Tweak my 3.5 Necromancer

[DwarvenWiz]

Looking for some feedback, both positive and constructive, but mainly constructive -- on my character. He is level 15 now after almost two years of play but we have the opportunity to 're-tune' our characters this one time so I'm allowed to change anything I would like on him. My plan is to go for Archmage next level and thanks to homebrew the greater spell focus Necromancy for Master Specialist is being allowed to count as the 2nd spell focus for Archmage so I don't have to spend another feat on it. What would you do differently without completely ditching the character's flavor? I'm allowed to use most available 3.5 books, though we haven't really done much Eberron stuff. At the time I thought immediate magic might be good but it's been pretty worthless in practice. I used Armored Mage for a while but after an alignment change and long unused robes in our bag of holding, my AC doesn't really require it anymore. So I'm up for any feedback. Thanks all!

Dwarf Necromancer LE

STR 14/16
DEX 18
CON 16
INT 19/21
WIS 12
CHA 9/10

Wizard 10 (Immediate Magic) / Fighter 2 (Armored Mage) / Master Specialist 3

Specialized School - Necromancy
Forbidden Schools - Enchantment, Illusion

Feats:
Alacritous Cogitation
Craft Wonderous Items (given more leeway in campaign to craft wands, etc)
Empower Spell
Quicken Spell
Easy Metamagic Empower Spell
Easy Metamagic Quicken Spell
Easy Metamagic Quicken Spell
Improved Initiative
Improved Toughness
Spell Focus Necromancy

Armor/Magic:
Robe of the Archmagi, Black
Headband of Intellect, +2
Ioun Stone, Dusty Rose
Gauntlets of Ogre Power
Happy pink beard ribbon of Charisma, +1

[atemu1234]

Fighter is a... poor choice. Go with dipping abjurant champion and/or spellsword, if you must.

I'll post a build you can try, in a bit. Are flaws allowed?

[Beheld]

I can't figure out what Immediate metamagic is, but it's almost certainly not worth 7 levels of Prestige classing.

You could be a Wizard 3/Master Specialist 10/Abjurant Champion 2 (or Archmage 2?)

I also don't think Improved init and Improved toughness are by any means worth being an entire spell level behind.

Also, pretty sure you can't stack Easy Metamagic like you did, but if you are allowed to, then you need to abandon that Easy metamagic for empower right now and put another Easy Metamagic Quicken on there, because dang.

Empower in general seems like a weird choice, what spells are you actually empowering in the Necromancy school?

[OldTrees1]

Well, Immediate magic (Cursed Glance) is DC dependent and that DC depends on Wizard class level. With your plans of Master Specialist & Archmage you probably are better off trading your familiar away for a different Necromancy benefit:
Skeletal Minion(Unearthed Arcana) is a scaling skeleton that costs 100gp to animate despite its higher HD. Still not a great option.
Focus Caster(DR348 pg88) is a nice option granting +25% range to necromancy spells without needing to stick to the base wizard class.

Armored Mage is Fighter level dependent (so Fighter 2 only allows of 3rd level or lower to be cast) and only grants light armor (which usually can be made to have 0% Arcane Spell Failure anyways). You are probably right to swap this away.

Easy Metamagic normally cannot be taken twice for the same metamagic feat.

Wizard 3 / Master Specialist 10 / Wizard +2 (or some other PrC) / Archmage X seems ideal for you.

[TheBrassDuke]

I definitely wouldn't have ditched Illusion...

"Forbidden: Enchantment, Evocation" seems more reasonable.

Also, I agree that fighter might not be the best route here. Perhaps Spellsword, as suggested?

[atemu1234]

I definitely wouldn't have ditched Illusion...

"Forbidden: Enchantment, Evocation" seems more reasonable.

Also, I agree that fighter might not be the best route here. Perhaps Spellsword, as suggested?

Okay, so I suggest the following, based on an old dread necromancer build I made a while back

Necromancer (Wizard) 8 / Fighter 1 / Spellsword 1 / Abjurant Champion 5. You only lose one caster level, which is halfway decent, and can finish progressing with Swiftblade if you don't mind losing the caster levels and want to focus on combat.

[TheBrassDuke]

I've never been a fan of the AC, but it is pretty solid. So I'll back it, just because it's good.

You know, you could just go straight Dread Necromancer. The whole Lich body thing would help your stats, etc., etc. (heading to work, so lazy writing), and you'd be a significantly more powerful Necromancer. Imagine going into Archmage with that kind of power.

And if you really need more classes...Pale Master? *hides under chair*

[atemu1234]

I've never been a fan of the AC, but it is pretty solid. So I'll back it, just because it's good.

You know, you could just go straight Dread Necromancer. The whole Lich body thing would help your stats, etc., etc. (heading to work, so lazy writing), and you'd be a significantly more powerful Necromancer. Imagine going into Archmage with that kind of power.

And if you really need more classes...Pale Master? *hides under chair*

You can emerge from under the chair, it's not a bad prestige class. An alternative to Ab. Champ and Swiftblade, perhaps. More flavorful almost definitely.

[Beheld]

Pale master isn't even strong at level 15, so who cares.

I would keep your familiar. Imbue Familiar With Spell Ability just gets you extra spell casts every round.

[atemu1234]

Pale master isn't even strong at level 15, so who cares.

I would keep your familiar. Imbue Familiar With Spell Ability just gets you extra spell casts every round.

Meh, trade it away and get the feat. Works better anyways, because it keys off of arcane CL as opposed to wizard level.

[Beheld]

Meh, trade it away and get the feat. Works better anyways, because it keys off of arcane CL as opposed to wizard level.

I can think of better uses for a feat than 25% additional range on Necromancy spells.

[Ellowryn]

Well, familiars are powerful if you are willing to abuse them but otherwise you really aren't getting much out of them. That being said as a necromancer it would totally be fitting to take Stitched Flesh Familiar and then proceed to Spellstitch it, but that costs at least 2 feats (3 if you want more than a 12 wisdom which you really do) and some gold/exp.

[Beheld]

Well, familiars are powerful if you are willing to abuse them but otherwise you really aren't getting much out of them. That being said as a necromancer it would totally be fitting to take Stitched Flesh Familiar and then proceed to Spellstitch it, but that costs at least 2 feats (3 if you want more than a 12 wisdom which you really do) and some gold/exp.

A 6th level spell to quicken 5 5th level spells that day is not "aren't getting much out of them." Especially when you can even basically have no spell slot cost if you Frank Cheat it.

[Kleineg]

Since you are a dwarf, have you considered Runesmith from Races of Stone? A one level dip would advance casting and allow you to cast without somatic components... in essence cast in full plate without spell failure. You still need to get proficiency. If worst comes to worst a dip of Crusader would trade a single level of casting for armor and initiator abilities. If you go that route I would also consider going Abjurant Champion for all five levels. That is five d10s to hit points, hitting +13 BAB by level 20 (assuming low BAB for the other 14 levels), and some nice abilities.

[ExLibrisMortis]

I would consider two levels in Horned Harbinger, if you were keen on animating hordes of undead, and not that concerned with full casting (perhaps due to the type of game you prefer). If, on the other hand, you're more of a martial character, you can try something like paladin of tyranny 2/wizard 5/master specialist 3/abjurant champion 5/archmage 1. However, both the paladin and the harbinger have abilities keyed off of charisma, which is not ideal. You might instead go for dread necromancer 8/horned harbinger 2/master specialist 5/archmage 1 or the same with two levels of paladin. A very martial build could use both: paladin of tyranny 2/dread necromancer 8/horned harbinger 2/master specialist 3/X, with X not being archmage, because you wouldn't have 7ths (you'd be at 6ths, but your CL for animate dead would be 16 + CHA, animating 4 + CHA HD worth of undead per CL).

Another nice option is cleric 1/wizard 5/dweomerkeeper 4/master specialist 5/archmage 1. The Dweomerkeeper levels have nothing to do with necromancy as such, but you do get the very powerful Supernatural Spell ability, which can get you some free undead once a day, and some rebuking, which can fuel a devotion feat or perhaps DMM:Persist (or you take incantatrix 3) - don't use it to command undead, one cleric level isn't enough for that, and it's pretty weak at level 15 regardless.

Note that Master Specialist levels 4 and 5 can be switched out, as you prefer. The 5th-level ability can get you a useful cleric spell, so its value depends on the spell you pick. The 4th-level ability is only useful if you cast necromancy spells in combats that you have minions in, as well. Two more levels of Dweomerkeeper would get you another Supernatural Spell, which is probably stronger.

As for bonus spells to pick: I'd go with consumptive field every time. Boost your caster level by killing nearby creatures, that's just what Red Fel ordered. If you can persist it, it's perfect.

[TheBrassDuke]

Look at the Symbol in Heroes of Horror. It's only a straight Dread Necromancer 17, but its race is Unholy Scion (which is a +5 LA), and it is wickedly powerful.

Except the Scion part, Dread Necromancer is an amazing route. Take the Ghostly Visage familiar.

[ATHATH]

Have you considered the Soulreaper from Dragon #313 (I think)? It lets you rip out the souls of dying enemies, store them in gems, and use their feats or stick their BAB, feats, and mental stats in an undead creature later. It's pretty cool.

[TheBrassDuke]

Have you considered the Soulreaper from Dragon #313 (I think)? It lets you rip out the souls of dying enemies, store them in gems, and use their feats or stick their BAB, feats, and mental stats in an undead creature later. It's pretty cool.

...

>_>

.....

Huh.

[ATHATH]

...

>_>

.....

Huh.
I mean, I suppose its eclipsed by Simulacrum, but it's still a pretty cool ability.

What do you mean by "Huh."?

[ATHATH]

Incidentally, for some reason, all of the classes in Dragon #313 have been put in Forgotten Realms Helps, so you can find the Soulreaper there.

[Fizban]

I'm guessing the idea there is tossing out quickened and immediate debuffs from under armor, but as has been said you can already negate the spell failure of light armor without so much as a single feat or class feature or magic enhancement: Mithril +Githcraft (DMG2)+Thistledown Padding (RoW), or by switching into Abjurant Champion you can just use obscenely strong Shield spells. But everyone suggesting Abjurant Champion should remember that you need martial proficiencies and Combat Casting to get in, so removing Fighter will cost feats.

Of course you can't actually wear armor right now anyway, if you're using that Robe of the Archmagi, since Robes and Armor take up the same slot (unless your DM's just allowing it and stacking it with armor or something).

Runesmith. . . holy crap I always forget how Dwaves get all the best stuff. Yeah that's good if you want to wear actual armor, and shield, and hand spells out to allies, and gain innate spell like abilities you can't be disarmed of. Fighter 1/Runesmith X. Keep Improved Toughness around because hp is good, but want to go first you can buy plenty of initative with items. The classic +1 Eager Warning Spiked Gauntlet is only 18,000gp for +7, 9,000 if you can craft it with your DM expanded Craft Wondrous feat.

The rest of Master Specialist (Necromancer) isn't crazy but it's still pretty good. On the other hand, Cursed Glance is kindof hilarious with no listed duration or removal method. If Cursed Glance has been serving you well I'd say go ahead and keep the Wiz levels, otherwise the defensive abilities of Master Specialist (immunity to ability/level drain badness after casting and a 3/day undead healing effect when you don't have innate Inflict spells) are probably worth more than a few points of DC on a minor ability. You could always take Ability Focus (Cursed Glance) to shore up the DC if you want. Except the Wiz levels are also providing two bonus feats.

So feats. As has been mentioned, you can't normally stack Easy Metamagic like that, and if you can then you should have Quicken x3 on there already. There necromantic spells to empower: Ennervation and Circle of Death come to mind in core, and note that he has not joined the hype and banned evocation. So he's probably throwing around empowered fireballs whenever it's appropriate and getting plenty of mileage out of it. I'd also ask if you're getting serious use out of Alacritous Cogitation. If you're actually being a super necromatic warrior mage then you might not be getting much use out of it, but if you're really playing a wizard with plenty of spells who happens to have extra necromancy slots then it's probably seeing plenty of use. If your shtick really is debuffing, Fearsome Necromancy is not nothing.

So minor changes: drop Fighter 2 and Improved Initiative, add Runesmith 1. Drop the second easy quicken to unbreak the game, use the saved feat to buy Ability Focus (Cursed Glance) or Fearsome Necromancy. Or drop the easy quicken and Alacritous Cogitation and use the space to max out Master Specialist and re-buy the feats you were getting from Wizard.