My character so far...any tips for a new player

[reapersoulEater]

so i recently began playing D&d 3.5 about a 2 months ago ,we have a sessions once a week.(also i.ve Never played a board game other than monopoly as a rpg)

for my character i decided to be a "necromancer' but my dm procceded to explain there was no necromancer class in dnd but a cleric who "rebuked"undead . anyways long story short after understanding and doing research i end up with this so far as my character

Cronus the soul eater LV5 hp 44 Death-bound & UN-death domains, neutral evil
Feats: Corpse-crofter,Nimble bones,spell-focus necromancy(future feats:graft undead flesh:eye of flame,enervating arm,greater spell focus necromancy
Strg-15
Dex-12
con-10
int-14
wis-18
cha-18
once i reach lv 11 i plan to acquire the death knight template

so is this an average good enough build? i worked hard on researching material for a week . any of you veteran dnd players on making my character better?

[TaiLiu]

There is a necromancer class: the Dread Necromancer, from the book Heroes of Horror.

[Flickerdart]

Necromancy can be very strong if played well, and looks like your feat selection is pretty solid for it. I would consider dropping Spell Focus: Necromancy if your aim is to raise an army of the dead, because those spells don't require anything to make a saving throw (and so your DC bonus doesn't get used).

Consider replacing your Spell Focus: Necromancy with the metamagic feat Fell Drain from Libris Mortis. It causes creatures that you damage with spells that have the feat applied to them to take 1 negative level. You won't want to use this feat in combat, but put it on a level 0 spell and shoot it at random commoners. If you hit, the negative level kills them instantly, and at night they will rise as a wight (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/wight.htm). Then you rebuke the wight and bam, free minion!

[Seharvepernfan]

A wizard who specializes in necromancy is called a necromancer.

Dread necromancer is probably what you're looking for, if you aim to play a "necromancer".

Since you're new, I'd suggest it.

[Namfuak]

A. Please tell us what books are available and if anything is banned. This is important for B.

B. There is a necromancer-in-a-can class literally called "Dread Necromancer" in Heroes of Horror, that is very undead, necromancer themed and is probably easier to get into for a newer player. That being said, clerics make very good necromancers as well.

C. It looks like you did some good research, as you have a couple of non-core feats that are quite good for necromancers. That being said, unless it's for a prerequisite, spell focus is generally underpowered, although necromancy in particular has a few good spells that actually have saves, so the boost may not be as unused as other schools (evocation comes to mind).

In general, I hate making a character with less than 14 constitution after racials - remember that a d8 hit dice is is only an average of 4.5 hit points a level, so adding a flat 2 per level is really helpful, not to mention the boost to your concentration checks and fort saves. Granted, this advice would not be good if you plan on becoming undead, which it looks like you plan on by taking death knight as a template (the online version I can find turns you into an undead).

[ArcturusV]

And note that since Wights create wights that are loyal to the wight, it can turn into a horde of decent respectability.

You might also want to look into Dark Speech, as Dark Speech has some functions for Necromancers. Teach some intelligent undead you create as Captains/Bodyguards the Dark Chant (Which jacks up turn resistance of every undead within 100 feet for free), along with general utility effects like boosts when creating magic items, corrupting things, fear effects, creating a Hivemind minion, etc.

The problem with the Wight thing, is that since you only control the original wights, if someone kills that one wight it can wreck your chain of command and create a mindless horde. But yeah.

[Flickerdart]

The problem with the Wight thing, is that since you only control the original wights, if someone kills that one wight it can wreck your chain of command and create a mindless horde. But yeah.
Wights are actually intelligent, which is in some ways a lot more terrifying. For this reason, you may not want to chain your wights.

[ArcturusV]

Ah yes. My mistake. Still, don't want to chain it. They're very easy to kill off if someone gets a mind into it.

Unless your DM starts letting you level up your Wights.

[icefractal]

Or at least don't have the whole chain of Wights out on the battlefield. Undead can be stored pretty easily, since they don't need air - a portable hole could easily fit 16 Wights, for instance. Now if you keep your CoC just one level deep, and bring out only 2-3 Wights at a time (plus the controlled one to give orders), it should be manageable.

Same advice as mind-controlled minions really - never bring out more at once than you could put down if necessary.

[magwaaf]

dread necro andcleric are really the only good way to do it. what youneed is a buddy to play a necro focused wizard to help create more bodies

[reapersoulEater]

well i took the spell focus, so i could get the greater spell focus for my dc with necromancy spells.

i also have a low con because when i acquired my death knight template ill become undead and wont have a con score.

and for content anything that was published material from 3.0 and 3.5 goes. no Home-brew though.

also i don't wanna make huge army's because my dm will have a hard time with it. so im just making really strong undead atm.

so far i.ve created this.
-chimera skeleton(op full attack:claw claw,bite,bite gore))
-2 minotaurs skeletons
-1 skeleton ogre

i also forgot to mention i plan to acquire a minions coffin that lets me store up to 18 undead medium size and just weight around 120 pounds for the purpose of not attracting attention when going to towns. . (i plan to make our half orc carry it in its back XD)