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Ponce
2009-04-22, 02:51 AM
The challenge: create a sorcerer whose spell list consists ONLY of necromancy spells. Why? It struck me one day as an interesting idea. Sure you could play a wizard or a dread necromancer or a cleric, and sure you could NOT intentionally debilitate yourself, but where is the fun in that? I hope to play this character (probably within a few weeks or months) so suggestions are very much appreciated!

Books: 3.5e WotC material. Bonus points if it isn't campaign-specific.

Requirements:
-The character must be a sorcerer
-The character may learn only necromancy spells
-The character's main power must derive from its sorcerous spellcasting

Issues:
-Constructs! Immune to necromancy effects! Boo!
-Utility! You don't have any! Well, a bit.
-Whenever you learn a new spell level, you only learn one spell, so make it count!

Notes: You still have the ability to use wands and scrolls not of the school, technically, but I think that using them sort of violates the spirit of the whole thing, so I choose not to. Other characters don't believe you? Meh, you have bluff as a class skill. Also, we're going by RAW, so the Summon Undead line of spells are conjurations! A bit silly perhaps, but true! Multiclassing or prestige classes is allowed, but remember requirement #3.

Feats:

-Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus (Necromancy) [PHB]. We only have necromancy spells, so thats +2 to all save DCs. Good stuff.

-Arcane Thesis [PHBII]. Will stick this bad boy on enervate. Oh yes.

-Mother Cyst [Libris Mortis]. Adds a bunch of really fun necromancy spells to your spells known at every spell level, which is really helpful. Some possess great synergy with other necromancy spells. One even grants an early access necromancy dominate person spell! Nice! The 9th level spell from this feat CONSUMES THE SOUL OF THE TARGET. Yup, not even a True Resurrection, Wish or Miracle can bring them back. They are GONE gone.

-Tomb-Tainted Soul [Libris Mortis]. This feat (chain) isn't as useful to you as it would be to a cleric or dread necromancer, but has potential none the less.

-Corpsecrafter [Libris Mortis]. Can be useful if you intend on building an army. Depends on the campaign. There is a whole tree of related feats.

-Fearsome Necromancy [Complete Mage]. Targets of your necromancy spells (ie of all targetted spells in this case) are shaken for 1 round if they are forced to make a save, regardless of the result of the save. Handy, but does not stack with other fear effects, which is normally the main strength of fear.

-Sickening Grasp [Complete Mage]. The actual sickening part of this feat is kind of useless to you. On the other hand, you get a +1 CL bonus to necromancy (read: all) spells! For 1 feat! Huzzah!

-Lord of the Uttercold [Complete Arcane]. You've seen the undead healing combos on this. Handy... but not so much for a sorcerer. First, you don't have knowledge (the planes) so you can't take it until level 15 unless you multiclass or prestige out to something that does. Further, in the case of this build, you can't use energy substitution'd fireballs, so no go there!

-Necropolis Born [Complete Arcane]. Interesting flavour. Totally useless.

-Split Ray [Complete Arcane]. Worth it just for Enervation.

Spells: Here, the "first pick" spell is underlined, that is, the spell chosen as being the best candidate for you to take first, remembering that when you access a new spell level, you only get 1 spell of that level, so this "first pick" spell isn't necessarily the strongest, merely the most versatile choice if you must choose only 1 spell. The exceptions being level 0 and level 1. Other spells listed are strong choices for later on.
Level 0: Disrupt Undead, Touch of Fatigue (we hit a problem here... there's only 2 necromancy cantrips in the PHB, and none in the SC!)
Level 1: Ray of Enfeeblement, Backbiter, Spirit Worm, Cause Fear
Level 2: Blindness, Command Undead, False Life, Ray of Sickness, Ray of Weakness, Scare, Shroud of Undeath
Level 3: Ray of Exhaustion, Halt Undead, Undead Lieutenant, Greater Disrupt Undead, Skull Watch
Level 4: Enervation, Animate Dead, Bestow Curse, Fear
Level 5: Magic Jar, Waves of Fatigue, Spirit Wall
Level 6: Ghoul Gauntlet, Circle of Death, Undeath to Death, Eyebite, Create Undead
Level 7: Sword of Darkness, Control Undead, Finger of Death, Waves of Exhaustion, Kiss of the Vampire, Arrow of Bone
Level 8: Veil of Undeath, Clone, Create Greater Undead Horrid Wilting
Level 9: Wail of the Banshee, Astral Projection, Plague of Undead

Prestige Classes:
I can't think of any that really fit. Obviously you could take more general ones, but often they don't work out well, or they violate the spirit of restriction #3.

Equipment:
Can't think of many special things. Rod of Undead Mastery, is a good start, along with Metamagic Rods. The necronomicon is pretty handy too I hear, if I happen to find it.

Berserk Monk
2009-04-22, 03:12 AM
The challenge: create a sorcerer whose spell list consists ONLY of necromancy spells. Why? It struck me one day as an interesting idea. Sure you could play a wizard or a dread necromancer or a cleric, and sure you could NOT intentionally debilitate yourself, but where is the fun in that?.

Where's the fun? It's called powergaming. I don't understand this notion of not mini/maxing. What kind of sick twisted gaming circle are you from?

arguskos
2009-04-22, 03:13 AM
Necrotic Skull Bomb! NECROTIC SKULL BOMB!!!! You have to take the spell if you are permitted to do so! It's from a Forgotten Realms book, but it's a swift action, AoE Enervation (it does give a save, but who really cares?). Level 5.

I love that spell so damn much.

Also, you might want to consider Black Lore of Moil as a feat. It does burn money but it helps kill people as you debuff them into oblivion.

Salt_Crow
2009-04-22, 03:19 AM
Umm... so you want to 'minimise' your potential but you want to be good at whatever it is that you're doing huh.

Try Tainted Scholar PrC from Heroes of Horror. Its abilities will enhance the sorcerer casting significantly as well as making all of your arcane spells evil (spell focus (evil, necromancy), greater spell focus (necromancy) goodness?). Nice extra spells and sky-high save DCs don't hurt either when many necromancy spells focus on debuffing.

This does not violate requirement #3 since its main power is still pure sorcerer casting, unlike Io7V or its broken ilks.

Also, you may want to pick up some rebuke-granting class so you could control the undeads you create with Create (Greater) Undead spells if you so wish.

SurlySeraph
2009-04-22, 02:08 PM
Where's the fun? It's called powergaming. I don't understand this notion of not mini/maxing. What kind of sick twisted gaming circle are you from?

Because some people prefer to play characters whose abilities they find interesting to roleplay with, rather than characters who have a bunch of abilities whose only link is that they are powerful. Because DnD is about having fun, not about winning. Because the only people who lose in DnD are ones who think it's about winning.

monty
2009-04-22, 03:59 PM
Because some people prefer to play characters whose abilities they find interesting to roleplay with, rather than characters who have a bunch of abilities whose only link is that they are powerful.
You mean like playing a Dread Necromancer or a Necromancy specialized wizard or a cleric with a metric crapton of Necromancy spells because you want to be a good necromancer? Tell me, are you familiar with the Stormwind Fallacy?

Because DnD is about having fun, not about winning. Because the only people who lose in DnD are ones who think it's about winning.
And some people have more fun when their character is actually effective at what they want it to do.

Seriously, it's one thing to challenge yourself with something like this. It's another thing entirely to insult someone else's playstyle. Also, I'm pretty absolutely sure Berserk Monk was joking.

Berserk Monk
2009-04-22, 04:28 PM
Because some people prefer to play characters whose abilities they find interesting to roleplay with, rather than characters who have a bunch of abilities whose only link is that they are powerful. Because DnD is about having fun, not about winning. Because the only people who lose in DnD are ones who think it's about winning.

What the hell is "roleplay"? I've been playing D&D for years and I've never encountered this concept. Also, I think you might have the definitions of "fun," "lose," and "winning" confused with other words. Winning=Fun; very much so!

Signing out now, this is Berserk Monk, official Munchkin for Hire.

AmberVael
2009-04-22, 04:43 PM
If you can, I would suggest taking the Restricted Sorcery Flaw (twice, if possible). It essentially says "hey, lose a school, gain a feat!"
I mean, if you're purposefully going to limit yourself to a single school... why not? You might as well gain SOME benefit from it.
Unfortunately, Restricted Sorcery is in Dragon Magazine (#327), so that fails there, but I figured I might as well bring it up. =/

While we're on the subject of Dragon Magazine, you might look into the Necromantic Bloodline feat, too. If you're only going to have one school, you might as well have as many spells from it as possible, and Necromantic Bloodline will help that out. It comes from Magazine 325, or the first volume of the compendium.

Anyways. On to stuff within WotC books.

If you're looking for more flavorful and interesting feats, you might glance at Unearthed Arcana's Spelltouched feats. Live My Nightmare, Stench of the Dead, and Life Leech could be very fun to have (and Live My Nightmare is actually a rather handy feat at times, though it can also backfire...)

Pale Master (while not an amazing PrC), definitely focuses on Necromancy. It loses a single level of casting though.

Ponce
2009-04-22, 06:11 PM
Guys, I just want to see how well something like this would work in play. Think of it as academic. Plus I think it'd be fun to play this character. Sure, dread necromancer, cleric and necromancer wizard are fun too, as well as strong (as I metioned before), but I've played those before in the past. I'd like to try something new.

Further, it'll be interesting to see just how flexible necromancy can be. I mean, sure it has its save or lose spells by the boat load, but what else does it have? Sadly, it tends to have far fewer spells at each level than the other schools.

The school is surprisingly more versatile than I thought it would be. The Spirit Wall spell is pretty great for battlefield control. Skull watch is also pretty great, given its permanent duration.

@arguskos: Wow. Great find! Thats absolutely amazing. The fact that it is a swift action is absolutely gold for a sorcerer.

@Salt_Crow: Rebuke Undead would be great, but I'm finding it somewhat difficult without losing significant caster levels while at the same time having a high rebuke level.

@Vael: Those dragon feats are pretty good, I'll try to get them in when I play if I can. I should take the Specialized trait as well. I forgot about Pale master, I'd just need an easy way to get that knowledge requirement.

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2009-04-22, 06:25 PM
Take the feat Song of the Dead (Dragon 312, Dragon Compendium), for a +1 metamagic cost you turn any spell you cast into a Necromancy spell. Get Corpsecrafter and Destruction Retribution and cast a Song of the Dead Summon Undead to make zombies, it's a necromancy spell so they blow up when destroyed.


A build that could work for this would go Silverbrow Human, Sorcerer 6/ Incantatrix 10/ whatever. Get Iron Will from the Otyugh Hole in Complete Scoundrel. At level 16 you have eleven feats counting bonus metamagic, so get Sanctum Spell, Split Ray, Twin Spell, Practical Metamagic: Twin Spell, Repeat Spell, Practical Metamagic: Repeat Spell, Maximize Spell, Practical Metamagic: Maximize Spell, Rapid Metamagic, Arcane Thesis: Enervation, and one open feat remaining. You can add your own effects in the most beneficial order. Keep in mind Improved Metamagic from Incantatrix 10 requires a remaining +1 spell level after it's applied. Also keep in mind that Practical Metamagic only requires that the end result (spell plus metamagic) is at +1 from the spell's original slot.

Twinned Sanctum Split Repeat Maximized Enervation:
Enervation: Spell level 4, spell slot 4

Twinned: +4 twin, -1 improved (still at +1), -1 practical: level 4, slot 6 (still at +1)

Sanctum: outside sanctum -1 spell level: level 3, slot 6

Split: +2 split, -1 improved (still at +1), -1 practical: level 3, slot 6 (still at +1)

Repeat: +3 repeat, -1 improved (still at +1), -1 practical: level 3, slot 7 (still at +1)

Maximized: +3 maximize, -1 improved (still at +1), -1 practical: level 3, slot 8 (still at +1)

All the stipulations of the effects on the spell thus far have been checked and met as they were applied, they will not be checked again.

Arcane Thesis: five metamagic feats were applied, -5 spell slot minimum equal to spell level: Spell level 3, Spell slot 3

From a 3rd level spell slot you cast a Twinned Sanctum Split Repeat Maximized Enervation, which fires two rays each of which deals eight negative levels immediately and eight negative levels on the following round. They can both be aimed at the same creature, dealing sixteen negative levels immediately and another sixteen negative levels on the following round. Being a 3rd level spell, and since you have Rapid Metamagic, you can use a Lesser Metamagic Rod of Quicken Spell to cast a second one in the same round.

Ernir
2009-04-22, 07:06 PM
Find a Slaymate (Libris Mortis, page 122) and marry it ASAP. You will love it very much and never want to leave its side. :smallbiggrin:

(Being near one lowers the cost of applying a metamagic feat to Necromancy spells by one. Creepy and cheesy to the max, IMO, but there it is.)

JoshuaZ
2009-04-22, 08:03 PM
Don't forget Fell Animate (from Libris Mortis) which is a level 3 metamagic adjustment that duplicates an animate dead effect on anything killed by the spell. Good way of saving money if you are making a lot of undead.

Logalmier
2009-04-22, 08:10 PM
Consider getting chain spell along with split ray. You can make a Chained Split Enervation, for a 9th level slot give 2d6 negative levels to everyone in range. Makes Energy Drain look pathetic. Plus since it's metamagic you don't have to waste high level spells you've learned.

JoshuaZ
2009-05-03, 02:35 PM
Also, someone recently pointed out to me that there's an additional feat "Wormbound" in Dragon 343 which gives you a set of Kyuss themed necromancy spells as extra spells known. But you need to have an undead worm living inside you to take advantage of them.

RTGoodman
2009-05-03, 02:49 PM
Take a look at BoVD, maybe. Malign Spell Focus from there gives you, for instance, +1 to the DC of all [Evil] spells you cast, and as a Necromancer a lot of your spells will have that descriptor. And a lot of them have saves, so that +1 DC is decent.

JoshuaZ
2009-05-03, 03:45 PM
Take a look at BoVD, maybe. Malign Spell Focus from there gives you, for instance, +1 to the DC of all [Evil] spells you cast, and as a Necromancer a lot of your spells will have that descriptor. And a lot of them have saves, so that +1 DC is decent.

Malign Spell Focus doesn't stack with Spell Focus(necromancy) so that would be a bad idea.

Khatoblepas
2009-05-03, 05:15 PM
Malign Spell Focus doesn't stack with Spell Focus(necromancy) so that would be a bad idea.

Since when? They're untyped bonuses from different sources. If 3.0 is a problem, it's in Complete Divine as Spell Focus (evil)

Also consider the standard wonderful feat chain:
Snowcasting, Cold Focus, Greater Cold Focus
+1 CL, +2 DC to your spells, and they're now Cold spells. Nothing says Chill of the Grave like Cold subtypes.

Spells I like:
Awaken Undead, Revive Undead, Animate Dread Warrior (UE). See if you can "research" these spells, cause they're awesome. :3

JoshuaZ
2009-05-03, 05:30 PM
Since when? They're untyped bonuses from different sources. If 3.0 is a problem, it's in Complete Divine as Spell Focus (evil)


I think in the update to Spell Focus(evil) they added text that it doesn't stack. I don't have Complete Divine with me but the Revised Necromancer's Handbook seems to think so also: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=599129