Necromancy Warlock?

[ChaseC311]

Ok so basically I've always wanted to play a warlock built around necromancy. But I've been having a hard time determining just how to build one. What spells to pick, what subclass would work best, which invocations/boon to choose from. All of it. I figured I'd ask here because while it doesn't seem like Warlocks are meant to be the most optimal necromancer (getting summoning spells on a short rest would be kinda cracked) but I still do want to build one despite the low viability because it sounds really fun. Essentially in wondering what spells/subclass/invocations/boon would be best for not only getting the undead online, but maybe even providing them support too. Any and all help would be appreciated

[Peelee]

The Mod on the Silver Mountain: Moved to 5e.

[Christew]

Warlock's do have the Summon Undead spell at 3rd level (Tasha's). It only lasts an hour and so is not really short rest exploitable.

Pact of the chain (with invocation) pet reskinned as undead also comes to mind. I don't think it's ever going to be top tier (as you point out Warlock's aren't really designed to be summoners -- Lyrandar-Locks being an edge case), but if you are in it for the flavor seems doable.

[Unoriginal]

Ok so basically I've always wanted to play a warlock built around necromancy. But I've been having a hard time determining just how to build one. What spells to pick, what subclass would work best, which invocations/boon to choose from. All of it. I figured I'd ask here because while it doesn't seem like Warlocks are meant to be the most optimal necromancer (getting summoning spells on a short rest would be kinda cracked) but I still do want to build one despite the low viability because it sounds really fun. Essentially in wondering what spells/subclass/invocations/boon would be best for not only getting the undead online, but maybe even providing them support too. Any and all help would be appreciated

What do you mean by "built around necromancy"?

Do you want to use principally the Necromancy school, or specifically just use Undead mooks and summons?

Also important: what else would you hope your Warlock to do, if there is space for it?

[Man_Over_Game]

Making a necromancer Warlock is incredibly hard. You'd probably have a lot more luck going Divine Soul, as that gives you most of the Warlock-esc gameplay while also getting you access toCleric spells like Animate Dead, Gentle Repose, Speak with Dead Revivify, Life Transference, Create Undead and Raise Dead. Clerics make the best Necromancers in the game, generally, and Divine Soul Sorcerers can do it just as well.

You could also make a hybrid, going 5 Sorcerer/3+ Warlock and that'd be able to summon a TON of undead through Animate Dead, since you can convert your level 2 Warlock spell slots into level 3 slots using the Sorcerer feature to cast Animate Dead with, and then take a Short REst to recharge your Warlock slots to do it again. Just keep in mind, that's 8 levels out.

If you were going Sorcerer, you can also get a lot of value out of something like Inspiring Leader, since it can grant your undead THP between fights.

[Segev]

If you want to take full advantage of the warlock's short rest spell slots, you'll want Wizard 5 or 6 and Warlock 5+. This would give you animate dead. It's very late coming online, though. What else, besides undead, do you want out of Warlock?

When you picture "necromancer warlock," what is it that you're envisioning doing in game? We can probably help you figure out how to do that.

[Abracadangit]

Other people here will probably have better insight than me on how to do it, but Warlocks being very difficult to build necromancy-wise is another one of those funny situations in D&D where the flavor sometimes conflicts strangely with the mechanics.

If you showed someone who didn't play D&D all the class names and asked them "Who from this list would be really good at necromancy," like 9 out of 10 people would pick Warlock, right. "I don't play the game, but Warlocks are all about forbidden magic and dark experiments, right? Yeah, that seems like it makes sense."

And then it's like, "Surprise!! The answer was Cleric. You know, because they, like... worship evil gods, and stuff. So there." And that same 9 out of 10 people are gonna be like "Uh... okay. That's... that's an interesting take." And it feels like D&D has always been like that.

I think D&D has always wrestled with (and never completely embraced) the idea of a benevolent necromancer - like instead of viewing "Animate Dead" as a summon spell where you snap your fingers and totally willing skeletons instantly pop out of the ground a la Diablo, there's always this "Well where are the bodies coming from" question where you need corpses, and corpses can't really consent to becoming undead thralls, and then that leads characters down dark rabbit holes, and since evil clerics are already at the end of that continuum, they become the de facto necromancy experts.

It'd be cool if in the next edition, warlocks could double down on all the forbidden magic type stuff, but I think evil clerics running that racket is a legacy thing that's probably here to stay.

Edit: I know that evil clerics are ALSO good at necromancy because of the metaphysics of D&D's magic, i.e. necromancy is really about manipulating souls and that's what clerics are supposed to know how to do. But I still maintain that it's a weird refuting of the tropes warlocks ostensibly represent.

[gloryblaze]

It's easy to be a necromancer with any warlock subclass, no multiclassing required! Just ask your DM to run a Ravnica game and join the Golgari :P

[Cikomyr2]

Gm Binder has a cool Master of Undeath patron

https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-LSsloXOv8CJe8T0oJ2j

I played a previous version of it until level 7. It was pretty solid. Toll the Dead makes for a fun alternative to Eldritch Blast.

Combien with the Tasha summon undead spell, I made a solid necromancer.

[Unoriginal]

If you showed someone who didn't play D&D all the class names and asked them "Who from this list would be really good at necromancy," like 9 out of 10 people would pick Warlock, right. "I don't play the game, but Warlocks are all about forbidden magic and dark experiments, right? Yeah, that seems like it makes sense."

And then it's like, "Surprise!! The answer was Cleric. You know, because they, like... worship evil gods, and stuff. So there." And that same 9 out of 10 people are gonna be like "Uh... okay. That's... that's an interesting take." And it feels like D&D has always been like that.

That was true in some previous editions (3.X in particular had the Cleric as the king of necromancy), but this is not the case in 5e.

5e Clerics can do some necromancy stuff, but they're far from the best at it.

[RogueJK]

As noted, a Warlock of any flavor wouldn't be an optimized choice for a Necromancer character.

However, a Necromancer Warlock is doable, if you really want to:

Undead Patron

Tome Pact (Any Pact really... Tome Pact just lets you grab some additional Necromancy cantrips, fits the "aficionado of forbidden knowledge" theme, and opens up Invocations like Aspect of the Moon for staying up all night doing Necromantic things under the cover of darkness)

Invocations: Undying Servitude (only way Warlocks can get the Animate Dead spell), Whispers of the Grave, Aspect of the Moon, plus any others that seem fitting

Spells: Summon Undead, Danse Macabre, Create Undead, Finger of Death, plus any others that fit your dark/necromantic theme

[Man_Over_Game]

That was true in some previous editions (3.X in particular had the Cleric as the king of necromancy), but this is not the case in 5e.

5e Clerics can do some necromancy stuff, but they're far from the best at it.


I'd contest that statement:

Cleric spells like Animate Dead, Gentle Repose, Speak with Dead Revivify, Life Transference, Create Undead and Raise Dead. Clerics make the best Necromancers in the game, generally, and Divine Soul Sorcerers can do it just as well.

Nobody else gets nearly the same amount of necromancy-related magic. Some specific features can improve necromancy (Necromancer Wizard, Inspiring Leader), but Clerics are still probably the easiest class to do it all with. I'd trade +5 HP on a skeleton for resurrection magic, easily.

[Abracadangit]

That was true in some previous editions (3.X in particular had the Cleric as the king of necromancy), but this is not the case in 5e.

5e Clerics can do some necromancy stuff, but they're far from the best at it.

Fair enough - I suppose Wizard necromancers (go figure) are the primary choice.

If I ran the zoo, Necromancy would be taken from wizards and given to warlocks, but I know Necromancy as the 8th "Don't Talk About It At Magic College" school of magic is another legacy thing that'll never budge, so that's not so terrible.

[Segev]

Fair enough - I suppose Wizard necromancers (go figure) are the primary choice.

If I ran the zoo, Necromancy would be taken from wizards and given to warlocks, but I know Necromancy as the 8th "Don't Talk About It At Magic College" school of magic is another legacy thing that'll never budge, so that's not so terrible.

The thing about clerics and wizards, and now warlocks, is that they're not just mechanical packages. You can treat them that way, but they are built to have some core elements of narrative fluff defining them, even as you adapt those to your needs. Clerics worship gods, and their power comes from their gods. They are holy warriors (even if paladins do the "warrior" thing more directly), and get armor and weapons and hp to back this up. Wizards learn spells through study and scholarship, and give up physical training to hone their skills. Their magic comes from dusty tomes and deep understanding. Warlocks get their magic from patrons, which can range a bit from "sort of like wizards but with a personal powerful tutor teaching secret shortcuts" to "sort of like clerics, except the gifts of power are permanent" to "sort of like sorcerers, except the magical gift came from Something Other Than Blood." But even if they're "sort of like" one of the others, the presence of the Patron and the lack of worshipful religion sets them apart.

Necromancers, in fiction, typically are people who have _studied_ forbidden arts. Yes, a Warlock may fit, but not every Necromancer - heck, possibly almost none - has a decided Patron. There are more fictional Cleric-Necromancers who are "wizards" but worship a dark god who grants them their power. Maybe those qualify as Warlocks with Patrons, but the gods usually can cut them off. The majority, in my mind/experience, are more decidedly wizards, with a will to study that which is banned and a willingness to violate the natural order with their mastery and understanding.

It behooves, I think, game designers to facilitate all of them being possible routes to necromantic mastery.

[Abracadangit]

The thing about clerics and wizards, and now warlocks, is that they're not just mechanical packages. You can treat them that way, but they are built to have some core elements of narrative fluff defining them, even as you adapt those to your needs. Clerics worship gods, and their power comes from their gods. They are holy warriors (even if paladins do the "warrior" thing more directly), and get armor and weapons and hp to back this up. Wizards learn spells through study and scholarship, and give up physical training to hone their skills. Their magic comes from dusty tomes and deep understanding. Warlocks get their magic from patrons, which can range a bit from "sort of like wizards but with a personal powerful tutor teaching secret shortcuts" to "sort of like clerics, except the gifts of power are permanent" to "sort of like sorcerers, except the magical gift came from Something Other Than Blood." But even if they're "sort of like" one of the others, the presence of the Patron and the lack of worshipful religion sets them apart.

Necromancers, in fiction, typically are people who have _studied_ forbidden arts. Yes, a Warlock may fit, but not every Necromancer - heck, possibly almost none - has a decided Patron. There are more fictional Cleric-Necromancers who are "wizards" but worship a dark god who grants them their power. Maybe those qualify as Warlocks with Patrons, but the gods usually can cut them off. The majority, in my mind/experience, are more decidedly wizards, with a will to study that which is banned and a willingness to violate the natural order with their mastery and understanding.

It behooves, I think, game designers to facilitate all of them being possible routes to necromantic mastery.

Well said! I also agree with your point about wizards -- they seem to make up the majority of necromancers in fantasy fiction.

My problem is one borne of my own game world -- warlocks are less about the "patron" aspect and more about the "forbidden magic." In D&D, making a Faustian deal with some magical entity is what defines a warlock; without that, you're nobody. In my world, you can be a warlock without having a singular patron per se, but the idea is that your "patron type" is your primary source of magical knowledge, albeit usually an illicit one. Like instead of "the Fiend," it's more like "Fiends," and you have a bunch of demons/devils on magical speed-dial who you bargain with on a semi-regular basis to get magical secrets and spells, because that fits my personal vision of what warlocks are supposed to be. The singular patron has always struck me as kind of Renfieldish, while I've always felt that warlocks should be more like former wizards who got their licenses revoked for dabbling in forbidden things. But! That's MY world talking, not the overarching D&D game world.

I agree, there need not be only narrative path to being a powerful necromancer. I think the bigger problem is that D&D in general a) needs more varied necromancy spells, and b) needs a low-grade version of Animate Dead at an early level, so necromancers can actually feel like necromancers more quickly. And I don't think either a) or b) is on the horizon, at least from WotC.

[Unoriginal]

Worth noting, OP:

An Hexblade Warlock could speak with the dead, cast Animate Dead, create a specter servant and cast Summon Undead, all within the same long rest.



I'd contest that statement:


Nobody else gets nearly the same amount of necromancy-related magic. Some specific features can improve necromancy (Necromancer Wizard, Inspiring Leader), but Clerics are still probably the easiest class to do it all with. I'd trade +5 HP on a skeleton for resurrection magic, easily.

There is a difference between "necromancy-related magic" and what most people mean when they say "a necromancer", aka someone who has undead. OP hasn't said what they were looking for precisely yet, but it seems to be closer to the later.

Also the Necromancer Wizard has all those spells except the ones that are about preventing death or preventing the creation of undead, plus are the only way for a PC to put an already existing undead under their control.

For the anecdote: I've seen someone play a necromancer Cleric, undead minions and all. Was far from bad, but even they acknowledged they'd have an easier time as another class.

[Cikomyr2]

Worth noting, OP:

An Hexblade Warlock could speak with the dead, cast Animate Dead, create a specter servant and cast Summon Undead, all within the same long rest.




There is a difference between "necromancy-related magic" and what most people mean when they say "a necromancer", aka someone who has undead. OP hasn't said what they were looking for precisely yet, but it seems to be closer to the later.

Also the Necromancer Wizard has all those spells except the ones that are about preventing death or preventing the creation of undead, plus are the only way for a PC to put an already existing undead under their control.

For the anecdote: I've seen someone play a necromancer Cleric, undead minions and all. Was far from bad, but even they acknowledged they'd have an easier time as another class.

A Cleric Necromancer is not about being a great necromancer.

It's about being a flipping Cleric with disposable minions to enhance your clerical magic. You don't need your minions to be awesome at battle. Just act as a temporary bone wall between your super clerical powers and you.

[Dr.Samurai]

Ok so basically I've always wanted to play a warlock built around necromancy. But I've been having a hard time determining just how to build one. What spells to pick, what subclass would work best, which invocations/boon to choose from. All of it. I figured I'd ask here because while it doesn't seem like Warlocks are meant to be the most optimal necromancer (getting summoning spells on a short rest would be kinda cracked) but I still do want to build one despite the low viability because it sounds really fun. Essentially in wondering what spells/subclass/invocations/boon would be best for not only getting the undead online, but maybe even providing them support too. Any and all help would be appreciated
If you take the Golgari Agent background, you can get Animate Dead, so that covers creating undead minions.

The Whispers of the Grave invocation gets you Speak with Dead at-will which seems appropriate as well.

If you go Hexblade, as someone else mentioned, you'll be kitted out to go into melee. You'll also be able to summon a Specter from a slain foe. If you wade into combat alongside your zombies and skeletons, you can throw on the Cloak of Flies invocation. This will deal poison damage to anyone within 5ft of you, and your zombies and skeletons are immune.

If you go Pact of the Blade and grab the Lifedrinker invocation, you're also sapping the life of your enemy with necrotic magic.

Finally, you can get creative with the Mark of Storm/Warlock build and describe the elementals from Conjure Elementals as something more than basic elementals. The Earth Elemental can be a tombstone golem or gravedirt golem, an air elemental can be the voidwrath or ragewind (Libris Mortis and MM2 respectively). I believe there was also a Dessicator for a type of water elemental undead and the cinderspawn for a fire elemental undead.

[Segev]

A Cleric Necromancer is not about being a great necromancer.

It's about being a flipping Cleric with disposable minions to enhance your clerical magic. You don't need your minions to be awesome at battle. Just act as a temporary bone wall between your super clerical powers and you.

To be fair, this only backs up the point that a 5e cleric isn't "the best necromancer," since his focus in using necromancy is a support for his real focus as a cleric. Whereas somebody "playing a necromancer" is going to want to be "a great necromancer." Thus, if "A cleric necromancer is not about being a great necromancer," then it's not for that player.

[Cikomyr2]

To be fair, this only backs up the point that a 5e cleric isn't "the best necromancer," since his focus in using necromancy is a support for his real focus as a cleric. Whereas somebody "playing a necromancer" is going to want to be "a great necromancer." Thus, if "A cleric necromancer is not about being a great necromancer," then it's not for that player.

Yhea, but on the other hand you feel like Sauron more than any other class I'd argue :smallbiggrin:

[Segev]

Yhea, but on the other hand you feel like Sauron more than any other class I'd argue :smallbiggrin:

Nah. Sauron was not, at least insofar as presented in the Lord of the Rings, a servant of a god; he was a demigod in his own right.

[Christew]

Nah. Sauron was not, at least insofar as presented in the Lord of the Rings, a servant of a god; he was a demigod in his own right.
Arguably a servant to a demigod who opportunistically filled a newly vacant demigod shaped void.

[Segev]

Arguably a servant to a demigod who opportunistically filled a newly vacant demigod shaped void.

Sure, but that wasn't presented in the story from which he is best known.

[Unoriginal]

For the written version of Sauron, Fallen Aasimar (arguably Scourge Aasimar) Lore Bard is the closest you can make in 5e, I would say.

[Christew]

Sure, but that wasn't presented in the story from which he is best known.
Sure, except for things like:
"Other evils there are that may come; for Sauron is himself but a servant," and
"In those days the Great Enemy, of whom Sauron of Mordor was but a servant ...."

But yes, that relationship is largely relegated to the Silmarillion and this is probably not the place for LoTR textualism.


For the written version of Sauron, Fallen Aasimar (arguably Scourge Aasimar) Lore Bard is the closest you can make in 5e, I would say.
Not bad. If an Artificer/College of Eloquence MC weren't a prima facie terrible idea, I'd try to make a case for it.

[ATHATH]

Summon Undead, Danse Macabre, and Finger of Death (which permanently raises its victims as zombies under your command) are pretty thematic spell choices for a Necromancy-focused Warlock. Negative Energy Flood WOULD be on that list, but the zombies it creates are sadly uncontrolled.

As for subclass choice, the obvious choice would be the Undead patron (not to be confused with the Undying patron, which sucks). It has multiple Necromancy-themed features, such as an ability that lets you convert the damage you deal with an attack into Necrotic damage.

The less obvious choice would be the Hexblade, which, at 6th level, gets the ability to raise a humanoid they've slain as a buffed specter once per day. The specter will remain until the end of the Hexblade's next long rest.

There's an invocation that gives you the ability to cast Speak With Dead at-will that's worth picking up. Undying Servitude is a trap option, never pick it. The tldr; is that you can essentially only keep one normal skeleton or one normal zombie in your service with it at a time.

An Investment of the Chain Master'd sprite familiar has some synergy with putrid undead from Summon Undead.

IIRC, there's an alternate feature for the Knight background that gives you undead servants instead of living ones.

As for feats, Resilient(CON) and Metamagic Adept (Extend + one other metamagic option of your choice) are good grabs for pretty much any Warlock. You can cast Extended Summon Undead before taking a short rest to keep your minion around AND get all of your spell slots back.

[ATHATH]

Also the Necromancer Wizard has all those spells except the ones that are about preventing death or preventing the creation of undead, plus are the only way for a PC to put an already existing undead under their control.
Oathbreaker Paladins can also do that.

[BerzerkerUnit]

My preference would probably be Warlock 3/Wizard 17. Then you get your Mummies. If you don’t want to turn Kings into slaves, then Warlock 14, Wizard 6. That gets an Ok buff to your created minions and you can both create and control a lot of undead. Tomelock and Wizard 6 get you most of a Wizard’s utility.

Warlock type doesn’t matter, though undead lock is probably the most thematic, Genie has a lot going for it and by taking a Dao or Marid you can do a hades or Davy Jones-esque figure.

[Joe the Rat]

The Whispers of the Grave invocation gets you Speak with Dead at-will which seems appropriate as well.
Run that on any Tome Warlock to round out your divination options, and there you go. But I am rather a traditionalist.

Warlock is going to have a harder time building an army of undead. But that's really not where your strengths lie. You're serving, or more likely cut a deal with some dark power for esoteric knowledge that tears at the walls of reality, and harnessing the power of death and undeath. Look at the Death Cleric for a better view - Necromancy is not Zombies. You aren't a Prepper, you are Power On Demand. A Burst of necrotic energy, a lingering burn on every hit, sucking voids, cursing and dolorous wrath, summon-and-release assaults. Compared to a Wizard, Sorcerer, or Cleric, you are exceptionally low profile. Call 'em up as you need them.
Load up on necrotic-damage and "could be janking someone's soul" enchantment goodies - Hold Person, Suggestion etc. Summon Undead and Danse Macabre are going to be your core "call up the legions of death" trick - and then they go away. No slot-minion resource management, no sneaking huge piles of barely-contained skellies in a portable hole (though that might not be a bad idea if you want to make sure you have enough bodies on demand), just one and done.

Embracing the powers of the threshold, the Undead patron gives you the fist full of darkness and infusion of fell power in your features. (Undying can work, but it's really not as good unless your goal is to be a Lich-lite). For a more martial mode, Hexblade plays well with covering multiple angles (Dark Powers patron, life-munching, wraith buddy, twisting fate, heavy eyeliner). If you are more of a traditionalist (or hate hexblades) Good Old Fiend, focusing on the domination and less on the burnination, makes a delicious soul eater. An envoy of Papa Orcus is certainly a fitting patron. Celestial is an odd approach thematically, but it gets your some essentials without heavy multiclassing, including the "bring 'em back in a good way" options, and Spirit Guardians. Nothing says spooky like a field of wraiths and reapers swirling around you.

Any Pact can work - Tome leans into the augury aspects (again, traditional), as well as some "Book of Fate" oddities with Tasha's new invocations. Chain gets you a buddy - Crawling claw is an odd choice, but fun. Anything else could be reskinned (or unskinned) as a bogey, or simply be a dybbuk slumming it. If your DM is game, try to get some sort of flying skull. Blade lets you get your Hela on. Talisman is oddly buddy-friendly for a necromancer, but you can read a bit of soul-binding into it.

Invocations: Outside of the Pact-specifics, whispers of the grave is a must-have, but that's a ways down the road. So start with utility and flavor - remember, you can always swap out as you go. Thief of five fates is a low tier pick, but if you aren't running Hex, why not Bane? If you are running the traditional blastlock, repelling blast and grasp of hadar can be thematic - given the creature-only and mass-agnostic nature of the movement, You could quite literally be pushing the soul around with the body being along for the ride, Necromonger Lord Marshall style. One with shadows and cloak of flies are high on theme, but go for something high-utility first.

[ATHATH]

Thief of five fates is a low tier pick, but if you aren't running Hex, why not Bane?
I think I just barfed in my mouth a little. Thief of Five Fates is worse than just a "low tier pick", it is so incredibly bad that even if Bane was a Necromancy spell instead of an Enchantment one, it wouldn't be worth taking on a build that was fanatical about grabbing Necromancy-related effects. If I desperately needed the ability to cast Bane from Warlock slots for some reason, I would sooner dip Divine Sorcerer 1 than take Thief of Five Fates.

Friends don't let friends take Thief of Five Fates. Ever.

[Man_Over_Game]

For the anecdote: I've seen someone play a necromancer Cleric, undead minions and all. Was far from bad, but even they acknowledged they'd have an easier time as another class.

I guess I have to ask what exactly about other options, like the Wizard, make them better? Necromancy isn't very strong in 5e, so why aren't Clerics relatively good at it?

[Segev]

I guess I have to ask what exactly about other options, like the Wizard, make them better? Necromancy isn't very strong in 5e, so why aren't Clerics relatively good at it?

The wizard has slightly better ability to cast more spells in a day than the cleric, and the Necromancer wizard, specifically, gets to add his proficiency bonus to his minions' attack and damage.

[RogueJK]

I guess I have to ask what exactly about other options, like the Wizard, make them better? Necromancy isn't very strong in 5e, so why aren't Clerics relatively good at it?

I think most people focus on the fact that the Necromancer Wizard and Oathbreaker Paladin have abilities baked in to their subclass to buff their undead allies. And granted, those are relatively strong abilities.

Clerics, while they don't have anything baked in specifically to buff undead, do still have a number of options to buff "allies", with no specific provision that they must be undead only. So they can still buff undead minions with stuff like Bless, or Aid, or Peace Cleric's Emboldening Bond, or Twilight Cleric's Twilight Sanctuary. I suspect that's often overlooked.

[Kuulvheysoon]

I think most people focus on the fact that the Necromancer Wizard and Oathbreaker Paladin have abilities baked in to their subclass to buff their undead allies. And granted, those are relatively strong abilities.

Clerics, while they don't have anything baked in specifically to buff undead, do still have a number of options to buff "allies", with no specific provision that they must be undead only. So they can still buff undead minions with stuff like Bless, or Aid, or Peace Cleric's Emboldening Bond, or Twilight Cleric's Twilight Sanctuary. I suspect that's often overlooked.

The other issue is that a lot of the cleric's more supportive options are sharply limited by the number of creatures that they can apply to, and they require additional daily resources beyond the spell slots used to create/maintain the minions. The Necromancer's ability is literally free, with no investment required. So I think that it's less that they're overlooked, and more that it requires additional resources expended for the same relative benefits.

[Unoriginal]

I guess I have to ask what exactly about other options, like the Wizard, make them better? Necromancy isn't very strong in 5e, so why aren't Clerics relatively good at it?


The wizard has slightly better ability to cast more spells in a day than the cleric, and the Necromancer wizard, specifically, gets to add his proficiency bonus to his minions' attack and damage.


I think most people focus on the fact that the Necromancer Wizard and Oathbreaker Paladin have abilities baked in to their subclass to buff their undead allies. And granted, those are relatively strong abilities.

Clerics, while they don't have anything baked in specifically to buff undead, do still have a number of options to buff "allies", with no specific provision that they must be undead only. So they can still buff undead minions with stuff like Bless, or Aid, or Peace Cleric's Emboldening Bond, or Twilight Cleric's Twilight Sanctuary. I suspect that's often overlooked.

Something worth noting is that the more you spend spell slots buffing undead allies, the less spell slots you have to create those undead allies. And the reverse is also relevant.

So a Cleric won't be bad at it, sure, but since it's not rare to lose several undead mooks each fight, the ressource drain is real. Having baked-in buffs to undead helps diminish that drain.

[Kane0]

Patron: Hexblade or Undead (still UA at this stage I believe), Undying isn't that great although some of the patron spells are good to pick from.

Spells: Summon Undead & Dance Macabre, optionally Cause Fear, Finger of Death, Soul Cage, Shadow of Moil, Create Undead, Circle of Death. Patrons give bonus spells to pick from too so don't forget those.

Pact Boon: Any. Blade works with Hexblade and allows you to be closer to melee (lifedrinker and spirit shroud, hell even vampiric touch but that's not recommended), Tome gets you cantrips and rituals via Tome of Secrets and Chain gives you a familiar (like a Crawling Claw). Talisman can also work, your undead can hold it for the bonuses and invocations.

Invocations: Undying Servitude, Whispers of the Grave, whatever else you fancy

There's no one way to make a necrolock, there's good support for it even before you get into races and feats.

[ATHATH]

Patron: Hexblade or Undead (still UA at this stage I believe)
The Undead Patron made it into Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, IIRC.

[Man_Over_Game]

Something worth noting is that the more you spend spell slots buffing undead allies, the less spell slots you have to create those undead allies. And the reverse is also relevant.

So a Cleric won't be bad at it, sure, but since it's not rare to lose several undead mooks each fight, the ressource drain is real. Having baked-in buffs to undead helps diminish that drain.

So what you're really saying is that I need to dip 5 levels into Warlock. Got it.

[EDIT] I know that's blue text, but I'm kinda interested to see how much havoc a 5 Divine Soul Sorcerer + 5 Warlock could make with a never-ending army.

[Segev]

So what you're really saying is that I need to dip 5 levels into Warlock. Got it.

For an "Army of Undead" build, it does work.

[Talionis]

Genie. Put a large number of corpses in your lantern then Dance Macabre. Create Undead is on the list and can be picked as an upcasted spell which could buy mileage especially if picked at levels six-nine.

As said Golgari puts it on your spell list.

But Lore Bard could pick it up with a six level” dip”

But honestly working with the DM to swap it for another 3rd level spell won’t break anything so long as you don’t go into a coffee lock build.