Death Master - Dragon Compendium. Builds?

[Sergio]

Hello,
I wasn't able to find anything about death master - dragon compendium. Actually, I've discovered this class today by pure chance.

Did anyone play it?

ARe there handbooks anywhere?

Builds?

Thanks for help

[Thurbane]

The issue with the Death Master is that both a Wizard Specialized in Necromancy and a Dread Necromancer do the same thing, but more efficiently.

I guess you could capitzalize on the fact that you are a prepared spellbook caster (Boccob's Blessed Book, Elven Spell Lore etc.) who gets innate rebuke attempts. Sadly a lot of options specifically have a Wizard req (Collegiate Wizard, Spell Mastery/Uncanny Forethought), and would require house-ruling from a DM to work.

In short, compared to a Necromancer Wizard loaded up with ACFs and the right feats, a Death Master is very underwhelming. It's a class I want to like more, but when all it's doing is a half-hearted job of emulating a tier one option, it's hard to get enthusiastic.

[Ellrin]

Hello,
I wasn't able to find anything about death master - dragon compendium. Actually, I've discovered this class today by pure chance.

Did anyone play it?

ARe there handbooks anywhere?

Builds?

Thanks for help

I played a character that used it and cleric to go into True Necro, but I was playing a True Necromancer, so making a halfway competent build wasn't exactly high on my list of priorities at the time.

[ZamielVanWeber]

I played a character that used it and cleric to go into True Necro, but I was playing a True Necromancer, so making a halfway competent build wasn't exactly high on my list of priorities at the time.

True necromancer is pretty solid overall if you know what you are doing. Best I've ever done with it was 17th cleric casting/14th Wizard casting with a bunch of really cool (and some fantastically awful) class features. Not sure if death master can improve those numbers at all though.

Edit:
So I checked and a cleric/death master entry into True Necromancer is not doing much good. The three accelerated divine casters, Divine Crusader, Ur-Priest, and Apostle of Peace have various issues. Divine Crusader costs you a net 4 caster levels and requires a Dragon Magazine feat. Ur-Priest and Apostle of Peace both also cost you 4 caster levels and both require you finding the death domain another way AND Apostle of Peace has a ton of other issues. Honestly, unless you can find a way to cast Summon Undead II as a divine spell without taking more than 1 level in cleric it is a no go.

Double Edit:
Discussing death master: DM 20 is honestly not a terrible way to go.The chassis is not too shabby (barely worse than cleric) and you do get some nice scaling class features. The fact that you get rebuking means you gain access to divine feats although some need some jerrymandering to get to work for you.
Your spell list is quite solid overall. You get a bunch of wizard spells, many of them good, and a few cleric spells. You gain access to Animate Dead incredibly early (3rd vs Clerics 5th, Wizard's 7th, and Dread Necromancer's 8th) and have ready access to deaecrate, unlike some of them. I would not go hogwild on minions though, as you have no class features that boost them, unlike cleric and dread necromancer. Simply enjoy the early game access but don't bet the farm on it. IMHO Deep Imaskari is a good choice for Death Master, especially since it's design causes it to capitalize on DM's nice early game.