having a bit of trouble

[geonova]

i'm going to be in a first level two player campaign, and i want my build to be an undead necromancer/cleric with the death domain. is this possible and/or viable?

[eggynack]

You'd be a lot better off just picking either the cleric or the dread necromancer. You don't get all that much using both. If you're going the hordes of undead minions route, dread necro and cleric are the two best options, and they're definitely viable. You may want to avoid the death domain though, because it's a bit on the terrible side. Instead, pick up the deathbound domain from the Spell Compendium, which increases your cap on animated undead. It's about as good as it gets where necromancy domains are concerned. It's also largely made up of spells that aren't on the cleric list, which is a nice bonus.

[geonova]

where's the dreadnecromancer from?

[Norin]

If it's possible would be up to your DM to answer.

By the rules it's possible, and viable too.

A few quick thoughts:

Look up Necropolitan template in Libris Mortis if you want to be undead.

Then you can go for the Dread Necromancer from Heroes of Horror. A spontaneous casting arcane necromancer class with alot of nice features that works very well with being undead. It's also a very nice class for the "horde of undeads" type. It gets a higher cap on the undead he can have under his control, and also can use rebuke/control undeads like a evil cleric.

Or you could just go for the classic cleric and as you say use death domain. Make sure you find the right diety for this.

Have a look at some handbooks too:

Dread Necro handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214212)
Dread necro advanced learning (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=91d1pl6lhophqi7mq6hia852s6&topic=10037)
Cleric handbook (www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=91d1pl6lhophqi7mq6hia852s6&topic=1238)
K's Necromancer Handbook (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=91d1pl6lhophqi7mq6hia852s6&topic=2733)

What setting/world are you playing in?

[eggynack]

Huh. I accidentally read "undead necromancer" as "dread necromancer". Never mind then. Generally speaking, dread necromancers and clerics are better at minionmancy, while wizard necromancers are more debuff focused.

@ Norin: Why're ya advising the use of the death domain? It just gives you a bunch of spells you already have, and an ability that you don't need. It's a domain that's surprisingly bad for necromancy.

[Norin]

@ Norin: Why're ya advising the use of the death domain? It just gives you a bunch of spells you already have, and an ability that you don't need. It's a domain that's surprisingly bad for necromancy.

I'm not saying it's a good one, just that he can use it if he has the right diety.

I did not even look up the spell list or granted power for the domain to check if it was good or bad.

I looked it up now... and i'm quite underwhelmed. You get the cool Wail of the Banshee at lvl 17 though. But meh. :smallsigh:

[eggynack]

I'm not saying it's a good one, just that he can use it if he has the right diety.

I did not even look up the spell list or granted power for the domain to check if it was good or bad.

I looked it up now... and i'm quite underwhelmed. You get the cool Wail of the Banshee at lvl 17 though. But meh. :smallsigh:
Quite so. Fortunately, the deathbound and undeath domains are here to free us from our eternal torment. Deathbound has a domain power that's completely perfect for undead creation, as well as a spell list that has a one spell overlap with the cleric list. Undeath is mostly just good because it gets you free extra turning, which is some cool business on a DMM persist cleric. It's probably not the best thing in this particular case, but if you're just looking for domains with death in the name, you could do worse. They're also apparently both attached to the diety Afflux, so that's a bonus of some kind.