Arcane Disciple for Dread Necro?

[Chester]

What's the most useful domain?

Edit: I mean, as far as getting good spells vs. amount of repetition on Dread Necro spell list.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

The Evil domain gets you Desecrate, which is necessary for boosting the hp of undead minions you create. If you can pick up the feat Fell Energy Spell from Dragon Compendium, it gives +2 to any bonuses a spell gives to undead creatures. That makes the +1 hp/hd of Desecrate into +3 hp/hd, and having an evil altar present will double that to +6 hp/hd. That's like giving your undead minions 22 Con on top of their d12 HD. You also get a few spells that aren't redundant with the Dread Necro list from that, but remember that you can only cast one spell per day per spell level from whichever domain you pick.

[Blackhawk748]

The Sand Domain is pretty spiffy, quite a few nice spells

[Flickerdart]

If you can pick up the feat Fell Energy Spell from Dragon Compendium, it gives +2 to any bonuses a spell gives to undead creatures. That makes the +1 hp/hd of Desecrate into +3 hp/hd, and having an evil altar present will double that to +6 hp/hd.
No it won't. There's no way for the metamagic feat to intervene in the middle of a spell - Desecrate gives +2 to HP per HD, and then the feat adds another +2.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

No it won't. There's no way for the metamagic feat to intervene in the middle of a spell - Desecrate gives +2 to HP per HD, and then the feat adds another +2.

"Any numerical bonus granted by a spell modified with this feat increases by +2 for all undead creatures it affects."

"This spell imbues an area with negative energy. Each Charisma check made to turn undead within this area takes a -3 profane penalty, and every undead creature entering a desecrated area gains a +1 profane bonus on attack rolls, damage rolls, and saving throws. An undead creature created within or summoned into such an area gains +1 hit points per HD.

If the desecrated area contains an altar, shrine, or other permanent fixture dedicated to your deity or aligned higher power, the modifiers given above are doubled (-6 profane penalty on turning checks, +2 profane bonus and +2 hit points per HD for undead in the area)."

The bonus granted by Desecrate is +1, Fell Energy Spell increases that to +3. If there happens to be an evil altar present, that modifier is doubled and becomes +6. The numerical bonus granted by the spell is +1, so that's what Fell Energy Spell modifies.

[Flickerdart]

Again, you're putting the bonus from the feat into the middle of the spell.

You cast Desercrate. It goes "I say, there's undead over here, so I'll give them +1 HP. And what's this, an evil altar? I'll make that 2 HP." Then the feat sees "aha, there's a spell giving undead +2 HP, I'll kick in another +2."

[Jeff the Green]

The Evil domain gets you Desecrate, which is necessary for boosting the hp of undead minions you create. If you can pick up the feat Fell Energy Spell from Dragon Compendium, it gives +2 to any bonuses a spell gives to undead creatures. That makes the +1 hp/hd of Desecrate into +3 hp/hd, and having an evil altar present will double that to +6 hp/hd. That's like giving your undead minions 22 Con on top of their d12 HD. You also get a few spells that aren't redundant with the Dread Necro list from that, but remember that you can only cast one spell per day per spell level from whichever domain you pick.

It's also duplicated by a 4500 GP item, more than affordable by the time you're able to animate the undead.

Instead consider Deathbound. In addition to Awaken Undead a full spell level before the Sorcerer/Wizard list (and thus four levels before you could get it from Advanced Learning), you get some really cool debuffs and Revive Undead.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Again, you're putting the bonus from the feat into the middle of the spell.

You cast Desercrate. It goes "I say, there's undead over here, so I'll give them +1 HP. And what's this, an evil altar? I'll make that 2 HP." Then the feat sees "aha, there's a spell giving undead +2 HP, I'll kick in another +2."

The metamagic feat modifies the spell's +1, changing it to a +3, because that's the printed numerical bonus, which is what the metamagic feat modifies. There is no order of operations, you don't choose whether to empower a fireball before or after it deals damage, the spell itself is modified before it resolves. Your Fell Energy Desecrate's numerical bonus is +3 with regards to undead creatures it affects, and Desecrate has a mechanic which doubles the above numerical bonus in the presence of an evil altar.

[nolongerchaos]

Second forthe Deathbound Domain. It's got lots of new spells (I believe only Wail of the Banshee is a duplicate from the DN spell list) that thematically and mechanically suit DNs nicely. Also, regardless of Domain choice, see if you can get a Warlock or Artificer to craft you a runestaff with the best spells from your domain on it; this circumvents the 1 spell/lvl/day limitation, and depending on interpretation, may bring the casting stat from Wis back to Cha.

[RedMage125]

It's also duplicated by a 4500 GP item, more than affordable by the time you're able to animate the undead.

Instead consider Deathbound. In addition to Awaken Undead a full spell level before the Sorcerer/Wizard list (and thus four levels before you could get it from Advanced Learning), you get some really cool debuffs and Revive Undead.

oooh, like Avasculate, and Avascular Mass.

Ray spell, target is now at 1/2 current hp. Oh, and make a Fort save, but making that save won't lessen the damage. Fort save is just to be stunned.

I second Deathbound.

[OldTrees1]

Personally I am partial to Acane Disciple(Renewal) + Touch of Healing. But then I also use Eclectic Learning (PHB 2, p 67) to pick up additional spells.

[Jeff the Green]

oooh, like Avasculate, and Avascular Mass.

Ray spell, target is now at 1/2 current hp. Oh, and make a Fort save, but making that save won't lessen the damage. Fort save is just to be stunned.

I second Deathbound.

If you plan on using more than awaken and revive undead, you'll want to invest in Wisdom. Which isn't all that hard, since you can dump all your physical stats and don't have many skills to invest in. Even if you only plan on using those two, though, the feat is worth it.

[Chester]

Death bound seems the way to go, then. Thanks for the feedback!

[Seharvepernfan]

Plant is a good domain for this feat, as is trickery.

[Chester]

Revisiting this thread because I've made my decision: I'd like to use Arcane Disciple [Deathbound]. The group agreed that Deathbound should probably be added to the domain list for Hades. :)

Problem: I'm only 14 wisdom. Right now, this still yields me 4 new spells, but I've got to boost my wisdom somehow. Apart from adding a point when I hit level 12, is there a way to a) increase my wisdom (I'm guessing magic items), or b) as someone mentioned above, a way to apply the feat to my charisma bonus instead? Charisma is base 20 with a cloak +2.

[RedMage125]

Revisiting this thread because I've made my decision: I'd like to use Arcane Disciple [Deathbound]. The group agreed that Deathbound should probably be added to the domain list for Hades. :)

Problem: I'm only 14 wisdom. Right now, this still yields me 4 new spells, but I've got to boost my wisdom somehow. Apart from adding a point when I hit level 12, is there a way to a) increase my wisdom (I'm guessing magic items), or b) as someone mentioned above, a way to apply the feat to my charisma bonus instead? Charisma is base 20 with a cloak +2.

Wisdom boosting items aren't that hard to come by. And remember, you only need them to get higher-level spells (10+spell level). The one downside to Arcane Disciple is that your spell DCs for those spells are WIS based, too.

I strongly advise Spell Focus (Necromancy) for a Dread Necro. Some people think the feat is a waste, but almost all your spells (and all on the Deathbound list) are Necromancy. And a good number of your offensive spells allow for a save.

As an aside, for purely flavor reasons, if we're talking about the Hades of proper Greek Mythology, I would disagree that he would have the Deathbound domain. I also violently disagree with the alignment he was given in Deities and Demigods.

[nolongerchaos]

Unfortunately after re-reading up on runestaffs (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ps/20070216a) it looks like casting from it would still be keyed off of your Wisdom as they "act in all ways as if the wielder had cast them normally" unless you've got an exceptionally lenient DM. That said, you could still use a runestaff to cast the spells via UMD, as the spells are on your list, you need only emulate the requisite Wis score, so the highest check you'd need is a 23 UMD (Wail is on your DN list so you needn't bother)