Maho-Tsukai
2010-07-30, 07:47 PM
Specializing in necromancy is usually a poor choice for a student of the arcane arts. Many a wizard has spent his days envying the power clerics have over the forces of death and undeath. While most wizards never take it upon themselves to dig deeper into the dark arts then their knowledge allows, some are drawn deeper into the world of the undead. These wizards go above and beyond even the specialist necromancer in their study of the forces of undeath, studying both arcane and divine writings and in the process gaining cleric-like powers over the undead. Utterly wicked, these wizards are more then specialists who label themselves necromancers. They are fully dedicated to the dark arts and reap the sinister rewards of it. They are true, dedicated necromancers...
A dedicated Necromancer is a Variant class for wizards. A dedicated necromancer has all the class features of a wizard except as noted.
Dedicated necromancers study both divine and arcane writings to gain cleric-like powers over the undead, thus, since so much of their time is spent studying both the arcane and divine, they have little time for much else. Thus, a dedicated necromancer loses all bonus feats he would gain from taking wizard levels. In addition, he no longer gains a familiar and can only scribe scrolls of necromancy spells or spells with the [evil] descriptor. Also, while a dedicated necromancer gains no benefits for specializing in a school, he is for all intent and purposes treated as a specialist necromancer for entrance in to Prestige classes which have being a specalist wizard as an entry requirement. Also, while he dose not gain the benefits of specializing, he still must chose two banned schools like a normal specialist wizard.
However, in return for the sacrifices he makes, a dedicated necromancer gains greater power over the forces of undeath. A Dedicated necromancer gains the ability to rebuke undead as a cleric of his character level. He can use this ability a number of times equal to 3 + his Cha modifier. In addition to this, the dedicated necromancer can chose and gain access to one of the following domains: Deathbound, Death, Undeath, Evil, Repose. The dedicated necromancer gains both the granted power of that domain and adds it's domain spells to his spellbook at the levels he would be able to cast them. However, he cannot prepare domain spells in normal spell slots. Instead, he gains domain spell slots for every spell level he can cast, and whenever he gains spell slots for spells of a new spell level he also gains one domain spell slot for that spell level. These domain spell slots can only be used for domain spells, and the dedicated necromancer must prepare a domain spell whenever he takes the time to prepare his spells.
A dedicated necromancer's greatest asset however is the expanded spell knowledge he gains of necromancy spells. In addition to learning spells from his own spell list, a dedicated necromancer can learn Necromancy spells and spells with the [evil] descriptor from the cleric spell list. These spells are considered arcane spells and are thus subject to arcane spell failure. These spells are also cast off the dedicated necromancer's primary casting stat, intelligence. In addition, if a necromancy spell or [evil] descriptor spell from your standard class spell list appears at an earlier spell level on the cleric list you may learn that spell at the level it appears on the cleric spell list. However, if you learn a spell this way, the material components for the spell are the ones from the cleric version of the spell rather then the wizard/sorcerer version. The same rules apply to spells he learns that would usually be exclusive to the cleric list.(So for example, if a dedicated necromancer decided to learn the spell Destruction, he would still need to use a holy symbol as a focus for the spell.)
A dedicated necromancer can learn these cleric spells when he gains new spells via leveling up or from divine magical writings. However, he cannot use divine scrolls that would usually be off limit to him for anything other then learning new spells.
Unlike most vairant classes, not every wizard has the twisted morality necessary to be truly dedicated to the dark art of necromancy. Thus, to take up this variant class a character must have an evil alignment.
Notes:
There are a few things I want to note about this homebrew. The first is that while I want constructive criticism, I am not looking for any critiques of the grammar, spelling, wording, syntax and layout of this thread. I am not looking to make a pretty post that sounds like something out of a wizard's published book. So while I know there is a lot to critique in those aforementioned departments, please keep them out of this thread. I know already that my grammar, spelling and layout are utterly horrid.
However, what I am looking for is criticism on the variant itself. So don't be afraid to be a bit blunt when it comes to the crunch, and I know full well it's most likely extremely flawed. This thread is not meant to be used as an entry into anything and is not the final version of this homebrew. My reason for posting it is to make it better and get advice on it, not tout it as a totally balanced finished product that's book-worthy.
I apologize for being so demanding, but this is one of my first homebrews and I really don't want anybody being a jerk about it. While I know it's most likely extremely flawed, I would rather not be told that in a mean way. Thank you.
A dedicated Necromancer is a Variant class for wizards. A dedicated necromancer has all the class features of a wizard except as noted.
Dedicated necromancers study both divine and arcane writings to gain cleric-like powers over the undead, thus, since so much of their time is spent studying both the arcane and divine, they have little time for much else. Thus, a dedicated necromancer loses all bonus feats he would gain from taking wizard levels. In addition, he no longer gains a familiar and can only scribe scrolls of necromancy spells or spells with the [evil] descriptor. Also, while a dedicated necromancer gains no benefits for specializing in a school, he is for all intent and purposes treated as a specialist necromancer for entrance in to Prestige classes which have being a specalist wizard as an entry requirement. Also, while he dose not gain the benefits of specializing, he still must chose two banned schools like a normal specialist wizard.
However, in return for the sacrifices he makes, a dedicated necromancer gains greater power over the forces of undeath. A Dedicated necromancer gains the ability to rebuke undead as a cleric of his character level. He can use this ability a number of times equal to 3 + his Cha modifier. In addition to this, the dedicated necromancer can chose and gain access to one of the following domains: Deathbound, Death, Undeath, Evil, Repose. The dedicated necromancer gains both the granted power of that domain and adds it's domain spells to his spellbook at the levels he would be able to cast them. However, he cannot prepare domain spells in normal spell slots. Instead, he gains domain spell slots for every spell level he can cast, and whenever he gains spell slots for spells of a new spell level he also gains one domain spell slot for that spell level. These domain spell slots can only be used for domain spells, and the dedicated necromancer must prepare a domain spell whenever he takes the time to prepare his spells.
A dedicated necromancer's greatest asset however is the expanded spell knowledge he gains of necromancy spells. In addition to learning spells from his own spell list, a dedicated necromancer can learn Necromancy spells and spells with the [evil] descriptor from the cleric spell list. These spells are considered arcane spells and are thus subject to arcane spell failure. These spells are also cast off the dedicated necromancer's primary casting stat, intelligence. In addition, if a necromancy spell or [evil] descriptor spell from your standard class spell list appears at an earlier spell level on the cleric list you may learn that spell at the level it appears on the cleric spell list. However, if you learn a spell this way, the material components for the spell are the ones from the cleric version of the spell rather then the wizard/sorcerer version. The same rules apply to spells he learns that would usually be exclusive to the cleric list.(So for example, if a dedicated necromancer decided to learn the spell Destruction, he would still need to use a holy symbol as a focus for the spell.)
A dedicated necromancer can learn these cleric spells when he gains new spells via leveling up or from divine magical writings. However, he cannot use divine scrolls that would usually be off limit to him for anything other then learning new spells.
Unlike most vairant classes, not every wizard has the twisted morality necessary to be truly dedicated to the dark art of necromancy. Thus, to take up this variant class a character must have an evil alignment.
Notes:
There are a few things I want to note about this homebrew. The first is that while I want constructive criticism, I am not looking for any critiques of the grammar, spelling, wording, syntax and layout of this thread. I am not looking to make a pretty post that sounds like something out of a wizard's published book. So while I know there is a lot to critique in those aforementioned departments, please keep them out of this thread. I know already that my grammar, spelling and layout are utterly horrid.
However, what I am looking for is criticism on the variant itself. So don't be afraid to be a bit blunt when it comes to the crunch, and I know full well it's most likely extremely flawed. This thread is not meant to be used as an entry into anything and is not the final version of this homebrew. My reason for posting it is to make it better and get advice on it, not tout it as a totally balanced finished product that's book-worthy.
I apologize for being so demanding, but this is one of my first homebrews and I really don't want anybody being a jerk about it. While I know it's most likely extremely flawed, I would rather not be told that in a mean way. Thank you.