Present for a Necromancer

[Oko and Qailee]

So I'm playing a cleric in a campaign and her first ever real friend in her life is a Necromancer. She is aware of this and recently also entered the first city of her life which as a lot of shops.

Anyway said Necromancer has basically changed a lot for her life, improving her own thoughts about herself (she has low self esteem and split personality disorder) and she thinks of him as a very nice person.

Anyway, she would like to get him a gift, whats kinda something creativeish that a Dread Necromancer can use that is within 1800gold cost?

[Oko and Qailee]

She also has very little about what he does. Only spell he has cast is doom.

He is a very religious priest of death

[Fable Wright]

A highly decorative religious symbol of his deity made of Onyx? Thoughtful trinket now, useful trinket later.

Lenses of Revelation is rather expensive for what it does, but it could be handy.

Arcanist's Gloves could be handy if the DN uses 1st level spells with effects dependent on caster level, like Ray of Enfeeblement. If you're low level, it would be a solid gift.

Phylactery of Faithfulness might be a nice gift, depending on how religious the man is.

A Reliquary Holy Symbol would fit with religion, and be useful, with turn undead uses.

[ArcturusV]

Well, Gifts shouldn't normally be "practical". I mean you don't get your Girlfriend a 2 gallon bottle of Pine-sol for a "Gift" because she's going to use it eventually to clean the house over the years. You get her something like Flowers which have very little practical use.

In this case I'd look for an Art Object. If it's a large city with a lot of shops there should be some artisans and you could pick up an Icon, a Tapestry, fancy rug, etc.

[A_S]

mixtape character limit

[Fable Wright]

So I'm playing a cleric in a campaign and her first ever real friend in her life is a Necromancer. She is aware of this and recently also entered the first city of her life which as a lot of shops.

Anyway said Necromancer has basically changed a lot for her life, improving her own thoughts about herself (she has low self esteem and split personality disorder) and she thinks of him as a very nice person.

Anyway, she would like to get him a gift, whats kinda something creativeish that a Dread Necromancer can use that is within 1800gold cost?


Well, Gifts shouldn't normally be "practical". I mean you don't get your Girlfriend a 2 gallon bottle of Pine-sol for a "Gift" because she's going to use it eventually to clean the house over the years. You get her something like Flowers which have very little practical use.

In this case I'd look for an Art Object. If it's a large city with a lot of shops there should be some artisans and you could pick up an Icon, a Tapestry, fancy rug, etc.
Relevant text bolded. If it is an art object, though, having it being made of Onyx is a must, as you can actually get use out of it unlike most other art objects.

Besides, those aren't extremely practical items. A practical item would be a +1 Cloak of Resistance, or a +1 Chain Shirt. Reliquary Holy Symbol? Phylactery of Faithfulness? Lenses of Revelation? They all do pretty unique effects and could be of use to the character, but it's not something that the character would buy on their own.

[Surfnerd]

@A_S LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!:smallbiggrin:

I second the standard gift. Art object or something similar.... maybe perfume, something strong to mask the stink of unlife.

[Phelix-Mu]

Since the character has little knowledge of the necromancer's true abilities, something inspired by their exact interaction would be most appropriate. Did you have a nice chat under a full moon? A nice reliquary or something set with a moonstone would be good.

Some of the chronocharms from MiC are kind of affordable, if I remember correctly. Fluff them to have some kind of appearance that inspired the character to buy it; in this way it can be valued both by the recipient and the recipient's player.

And good luck to the lucky couple. Romance is a beautiful thing, no more so than when it breaks out of the typical cliches. D&D can be great for this kind of thing. A female halfling druid of mine fell in love with the cursed copper dragon that was responsible for killing her. Worked out in the end. Ai no chikara, so to speak.

[ArcturusV]

My apologies DMofDarkness. When I was replying your post wasn't up yet, so I didn't see it. It's not in response to your post. It's was to the OP that they might consider a Gift instead of a Practical Item.

[Oko and Qailee]

Well, Gifts shouldn't normally be "practical". I mean you don't get your Girlfriend a 2 gallon bottle of Pine-sol for a "Gift" because she's going to use it eventually to clean the house over the years. You get her something like Flowers which have very little practical use.

In this case I'd look for an Art Object. If it's a large city with a lot of shops there should be some artisans and you could pick up an Icon, a Tapestry, fancy rug, etc.

I would like something "nicer" but practicality isn't out of the question. They're not a couple, they're friends who adventure together, in that case I think something a bit more practical than a piece of art wouldn't be completely out of the question.

I understand you don't always get friends practical gifts, but in reality some gifts are practical given the situation. Like I gave a friend a poster for his birthday, it's not practical in a D&D sense, but it's practical in making his room look nicer and increasing his mood overall. Since IRL we aren't really confronted with danger every day less practical gifts are more commonplace.

On the other hand I would feel the more of a necessity survival is, the more likely you would get survival as a gift. Not saying I'm not looking for something nice, I did refuse to buy him mithril chain.

Also I think an onyx holy symbol would look hella cool.

Where can I find what exactly that does and stuff? I'm searching google for "onyx holy symbol D&d" but no results. I also thought of the arcanists gloves, as I have seen him cast RoE.

[Slipperychicken]

Get him something with a death pun written on it. Like an illustration of a Zombie with an inscription like "I like you for your braaiiiins".


Get him a short book of undeath-related puns (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=257684).

A fancy black hooded outfit with gloves and shoes.

A spell component pouch or casting glove with a badass fake-latin inscription like Mortuus Quod Immortalis (Dead and immortal) or Infinitio in Denique (eternity in finality).

[Oko and Qailee]

Since the character has little knowledge of the necromancer's true abilities, something inspired by their exact interaction would be most appropriate. Did you have a nice chat under a full moon? A nice reliquary or something set with a moonstone would be good.

Some of the chronocharms from MiC are kind of affordable, if I remember correctly. Fluff them to have some kind of appearance that inspired the character to buy it; in this way it can be valued both by the recipient and the recipient's player.

And good luck to the lucky couple. Romance is a beautiful thing, no more so than when it breaks out of the typical cliches. D&D can be great for this kind of thing. A female halfling druid of mine fell in love with the cursed copper dragon that was responsible for killing her. Worked out in the end. Ai no chikara, so to speak.

Just for shortness, my clerics name is Qailee.

Well I feel like I should give more details.

Spells I have seen him cast: Ray of Enfeeblement and Doom

He had a personal conversation with Qailee (my cleric) where he told her that he was a thing called The Shield Anvil, a select individual chosen as a representative and herald of the house of death (which startled my character), he revealed this to tell me to not use positive energy to heal him (I nearly one shot him healing him once before I realized). Afterwards he told Qailee that he considers her the epitome of purity and good, this is the only nice thing said to Qailee in over 7 years. He is extremely polite and behaves like a priest. Additionally he was one of the few characters who tried to understand what was wrong with Qailee without being a jerk (our merchant just called her crazy, our rouge is trying to take advantage of her split personality, etc).

I don't know if a relationship will actually happen between them. Qailee still has emotional problems and fears of romantic thoughts, and more than anything is just happy to have any friend at all.

[Phelix-Mu]

An onyx holy symbol is probably just a holy symbol. There are two options I can think of for pricing.

Masterwork holy symbol? Is there such a thing? Basically, just add the cost of several pieces of onyx to the listed price for a holy symbol.

Alternatively, base it off the value of onyx alone, to represent more of a decorative holy symbol than a consecrated one (if that is a thing).

Complete Champion has a sidebar for Domain Holy Symbols that might be helpful; I believe it is in the chapter that has the items. A Holy Symbol for the Death Domain might be ideal, and you can just add on 100gp or so and say that a significant portion of it is made of onyx.

EDIT: "I don't know if a relationship will actually happen between them. Qailee still has emotional problems and fears of romantic thoughts, and more than anything is just happy to have any friend at all."

I am sorry if I jumped to conclusions about the relationship. Things could go in any direction, after all. But I think the old women in the audience would be using the knowing :smallwink: emoticon, and generally feel optimistic.

[Pokonic]

While it's probably above the money you can spend, a dead baby dragon could be a icebreaker.

Actualy, any preserved dead animal of sutible size would be a nice change of pace. Something pretty, like a songbird.

[Balmas]

Is it sad that the first thing that leaped into my mind when I read "present for a Necromancer" was, "Something dead?: Say, a dragon skeleton or something like that.

[Arkturas]

Is it sad that the first thing that leaped into my mind when I read "present for a Necromancer" was, "Something dead?: Say, a dragon skeleton or something like that.

Probably not as sad as reading through and thinking, 'lingerie'.

[Phelix-Mu]

Probably not as sad as reading through and thinking, 'lingerie'.

So, to speak to my mindset, I read it and thought "slaymate.":smallcool:

[Fable Wright]

My apologies DMofDarkness. When I was replying your post wasn't up yet, so I didn't see it. It's not in response to your post. It's was to the OP that they might consider a Gift instead of a Practical Item.
My bad, too... shouldn't have taken the post that way.


Also I think an onyx holy symbol would look hella cool.

Where can I find what exactly that does and stuff? I'm searching google for "onyx holy symbol D&d" but no results. I also thought of the arcanists gloves, as I have seen him cast RoE.
An onyx holy symbol is just another holy symbol made out of a different material; its material doesn't have an in-game effect outside of potential use as spell components. The pricing could be anything above 25gp (pricing for a silver holy symbol; it's a good price guideline), depending on how ornate it is; a 400gp symbol would be my recommendation, as it can raise 16HD of undead in a pinch; exactly the amount he can animate when he can first cast Animate Dead.

EDIT: Ninja'd about 5 times, there. I need to stop posting from mobile devices...

[Oko and Qailee]

EDIT: "I don't know if a relationship will actually happen between them. Qailee still has emotional problems and fears of romantic thoughts, and more than anything is just happy to have any friend at all."

I am sorry if I jumped to conclusions about the relationship. Things could go in any direction, after all. But I think the old women in the audience would be using the knowing :smallwink: emoticon, and generally feel optimistic.

Oh you're fine. No need to worry about any conclusions made, as it wouldn't be a hugely weird thing. Just that I don't want to get something being like "I like you."

I'm currently thinking of a lower cost holy symbol (either a plain one or maybe one with limited use (transfiguration?)), pay a little extra to make it look nice, and then add a gemstone.

[Oko and Qailee]

While it's probably above the money you can spend, a dead baby dragon could be a icebreaker.

Actualy, any preserved dead animal of sutible size would be a nice change of pace. Something pretty, like a songbird.

I'm gonna be honest, the undead thing would unsettle Qailee. Said necromancer hasn't summoned any undead yet, and Qailee is aware of his capability to do so, but she'll still probably freak out when she first sees it.

[Kirgoth]

A custom item say a circlet with a permanent "hide from undead" spell, L1 should be same as cost of hat of disguise. 1800 gp.