Looking for a Necro-Ruby-KV BBEG (?)

[Palanan]

For one of the story arcs in my campaign, I need a BBEG who's handy with both divine and arcane magic in a necro-themed way. He's a half-shadow-dragon with a knack for creating unliving nastiness in new and awful forms.

I have the character concept, but I've never worked up a necro-based build before, and I'm not really sure where to begin. A beguiler/cleric feels like a good starting point, although I'm not glued to the idea.

I'd like him to be about 15th level, capable of giving real headaches to an alliance of small kingdoms while crushing unwary adventurers with his free hand. Just about all WotC books are open, apart from XPH and Incarnum, and I'm also open to material from Dragon magazine. Where do I start?



EDIT: After having looked through another thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=241071) on necro-gish builds, I'm now tempted by some combination of duskblade, cleric, crusader and RKV. Is something like this even feasible?
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[Water_Bear]

Dread Necromancer [Heroes of Horror] is technically an Arcane caster, but has most of the best Cleric and Wizard Necromancy spells and can Rebuke / Command Undead as a Cleric of their level. They also have abilities which allow them to control many more Undead at once than a Cleric or Wizard of their level, and fun thematic powers.

They should also either be a Necropolitan or have the feat Tomb Tainted Soul, so that they can heal using their Negative Energy Burst. Other than that, read any Dread Necromancer handbook for optimization tips.

One final note; a Necromancer is judged primarily by their minions. Don't just stick to the standard SRD Undead, go nuts with creative choices. Even if it's just slapping Zombie or Corpse Creature Templates onto unusual monsters, the minions they create should be unusual and fun to fight.

[Palanan]

Hmm. Thanks for the suggestion, but somehow the Dread N. doesn't quite have the feel I'm looking for. If I'm reading it right, it has a very limited spell selection.

I'm also interested in a build that has a little more personal fighting capacity. Minions are useful, but sometimes crushing adventurers takes that special personal touch. Maybe a duskblade/cleric?

[the clumsy bard]

Bone Knight from Eberron: Five Nations book.

True Necromancer from Libris Mortis... not great, but its a mystic theurge with necromancer flavor.

[Telonius]

True Necromancer from Libris Mortis is an option. It carries the usual Theurge problems (typically casting on both sides at 15 by level 20). This will be especially acute since you're giving him a race with +3LA; I would not recommend this if someone were building a normal PC. But since he's a BBEG you can give him as many levels as he needs to do what you want.

Anyway, some of the nastier necromancy spells are usable as 1/day abilities where Caster Level = Character Level. There's only one feat required, so there's plenty of room for things like Divine Metamagic.

[Urpriest]

True Necromancer from Libris Mortis is an option. It carries the usual Theurge problems (typically casting on both sides at 15 by level 20). This will be especially acute since you're giving him a race with +3LA; I would not recommend this if someone were building a normal PC. But since he's a BBEG you can give him as many levels as he needs to do what you want.

Anyway, some of the nastier necromancy spells are usable as 1/day abilities where Caster Level = Character Level. There's only one feat required, so there's plenty of room for things like Divine Metamagic.

Honestly, True Necromancer is debatably worse than just straight Mystic Theurge. As a Mystic Theurge you can go 3/3/10 and only lose three levels from each caster progression, while a True Necromancer will lose several more. Since the character is only 15th level this will matter.

I think if you want a character with a facility for arcane and divine magic, a flair for necromancy, and a tendency towards personal combat, you would be better off with a Cleric with the Spell domain. Anyspell lets you pop off the occasional arcane spell, and Clerics are beasts at melee and necromancy.

[Palanan]

Bone Knight looks interesting and flavorful, but it seems to bend over backwards to accommodate paladins. It's also strangely paced, very meh for most of its progression and suddenly Immunity to Darn Near Everything at 8th level.

I'm still tempted by a dash of duskblade, because channeling touch spells through a reach weapon sounds useful. In practical terms that would mean skipping the theurge, though, because Duskblade 5 seems like too much of an investment.

I like the idea of going mainly cleric, and as Water_Bear mentioned, controlling minions will be a large part of what he does. But he won't just be marching out random skeletons or whatnot; he creates custom organisms for specific purposes, and they wouldn't necessarily be magically animated.

Is there something that allows for alchemical animation? I'm thinking cold chemical vats, for growing sinew and bone.



EDIT: After having looked through another thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=241071) on necro-gish builds, I'm now tempted by some combination of duskblade, cleric, crusader and RKV. Is something like this even feasible?
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