I need a cover story.

[Chester]

Hello!

My Dread Necromancer needs onyx. The problem is that people ask too many questions. I need a good cover story to explain why I need all of this onyx that alleviates suspicion.

Any suggestions?

[heavyfuel]

"Magical studies" is a perfectly reasonable answer in the world of D&D where magic is aplenty. If they doubt your spellcasting capabilities, just perform a small, harmless trick for them (I'm not familiar with DN's spell list, but there should be something there)

[Shieldbunny]

Cover story? Just kill them, take their onyx, then add them to your undead army. :)

Failing that, Craft (jeweler)?

[Hamste]

Hello!

My Dread Necromancer needs onyx. The problem is that people ask too many questions. I need a good cover story to explain why I need all of this onyx that alleviates suspicion.

Any suggestions?

You really like onyx jewelry? Also you can buy many other jewels and minerals then claim you are a jeweler. When you are far enough away you sell all the jewels you don't need at the town at cost because they are trade goods. This covers up your buying of onyx by just making it one of many jewels you got. You can also buy it off the black market or through secret means so that people don't know.

[Crimson Wolf]

Say it is for Alchemy (if you have craft alchemy skill). And that you go through the onyx like mad using it as reagents and such for certain potions.

[...]

Hello!

My Dread Necromancer needs onyx. The problem is that people ask too many questions. I need a good cover story to explain why I need all of this onyx that alleviates suspicion.

Any suggestions?

Wow, you play a Dread Necromancer? It looks really OP in HoH, how is it in the game?

[Rubik]

Wow, you play a Dread Necromancer? It looks really OP in HoH, how is it in the game?It's a tier 3 class (quite good at many things, or either really, really solid at one very flexible ability, or good at one and not too shabby at others), but not game-breakingly powerful. As compared to a wizard, which is both Core and tier 1 (overwhelmingly powerful and extremely difficult to deal with for a DM, and capable of breaking the game in hundreds of different, unexpected ways).

Anyway, wear several pieces of onyx jewelry at all times, and say that you have a great love for the stone.

[elonin]

I can empathize with the OP question. Best answer I have is to try passing as a jewler or crafter (the crafting feats never detailed the materials used).

[Hamste]

Secretly taking over an onyx mine and having undead mine it may work as well. You can also start murdering other necromancers and using their supplies of onyx to fund your own undead creation.

[atomicwaffle]

It's an investment. You want to invest in Onyx in lieu of silver or gold (which thieves might value more highly. A thief won't really look at a semi-expensive onyx sculpture). Plus, as a serious collector you simply want to have all the onyx all the time.

[Rubik]

Tattoo yourself black and claim to be an onyx half-elemental, and onyx is your favorite food?

[Hamste]

Claim you are buying and carrying the onyx for a friend. That will surely alleviate all suspicion off of you. Or get a hobo off the street buy the onyx for you, that way everyone will think the hobo is the necromancer.

[Honest Tiefling]

Slap some illusion spells on there to pretend it is a different stone, or even a different variety of onyx. Doesn't prestidigitation color things for a bit? Not sure if those options are available to a Dread Necromancer, so maybe talk to other party members. (Do they want to carry their own loot? No? Then color the stones!) Unfortunately, dyeing black stones with non-magical means would be difficult.

It's also used in carving, so why not carve it in the shape of a sun or other symbol of religions not associated with undead? No one is going to suspect the alchemist with his brownish mortar and pestle with the holy symbol of a goody-goody sun god and his stone carver friend of being horrible necromancers robbing graves!

Also, there are oodles of other black stones, so try to pass it off as jet or black sapphire?

[Red Fel]

You don't need a cover story. People don't ask that many questions when you're willing to be... diplomatic.

Observe.


You: I'll take some Onyx, please.

Seller: That much Onyx? What are you, a Necromancer?


You: How much is your Onyx?

Seller: 25 gp per carat.

You: Here's 100 gp for the Onyx, then... And another 10 gp for your discretion. Pleasure doing business with you.

Seller: Business? What business? I've never seen you before in my life!

Diplomacy. Better known as a well-greased palm.

[Honest Tiefling]

Or, with the bluff skill, turn in the unscrupulous merchant who nonchalantly sold dangerous materials to you! Doesn't he know the damage that could be wrought with that stone? For shame!

(And then with the next guy, remind him of what happened to the first guy, or find a way to steal it for 'evidence')

[Rubik]

What you do is, you only buy onyx worth 1/3 the minimum cost (25 gp / 3 = 8.33 gp) and use Craft to make it worth what you need, then when the mob comes, you say, "but Animate Dead requires increments of 25 gp in onyx, and I only bought stones worth 8 gp!"


Or, with the bluff skill, turn in the unscrupulous merchant who nonchalantly sold dangerous materials to you! Doesn't he know the damage that could be wrought with that stone? For shame!

(And then with the next guy, remind him of what happened to the first guy, or find a way to steal it for 'evidence')"Honest" Tiefling. Riiiiight.

[Genth]

"I need it to complete my pokedex"

[...]

You could just say nothing or that it's personal.

[Segev]

"I'm creating armies of the undead to serve my will."

Now, they'll never suspect you of being an Elvis-impersonating deep dragon!

[Honest Tiefling]

Could go as far as to pretend to be an zealot of some religion or sect that hates undead...And is taking that onyx to a remote monastery to be properly disposed of, so it could never, ever, ever be used to create undead abominations.

[Hamste]

Also who is asking these questions? It's not like a common merchant knows the procedure to animate the dead so as long as you are not too suspicious it isn't likely the merchant will put that much importance on it and tell it to someone who would know about it.

[Segev]

Really, though, why is this a concern? If onyx is something that is so heavily identified with being a material component for Animate Dead, why is it SOLD in the first place? If it is something that people have legitimate reasons for buying, then just buy it nonchalantly. If it's considered so questionable a product, why is it sold so openly that you would be observed by legitimate authorities to be buying it?

[Honest Tiefling]

Given the appearance of black stones, you could just pretend to be an idiot and insist it is a more expensive, less necromatic black stone. Sure, you might pay more, but it could work...

[nolongerchaos]

If she's in your campaign setting, a temple to Wee Jas is both likely to have some on hand to buy, and unlikely to ask awkward questions. In fact, they would likely make for a well reputed source for most of your disreputable need.

[Spore]

I am sorry but not every NPC suddenly KNOWS what onyx is used for in the magical world. I know most "ingredients" vendors are magic users for the typical DM but there has to be at least one merchant per city that isn't a high level wizard...

YOU WANT BAT GUANO?! WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO BURN! FELONY! THIS GUY WANTS TO BURN DOWN ORPHANAGES!!!

[Diachronos]

I second the suggestion of passing yourself off as a crafter, since onyx tends to be used for a few things in art. And you're not technically lying, since you're using it for your "craft".
Another suggestion would be to limit how much you buy at a time; getting a lot at once might draw suspicion.


Wow, you play a Dread Necromancer? It looks really OP in HoH, how is it in the game?

Surprisingly bad at necromancy, actually. They get access to Animate Dead later than Clerics do. Plus their spell list is wonky (Planar Binding with no Magic Circle, Death Ward is on it as a level 3 spell AND a level 4 spell, no cantrips so Detect Magic is a level 1 spell, IT LACKS DESECRATE OF ALL THINGS), and their familiar choices make no sense for the class. Advanced Learning doesn't give you many actual options either, considering you're limited to the Wizard/Sorceror/Cleric spell lists and there are only a handful of obscure spells on their lists that DNs don't already get.
Honestly, it seems like Wizards went out of their way to make the only necromancy-focused base class as irrelevant as possible.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Take ranks in Craft: Jewelry and make necklaces, circlets, bracelets, art objects such as goblets and chalices, etc. inlaid with many semiprecious gems. Place an order for silver and gold, onyxes, and a few slightly higher value centerpiece gems and tell them it's for a piece that was commissioned. Use the rest of those materials to craft something without using any onyxes to (discreetly) sell and recoup your costs. This skill will have the added benefit of allowing you to craft jewelry and art pieces using gemstones your party finds to triple their value, or you can just use your contacts with gemstone/jewelry suppliers to trade what the party finds for what you need at equal or greater value.

[Honest Tiefling]

I recommend beads for the jewelry crafter option. A lot of people can't tell the difference between black stone and black glass, and you can just take off a bead at a time while leaving the rest while. The strand would also be reusable. Also a lot easier to take a bead off a cord, rather then pry a gem out in a jiffy.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I recommend beads for the jewelry crafter option. A lot of people can't tell the difference between black stone and black glass, and you can just take off a bead at a time while leaving the rest while. The strand would also be reusable. Also a lot easier to take a bead off a cord, rather then pry a gem out in a jiffy.

I meant to purchase onyxes along with other jewelry supplies to avoid suspicion, not to actually use them to craft stuff!


Surprisingly bad at necromancy, actually. They get access to Animate Dead later than Clerics do. Plus their spell list is wonky (Planar Binding with no Magic Circle, Death Ward is on it as a level 3 spell AND a level 4 spell, no cantrips so Detect Magic is a level 1 spell, IT LACKS DESECRATE OF ALL THINGS), and their familiar choices make no sense for the class. Advanced Learning doesn't give you many actual options either, considering you're limited to the Wizard/Sorceror/Cleric spell lists and there are only a handful of obscure spells on their lists that DNs don't already get.
Honestly, it seems like Wizards went out of their way to make the only necromancy-focused base class as irrelevant as possible.

The Ghostly Visage familiar is amazing. It can always be possessing your character to give you immunity to mind-affecting effects. It can manifest over your face in combat to use its paralyzing gaze attack, which your undead minions are immune to. It can even spend a standard action every round to force a target to save vs its gaze again, even if they already made the save that round or aren't even looking. Plus it uses half your HD + its Cha bonus + 10 for its gaze DC.

Advanced Learning can get you access to Animate Dread Warrior (6th) from Unapproachable East, which has no limit to how many you can make and control, plus they retain all of their class levels, class features, skills, feats, racial abilities, etc. Advanced Learning can get you Awaken Undead, so something like a Razor Boar or Cave Troll skeleton regains everything it had when alive. Granted the lower level choices are a bit weak, though if you can get away with porting over the Warmage's Eclectic Learning ACF in PH2 you can use it to learn Desecrate as a 3rd level spell.

I'll agree that it's not as good at necromancy as a Tier 1, but it's a lower-powered niche alternative. Plus you can always go the Magical Training + Versatile Spellcaster route.

[Rubik]

Buy a 1 gp onyx. Use it to craft a higher quality 3 gp onyx. Use that to craft a much higher quality 9 gp onyx. Use that to craft a very nice 27 gp onyx. Use that to...

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Buy a 1 gp onyx. Use it to craft a higher quality 3 gp onyx. Use that to craft a much higher quality 9 gp onyx. Use that to craft a very nice 27 gp onyx. Use that to...

You can only cut a gem so much before it can't increase in value any more. Furthermore, you cannot use a finished product as the raw materials to make another of the same finished product.

[Rubik]

You can only cut a gem so much before it can't increase in value any more. Furthermore, you cannot use a finished product as the raw materials to make another of the same finished product.Source?

And yes, you can. It's perfectly possible to use Craft: Gemcutting to turn a gem into a truly beautiful cut, and then use it and Craft: Jewelry Making to produce a truly fine necklace. Or using Craft: Alchemy to further refine an alchemical product to higher purity, or purifying ingredients to combine into another product altogether, which can then be used in yet another product.

Of course, there's nothing in the rules that I'm aware of that preclude doing what I suggested with the onyxes, so in that case, ruling against it certainly wouldn't be RAW.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Source?

And yes, you can. It's perfectly possible to use Craft: Gemcutting to turn a gem into a truly beautiful cut, and then use it and Craft: Jewelry Making to produce a truly fine necklace. Or using Craft: Alchemy to further refine an alchemical product to higher purity, or purifying ingredients to combine into another product altogether, which can then be used in yet another product.

Of course, there's nothing in the rules that I'm aware of that preclude doing what I suggested with the onyxes, so in that case, ruling against it certainly wouldn't be RAW.

You can refine an alchemical product to higher purity, but you cannot then refine it again to an increasingly higher purity if it's already as pure as it can possibly get.

The DM is free to determine what the raw materials would be for a finished product. You can declare you want to cut this onyx to make it three times more valuable, and a DM would likely agree to that. If you then declare that you want to recut that same onyx to make it yet three times more valuable though, your DM may tell you that if you want to cut an onyx three times more valuable than this one currently is, then you'll need to obtain a different, larger onyx, as this one is unsuitable as the raw material for that project. It would be like turning wood into a chair, and then turning that chair into a three times nicer chair without adding any materials, and then turning that three times nicer chair into a yet three times more expensive throne without adding any materials, and so on. There comes a point when the thing you want to use as raw materials is just unsuitable for making your desired end product.

[Averis Vol]

Say you are a necromancer because I doubt the practice of an entire school of magic is illegal.