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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Class Deathless "Dread Necromancer" Homebrew (Thanato/Zoemancer)



muichimotsu
2018-01-30, 06:52 PM
Been trying to forge this class, especially to playtest in a campaign as a main character. Basically, it would be a dread necromancer modified to be good aligned, channel positive energy, create deathless and ultimately become a deathless "lich" (there's no precedent for that, the closest I can imagine is either the archlich or baelnorn)

Major things I'm looking for are balance with the class features, some of which are homebrewing spells and creatures, since the most we have is Create Deathless and Create Greater Deathless, not Create Lesser Deathless. Not that there are many Deathless creatures anyway.

But I'm also wondering how to pick out spells, since the general idea is that this is almost like a Cleric version of the Dread Necromancer, albeit with a more specific spell list out of their focused study on necromancy for good.



Thanatomancer/Zoemancer
A practitioner of ancient and spiritual arts, the thanatomancer seeks to prolong their life for a noble purpose, not unwilling to step into the taboo of engaging with death to do so

When an adventurer thinks of necromancy, they often don’t consider that it can be used for good, not an innately evil school of magic in spite of it commonly being used for nefarious purposes, such as lichdom and dominating the dead to serve their creators.

A Thanatomancer instead, thinks that the school should be called either Thanatomancy, specifying that it involves death in general, or more broadly, Zoemancy, manipulating life in itself, either giving or taking along with manipulating it to induce fear, etc.

There is much in common between a Thanatomancer and good aligned clerics, both regarding the undead as abominations that must be eliminated to maintain a proper cycle, though a Thanatomancer is not unwilling to engage in the practice of raising corpses as servants, but doesn’t see them as expendable, valuing each one as much as a fellow adventurer.

In dealing with death, a Thanatomancer can seem detached, death something they accept as inevitable, but that doesn’t mean they feel nothing when one of their allies, deathless or living, passes on.

Some Thanatomancers don’t adventure, preferring to protect holy sites, especially connected to deathless entities such as the Undying Court of Aerenal, or even good deities such as Pelor, wanting to keep the undead away from such places and preferring non interventionist defensive measures rather than engaging directly with the threats that they cannot see. In this way, they mimic the deathless they strive to become, often wanting to deal with threats in a moderate manner, not becoming the very extreme they seek to eliminate



Hit die-d6
Skill points-2 + Int
Class Features
Spellcasting is your greatest strength, although your rate of spell acquisition is closer to that of a sorcerer than a wizard. You make up for slower spellcasting progression with a wide array of special abilities, including a touch attack that uses positive energy to heal your allies. This attack increases in strength and gains additional effects as you gain levels. Because many of your abilities rely on your entering melee, you are proficient with light armor and have the ability to cast your spells while wearing light armor. You also gain a resilience to damage that wizards or sorcerers do not possess.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A thanatomancer is proficient with all simple weapons and with one martial weapon of her choice. Her choice of martial weapon is made when the character takes her first level of thanatomancer and cannot be changed.
Thanatomancers are also proficient with light armor, but not with shields. The somatic components required for thanatomancer spells are simple, so members of this class can cast thanatomancer spells while wearing light armor without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. She still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells derived from other classes. In addition, if a thanatomancer wears medium or heavy armor, or uses a shield, she incurs the same chance of arcane spell failure as any other arcane caster if the spell in question has a somatic component (and most do).

Skills: Concentration, Craft, Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Heal, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (History) Knowledge (religion), Profession, Spellcraft

Spellcasting: A thanatomancer casts arcane spells, which are drawn from the thanatomancer's spell list (see page 87). Like a sorcerer, she can cast any spell she knows without preparing it ahead of time. When a thanatomancer gains access to a new level of spells, she automatically knows all the spells for that level given on the thanatomancer's spell list. Thanatomancers also have the option of adding to their existing spell list through their advanced learning ability as they increase in level (see below).
To cast a spell, a thanatomancer must have a Charisma score of 10 + the spell's level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a thanatomancer's spell is 10 + the spell's level + her Charisma modifier. Like other spellcasters, a thanatomancer can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given in Table 5—2:. In addition, she receives bonus spells for a high Charisma score (see Table 1—1 on page 8 of the Player's Handbook).

Vital Touch (Su): Positive energy flows through a thanatomancer's body, concentrating in her hands. At will, but no more than once per round, she can make a melee touch attack against a living foe that heals 1d8 points of damage, +1 per four class levels. This touch damages undead creatures, dealing 1d8 hit point per touch, +1 per four class levels. A thanatomancer can use the spectral hand spell to deliver this attack from a distance.

Turn Undead (Su): A thanatomancer can rebuke or command undead creatures by channeling positive energy through her body. See the cleric class feature described on page 33 of the Player's Handbook.

Deathless Body: Starting at 2nd level, a thanatomancer begins her journey into undeath. The first symptom is her body's increased resilience to physical harm. She gains DR 2/bludgeoning and magic. As the thanatomancer increases in level, this DR increases in effectiveness, to DR 4 at 7th level, DR 6 at 11th level, and DR 8 at 15th level.

Positive Energy Burst (Su): Beginning at 3rd level, a thanatomancer gains the ability to emit a burst of positive energy from her body, harming undead creatures within 5 feet of her. This burst deals 1d4 points of damage per class level. A successful Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 her class level + Cha modifier) reduces damage by half. Living creatures within this burst are healed the same amount of hit points as the damage she deals to undead creatures. A thanatomancer can use this ability once per day at 3rd level, and one additional time per day for every five levels she attains beyond 3rd (2/day at 8th level, 3/day at 13th level, and 4/day at 18th level).

Thanatomancy Focus: Starting at 4th level, a thanatomancer treats conjuration spells of the healing subschool as necromancy spells and has access to the cure light wounds spell and higher levels of the spell as they gain access to them. They also gain Spell Focus: Necromancy as a bonus feat.

Mental Bastion: Starting at 4th level, a thanatomancer gains a +2 bonus on saving throws made to resist sleep, stunning, paralysis, poison, or disease. This bonus increases to +4 at 14th level.

Fear Aura (Su): Beginning at 5th level, a thanatomancer radiates a 5-foot-radius fear aura as a free action. Enemies in the area must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 her class level + her Cha modifier) or become shaken. A creature who successfully saves cannot be affected by that thanatomancer's fear aura for 24 hours.

Curse Touch (Su): Starting at 6th level, once per day a thanatomancer can use her vital touch to inflict disease on a creature she touches. This ability works like the bestow curse spell inflicting the disease of her choice immediately, unless the target makes a successful Fortitude save (DC10 + 1/2 her class level + her Cha modifier). The DC for subsequent saving throws to resist the effects of the curse depends on the curse inflicted
Activating this class feature is a swift action. The effect lasts until the thanatomancer makes a successful ethereal attack. The spectral hand spell enables a thanatomancer to deliver a cursed touch attack from a distance.
A thanatomancer can use this ability once per day at 6th level, twice per day at 11th level, and three times per day at 16th level.

Create Deathless: Beginning at 7th level, a thanatomancer can revive a corpse with positive energy, as the “create lesser deathless” spell 3/day. At 12th level, this advances to a “create deathless spell” effect, or you can create 2x as many lesser deathless. At 17th level, the effect is advanced to a create greater deathless spell, or you can create 2x as many deathless or 4x as many lesser deathless

Deathless Mastery: All deathless creatures created by a thanatomancer who has reached 8th level or higher gain a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength and Dexterity and 2 additional hit points per Hit Die.
In addition, when a dread necromancer uses the create deathless spell to create deathless, she can control 4 + her Charisma bonus HD worth of deathless creatures per class level (rather than the 4 HD per level normally granted by the spell).
Similarly, when a thanatomancer casts the control deathless spell, the spell targets up to (2 + her Cha bonus) HD/level of deathless creatures, rather than the 2 HD/level normally granted by the spell.

Negative Energy Resistance: Beginning at 9th level, a thanatomancer gains a +4 bonus on saving throws made to resist negative energy effects, including energy drain, some ability drain, and inflict spells.

Light Fortification: Starting at 10th level, a thanatomancer gains 25% resistance to critical hits; this is the equivalent of the light fortification armor special ability described on page 219 of the Dungeon Master's Guide. At 17th level, this fortification increases to 50%.

Icon of Holiness (Su)-Starting at 12th level, a thanatomancer constantly generates an area of effect that functions as a double powered consecrate spell. Deathless are empowered and undead are weakened within 60 feet of the thanatomancer

Ethereal Projection (Su): Starting at 19th level, three times per day, for up to 1 hour at a time a thanatomancer can send a wraithlike likeness of itself up to one mile from the thanatomancer’s actual location. The thanatomancer can see through this projection and into the Ethereal Plane as well, can hear and speak through it, and even cast spells through it. The link between the thanatomancer and the projection transcends physical and all known magical barriers, and can even cross between the Material and the Ethereal planes. The projection is AC 20, has a fly speed of 20 feet (perfect maneuverability), and has the hit points of the thanatomancer, but it cannot carry solid objects and it has none of the thanatomancer’s special attacks or qualities. if the projection takes damage, the thanatomancer takes half the damage (round down); the projection vanishes if it loses all its hit points. It cannot be turned or magically dispelled. A projection can push against or move small things, so it may push its finger through sand or ashes to write a message, or turn a page of an open book, but it cannot carry things. The thanatomancer can have only one projection in operation at a time.

Deathless Transformation: When a thanatomancer attains 20th level, she undergoes a mystical transformation and becomes a deathless. Her type changes to deathless, and she gains all the traits of the deathless (see page 317 of the Monster Manual). She no longer has a Constitution score, all her existing Hit Dice become d12s, and she must reroll her hit points.
A thanatomancer who is not humanoid does not gain this class feature.


THANATOMANCER SPELL LIST
The thanatomancer’s spell list appears below.
1st Level: bane, chill touch, detect magic, detect undead, doom, hide from undead, cure light wounds, painless death, ray of enfeeblement, ancient knowledge

2nd Level: blindness/deafness, command undead, gentle repose, ghoul touch, cure moderate wounds, living undeath, life bolt, shroud of undeath, spawn screen, spectral hand, expose the dead, mindburn

3rd Level: affliction, crown of the grave, death ward,greater disrupt undead, halt undead, halt deathless, healing touch, cure serious wounds, ray of exhaustion, spark of life, speak with dead, heart’s ease

4th Level: bestow curse, death ward, delay death, dispel magic, fear, cure critical wounds, positive energy aura, watchful ancestors

5th Level: greater dispel magic, incorporeal nova, magic jar, mark of justice, mass cure light wounds, opalescent glare, slay living, undeath to death, waves of fatigue, glimpse of eternity, undying aura

6th Level: Circle of death, create deathless, geas/quest, mass cure moderate wounds, symbol of fear, waves of exhaustion, semblance of life, secure corpse
7th Level: Control undead, Control deathless, destruction, finger of death, greater bestow curse, mass cure light wounds, righteous glare, symbol of weakness, leech undeath
8th Level: Clone, Create greater deathless, last judgment, mass death ward, symbol of death
9th Level: Astral projection, soul bind, wail of the banshee



Create Lesser Deathless Creatures
Undying Soldier, Undying Corpse, Undying Skeleton

Create Deathless Creatures
Undying Councilor

Create Greater Deathless Creatures
Sacred Watcher Paladin (Level 9~)

muichimotsu
2018-02-10, 11:25 PM
Edits made, corrections on touch attack using positive energy in this homebrew