Lord Von Becker
2018-09-13, 08:23 PM
Hello all. I hope this doesn't sound arrogant, but I've found the 5th Edition options for Necromancers to be woefully lacking. No zombie armies, barely any minions, and slow to get the minions it has. Middle Finger of Vecna tried to patch that by giving you Frankenstien's Monster, which still wasn't a kingdom-conquering army. So I came up with an alternative.
(Note that this was written when I wasn't quite as familiar the rules. Also, I no longer advocate specific GP costs for material components, but since I haven't written up a fix for it, I'm leaving that alone for now.)
Undead Horde
Necromancy cantrip
Available to: Every class with Animate Dead on their spell list, although Oathbreaker Paladins will need specific tweaking for that.
V, S, M (an appropriate mass of bodies or bodyparts from any sort of formerly-living creature, used up during casting)
Casting Time: Ten minutes
Duration: Permanent
Range: Touch
You spend some time animating various corpses into a Horde of Undead. (See stat block below.)
The horde will obey your commands and those of anyone you designate, but it cannot understand orders with more than one qualifier, e.g. "kill every humanoid you see unless they are wearing a red uniform", on its own. As such, direct control is usually considered preferable.
If you already have a horde of undead when you create a new one, you may also choose to repair or recreate it instead of making a new one.
If you cast this after having reached 5th level, you can make a Huge-sized horde whose Flailing deals 2d6 damage.
At 11th level you may make a Gargantuan horde whose Flailing deals 3d6 damage.
At 17th level you may make a Colossal horde whose Flailing deals 4d6 damage. (Colossal is a vague size category larger than Gargantuan, better described in miles than in feet. As a general rule, damage at this stage is more about destroying the horde's cohesion than actually destroying its members.)
The horde is treated as a single creature with the following statistics, determined at the time of its creation:
Undead Horde (Default)
Large horde of Medium undead, unaligned
Armor Class [equal to the creator’s Spell Save DC]
Hit Points [equal to its creator's HP * 2]
Speed 20 ft.
Strength, Constitution and Wisdom equal to its creator's casting stat.
Dexterity 10 (+0)
Intelligence 3 (-4)
Charisma 5 (-3)
Saving Throws [equal to creator's], but has Disadvantage on Dexterity saves
Skills Intimidation +5
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities exhaustion
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Blindsense 5 ft., passive Perception [equal to creator's Spell Save DC]
Languages Understands commands in the languages of its creator, but can't speak without explicit instruction
Challange Half creator's challenge rating, if alone? I don't have the full DMG guidelines.
Controllable. If the horde is within 100 feet of its creator or commander they have designated, it is considered to be under direct command. While under direct command the horde has no actions of its own, but can be granted one if a commander takes an action to instruct it. If granted an action in this way, the horde carries out the command immediately.
Horde. The horde can occupy another creature’s space and vice versa, and the horde can move through any opening large enough for a Medium undead. It cannot be grappled by anything smaller than the entire horde.
Actions
Flailing. The horde deals 1d6 slashing, bludgeoning, or piercing damage to all designated creatures and objects within its reach. A Dexterity save against its' creator's Spell Save DC negates this damage.
Grasping. The horde makes a grapple attempt against every creature within its reach, ignoring relative sizes. The horde's Athletics check is equal to its' creator's Spell Save DC. If the the horde is under direct command, it will release all grapples after one round unless commanded as an action to maintain it.
Comments: Yes, it's somewhat mechanically optimal to give this to a max-CON dwarven barbarian. I've decided this isn't a bug. I've tried to balance this appropriately - you can see my logic downthread - but I don't know how well the speed limit works to balance it in practice, or how gamechanging it is in its meatshield, sentry, and porter duties. Playtest comments would be very welcome.
LATER THOUGHTS: In retrospect, I think this is basically just letting necromancer PCs act on the same scale as other spellcaster types. RAW Necromancers are, bizarrely, the low-fantasy, small-scale wizard option, when I the one time I played one I'd gone in expecting them to be the highest-setting-impact fantasy archetype I could think of. Whee!
Warlock Invocation:
Deathless Resilience
Prerequisite: undead horde cantrip
When you create an undead horde, you may choose to give it hit points equal to your character level times 20.
(Notes: Concept courtesy of Geigue.)
Feat:
Bonecrafter
Prerequisite: undead horde cantrip
Increase your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma by 1.
You have learned the intricacies of shaping necrotic anatomy. You gain the following benefits when making or remaking an undead horde.
*You may make its constituent members average as Large, adjusting its Horde feature to match. If you do so, add your spellcasting modifier to the damage of the horde's Flailing.
*You may make its constituent members Tiny, and adjust its Horde feature to match.
*If you have adequate material for wings, you may give it a fly speed of 40 ft., and the ability to hover. (This will likely be much easier if its constituents are Tiny.)
*If you have an adequate supply of ranged weapons and ammunition, you may give it the ability to use its Flailing against a cube the same size as the horde's Space, centered on a point within the weapons' range, instead of all creatures within its reach.
(Notes: This is a half-feat because I don't expect Large wings to be more common than magic weaponry. If they are, well, enjoy your zombie dragon army - one stat point won't do much to make the Fighter less overshadowed.)
Craft Undead
Ritual
5th-level necromancy
Available to: All classes with Create Undead on their spell list.
V, S, M (the corpse of one or more creatures, variable GP cost)
Casting Time: 1 hour
Duration: Permanent
Range: Touch
You exert your power and skill, crafting a monster to haunt the earth from the remains of the dead.
When it is done, you have created any creature or set of creatures of your choice, with the following restrictions.
Their type must be Undead, the corpse(s) you used must be appropriate, and their total CR must be equal to or less than the level of spell slot you used to cast this. You may devise new Undead with your DM’s approval.
During the creation process, you may issue a single command. If the resulting creature attempts to disobey it, it must make a Charisma save against your Spell Save DC, and be forced to obey it if they fail. If they ever succeed on this save, they make all future saves to disobey it with Proficiency and Advantage.
Comments: Be nice to your Death Knights, kiddies. I may also reskin this as Create Chimaera for the Transmuters, if I can find enough ways to distinguish them.
Lichhood
Ritual
5th level necromancy
Available to: All spellcasters.
S, M (embalming supplies worth at least 10,000 GP which are consumed during casting)
Casting Time: 10 Days
Duration: Instant
Range: Self
You imbue an object (one of your vital organs or an object of great sentimental value) with your essence, which causes your body to waste away and die. Ten days after beginning the spell, you are reborn with the following changes:
*You have earned the title of Lich (if you primarily considered a spellcaster) or Death Knight (if you are not).
*You are undead.
*As an action, you may expend a spell slot to heal up to 12 hit points per slot level, divided as you choose between yourself and any other undead within 100 feet.
*You gain immunity to poison damage, and to the blindness, deafness, disease, exhaustion, and poisoned conditions.
Your [still-beating heart/beloved spouse's cenotaph/first spellbook/holy icon/other chosen item] is also changed, having become the receptacle for your soul.*
- Its' saves and maximum hit points start out identical to yours, and will increase if yours do. They cannot be decreased by temporary measures.
- Your maximum hit points are always equal to its' current hit points, and cannot be reduced by any means aside from damaging it.
- You can repair it fully over the course of a short rest, so long as you can access it. This is the only way it can regain HP.
- Its' Armor Class is 20.
- It does not have Immunity to psychic damage, unless you do.
If you are ever killed, you will regrow from the imbued object ten days later, so long as it has not also been destroyed.
*D&D has traditionally called this sort of object a Phylactery, which certainly sounds cool, but doesn't have a lot of thematic resonance. (The closest it gets is as a term for "wearable charm", but that was probably co-opted from a Jewish religious practice.)
Anyway, I usually say Heart if I'm being dramatic or Lich-heart if I'm being specific, and I might adopt Serdtse (https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/dynamic-translation/9963d3a935de06b7dc7fc47cd678cfa4b78006f0.html) (because of Koschei the Deathless (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koschei)) if I want something more clinical.
Comments: Another thing whose official rules I only know secondhand, but which made a big impression on me. Liches are so cool, you guys.
Later comment: After some consideration, I decided this should be available to all casters - Paladin and Wizard might be the most iconic, but Goth Bard and Goth Druid both have potential, and a 20th level Arcane Trickster
The healing thing has gone through several iterations, but hopefully it's balanced well enough now? Immunity to blindness is at least flavorful.
Also, there is an edge case in which your lich-heart gets reduced to 0 HP but stabilizes. I decided to leave it in because it sounds like a campaign hook.
Next post has my overhaul of the Wizard's School of Necromancy.
(Note that this was written when I wasn't quite as familiar the rules. Also, I no longer advocate specific GP costs for material components, but since I haven't written up a fix for it, I'm leaving that alone for now.)
Undead Horde
Necromancy cantrip
Available to: Every class with Animate Dead on their spell list, although Oathbreaker Paladins will need specific tweaking for that.
V, S, M (an appropriate mass of bodies or bodyparts from any sort of formerly-living creature, used up during casting)
Casting Time: Ten minutes
Duration: Permanent
Range: Touch
You spend some time animating various corpses into a Horde of Undead. (See stat block below.)
The horde will obey your commands and those of anyone you designate, but it cannot understand orders with more than one qualifier, e.g. "kill every humanoid you see unless they are wearing a red uniform", on its own. As such, direct control is usually considered preferable.
If you already have a horde of undead when you create a new one, you may also choose to repair or recreate it instead of making a new one.
If you cast this after having reached 5th level, you can make a Huge-sized horde whose Flailing deals 2d6 damage.
At 11th level you may make a Gargantuan horde whose Flailing deals 3d6 damage.
At 17th level you may make a Colossal horde whose Flailing deals 4d6 damage. (Colossal is a vague size category larger than Gargantuan, better described in miles than in feet. As a general rule, damage at this stage is more about destroying the horde's cohesion than actually destroying its members.)
The horde is treated as a single creature with the following statistics, determined at the time of its creation:
Undead Horde (Default)
Large horde of Medium undead, unaligned
Armor Class [equal to the creator’s Spell Save DC]
Hit Points [equal to its creator's HP * 2]
Speed 20 ft.
Strength, Constitution and Wisdom equal to its creator's casting stat.
Dexterity 10 (+0)
Intelligence 3 (-4)
Charisma 5 (-3)
Saving Throws [equal to creator's], but has Disadvantage on Dexterity saves
Skills Intimidation +5
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities exhaustion
Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Blindsense 5 ft., passive Perception [equal to creator's Spell Save DC]
Languages Understands commands in the languages of its creator, but can't speak without explicit instruction
Challange Half creator's challenge rating, if alone? I don't have the full DMG guidelines.
Controllable. If the horde is within 100 feet of its creator or commander they have designated, it is considered to be under direct command. While under direct command the horde has no actions of its own, but can be granted one if a commander takes an action to instruct it. If granted an action in this way, the horde carries out the command immediately.
Horde. The horde can occupy another creature’s space and vice versa, and the horde can move through any opening large enough for a Medium undead. It cannot be grappled by anything smaller than the entire horde.
Actions
Flailing. The horde deals 1d6 slashing, bludgeoning, or piercing damage to all designated creatures and objects within its reach. A Dexterity save against its' creator's Spell Save DC negates this damage.
Grasping. The horde makes a grapple attempt against every creature within its reach, ignoring relative sizes. The horde's Athletics check is equal to its' creator's Spell Save DC. If the the horde is under direct command, it will release all grapples after one round unless commanded as an action to maintain it.
Comments: Yes, it's somewhat mechanically optimal to give this to a max-CON dwarven barbarian. I've decided this isn't a bug. I've tried to balance this appropriately - you can see my logic downthread - but I don't know how well the speed limit works to balance it in practice, or how gamechanging it is in its meatshield, sentry, and porter duties. Playtest comments would be very welcome.
LATER THOUGHTS: In retrospect, I think this is basically just letting necromancer PCs act on the same scale as other spellcaster types. RAW Necromancers are, bizarrely, the low-fantasy, small-scale wizard option, when I the one time I played one I'd gone in expecting them to be the highest-setting-impact fantasy archetype I could think of. Whee!
Warlock Invocation:
Deathless Resilience
Prerequisite: undead horde cantrip
When you create an undead horde, you may choose to give it hit points equal to your character level times 20.
(Notes: Concept courtesy of Geigue.)
Feat:
Bonecrafter
Prerequisite: undead horde cantrip
Increase your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma by 1.
You have learned the intricacies of shaping necrotic anatomy. You gain the following benefits when making or remaking an undead horde.
*You may make its constituent members average as Large, adjusting its Horde feature to match. If you do so, add your spellcasting modifier to the damage of the horde's Flailing.
*You may make its constituent members Tiny, and adjust its Horde feature to match.
*If you have adequate material for wings, you may give it a fly speed of 40 ft., and the ability to hover. (This will likely be much easier if its constituents are Tiny.)
*If you have an adequate supply of ranged weapons and ammunition, you may give it the ability to use its Flailing against a cube the same size as the horde's Space, centered on a point within the weapons' range, instead of all creatures within its reach.
(Notes: This is a half-feat because I don't expect Large wings to be more common than magic weaponry. If they are, well, enjoy your zombie dragon army - one stat point won't do much to make the Fighter less overshadowed.)
Craft Undead
Ritual
5th-level necromancy
Available to: All classes with Create Undead on their spell list.
V, S, M (the corpse of one or more creatures, variable GP cost)
Casting Time: 1 hour
Duration: Permanent
Range: Touch
You exert your power and skill, crafting a monster to haunt the earth from the remains of the dead.
When it is done, you have created any creature or set of creatures of your choice, with the following restrictions.
Their type must be Undead, the corpse(s) you used must be appropriate, and their total CR must be equal to or less than the level of spell slot you used to cast this. You may devise new Undead with your DM’s approval.
During the creation process, you may issue a single command. If the resulting creature attempts to disobey it, it must make a Charisma save against your Spell Save DC, and be forced to obey it if they fail. If they ever succeed on this save, they make all future saves to disobey it with Proficiency and Advantage.
Comments: Be nice to your Death Knights, kiddies. I may also reskin this as Create Chimaera for the Transmuters, if I can find enough ways to distinguish them.
Lichhood
Ritual
5th level necromancy
Available to: All spellcasters.
S, M (embalming supplies worth at least 10,000 GP which are consumed during casting)
Casting Time: 10 Days
Duration: Instant
Range: Self
You imbue an object (one of your vital organs or an object of great sentimental value) with your essence, which causes your body to waste away and die. Ten days after beginning the spell, you are reborn with the following changes:
*You have earned the title of Lich (if you primarily considered a spellcaster) or Death Knight (if you are not).
*You are undead.
*As an action, you may expend a spell slot to heal up to 12 hit points per slot level, divided as you choose between yourself and any other undead within 100 feet.
*You gain immunity to poison damage, and to the blindness, deafness, disease, exhaustion, and poisoned conditions.
Your [still-beating heart/beloved spouse's cenotaph/first spellbook/holy icon/other chosen item] is also changed, having become the receptacle for your soul.*
- Its' saves and maximum hit points start out identical to yours, and will increase if yours do. They cannot be decreased by temporary measures.
- Your maximum hit points are always equal to its' current hit points, and cannot be reduced by any means aside from damaging it.
- You can repair it fully over the course of a short rest, so long as you can access it. This is the only way it can regain HP.
- Its' Armor Class is 20.
- It does not have Immunity to psychic damage, unless you do.
If you are ever killed, you will regrow from the imbued object ten days later, so long as it has not also been destroyed.
*D&D has traditionally called this sort of object a Phylactery, which certainly sounds cool, but doesn't have a lot of thematic resonance. (The closest it gets is as a term for "wearable charm", but that was probably co-opted from a Jewish religious practice.)
Anyway, I usually say Heart if I'm being dramatic or Lich-heart if I'm being specific, and I might adopt Serdtse (https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/dynamic-translation/9963d3a935de06b7dc7fc47cd678cfa4b78006f0.html) (because of Koschei the Deathless (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koschei)) if I want something more clinical.
Comments: Another thing whose official rules I only know secondhand, but which made a big impression on me. Liches are so cool, you guys.
Later comment: After some consideration, I decided this should be available to all casters - Paladin and Wizard might be the most iconic, but Goth Bard and Goth Druid both have potential, and a 20th level Arcane Trickster
The healing thing has gone through several iterations, but hopefully it's balanced well enough now? Immunity to blindness is at least flavorful.
Also, there is an edge case in which your lich-heart gets reduced to 0 HP but stabilizes. I decided to leave it in because it sounds like a campaign hook.
Next post has my overhaul of the Wizard's School of Necromancy.