Instant Mobile necromancer army

[RandomlyInspire]

I'm playing a 3.5 campaign soon, in which The DM wants me playing a necromancer. I plan to go the corpsecrafter route, getting lots of weak undead so I can have them en-masse. And if possible, what I'd like to do at higher levels, is stuff my army in a vault, and have a way to teleport their whole mass to me should I need them, is this possible?

[Abd al-Azrad]

Thought #1: Create a whole bunch of Shadows, stuff them all in a barrel (or portable hole). Chuck it at foes.

Thought #2: Same plan, but with skeletal rats or something else small and unassuming which you can fit in a barrel.

The problems with this plan are, honestly, several. First off, the "bunch of weak undead" idea won't really do anything of value for you in battle other than fill up space - and there are cheaper ways to fill the battlefield, such as walls and summoned monsters. Second and more problematic, running a bunch of tactically useless undead takes up a lot of game time, which your DM may accept but your fellow players may begrudge. And third, almost every method of teleportation is limited by the number of creatures available to a given caster level. I think the best way to teleport armies is with Teleportation Circle, or maybe Gate, but these spells also have their limits.

Remember you have to pay for each HD animated. Do you really want to invest your money and time in fireball-bait?

[RandomlyInspire]

Oh, that's actually a good point! I had more-so intended them as a "Oh **** I need to run" measure since I'd only planned to have two, possibly three strong undead with me as bodyguards. I'm also taking fell animate for a feat, which should hopefully prove useful in emergencies. So since this is my first real necromancer, what would you suggest for different strategies?

[Abd al-Azrad]

IMO, there are a few extremely solid benefits to Necromancy, then some circumstantial tricks, then a bunch of stuff not worth discussing at length.

#1: Minions. Your skeletal followers remain largely under your control, and while they aren't equivalent of PCs, a good, powerful Skeletal Dragon or a pair of Skeletal Giants can fill up a lot of space and both absorb and dish out a lot of damage before people put them down. While your enemies are dealing with your minions, you remain a powerful full caster, and you unload your significant magical arsenal of real weapons upon them. In effect, a properly played Necromancer grows stronger with each battle, rather than weaker.

#2: Negative Levels. Proper investment in metamagic abuse (for instance, Arcane Thesis: Enervation, allowing a Split Ray Empowered Enervation as... I think a 6th level spell) can allow you to pump out an absurd number of negative levels very quickly. Frankly, you could make your whole build around the Enervation spell alone, of course keeping a number of spell slots open to deal with enemies immune or protected against such tricks.

#3: Wacky Tricks. Magic Jar, when it lands, ends fights hilariously. Create Undead allows you access to an unstoppable army of spawn-producing undead, allowing you to alter your campaign landscape (remember you need a method of controlling them). There are several specific spells and powers which allow you considerable control over enemy undead you encounter.

Do however recall that, with all the power and versatility of the discipline, Necromancy will only fill a relatively small percentage of your spell slots. You are a full Tier 1 caster first, with Necromancy providing additions to your already terrifying arsenal.

[Krobar]

How many shadows can fit in a bag of holding? As many as you can control. When you hit your limit just start with another bag. Repeat until you have "enough". Bonus points if you use a Belt of Many Pockets instead.

Just be sure to protect yourself from negative energy before you start flooding the area.

[RandomlyInspire]

Okay, those are some good points. So should I forgo corpsecrafter path for metamagic feats to do the uber-negative level attacks? The class can apparently control a dang good handful of undead once it hits a certain level. Though I do have an important question. Say I kill a .... uhm, level 12 barbarian. Would I -have- to animate him as a zombie/skeleton or can I make him a wight? Possibly a death knight?

And for magic jar, that spell always makes me giggle, I just don't like how vulnerable it leaves your body...


Edit: are shadows -really- that nasty?

[Abd al-Azrad]

The best choice for animating PCs is to use the Bone Creature template (3.5) or the Juju Zombie (Pathfinder). Fewest changes, most manageable.

What class are you playing? There's a pretty big difference between Arcane and Divine necromancy... and I don't recall whether Corpsecrafter has a built-in preference for one or the other.

Of course shadows are nasty, when enemies aren't prepared for them. A low-to-moderate Str enemy with no particular immunity to ability score damage and a low-to-moderate touch AC, dies in one round. That's what you do as a full caster - you keep your options open, and have all sorts of different devastating attacks to target foes based on a number of vulnerabilities. You may only ever break out the Shadow Bomb once, and the Magic Jar once, and the Mega-Negative Level attack a few times... and kill off three different BBEGs.

[RandomlyInspire]

Like I said, I didn't choose the class. The DM asked me to play this:
http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Necromancer_%283.5e_Class%29

I chose changeling for my race, still pandering on an alignment

[Abd al-Azrad]

Huh. That's a pretty limited spell list.

From what I see, Spectral Hand is your new best friend. Use that all the time. Beyond that, I see a lot of single-target save-or-lose. Vampiric Touch will keep your reserves of HP up during emergencies. I might recommend you pick up the Craft Contingent Spell feat (Complete Arcane or Mage) to fire off a Vampiric Touch upon getting struck with a critical hit.

Look for ways to boost your CL, at least for Animate Dead. I like the option to animate goons of CR = 1/2 your CL, and with all the different books to choose from, that could get really tricky. Spell Power, Ioun Stones, your Necromantic Prowess, all's good.

You will very likely want to explore options to add spells to your list of spells known. I think there's a sorcerer feat that does so (expanded knowledge or something), a few options to add domains to your list, a few PrCs. Look up guidebooks on the Warmage, they almost always end up talking about tricks like this. I think there's a PrC called... Rainbow Servant or something.

[RandomlyInspire]

I won't lie when I say I know next to nothing about all the crazy feats and PrCs out there.

So, I'm looking up Necromantic prowess, Ioun Stones, spell power, and expanded knowledge.

What about Primitive casting?

And maybe dark speech for emergencies?