True Necromancer, is it REALLY that bad? (probably)

[Desthro]

So I've always wanted to play a True Necromancer, but they seem to suck on paper, and their abilities really aren't that great. And I noticed that there is finally enough splat to iron out some of the grittier issues with True Necromancer.
This gets you 9th level divine spells and 8th level Arcane spells, a decent CL if you cast necromancy spells, (19th and 17th), Bonus Rebuking (ECL 24), not too shabby. Any ideas or efficiency increases?

(14 int minimum)
(15 wis minimum)
Human
Death Master 1
Iron Will
Apprenticeship (Criminal)
Bluff 4
Know: Arcana 4
Know: Planes 4
Know: Relig 4
Spellcraft 4
Some skill---2

Cleric 1
(Death Domain)
Bluff 5
Know: Arcana 5
Know: Planes 5
Know: Relig 5
Spellcraft 5

Death Master 2
Spell focus (Evil)
Bluff 6
Know: Relig 6
Spellcraft 6

Death Master 3
Know: Relig 7
Spellcraft 7
Someskill---1

Death Master 4
Know: Relig 8
Spellcraft 8

Ur-Priest 1
Spell Focus (Necromancy)

Ur-Priest 2

True Necromancer 1
5th level Arcane (Death Master)
Rebuke Undead 8

True Necromancer 2
3rd level Divine (Ur-Priest)
Rebuke Undead 9

True Necromancer 3
+1 Necrostuff
6th level Arcane
4th level Divine
Rebuke Undead 10+1

True Necromancer 4
7th level Arcane
5th level Divine
Rebuke Undead 11+1

. . . .

True Necromancer 13
15th level Arcane (+4)
13th level Divine (+4)
Rebuke Undead 20+4

[Karnith]

Some methods of using TN for the only thing it's good for, which is to say stacking the caster level boosts, dredged up from an old thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?309433-True-Necromancer-Good-builds):
One basic builds would probably look like (Lesser) Drow Wizard 1/Cleric 3/Mystic Theurge 1/True Necromancer 4/Yathrinshee 1/TN 10, using Precocious Apprentice to cheat into Mystic Theurge. You normally need to delay Yathrinshee until level 10 because of the feats required; take it as early as possible if you have some means of getting extra feats early. You'd also want to take Practiced Spellcaster on both sides of your progression to maximize your CL. You'd end up with 7th-level spells on your Wizard side and 8th-level spells on your Cleric side at 20th level, with a caster level of 46 (assuming that you can get Necromantic Prowess to apply after Practiced Spellcaster) for Necromancy spells. Also, it bears mentioning that if your DM is slavishly devoted to the written fluff, Kiaranselee doesn't offer the Death domain and hence you can't actually take levels in Yathrinshee and True Necromancer.
With a few alterations to the previous build, you can get 9ths at the price of a lower CL and fewer TN levels and abilities. Drow Wizard 1/Cleric 3/Mystic Theurge 1/True Necromancer 5/Yathrinshee 3/Mystic Theurge 7 gets you 9ths on your Cleric side and 8ths on your Wizard side, with your CL for Necromancy spells at 41.

And, yes, removing True Necromancer levels did improve the build, to the surprise of precisely no one.
If you can get something like Southern Magician allowed and have access to Dragon Magazine, you can use Theurgic Specialist instead of Yathrinshee to stack your caster levels, and go Wizard 3/Cleric 1/Mystic Theurge 1/True Necromancer 14/Mystic Theurge 1, which ends up with Wizard 9ths and Cleric 8ths. Taking into account Practiced Spellcaster on both sides, you end up with a caster level of 47 for Necromancy spells (again assuming that you can get Necromantic Prowess to apply after Practiced Spellcaster).
Or you can be a NecroCheat (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=272556) and enter from Sha'ir, which gets silly fast.

[Divide by Zero]

True Necromancer, is it REALLY that bad? (probably)

Yes. The fact that this is any good says a lot more about the strength of Ur-Priest than anything about True Necromancer. And even then, you're spending your race, your first six levels of feats, a big chunk of your stat budget, and most of your background flexibility for something that's only marginally better than a single-classed caster by the end and significantly worse until level 9 or so.

[Extra Anchovies]

True Necromancer looks bad, but proper optimization can make it worthwhile. What you show is indeed proper optimization. However, it still doesn't give all too much for the investment. A wizard/ur-priest into Mystic Theurge can get double nines, and can still call themselves a necromancer.

[OldTrees1]

True Necromancer can be reproduced or surpassed by a Mystic Theruge and a minor amount of wealth. The effective Cleric level of Rebuke Undead is the hardest part.

[Desthro]

Yes. The fact that this is any good says a lot more about the strength of Ur-Priest than anything about True Necromancer. And even then, you're spending your race, your first six levels of feats, a big chunk of your stat budget, and most of your background flexibility for something that's only marginally better than a single-classed caster by the end and significantly worse until level 9 or so.

I guess that is true hahaha. Ur-Priest is notoriously powerful. (My GM would probably ban this anyhow =( )