NPC in my game as a pseudo villian (the party is all neutral or leaning towards evil, so they make allies in the strangest of places) who uses this. Everything animated gets +8 to str, +4 to dex, and +4hp/HD. Sadly its only a +4 to Str, both str bonuses are enhancement effects. However note that should you go for true necromancer(i love this class) the hitpoints bonuses get even higher^^
Venom of the Yuan Ti 06-09-05, 02:46 AM	I agree about the LM, I was just dissappointed they seemed to cling so tightly to the "undead hordes are a cleric thing and wizards need to back off" riff. Two words. PALE MASTER.
Sargon 06-09-05, 03:05 AM	Why are you against the UA ? somewhere in that book is the domain wizard, basically instead of getting a extra spell for school specialization you pick a domain.. Death domain.. get raise dead at third level.. True Necormancer from there up.
smrtgmp 06-09-05, 05:41 AM	Sadly its only a +4 to Str, both str bonuses are enhancement effects. Really? For some reason I thought one of the bonuses was unnamed.
bossloki 06-09-05, 08:51 AM	The hitpoint bonus is unamed.
Anskiere 06-09-05, 11:45 AM	Libris Mortis has some excellent feats in it for arcane casters. There is one feat, which when applied to arcane spells will cause the spell's target to rise as a zombie when killed by the spell. (works great with magic missile) I was playing a drow sorcerer who specialized in Necromancy and with a little research was easily as powerful as our party's :schemes: :dragon: sorcerer/dragon disciple character.
DarkerDreams 06-09-05, 12:02 PM	Note, on revieing my books, the pale master is fine with me as long as the flavor text of "necrophillic urges" and hacking off his arm to graft a new one on are ditched... Actually I really like UA for the options it gives especially for wizards (specialists) and a few other things (flaws, traits, etc). Problem is, some DMs don't agree with me, so I want to find things that I can use on both sides of the screen... I also use UA to cover what I feel is a discrepency in power between wizards and other classes, and particularly specialists. So... Anskiere; I want to point out that you don't talk about specialists, but sorcerers with their particular focus. While your actual point is well taken, and this note is not really pertinant to this discussion, I just thought it was worth highlighting.