While I am 100% sure we will eventually see evil campaign material from WotC for 4e (because that will be a huge marketing coup late in the lifecycle of this edition) I am guessing it won't be soon.
I have been playing D&D since 1979 and have always played "the creepy wizard". When necromancers came out, I immediately switched and have been playing necromancers ever since. I was sad to discover that in 4th edition, there is no necromancer
Currently I am playing a warlock (star pact) for the first time. I have chosen the Mists of Ravenloft as my "power source" and am having a great time creeping out my party members.
I was wondering if anyone has any details on the necromancer for 4e. I have heard that they are making a shadow power source in pb3 but nothing is confirmed yet.
Patience, sir. They'll have that Necromancer out. It's too popular not to release it with the Shadow power source. Unfortunately, however, there aren't any details for Necromancers or the Shadow power source in general.
http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?p=17063921#post17063921
That's the link, I hope it helps
While Warlocks might just be misunderstood anti-heroes, Necromancers are just straight-up evil, there's no skating around it.
While I am 100% sure we will eventually see evil campaign material from WotC for 4e (because that will be a huge marketing coup late in the lifecycle of this edition) I am guessing it won't be soon.
...Warlocks and necromancers are in the same boat. Necromancers have just as much right to be good(ish) as warlocks. Don't discriminate against us just because we raise the rotting corpses of your family to do our bidding...
Necromancers are just straight-up evil, there's no skating around it
yet. There's no skating around it yet. We've got Animate Dead for Wizards from Dragon #372, and I believe we might get some more Necrotic-based powers in Arcane Power (although I might be completely wrong about that).
Regardless, you can create a Wizard that does its best to move into Necromancer territory and yet still have a good alignment.
While Warlocks might just be misunderstood anti-heroes, Necromancers are just straight-up evil, there's no skating around it.
While I am 100% sure we will eventually see evil campaign material from WotC for 4e (because that will be a huge marketing coup late in the lifecycle of this edition) I am guessing it won't be soon.
Not true.
It is entirely possible to play a none evil necromancer.
A necromancer can as easily be a thanotologist who is attempting to understand the boundry between life and death and how disease can push some one across that boundry and how undeath blurs it, or a village wise woman of an ancestor worshipping culture, a fate bound assassin who kills to help the karmic wheel turn in the spirit of the euthanitos or a tea leave reading spiritualist in her comfortable appartments in a matropolise as the creepy guy who raises undead legions.
I was always fond of the notion of an archaeologist who raises the petrified bones of dinosaurs to do his bidding. Fossils don't complain about someone taking their remains, so where's the harm? :D
That presents an interesting question... Fossils aren't bones, so would necromancy even work on them?
I have been playing D&D since 1979 and have always played "the creepy wizard". When necromancers came out, I immediately switched and have been playing necromancers ever since. I was sad to discover that in 4th edition, there is no necromancer
Currently I am playing a warlock (star pact) for the first time. I have chosen the Mists of Ravenloft as my "power source" and am having a great time creeping out my party members.
I was wondering if anyone has any details on the necromancer for 4e. I have heard that they are making a shadow power source in pb3 but nothing is confirmed yet.
There's no dedicated necromancer and there's no particular reason to think that there will be.
That said, there are plenty of necromantic powers in the game right now. You can create a wizard who specializes in necromancy pretty easily, and many of the other classes can dabble.
There may be more necromancy type stuff when the shadow power source comes out. That may be a little while.
That said, there is already an epic destiny where you become a Lich. So you can using your Warlock already pull off a close enough theme to Necromancer to hold you off a few years until you are given your Necromancer.
I had a campaign where the dwarves had potent necromancers and it was seen as an honor to be raised in eternal service to your king and country, so their highest ranks had a lot of "mummies" and other intelligent undead, there was a whole heirarchy of undead advancement after you reached the pinacle of living advancement. Also the vilest criminals were turned into zombies/skeletons to do dangerous work and as shock troops. They didn't lose many wars. They also respected the fallen of other societies and would go to great lengths to maintain the corpses in the traditions of their homeland, typically with rituals to speak to them and find out what they'd want done with their body.
Eberron also has those elf people that love necromancy. I made mine first though.
Really, I only think necromancers are evil if they are purposefully disrespectful of life. If they murder someone to make them a zombie, thats one thing, but animating a criminal to make up for his crime or respecting the last wishes of someone from a culture a little different from ours is at worst neutral.
It also depends on the nature of positive and negative energy, in my campaign above I had changed negative and positive energy quite a bit, to make them more Taoist, and necromancy wasn't inherently evil and had more to do with spirit binding and animation than channelling evil energy. Necromancy could also apply to resurrection and inanimate object animation.
- There is not a necromancer class at this time.
Why isn't there a necromancer class?
- A new edition will of course take some time to cover all the ground of previous editions. The necromancer was put on the slow track because necromancy in general in previous editions was characterized by several elements that don't translate into 4e. ie:
Instant Death Spells: largely avoided in 4e (orb/sleep not withstanding)
Level Drain: not in 4e
Ability Drain: not in 4e
Creature Creation: difficult to work with 4e's greater insistance on economy of actions - only relatively recently have we even seen such staples as summon spells or ranger animal companions, and even those work very differently from before.
As such, it is only natural that the necromancer would need some additional time to re-concept for the current edition.
When will the necromancer class show up?
- Don't let nay-sayers fool you. Necromancy has quite a fan following in both players and developers, so we most assuredly will be seeing a return of the Necromancer as a dedicated class in the future. It is generally expected to fall under the Shadow power source - associated with necrotic energy, death, and the Shadowfell - the planar origin of most Undead. This power source, while confirmed, is not on any current release schedules. PHBIII is possible, but PHBIV is more likely - so you can expect to be waiting a couple more years.
What can I do in the mean time?
- DDI subscribers have access to a number of necromancy-themed powers for classes ranging from Wizard to Avenger. Indeed, most caster-type classes get something creepy to play with, here.
These can be used alongside re-fluffing to get a good necromancer going. Maybe your wizard's "Evard's Black Tenticles" is really a bunch of skeletons bursting from the ground to grab and tear at anything nearby. Maybe your Shaman's spirit companion is really a bound ghost. Maybe your Warlock's pact was made with powerful manifestations of death or undeath.
Hopefully these options will be enough to tide you over until Wizards releases a full version of this class. If not, you can always hope that they'll playtest it in DDI (as they have done for barbarians and artificers in the past). At least, if you have a DDI membership.