Homebrew Necromancer-Healer PrC

[l)arkzer0]

One of my players wanted to play an arcane spell caster that could channel undeath to heal people. Something not quite ethical, but still somewhat good. Anyway, we tossed this together really quick and wanted a quick poll on how it looked and possible other things to add.

Deathchanneler
"I don't really care about the name of it" -Player

Entry Requirements
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 8 ranks, Spellcraft 8 ranks
Feat: Corpsecrafter
Spellcasting: Must be able to cast 3rd-level spells
Special: Must be able to animate dead or otherwise gain control over the undead such as the command undead spell.

{TABLE]LvL |BAB |Fort |Refx |Will |Special |Spellcasting
1 |+0 |+0 |+0 |+2 |Channel Undeath |+1 level of spellcasting ability
2 |+1 |+0 |+0 |+3 | |+1 level of spellcasting ability
3 |+1 |+1 |+1 |+3 | |+1 level of spellcasting ability
4 |+2 |+1 |+1 |+4 | |+1 level of spellcasting ability
5 |+2 |+1 |+1 |+4 | |+1 level of spellcasting ability
6 |+3 |+2 |+2 |+5 | |+1 level of spellcasting ability
7 |+3 |+2 |+2 |+5 | |+1 level of spellcasting ability
8 |+4 |+2 |+2 |+6 | |+1 level of spellcasting ability
9 |+4 |+3 |+3 |+6 | |+1 level of spellcasting ability
10 |+5 |+3 |+3 |+7 |Channel the Unwilling |+1 level of spellcasting ability
[/TABLE]

Spellcasting: When a new Deathchanneler level is gained, you gain new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in an arcane spellcasting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If you had more than one arcane spellcasting class before becoming a Deathchanneler, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known.

Channel Undeath (Su): Beginning at 1st level, you can channel stored spell energy into healing spells that you have not (or cannot) prepare ahead of time. The Deathchanneler can "lose" any prepared spell in order to cast any Conjuration (Healing) [Positive] spell from the Cleric spell list of the same spell level or lower, up to your Deathchanneler level.
In order to use this ability the Deathchanneler must be within 5ft of at least one willing undead creature to use this ability. As part of casting the spell, the Deathchanneler selects any number of willing undead within 5ft to be effected by Channel Undeath. The total healing done by a spell cast through this ability cannot exceed the total hit points of the willing undead within range. As the healing is done, the undead chosen take damage equal to the total healing done by the spell cast, divided between them as desired by the Deathchanneler.
Undead controlled by the Deathchanneler are always willing. Other characters can command undead they control to become willing for the purposes of this ability.
At every odd level, the range of which willing undead can be affected by this ability increases by 5ft, up to a maximum of 25ft at the 9th level.

Channel the Unwilling: At the 10th level your ability to channel undeath reaches it's peak. Your Channel Undeath ability can now target unwilling undead in addition to it's normal targets. Unwilling undead can make a will save to be excluded from Channel Undeath, the DC is equal to the DC of the spell being cast (typically 10 + Spell Level + Primary Casting Stat).
If a Deathchanneler only selects unwilling undead and none of which fail their save, the spell automatically fails and the slot is lost.



Anyway, essential idea is to get around the 'no healing' arcane casting, give flavor, and so he can: Create undead horde, horde fights with players, burn through horde to heal players, replenish horde with fresh corpses created.

Thoughts, comments, advice, and/or horrifying things I may have missed?

EDIT: Spell lists: At least the spells from books used in the campaign.

Conjuration (Healing) [Positive] Spell List:
(The ones granted by Channel Undeath)

{TABLE]Level |Spell |Source
0 |Cure Minor Wounds |SRD
1 |Cure Light Wounds |SRD
2 |Cure Moderate Wounds |SRD
3 |Cure Serious Wounds |SRD
4 |Cure Critical Wounds |SRD
5 |Cure Light Wounds, Mass |SRD
6 |Cure Moderate Wounds, Mass |SRD
6 |Heal |SRD
7 |Cure Serious Wounds, Mass |SRD
8 |Cure Critical Wounds, Mass |SRD
9 |Heal, Mass |SRD[/TABLE]

Source: IMarvinTPA's Dungeons and Dragons Database (http://www.imarvintpa.com/dndlive/index.php)

Conjuration (Healing) Spell List:

{TABLE]Level |Spell |Source
0 |Cure Minor Wounds |SRD
1 |Cure Light Wounds |SRD
1 |Delay Disease |SpC
1 |Faith Healing |SpC
1 |Vigor, Lesser |SpC
2 |Close Wounds |SpC
2 |Conduit of Life |SpC
2 |Delay Poison |SRD
2 |Hydrate |Sand
2 |Cure Moderate Wounds |SRD
2 |Remove Paralysis |SRD
2 |Restoration, Lesser |SRD
2 |Stabilize |SpC
3 |Cure Serious Wounds |SRD
3 |Remove Blindness/Deafness |SRD
3 |Remove Disease |SRD
3 |Insignia of Healing |RoD
3 |Vigor |SpC
3 |Vigor, Mass Lesser |SpC
4 |Cure Critical Wounds |SRD
4 |Healthful Rest |SpC
4 |Neutralize Poison |SRD
4 |Restoration |SRD
4 |Revenance |CD
5 |Cure Light Wounds, Mass |SRD
5 |Darts of Life |CC
5 |Raise Dead |SRD
5 |Vigor, Greater |SpC
6 |Cure Moderate Wounds, Mass |SRD
6 |Heal |SRD
6 |Vigorous Circle | SpC
7 |Cure Serious Wounds, Mass |SRD
7 |Regenerate |SRD
7 |Resurrection |SRD
7 |Restoration, Greater |SRD
8 |Cure Critical Wounds, Mass |SRD
8 |Restoration, Mass |LM
9 |Heal, Mass |SRD
9 |True Resurrection |SRD[/TABLE]

Source: IMarvinTPA's Dungeons and Dragons Database (http://www.imarvintpa.com/dndlive/index.php)

[Kane0]

Seems a fair enough premise.

Requirements seem good.
You havnt got skills listed yet. No biggy, just a nitpick
You may want to give up one of those +1 spellcasting at say level one to stop dipping, but maybe its just me trying to curb the power being normal caster + Necrohealing

Channel undeath istelf seems alright, is limited by range, HP and they must be willing, and the spell conversion seems fair.

The biggest problem i see is that youve made the class 9 levels. You could put some neat little capstone and make it ten or you could condense it down and make it 5, but please don't leave it at 9.

[Madara]

It works, not powerful, but he's still a full caster so no big deal. Honestly, healing should never really be the character concept, just use wands and such.

In the end, its not broken or anything so its a good PrC. For a PrC though, he's not really gaining any abilities. I would make the channel undeath an ability you gain at one level, and it increases on its own as with level. The increases should not be thought of as new class features.

Things to think about adding:

Ability to grant certain undead immunities.
Ability to boost Str or Dex scores by draining from the undead.
Make sure to point out that controlled/commanded undead are always willing.
If the goal is create undead horde(which a wizard isn't that great at), grant some boosts to the Caster level when using a spell that creates undead or something, and maybe throw in a free corpsecrafter feat.

Remember, a wand of cure light would be cheaper. With Undead costing 50gp/HD, and having average 6hp/HD. Cure light heals 1d8+1(min caster level)(ave=5) and has 50 charges.

Wand:750gp= 5x50=250hp
Undead Channel: 750gp(15HD)= 6x15(if you want to destroy the undead)=90hp

So yeah, the undead channel is seriously weak. Throw him a bone.

[Grimsage Matt]

there's a really easy way to get arcane healing spell's if your not a bard. Just buy a scroll of a creature that can cast claric spells as arcane :) Also, why not move the cure line back to where it used to be? Necromancy:)

[erikun]

I've seen a couple of Necromancy spells that hand out temporary HP (False Life, Enervation vs undead), so that might be something you could implement to avoid the class becoming "too powerful".

I do see what you are doing, but realize that you are giving the class access to spells like Raise Dead and Regenerate along with spells like Heal and possibly Lessor Vigor. That might not be your intention.


The biggest problem i see is that youve made the class 9 levels. You could put some neat little capstone and make it ten or you could condense it down and make it 5, but please don't leave it at 9.
The point, I assume, is that there aren't any 10th level cleric spells to convert. :smalltongue:

I'm not quite sure why a 9-level prestige class would be such a major problem. It's not like taking an extra level in wizard or dipping somewhere else is such a problem.

[Kane0]

I'm not quite sure why a 9-level prestige class would be such a major problem. It's not like taking an extra level in wizard or dipping somewhere else is such a problem.

Oh, by no means is it a problem, its just against convention. Plus tenth and twentieth levels are the customary locations for nice capstones, which would serve well in this prestige class.

As above, a wand of cure is pretty awesome so you'd be using them out of combat, so you might want to focus on healing in combat. Also making healing spells necromancy would be a good idea, so it will feel a lot more natural for your specialist necromancer.

[Idhan]

What about conjuration (healing) spells that don't heal hit points? For things that remove conditions like diseases or poisons, I'm thinking it would be fine to have the undead be unaffected. For things that remove ability damage, like restoration, removing ability damage, would ability damage be inflicted on the undead (leaving aside that they're ordinarily immune)? What about raise dead: destroy the undead entirely? Regenerate: regenerating an arm removes an arm from the undead?

Perhaps the simplest solution would just be to keep it to hit point damage, and let other parts of healing just leave you down a spell slot as normal.

(Keeping an undead mouse skeleton in a special coat pocket would be a decent trick for a deathchanneler who anticipates using remove disease/neutralize poison/etc a lot.)

10th level capstone ability idea: forced channeling. You can now use unwilling undead as a source (perhaps they get a will save at the spell's DC for half or somesuch?). Now your healing spells simultaneously kill undead foes and heal your allies! Or, if you wanted to be nasty about it, you could cast heal on an undead creature, and simultaneously make that undead creature your source of healing HP -- effectively doubling your damage.

[l)arkzer0]

Seems a fair enough premise.

Requirements seem good.
You havnt got skills listed yet. No biggy, just a nitpick
You may want to give up one of those +1 spellcasting at say level one to stop dipping, but maybe its just me trying to curb the power being normal caster + Necrohealing

Channel undeath istelf seems alright, is limited by range, HP and they must be willing, and the spell conversion seems fair.

The biggest problem i see is that youve made the class 9 levels. You could put some neat little capstone and make it ten or you could condense it down and make it 5, but please don't leave it at 9.

Skills will probably just end up matching the Wizard list, for simplicity's sake. Unless I think of something that one should have while the other shouldn't. I also noticed I hadn't picked out a hit die =\.

I had thought about it being 8/9 spellcasting, however I didn't simply because I somewhat consider the power loss for being in this particular class and gaining healing ability instead of another class to almost be worth it.

I wasn't too worried with one level dips, since the player it's for is likely to take it to the end just for the roleplaying aspect. The player doesn't play to win or optimize, they simply enjoy a good storyline with an interesting character.

I considered adding a tenth level for a capstone, but I hadn't really thought of anything to put there at the time.


It works, not powerful, but he's still a full caster so no big deal. Honestly, healing should never really be the character concept, just use wands and such.

In the end, its not broken or anything so its a good PrC. For a PrC though, he's not really gaining any abilities. I would make the channel undeath an ability you gain at one level, and it increases on its own as with level. The increases should not be thought of as new class features.

Things to think about adding:

Ability to grant certain undead immunities.
Ability to boost Str or Dex scores by draining from the undead.
Make sure to point out that controlled/commanded undead are always willing.
If the goal is create undead horde(which a wizard isn't that great at), grant some boosts to the Caster level when using a spell that creates undead or something, and maybe throw in a free corpsecrafter feat.

Remember, a wand of cure light would be cheaper. With Undead costing 50gp/HD, and having average 6hp/HD. Cure light heals 1d8+1(min caster level)(ave=5) and has 50 charges.

Wand:750gp= 5x50=250hp
Undead Channel: 750gp(15HD)= 6x15(if you want to destroy the undead)=90hp

So yeah, the undead channel is seriously weak. Throw him a bone.

The primary ability of the class is improved in two ways by levels:
a) Increase in level of spells you can spontaneously cast (Wizard 5/Deathchanneler 3 can't spontaneously cast Cure Critical wounds)
b) Increase in the area where undead you can channel from can be, allowing you to be more flexible in positioning, channel from more undead, etc.

I still consider it pretty weak, and I like the idea of taking physical ability scores and transferring them. I'm also thinking of allowing a more proactive approach: grant DR 5,10,15,20/- for... a minuite per level(?), x times per day, chosen undead takes damage instead. Undead and target can't go further than 30ft from each other or it ends the effect. Would be particularly useful against effects the undead are immune (or benefit from, such as negative energy attacks), but still decent against other effects.

Also considering creating undead as if you had desecrated the area.


I've seen a couple of Necromancy spells that hand out temporary HP (False Life, Enervation vs undead), so that might be something you could implement to avoid the class becoming "too powerful".

I do see what you are doing, but realize that you are giving the class access to spells like Raise Dead and Regenerate along with spells like Heal and possibly Lessor Vigor. That might not be your intention.

The point, I assume, is that there aren't any 10th level cleric spells to convert.

I'm not quite sure why a 9-level prestige class would be such a major problem. It's not like taking an extra level in wizard or dipping somewhere else is such a problem.
I had thought of that, which is why I designated the spells available for spontaneously casting as Conjuration (Healing) [Positive], instead of just Conjuration (Healing). The list is remarkably short and I've added it to the main post as well as at the end of this one.

And yeah, it's 9 levels long because there are only 9 levels of spells. I suppose if I tossed in a 10th level there'd be nothing stopping an epic level caster from creating their own 10th level spells, but other than that there'd have to be a capstone.

What about conjuration (healing) spells that don't heal hit points? For things that remove conditions like diseases or poisons, I'm thinking it would be fine to have the undead be unaffected. For things that remove ability damage, like restoration, removing ability damage, would ability damage be inflicted on the undead (leaving aside that they're ordinarily immune)? What about raise dead: destroy the undead entirely? Regenerate: regenerating an arm removes an arm from the undead?

Perhaps the simplest solution would just be to keep it to hit point damage, and let other parts of healing just leave you down a spell slot as normal.

(Keeping an undead mouse skeleton in a special coat pocket would be a decent trick for a deathchanneler who anticipates using remove disease/neutralize poison/etc a lot.)

10th level capstone ability idea: forced channeling. You can now use unwilling undead as a source (perhaps they get a will save at the spell's DC for half or somesuch?). Now your healing spells simultaneously kill undead foes and heal your allies! Or, if you wanted to be nasty about it, you could cast heal on an undead creature, and simultaneously make that undead creature your source of healing HP -- effectively doubling your damage.
I actually... really like that capstone idea.

Back to the other healing spells though, as I mentioned earlier, Conjuration (Healing) [Positive] is a remarkably short list. It only really includes the cure and heal lines.

I could potentially give the ability to cast all Conjuration (Healing) spells further down the line as a Sacrifice X HD of Undead to spontaneously cast spells (extra HD are wasted).


Summary:
Add 10th level with capstone: Channel the Unwilling.
Discuss with player about other abilities he'd like to potentially see such as auto-desecrate, transfer ability scores, preemptive 'healing'.

Conjuration (Healing) [Positive] Spell List: (The ones granted by Channel Undeath)

{TABLE]Level |Spell |Source
0 |Cure Minor Wounds |SRD
1 |Cure Light Wounds |SRD
2 |Cure Moderate Wounds |SRD
3 |Cure Serious Wounds |SRD
4 |Cure Critical Wounds |SRD
5 |Cure Light Wounds, Mass |SRD
6 |Cure Moderate Wounds, Mass |SRD
6 |Heal |SRD
7 |Cure Serious Wounds, Mass |SRD
8 |Cure Critical Wounds, Mass |SRD
9 |Heal, Mass |SRD[/TABLE]

Source: IMarvinTPA's Dungeons and Dragons Database (http://www.imarvintpa.com/dndlive/index.php)

Conjuration (Healing) Spell List:

{TABLE]Level |Spell |Source
0 |Cure Minor Wounds |SRD
1 |Cure Light Wounds |SRD
1 |Delay Disease |SpC
1 |Faith Healing |SpC
1 |Vigor, Lesser |SpC
2 |Close Wounds |SpC
2 |Conduit of Life |SpC
2 |Delay Poison |SRD
2 |Hydrate |Sand
2 |Cure Moderate Wounds |SRD
2 |Remove Paralysis |SRD
2 |Restoration, Lesser |SRD
2 |Stabilize |SpC
3 |Cure Serious Wounds |SRD
3 |Remove Blindness/Deafness |SRD
3 |Remove Disease |SRD
3 |Insignia of Healing |RoD
3 |Vigor |SpC
3 |Vigor, Mass Lesser |SpC
4 |Cure Critical Wounds |SRD
4 |Healthful Rest |SpC
4 |Neutralize Poison |SRD
4 |Restoration |SRD
4 |Revenance |CD
5 |Cure Light Wounds, Mass |SRD
5 |Darts of Life |CC
5 |Raise Dead |SRD
5 |Vigor, Greater |SpC
6 |Cure Moderate Wounds, Mass |SRD
6 |Heal |SRD
6 |Vigorous Circle | SpC
7 |Cure Serious Wounds, Mass |SRD
7 |Regenerate |SRD
7 |Resurrection |SRD
7 |Restoration, Greater |SRD
8 |Cure Critical Wounds, Mass |SRD
8 |Restoration, Mass |LM
9 |Heal, Mass |SRD
9 |True Resurrection |SRD[/TABLE]

Source: IMarvinTPA's Dungeons and Dragons Database (http://www.imarvintpa.com/dndlive/index.php)

[erikun]

Summary:
Add 10th level with capstone: Channel the Unwilling.
Discuss with player about other abilities he'd like to potentially see such as auto-desecrate, transfer ability scores, preemptive 'healing'.
I'd suggest a will save to avoid the effect for unwilling targets. It would be a bit too easy to syphon 600 HP for casting a single spell out otherwise.

[l)arkzer0]

Yeah, I tossed a Will save in there for that (same as the DC of the spell cast). I'm also thinking of putting a times per day and/or HP limit per use. At higher levels it would be possible to use Heal, Mass to obliterate undead and heal the party (900 damage for a 6 person party, include a few enemy undead in the targets for laughs). Seems more out of scale, then again at this level they could use the action to Time Stop or Gate.