Dragonmech necromantic pilot build

[Jackaccount]

Necromantic mechs in Dragonmech are pretty great. They're immune to critical hits, they cost easily acquired bodies instead of gold, and they only require a single crew member, the necromancer who made the mech. There's only one problem, necromancers tend to be terrible pilots. This build was my attempt to create a necromancer who can competently pilot a mech, and still make use of the level 7 casting required to make an undead mech.

Race: Raptoran (+ Dragonborn if you want),
Levels 1-3: cloistered cleric,
Level 4-13: church Inquisitor,
Level 13-20: grease prophet.

Explanation:
Grease Prophet is the only class I know of that both progresses divine spellcasting and offers mech pilot as a class skill. However, you still need 13 levels of cleric to get the spells needed to make the necro-mech in the first place. I went with cloistered cleric since the knowledge domain is one of the only ones whose abilities you can still use as a Grease Prophet.

Church Inquisitor shares several prerequisite skills with Grease Prophet, and most of its abilities aren't tied to spellcasting so you'll keep them once you forsake your god. Church Inquisitor is also tied for having the most HP and skill points out of all prestige classes you can enter as a level 4 cleric. Finally, Raptorans are the only race to have 2 substitution levels for cleric before level 4. This is more of a sidegrade than anything, but it's a nice option to have.

[Curbludgeon]

Grease Prophet gives up a LOT, and the steam abilities don't gel that well with necromantic mechs. Also, it means the character has to complete the construction of their necromantic mech before starting Grease Prophet, since it would be awkward to impossible to do so later. I think I'd really only use the class with a Druid, provided there was some other prestige class to move into which advanced spellcasting after Druid1/Grease Prophet10.

If at all possible I'd say use one of the options to add a class skill, which admittedly are all less than ideal. In roughly descending order of likelihood to be cool with a given table: The strictest way would be taking a level in something like Human Paragon, Factotum, or Mech Jockey to make the Mech Pilot skill a class skill. An Ancestral Speaker from Dragon 311 adds two skills, fits in well with a couple of the setting's factions, and combined with Cloistered Cleric meets all skill needs. The Flexible Mind feat from Dragon 326 requires a chaotic alignment but is otherwise an even better choice. The 3.0 version of Cosmopolitan would also work, as would the feat Skill Prodigy from Kingdoms of Kalamar, Reincarnated or Dabbler from Ravenloft, Talents from the Past from Planescape, or being a Single Minded Half-Gnome from Dragonlance.

[Jackaccount]

Grease Prophet gives up a LOT, and the steam abilities don't gel that well with necromantic mechs. Also, it means the character has to complete the construction of their necromantic mech before starting Grease Prophet, since it would be awkward to impossible to do so later. I think I'd really only use the class with a Druid, provided there was some other prestige class to move into which advanced spellcasting after Druid1/Grease Prophet10.

Yeah, you have to create the necromantic mech at level 13 exactly, otherwise you won't have the right spells. You also won't be able to use steam powers on the mech itself, but you'll be able to do so on it's weapons and anything else you find adventuring. Druids are definitely a good choice for Grease Prophet, but they don't get the right spells to make a necromantic mech. Clerics retain access to the knowledge and engine domains, as well as being the only class to get resurrection.