What is the best necromancer build in pathfinder?

[djwood]

Hello fellow dice rollers,

I was just wondering what's the best necromancer build to have an undead army and not become a lich. (Which is still pretty cool!)
(I haven't done my stats yet)
We are gonna start level 4

I'm a human female, name azula (yes yes, I'm an avatar fan !).


And here's her background. For those of you interested.

By the way, our campaign is in a post- apocalyptic island. So gotta catch 'em all!

~ Azula, the death Theresa , is a human magic user (Mage, sorcerer, witch or magus) who had a happy life with her husband and 5 year old son. They lived in the [village where we are in]. When everything starting going to ****, they kept their heads on straight and decided to live in the library and barricaded it and fill it with supplies, they found a lot of food due to everyone abandoning their homes. After a year, the husband wanted to see if their were more survivors in town. So he got outside, then ghouls got him. As azula was trying to help the poor man. A ghoul got her son too. She had no other choice but to go back inside. Days after she manages to bring their body's into the library. Devastated of the events, she made a vow to bring them back. So she started reading anything with the words "magic" " resurrection " "undead" dedicated to bring them back no matter the cost. After many years, (the present) of self teaching in the arts of life and death. She successfully brought back her family. Even though they were just skeletons Azula was proud of what she's done, and decided to give other victims of the dead a second chance! ~

Thank you for reading! Please give me tips, level guidance and more to help me on my path in saving the world!!


ALSO. We might have a paladin on our team how can I convinv him I'm using my powers for good purposes?

[Segev]

"Undead army" and "Paladin" are hard sells to go together. The best you can probably do is maintain plausible deniability. For instance, claim to have an order of bodyguards who swear an oath of silence, and then dress the undead up in all-concealing full plate or similar.

[djwood]

"Undead army" and "Paladin" are hard sells to go together. The best you can probably do is maintain plausible deniability. For instance, claim to have an order of bodyguards who swear an oath of silence, and then dress the undead up in all-concealing full plate or similar.

Good idea! But would I need to do a bluff check every day?

And to make my death army possible what build do you suggest me having?

[Segev]

Unfortunately, I am not a pathfinder guru. I get it mixed up with 3.5 an awful lot. I do know that the Necromancer specialist wizard in PF gets Rebuke/Command Undead as if he were a cleric (with the requisite feat), which is cool. Command Undead, the 2nd level spell, is also pretty good if you're able to find undead in the first place. Sadly, if you want to MAKE your own undead quickly, you're looking at playing a cleric to get Animate Dead as a third level spell.

On the other hand, the Robe of Bones is something you could craft with CWI, and with PF's rules for substituting spellcraft checks for ability to cast a spell, I THINK you can make them as early as 3rd level (when yo uget the feat). Those let you peel off patches to create skeletons, which you can then control or use Command Undead to control. If your DM is okay with fluff alterations, you could extrapolate a cost to create individual skeletons as magic items with the robe as a basis; call it a lengthy ritual you're performing to animate the corpse.

[Geddy2112]

Segev is correct that your fastest way to get animate undead under your control is through cleric, which also gives you access to the spell desecrate, allowing you to have more undead under your control. You would also be able to channel negative energy to heal your creations and damage your enemies-very useful. There are other options- an oracle will get access to third level spells at level 6, and an oracle of bones can pick the ability to command undead(as the feat) through channeling, plus access to desecrate(although it is a harder pill to swallow in a fixed slot). However, the cleric can still do both and gets access to all spells of that level. A necromancy wizard gets this bonus as well, but without the damage and none of the other necromancy buffs are really all that good(although the life subschool would make you a bit more palatable to a paladin, more on that later). Magus is not really setup to be a necromancer, the few necromancy spells you would get are debuffs like ray of enfeeblement, not undead creation. Sorcerer is not much better, with limited spells and slower progression to know said spells. The ghoul and undead bloodlines are meh, although for necromancy undead is better because you can target corporeal undead as if they were humanoids(still not great) but you won't get animate dead till 8 at the earliest, and if you pick it you have it again at level 9 from your bloodline. If you go witch go with the gravewalker archtype. Although you lose out on an animate familiar, you gain the ability to command undead as a hex that never ends and maintains control even if they leave the range of the spell. Unlike your command undead feat that requires using a limited per day ability, you can spam this hex every round, and even if they previously save against it you can continue to throw it until they fail the save. You will also get animate dead and the greater animates/create through your patron bonus spells(in addition to the spells your patron gives you) so at level 6 you can easily make an army. Find a spellbook or some scrolls to learn extra necromancy if you want to take spell focus(albeit you would probably be doing this with any prepared caster).

So, as far as most effective class for necromancy I would say
1. Cleric
2. Gravewalker witch
3. Oracle
3. Necromancy wizard
4. Sorcerer
5. Magus

It also depends on what role you want to play in the party, as Clerics are wis based(but cha for the channel), Witches/Wizards are int and Oracles are Cha. Even a subpar sorcerer is tier two, and the other classes are tier 1/2 so you will be powerful regardless. Factor in how you want to get your power as well as the role in the party with class skills, etc.

As far as being with a paladin, its pretty hard to say you are not evil when you run around creating undead. You could always play the sympathy card that you want your family back and this is only a means to an end(but the end justifies the means probably won't go over so well). Another option is to use undead to fight a much greater evil-while you are using evil to bring back the dead, this is the only thing that makes you evil and otherwise you are not a bad person, but the main antagonist is the babykilling orphanage burning monster that all paladins love to kill. Third would be to go the oracle route and say it is a curse that you cannot control(bones mystery gives you the spell want it or not, and you could choose haunted as your curse), and hopefully one day you will be able to have a deity remove your curse(RP probably your best option).