Warlock Necromancer

[Stryyke]

I was looking at Warlock as a possible next character, and I notice they had Animate Dead. Is there a build where a Warlock primary can become an effective Necromancer? Perhaps even BBEG caliber?

3.5 all first party material.

[ColorBlindNinja]

The most noteworthy thing about the Dead Walk is that you don't have to use an expensive material component to animate your minions.

The invocation only lasts minutes per level if you do that, though.


Other than that, I don't think Warlocks get any other abilities to support Necromancy.

I guess you could dip into Dread Necromancer, that might make an interesting build.

[Stryyke]

The most noteworthy thing about the Dead Walk is that you don't have to use an expensive material component to animate your minions.

The invocation only lasts minutes per level if you do that, though.


Other than that, I don't think Warlocks get any other abilities to support Necromancy.

I guess you could dip into Dread Necromancer, that might make an interesting build.

What resource is Dread Necromancer out of?

[Troacctid]

Warlocks can do the undead thing well enough. I recommend the Lady/Lord of the Dead (https://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/dx20021031x) and Paragnostic Apostle prestige classes.

[ColorBlindNinja]

What resource is Dread Necromancer out of?

Heroes of Horror.

They're spontaneous CHA focused Spellcasters.

[Falontani]

Dread Necromancer 8/Warlock 1/Nosomatic Chirugen 1/Eldritch Theurge 10
(Heroes of horror/Complete Arcane/Dragonmarked/Complete Mage)

1) Maximize Spell (PHB)
3) Master of Day and Night (Player's Guide to Eberron, its hiding)
6) Least Dragonmark of Healing (Eberron Campaign Setting)
9) Practiced Spellcaster: Warlock (Complete Divine? I think?
12/15/18 can be whatever feats you would like, I am partial to: Improved Unarmed Strike, Superior Unarmed Strike, and Improved Natural Attack: Unarmed Strike (PHB, Tome of Battle, Eberron Campaign Setting or MM)

You have free maximize spell on any inflict or cure spell you cast
You may trade out uses of your at will invocations to cast inflict spells of equal level (Devour Magic is a 6th level equivalent spell, meaning you have at will Inflict Minor, Inflict Light, Inflict Moderate, Inflict Serious, Inflict Critical, Mass Inflict Light, and Mass Inflict Moderate) and they do untyped damage instead of negative damage (meaning they can be used to hurt undead)

You may add any AOE spell or Touch spell to your eldritch blasts (meaning harms and inflict critical wounds channeled through your eldritch blast)

Your Dread Necromancer Caster Level is 18 and you have ninth level spells from it
Your Warlock Caster Level is 16 and you have a single Greater Invocation

If you wish you could do the following combo:
Cast Chill Touch or Vampiric Touch (both of these spells last for multiple touch attacks)
Use the Eldritch Blast Shape: Hideous Blow to perform an Unarmed Strike (or a charnel touch), upon hitting you channel a touch spell through your eldritch blast, dealing (assuming vampiric touch) 9d6 negative damage, 7d6 eldritch blast damage, and either 4d8+18 or 150 negative damage alongside your unarmed strike or charnel touch.

Not to mention your undead control pool is EITHER (RAW is quite clear that it should be the former, however RAI is easily argued to be the latter) 4+cha mod*8 OR 4+cha mod*18 (either way with a decent charisma this will net your as much or more than a wizard of equal level)

[ColorBlindNinja]

Nosomatic Chirugen

Is that prestige class? Where is it from?

[Edenbeast]

You could consider the Eldritch Disciple prestige class from Complete Mage. It combines divine spell casting progression and turn/rebuke undead with invocation and eldritch blast progression. If you're mostly interested in creating an undead army, then I think cleric is the best way to go. And since you qualify with 1 level warlock and 4 levels of cleric, you only lose two caster levels in divine spell casting and one level in rebuke undead. There are feats to compensate for that (e.g. improved turning), and the more necromancy focussed feats from Libris Mortis (e.g. corpse crafter line).

[umbergod]

Is that prestige class? Where is it from?

Eberron book called Dragonmarked, like the post lists :p

[ColorBlindNinja]

Eberron book called Dragonmarked, like the post lists :p

I see, I do believe the formatting threw me off. :smallredface:

[Jowgen]

The Corpsecrafter line of feats should work with the Dead Walk invocation, as it specifies "as the animate dead spell".

Warlock qualifies for Craft Wondrous Item, so spellstitching your undead (and yourself) is on the table.

See the Necrotic Oddities handbook for animate dead options.

You could combo this with the Summoning related invocations to do a bit of a minion-mancing thing. Then maybe prestige into something that increases your undead HD limit. Horned Harbinger comes to mind, although I don't think it works to stack for Invocations/EB, but you win some you loose some.

[GrayDeath]

Another important thing to remember is the Warlocks ability to craft literally anything at Level 12, which, if you want to equip your hordes, saves a lot of effort/money.

ALso, thanks for posting the question, it made me want to play a Warlocky Undead Master again!