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#1 Mist-Bound Jan 14, 2012 12:16:25	Yes, I know that there is both an official Necromancer "path" for the Mage class in Heroes of Shadow, and that there are other attempts at doing Necromancers as classes scattered across these boards, but... Well, though I don't think the Necromancer Mage is a bad kit perse, it's not really that appealing to me (feels too much like "wizard with necromancy tacked on"), and similarly I have my own visions and ideas for the Necromancer that, as far as I know, nobody else has tapped into. I've gotten some positive feedback on my ideas, so I just wanted to start trying to flesh it out into an actual class. These below are my basic thoughts about how the class "is"; what it can do, what kind of class it tries to be, etc. Thematic Motif: The Necromancer is a character who wields the powers of death. They imbue corpses with a mockery of life to do their bidding, and snuff out the essence of life where they find it. Dark and sinister, they can serve the forces of good by turning their unholy powers against forces of evil that threaten the living - and their affinity with the undead actually makes them uniquely suited to snuffing out their perverse existence. Bitter cold and all-consuming void, disease and decay, poison and vermin, these bolster the Necromancer's ability to conjure spirits and command animate corpses. Role: Controller. Necromancers summon minions and use them to blockade and harrass enemies, as well as using powers that weaken, cripple or otherwise debilitate their foes, impairing their abilities to fight or effectively counter the efforts of a PC party. Secondary Role: Striker or Leader. Some Necromancy hexes are especially nasty; while they aren't guaranteed to kill a victim outright, they are able to leave an enemy severely weakened and ready to be picked off. Similarly, some Necromancy hexes are able to not only cripple a foe, but bolster an ally. Primary Damage Type: Necrotic - this is the energy most associated with necromancy and the undead. Secondary Damage Types: Poison/Acid - Both of these are damage types associated with corrosion, the slow death, the crippling effects of entropy, a life force being slowly eaten away. Cold - There's a reason we speak of the "chill of the grave"; cold is the element most thematically associated with entropy and oblivion. Barred Damage Types: Radiant - Radiance is the power of light, the force of life incarnate. Necromancers draw their power from the deepest darkness of the soul; Radiance is their fundamental antithesis, the very opposite of the power that fuels them. Fire - Radiance's mundane relative, Fire is an element of life and transmutation, of change and energy. Necromancy deals with death and stasis. Lightning - Kin to Fire and Radiance both, Lightning is a dynamic force, a brilliant energy beyond the grasp of shadow magic. Class Features: Necrotic Soul - A necromancer is adept at wielding necrotic energy above all else. This allows him to bolster himself from harm by necrotic energy - but it can also shield him from radiant energy; by enveloping himself in a cloak of purest Shadow, elemental Light is swallowed harmlessly. It also means that he can pierce and unravel the shadowy defenses of the Undead. This functions as per the various "Arcane Souls" of the Sorcerer class, except it provides a Necromancer with resistance to Necrotic and Radiant damage and lets him pierce Necrotic Resistance. Dark Secrets - These are the selectable class feature, akin to Warlocks and their Pact. Lord of the Dead - Necromancer magic revolves heavily around the power to create and control the undead. Consequently, they learn how to require a lessened expenditure of life-force in their creations, and to mitigate the backlash of unexpected destruction. The Necromancer reduces the normal amount of hit points lost for having Summons destroyed by the enemy, if they choo. Deadwalker - Some necromancers establish a particular bond with a singular undead creation, ensuring that they always have one stable, dependable, reliable minion at their beck and call. This is the Necromancer "pet" line, focusing on using a permanent companion, ala Beastmaster Rangers. Destroyer - Necromantic magic is often considered fairly subtle, but it does have tis more overtly destructive side. A Destroyer is a Necromancer who focuses on bringing death to enemies through his magic; Withering cold, storms of necrotic energy, screaming rifts, tornadoes of souls, these are the powers a Destroyer commands. This form of Necromancer is better at straight-up attacking than either a Lord of the Dead necromancer or a Deadwalker necromancer - I'm thinking that they can perhaps do bonus damage and/or impose a penalty to "end effects" saving throws. Black Grimoire - A necromancer learns many dark rituals in his or her quest to master the undead. A Necromancer has a ritual book containing three rituals chosen from the following list. Last Sight Talk to the Dead Gentle Repose (?) Paragon Paths: Deathslayer - This is a necromancer who took to studying the black arts for one reason; know thy enemy. This is a necromancer whose speciality is destroying the undead. Class features include a bonus to defenses and attack rolls against enemies with the Undead keyword, and a strengthened form of Necrotic Soul that means they treat Necrotic Resistance as Vulnerability: Necrotic instead. Powers are an encounter attack hex that cripples an undead to make it easier to kill, an encounter utility that makes allies more resistant to undead attacks, and a daily attack that causes heavy ongoing necrotic damage - and if the initial target is undead, this damage can spread to other targets. Pale Master - This is the classical necromancer who specialises in controlling multiple undead at once. Features make his summons better, while powers revolve around particularly nasty summons - this is the Necromancer equivalent of the Master Summoner (Bonded Summoner?) paragon path for Wizards. Crypt King - This is a necromancer who invests the effort to create a permanent undead minion, stronger and more powerful than is usual. Features revolve around this necromantic "pet", as do its powers. This is the Necromancer equivalent of the Thrallherd paragon path for Psions. Plague Master - Necromancers whose interests lie in the slow, creeping power of poison, plague, decay and rot take up this mantle, which gives them unparalleled mastery over venom and disease. Features include greater resistance to diseases and Poison Resistance, while powers revolve around Poison and Acid damage, typically slowing or weakening foes as well. Sanguine Witch - Necromancy is not so much about death as it is about life; most turn to necromancy as a way to cheat death, to prolong life. And the most primal, vital symbol of life is blood. A Sanguine Witch learns to master blood, both her own and those of her enemies, clinging more stubbornly to life than every before. Features include gaining a low-level form of Regeneration, being able to immediately regain health by spending an Action point, and a bonus to "Death Saving Throws" and to rolls to come back when Raised (reflecting the necromancer's improved ability to cling to life). Powers include draining blood to heal themselves, being able to restore health to allies by sacrificing healing surges, and causing massive damage on enemies by trying to rip the blood from their bodies. Animator - Necromancers are adept at investing a mockery of life where life once was, but some aren't satisfied with this. Animators are Necromancers who try to imbue life where life never flourished before, granting the ability to fashion not only undead, but constructs as well. Epic Destinies: Primagen - Some Necromancers become so consumed with necromancy's apparent power over life and death that they turn to the most blasphemous of arts; attempting to create life. Not a false life, as is usually the case, but actual life itself. Whether they stitch together abominations from corpses or grow new lifeforms from alchemical equipment, they typically produce naught but perversions... but, sometimes, very rarely, a Primagen succeeds in her dark goal... Undying One - Some Necromancers fear death so much that they do anything - anything at all - to cling to life, without having to make the sacrifices that becoming one of the undead would require. These are the Undying Ones, seekers of immortality at any cost. Some fail, settling for lichhood or some strange new form of undeath. Others, though, succeed, though rarely as they intended. Lychking - Mastery over the walking dead is the most basic art of Necromancy, and yet there is always a limit to how many a necromancer can control at once. A Lychking seeks to expand their will and hone their powers until they can control a veritable army of the undead, all on their own. And these are the suggestions for the basic "stat block" of the class... As is obvious, I really don't know what I'm doing, so I could use all the help I can get to make something out of this. Power Source: Shadow Role: Controller Key Abilities: Intelligence Secondary Abilities: Constitution, Wisdom, Charisma Armor Proficiencies: Cloth Weapon Proficiencies: Dagger, Scythe, Quarterstaff Implements: Staffs, Daggers, Tomes Bonus to Defense: +2 Fortitude Hit Points at first level: 12 + Constitution score Hit points per level gained: 6 Healing Surges per day: 5 + Constitution modifier Trained Skills: Religion or Arcana. From the class skills list below, chose three more trained skills at first level. Arcana, Dungeoneering, History, Religion, Nature, Heal, Intimidate, Streetwise, Bluff.
#2 mhbjarkistef Jan 15, 2012 7:13:25	I love what you have so far, and I will gladely help. Luckily for me, I like formatting and class feature building but suck at fluff making and power making. I'll take care of the formatting if you take care of the fluff xD Necromancer Class Traits: Role: Controller. While your hexes aren't guranteed to kill a victim outright they do leave your foes severly weakened, and your summonings allow you to keep some foes isolated from your friends, you can even use the same techniques of imbuing corpses with energy to bolster your allies. Depending on your choice of class features and powers, you lean towards either Striker or Leader as your secondary role. Power Source: Shadow. You wield the powers of death, you have the ability to imbue corpses with a mockery of life to do your bidding and snuff out the essence of life where you find it. Key Abilities: Intelligence, Constitution, Charisma. Armor Proficiencies: Cloth Weapon Proficiencies: Dagger, Scythe, Quraterstaff. Implement: Staff, Dagger, Tomes, Scythe. Bonus to Defense: +2 Fortitude Hit Points at 1st Level: 12 + Constitution Score. Hit Points per Level Gained: 5 Healing Surges per Day: 7 + Constitution modifier. Trained Skills: Religion or Arcana. From the class skill list below, choose 3 more trained skills at 1st level. Class Skills: Arcana (int), Bluff (Cha), Dungeoneering (Wis), Endurance (Con), Heal (Wis), History (Int), Insight (Wis), Nature (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Streetwise (Cha) Class features: Necrotic Soul, Lord of the Dead, Black Grimoire, Dark Secrets. Necrotic Soul You gain resist 5 to necrotic and radiant damage. The resistance increases to 10 at 11th level and 15 at 21st level. Your Necromancer powers ignore any target's necrotic and/or radiant resistances up to the value of your resistances. Black Grimoire: You know the Last Sight and Talk to the Dead rituals and can use one of them for free once per day. Show or you can use each of them for free once per day, whichever you choose. It's your class, after all