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Katana_Geldar
2010-11-21, 02:06 AM
Anyone have any tips? I thought sorcerer would be a natural fit but it's Wizards who have Animate dead.

Here's what I've done so far, she's more a summoner than anything.

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Ilekta, level 11
Eladrin, Wizard, Bonded Summoner
Build: Summoner Wizard
Arcane Implement Mastery: Tome of Binding
Background: Arcane Refugee (+2 to Arcana)

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 12, Con 18, Dex 13, Int 22, Wis 12, Cha 9.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 16, Dex 10, Int 17, Wis 11, Cha 8.


AC: 24 Fort: 19 Reflex: 21 Will: 20
HP: 68 Surges: 10 Surge Value: 17

TRAINED SKILLS
Intimidate +11, Arcana +20, Dungeoneering +11, Insight +11, Religion +16

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +6, Bluff +4, Diplomacy +4, Endurance +9, Heal +6, History +13, Nature +6, Perception +7, Stealth +6, Streetwise +4, Thievery +6, Athletics +6

FEATS
Wizard: Ritual Caster
Level 1: Arcane Familiar
Level 2: Careful Summoner
Level 4: Battle Caster Defense
Level 6: Alertness
Level 8: Twist the Arcane Fabric
Level 10: Superior Implement Training (Forbidden tome)
Level 11: Improved Tome of Binding

POWERS
Summoner's Tome +2: Summon Arrowhawk
Summoner's Tome +2: Summon Hell Hound
Wizard at-will 1: Winged Horde
Wizard at-will 1: Nightmare Eruption
Wizard encounter 1: Charm of Misplaced Wrath
Wizard daily 1: Summon Fire Warrior
Wizard daily 1 Spellbook: Summon Dust Devil
Wizard utility 2: Summon Shadow Serpent
Wizard utility 2 Spellbook: Daunting Presence
Wizard encounter 3: Shock Beetle Swarm
Wizard daily 5: Summon Abyssal Maw
Wizard daily 5 Spellbook: Grasp of the Grave
Wizard utility 6: Spectral Hound
Wizard utility 6 Spellbook: Summon Iron Cohort
Wizard encounter 7: Tomebound Ooze
Wizard daily 9: Animate Dead
Wizard daily 9 Spellbook: Summon Succubus
Wizard utility 10: Summon Hammerfist Crusher
Wizard utility 10 Spellbook: Mirror Image

ITEMS
Summoner's Forbidden tome +2, Deathburst Githweave Armor +3, Antipathy Gloves (heroic tier), Adventurer's Kit, Residuum (Any) (500), Clay of Creation (heroic tier) (3), Talent Shard (level 3), Life Shroud (heroic tier) (2), Potion of Healing (heroic tier) (2)
RITUALS
Brew Potion, Gentle Repose, Unseen Servant, Corpse Light, Preservation, Spirit Fetch, Undead Ward, Delay Affliction, Dark Light, Skull Watch, Magic Circle, Corpselike Visage, Cure Disease, Deathly Shroud, Hallucinatory Item, Memory of a Thousand Deaths, Speak with Dead, Undead Servitor, Raise Dead, Shadow Passage, Gravesight, Last Sight Vision, Make Whole, Purify Water, Tenser's Floating Disk
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======

Shadow_Elf
2010-11-21, 02:24 AM
I think its just a simple matter of reflavouring.

Summon Arrowhawk becomes Summon Dreadraven
Summon Fire Warrior becomes Summon Blazing Skeleton
Summon Dust Devil becomes Summon Lesser Wraith

Etc. etc. If your DM is nice enough to let you swap damage types to cold, necrotic and poison and such, all the better. Honestly, a lot of character concepts people have trouble realizing in 4e can be achieved through simple reflavouring, IMHO.

tcrudisi
2010-11-21, 03:05 AM
Etc. etc. If your DM is nice enough to let you swap damage types to cold, necrotic and poison and such, all the better.

There are 2 problems with this: self-nerfing and overpowering. Necrotic and poison are both types that are very commonly resisted. Monsters are often immune to poison, even. As for cold? It's the exact opposite. There's so much support for cold (think frostcheese) that I would not let a player "reflavor" a power to use it most of the time. (If they only ended up with one or two cold powers, I'd probably allow it). Anyway - that's just my 2cp.

As for the OP: did you consider other classes besides Wizard and Sorc? Yes, the Sorc doesn't have much in the way of summons, but I know Druids and Shamans do. Heck, Druids have some really good summons that I can think of off the top of my head. And an excellent at-will for reflavoring into undead: Fire Hawk. Heh, I like the idea of a flaming skeleton of some kind (although I'm picturing that comic book character that used to ride the motorcycles) stalking an enemy, waiting for them to do something to provoke an opportunity attack.

/edit - A couple more things: I know that Bonded Summoner makes a lot of sense as a paragon path... but it is terrible. Ouch. There has to be better options. Also, if you play a Druid, instead of wild shaping into a normal animal, for flavor purposes, perhaps your DM will allow you to wild shape into an undead of some sort. Perhaps a zombie animal. hehehe.

Man, I'm almost tempting myself to create the "undead necromancer druid."

WitchSlayer
2010-11-21, 03:45 AM
Well, Dread Necro is coming out innnn... what, 2011?

Katana_Geldar
2010-11-21, 03:50 AM
Not sure about Druid, but I still want to stay in the Controller role.

tcrudisi
2010-11-21, 03:53 AM
Also, another benefit for the Druid route:

Primal Summoner paragon path. It's really good.

I'm a big fan of the Druid summons since they have instinctive actions, so you don't have to control them as your action. Instead, they'll act on their own.

However, if you aren't interested in the Druid (which is a controller), I can easily start offering help with that Wizard build. :smallsmile:

Katana_Geldar
2010-11-21, 04:40 AM
I do prefer wizard really overall than Druid, just have go the inkling to play one.

cdrcjsn
2010-11-21, 05:24 AM
If you want to get a bit of both, go hybrid.

An Int/Wis Druid/Wizard might actually work pretty well.

Kurald Galain
2010-11-21, 11:20 AM
I recommend against using hybrids, as usual. Unless for some reason you want your necromancer to be able to shapeshift into animal form, I don't see how the druid adds anything to the equation; wizard has two good summon-based paragon paths as well, and comes with a good implement feature.

The best wizard summons are found in a half-year-old article in Dragon; they're the ones with instinctive actions, and several of those are already undead/demonic in nature (e.g. the level-1 imp). There are also a few fitting encounter spells, such as Grasping Shadows; and spells like Sleep are easy to refluff as necromantic. The spell Animate Dead itself, however, is rather lacklustre.