What should a necromancer do in his free time?

[UnwiseAlistair]

So I'm playing a necromancer wizard in a d&d game, level 5. Neutral evil somehow convincingly masquerading as true neutral. (Likely due to the fact that I haven't started making zombies yet) My long term goal is to become powerful enough to become a lich and put my phylactery in a demiplane. At this point I'll start abusing create Undead at higher casting levels to get a bunch of wights, have them build up an army and allow me to conquer the world.
My question is: our party has recently obtained a castle and small town to rule, and we are likely to have a bit of downtime as we get it all set up. And since I don't want to start using more flashy necromancy until I'm more powerful and can do so in relative safety, I don't know what to do in my free time. Work on getting the people to trust me, scribe scrolls, the DM has made enchanting items not only possible but easy. (I was able to add a d4 of fire damage to the bladelock's greatsword)

TL, DR: necromancer looking for ideas on how to spend downtime besides raising Undead and twirling my moustache

[Findulidas]

Studying magic, experimenting with magic, searching for long lost magic, scouting out anyone who would try to stop you, take control over any locals that might be trouble in the future (diplomacy, bribe, etc), think up contingency plans, build a secret escape tunnel, think up ways to gain money which might fund future plans, create useful artifacts, ensure that your subordinates are loyal.

Also go through the evil overlord list so you dont make dumb mistakes:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EvilOverlordList

[nickl_2000]

Writing and editing your evil monologue.


Oh and researching how to become a lich. Creating secret laboratories to work in, making friends, raiding the local cemeteries for dead bodies.

[Kantaki]

Read a good book, drink (iced) tea.
Or eat ice cream. Ice cream is always great.
Especially when you steal it from little kids.
Their tears make it even sweeter.:smallamused:

[Elminster298]

Lie back and crack open a cold one? 😒

[Coranhann]

SCRIBE ANIMATE DEAD SCROLLS!

I had my players fight a low level necromancer (like level 5/6) who was paid to raise a small undead army (20~ish) directly within a city a few days before a siege.
I ended up asking myself "how can he raise & maintain an impressive number of undead", and considered the guy was scribing spells scrolls for weeks before coming, allowing him to create & maintain more undead when the time was right.

I think you could do the same thing quite efficiently. Of course, you also need to have the dead bodies available, but that something you can have your people prepare for you (Storing skeletons of criminals & whatevers)

And you get to look cool either saving the day or ruining it up raising an army of skeletons!

[SaurOps]

Lie back and crack open a cold one? 😒

[Phil Ken Sebben] Multiple Entendre! [/Phil Ken Sebben]

[MrStabby]

Too much reasearch might draw attention to you before you can handle it. Helping you survive to mid/high levels might be better. I suggest crafting pearls of power. Whether you are raising the dead or hiding your school behind a barrage of fireballs they are useful.

[Whyrocknodie]

Twirl your m...oh.

Construct a necropolis on a wind-scarred crag, taking any and all corpses that are unwanted - the criminal, the foreign, the orcish, and so on. Use the bones to build elaborate furnishings and decorations, the ashes from the many pyres a major ingredient in the paint that daubs the walls. Some kind of skull-like appearance for the main gates would be ideal - encourage bats to live there, very important. Maybe some kind of cauldron underlit green or purple? Or blue, that's kind of necromancerish.

[DivisibleByZero]

TL, DR: necromancer looking for ideas on how to spend downtime besides raising Undead and twirling my moustache

You could take up a hobby, like cross stitching.

[nickl_2000]

You could take up a hobby, like cross stitching.

I feel macrame is a little bit more macabre

[Joe the Rat]

Hmm, without the zombie-raising (though I'd recommend skeletons to start, they're more hygienic, and pack down tighter for easy storage), you'll need a hobby. I hear macrame is nice.

What you want to do is: 1) Prepare yourself to rule the blasted land with the iron grip of your skeletal hand, 2) Ingratiate yourself to both party and populace in the meantime, and 3) Be Evil. Hmm...

-A solid education is worth it's weight in soul-stealing gems. You want to be able to do research. Start a library or scriptorium. Hire locals to help. Offer to help educate the children of those who work at your castle/in the local government (What, you think you guys will run things unassisted?). Raising the standard of living for a more educated (and loyal) elite will be key in the long run. You could even offer this to the whole town, if so inclined (Do you prefer hierarchical or egalitarian regimes?). Hopefully you will attract other scholars and students. Keep ones with similar interests, or who would be loyal to your cause. In time, your town will become a center of knowledge, all knowledge, and in time a known holder of Dangerous Secrets to be Kept Safe From the World. Get the party on-board with demiplane research as a way to safely store things Man Was Not Meant to Know, and your phylactery. But first, a reading program.

-Knowing what kills keeps it from killing. Use your understanding of death to stave of disease. You have a few tricks that will keep people healthier. You have some tricks to help kill off the beasts that kill your chickens. Figure out how to make minor necrotic wards that only target likely predators. Or go offensive, and remove vermin from the food stores. Healthier, well fed peasants have more meat and bones to work with. Better yet, healthy, well-fed peasants that have known you for a long time are a better starting point for a loyal living army. And think of them as your people. Even the Evil care about their possessions.

-Home renovations. You have a library to set up. See if you can get a tower dedicated to this. Use the underground layers as your private area for difficult tasks (enchanting items, risky potion-making, cold-blooded torture, etc.) Keep an eye on storage space. Food stores if you get besieged, or need a place for all that fabulous party loot, or hidden caches you can fill with bones for later animation. Help figure out the home defense... you'll need it someday.

-Law enforcement. Leverage your "evil necromancer even though you're not evil (you're totally evil)" reputation to help establish order, deal with issues of theft and violence, and generally having the "undeserved reputation" as being a scary dude who you don't want to be left alone with. Being a bogeyman to criminals while simultaneously being the weird uncle who reads stories to the children will be an enjoyable dichotomy. Other players/party members will appreciate the irony, while you will appreciate it on so many more levels.

-Minor trinkets and balms. Depending on the required skillset for enchanting, you could practice your skills by making small tools and boons to benefit the community, or as presents for notable NPC's, or little strange toys for the children - like that mechanical bird which is totally isn't made from an animated bird skeleton. If you can't make actual healing items, some sort of false life trinket could be used in an emergency when there's a cart accident. Trick cart wheels that pop off on command is another useful thing to develop.

-Dispensation for a comedic undead minion. To lessen the sting later, start getting people used to the idea of having harmless zombies or skeletons around. Start small: Get a goblin or kobold corpse to work with. Nonhuman (or at least non-local-population races) helps with the dissociation - that walking jumble of bones doesn't really look like it was a real person, just some monster-thing. A little institutionalized prejudice helps bring your community together, and makes for a "socially acceptable" animation pool later.Again, I recommend skeletons: Zombies still look enough like people they are really creepy. Skeletons have a lot less identity apparent, and can be more readily decorated for aesthetic palatability. Dress it up piebald and teach it to do pratfalls and pantomime. Get a colorful outfit, and have the skill painted up in traditional "Slightly Macabre Holiday that Preceeds a Holy Feast" designs. Have it wear bells so it doesn't surprise people as it runs around. Then get them used to it stumbling around quietly and occasionally startling someone. "Ahh! Oh, it's just you, Mr. Skullhead." It's your own little funny skeletal dogsbody/torchbearer/errand monster.

The hard part here is selling the party on the idea. An expendable scout. A hireling that doesn't need fed. Always be a little reticent, and don't make it your first idea on what to do. Make it known you know how to do it, but don't be eager to demonstrate.

[Armored Walrus]

Oh and researching how to become a lich.

If you're doing this in my campaign, this step here is going to eat up pretty much all of your free time. I would reward using downtime in this way by giving you a lead you can follow up via adventuring, but it's going to take a lot of research to figure this out.

[Hobbo Jim]

You could always create a cult. Those are fun. They could even help you with your Lich research. Obviously never giving any of them the full story of what your doing, just that it is "imperative to the mission".

Also, if you're trying to get the entire city on your side, promote the idea/religion that the body after death is worthless, and the spirit moves on. Should help also.

[ZorroGames]

Help the undertaker to ensure (other) necromancers cannot raise your dead. Leave a "backdoor" so you can raise them if/when necessary.

[TheProfessor85]

You could take up a hobby, like cross stitching.

Sew clothes for your zombies... and then set them around town as tests, to see if they are passable. "hey, that farmer has been awfully quite this past few days." "yeah i heard his daughter left town suddenly"

[ShikomeKidoMi]

Become friends with the local undertaker.

I'm not kidding. Buy him gifts, take him out to dinner, pay for his kids to go to school. Don't ask for anything yet.

Later, when you're ready for using Animate Dead, then you start asking for things. Like secret tunnels installed between your tower and the cemetery.

[ZorroGames]

Become friends with the local undertaker.

I'm not kidding. Buy him gifts, take him out to dinner, pay for his kids to go to school. Don't ask for anything yet.

Later, when you're ready for using Animate Dead, then you start asking for things. Like secret tunnels installed between your tower and the cemetery.

Nice! Or should I say, "Evil!"?

[Arkhios]

Carouse and spend your gold into decadent pleasures, of course!

[Logosloki]

Researching funeral rites is a good path. It helps with the Neutral charade if it looks like you want to make an effort to allow the dead to rest easy. That way if a few undead are released into the town, they know it isn't you Neutral adventurer who was with the priests earlier that day helping them with consecrating bodies. Also, give alms, helps to the people on your side which makes the mob falter slightly when they come for you. That moments inattention could be a lifesaver, or their undoing. Whichever.

[Sir cryosin]

What is the what's the religion in this town. So
Step 1. Get the villages to like you. To do this offer villages help free of charge. Play with the children and slowly use reenforced behavior method's to make villages ok with necromaney.
Step 2. Write up magical contract's we're the person the signed it must had over there body to you for use.
Step 3. Create a holday were family's pulls the dead body's of the family members. Clean there body's make offerings to them then hold a celebration in there honor.

The hole point is to create a village comfortable with necromaney and are lawful people that believe in contract's and up holding them. Any necromancer can grave rob for corpse's. But have bigger planes you want to rule. The gods are clerics and Paladin's are powerful. But they are not as powerful as civilization. Also humans are just livestock to birth your army of undead.

[Naanomi]

Carefully mummify bodies and stockpile them as a reserve, never know when you will need to refresh your supply

[Sigreid]

Study demonology and celestial law. Sooner or later you are going to need to know all the loop holes against divine or infernal punishment.

[Vogonjeltz]

So I'm playing a necromancer wizard in a d&d game, level 5. Neutral evil somehow convincingly masquerading as true neutral. (Likely due to the fact that I haven't started making zombies yet) My long term goal is to become powerful enough to become a lich and put my phylactery in a demiplane. At this point I'll start abusing create Undead at higher casting levels to get a bunch of wights, have them build up an army and allow me to conquer the world.
My question is: our party has recently obtained a castle and small town to rule, and we are likely to have a bit of downtime as we get it all set up. And since I don't want to start using more flashy necromancy until I'm more powerful and can do so in relative safety, I don't know what to do in my free time. Work on getting the people to trust me, scribe scrolls, the DM has made enchanting items not only possible but easy. (I was able to add a d4 of fire damage to the bladelock's greatsword)

TL, DR: necromancer looking for ideas on how to spend downtime besides raising Undead and twirling my moustache

You'll want to create a spare spellbook for that Demiplane. Otherwise you won't be able to leave if you failed to memorize Banishment (or Wish) if you were killed and reformed at the Phylactery. Also a change of clothes if you care about not walking around in just your decaying skeleton.


Use the underground layers as your private area for difficult tasks (enchanting items, risky potion-making, cold-blooded torture, etc.)

I would strenuously advise against conducting anythink risky in the load-bearing locations of your domicile. Assuming you survive some mishap you do not want to have the entire building then collapse on you.

Instead, why not set up that laboratory near the top of a nice tower?

[gfishfunk]

Calligraphy. Its an appropriately esoteric art-form that can be used in conjunction with spells and spellbooks.

[Sariel Vailo]

Dance with his jndead minions. Play chess with them. All because the damn pcs are taking their time

[Slipperychicken]

Gardening.

[Beelzebubba]

Animate or enslave a bunch of Bulettes or other burrowing animals and join together every graveyard in the region via a network of tunnels - all the better to steal bodies.

Dig up the family members of influential people in the region and use magic to draw out blackmail material.

Cast the evil version of Hallow everywhere you possibly can, and then stock those areas with a) plenty of zombies, b) magics to warn you of intrusions, and c) lots of glyphs of warding.

:D

[Scots Dragon]

Look over maps from a high-backed throne while holding and petting a cat.

[Spore]

See if you can get a few monster corpses. Get into embalming (or else your trade smells!). And most importantly: Plan ahead so that your undead are your primary form of dealing with things but not your ONLY way. Get a few morally grey hirelings to do the dirty work (digging up graves, carrying loot, fending off the occasional bandit).

Or found a necromantic cult (http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Kel%27Thuzad) if you have enough Charisma.

[ThurlRavenscrof]

Find a nice girl and settle down

[Sigreid]

Get the disguise spell and run a brothel...:smallbiggrin:

[Coidzor]

It's not much, but each undead under your control can contribute X amount of value towards mundane crafting. They also only need the raw materials, appropriate tools, and space to work, rather than needing things like light, unless they're working on something large enough to need to be able to see more than their darkvision allows. So it'd be relatively easy to put them in a a place that's verboten, pop in to reassert control, put in raw material and take out finished product and not have to worry about much.

I suppose you could see if legal codes could be considered a Tool proficiency.