True Necromancer, broken?

[Alleine]

One of my friends is going to be playing a true necromancer in an upcoming game. He said that the way it progresses, it'll be like having levels in both arcane and divine caster without some of the normal benefits. So essentially at level 20 he would be an undead master, and able to cast both 9th level arcane and divine spells. That, to me, just seems a little broken eh?

I mean, you've got your standard arcane caster and your standard divine caster, and then up comes a guy who says "I can do what both of you can do combined, but in half the levels"

[JungeonJeff]

Im sure others can go into a more detailed description of what the problem with dual-casters are, but normally it boils down to a slower progression of spells = bad!

Most campaign does not start at lvl 20, but rather at lvl 1-6, at which point a soon-to-be True Necromancer will be way behind in spell progression (unless you cheese to make up for it)

edit: spelling probs

[JackMage666]

He needs to look at the table again if he thinks he gets 9th level spells.

There are 4 levels in there that only progress One Caster level - 2 Arcane, 2 Divine. Every other one is Dual Progression. This basically means the average build for 20th level spells is...

Wizard 3/Cleric 3/True Necromancer 14.

Since 4 of those 14 True Necromancer levels ony increase on class, the effective level is reduced from what it looks like. Basically, Caster Level 15 for both Wizard and Cleric. Caster Level 15 is enough to get 8th level spells (barely), but not 9th.

That's the case with dual casting PrCs. Mystic Theurge build equals out to 15 if you go for balance as well, so it's not all that bad.

Just make sure you're player isn't playing an Archivist/Wizard mix, and it'll be comparatively balanced (comparatively meaning that Wizards, and particularly Archivists, are already pretty broken)

[palindrome]

Also, whenever you have a "+1 level of existing class", you need to pick which class that virtual level goes to. The spells per day section of the true necromancer also states, "If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a true necromancer, she must decide to which class she adds the new level for determining spells per day."

It's easy to overlook, but this problem is addressed in Tome and Blood.

[Alleine]

Ok, thanks guys!

He had me worried for a second there...

[Caelestion]

The point is also that anybody and his dog can build a level 20 butt-kicker. Not many people can build said butt-kicker, which still remains awesome from level 1 and as you play it.

[Khantalas]

Also, whenever you have a "+1 level of existing class", you need to pick which class that virtual level goes to. The spells per day section of the true necromancer also states, "If a character had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a true necromancer, she must decide to which class she adds the new level for determining spells per day."

It's easy to overlook, but this problem is addressed in Tome and Blood.

Of course, Libris Mortis True Necromancer is quite different than Tome and Blood True Necromancer in that regard, in which the former is much more like a Mystic Theurge, progressing both spellcasting levels.

[Merlin the Tuna]

I'll start by saying that I abhor K's homebrew; drinking bleach is higher on my list of priorities than including his work in my game is. And yet despite that, I recognize that he knows what the published system can do extremely well. Example: The Revised Necromancer Handbook (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=599129), which includes a top 10 list of why playing a True Necromancer is shooting yourself in the foot. Or the face.