Creeping Undeath: a Handbook to Necromancy on a Budget

[Doctor Despair]

Hello there, fellow necromancers! Are you tired of spending a fortune on black onyx? Has choosing between financial stability and raising legions of undead got you down? Well, have we got the thing for you! Now introducing Necrobotany -- the revolutionary, cost-effective way to unleash the power necromancy without breaking the coffins coffers! With Necrobotany, you'll raise more powerful minions at a fraction of the cost! Say goodbye to onyx shavings, and say hello to massive savings!


Necrobotany made conquering the neighboring fiefdom so affordable! I'm ecstatic!


I never thought I could afford to bring the unlife to the party, but with Necrobotany, I finally can!


But wait, there's more! Try Necrobotany today and we'll throw in a free guide on how to grow your undead followers organically! That's right -- no fuss, no muss, just fungus and moss! It's really that easy!



"Necrobotany -- To Raise the Dead, Try Plague Instead!"

Happy Friday, Playground denizens! In all seriousness, ExLibrisMortis and I have been working on a handbook for quite a while that we are very excited to share with you all. It outlines a new, unique approach to necromancy that we feel breathes new unlife into the character archetype. We begin with the mechanics of the new technique, followed by sample builds, and then additional undead resources. Notably, I am also releasing what is completed thus far in my Expanded Undead Bestiary for printed undead creatures as an additional resource for the necromantically inclined. On that note...



Title (https://docs.google.com/document/d/149_qbioBKlceL_utYBxJpF91wluv_iFd9PiYBcwzICY/edit?usp=sharing)
Mechanics (https://docs.google.com/document/d/149_qbioBKlceL_utYBxJpF91wluv_iFd9PiYBcwzICY/edit#heading=h.qovgf8b3he7f)
Sample Builds (https://docs.google.com/document/d/149_qbioBKlceL_utYBxJpF91wluv_iFd9PiYBcwzICY/edit#heading=h.33yd51ki6vhi)
Resources (https://docs.google.com/document/d/149_qbioBKlceL_utYBxJpF91wluv_iFd9PiYBcwzICY/edit#heading=h.x22h9u82dmt1)
Expanded Undead Bestiary (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QIKsct279kZgBNdCwQmstog3fuQrjNdxpnYq3VuNN48/edit?usp=sharing)


We hope you enjoy reading, and happy gardening!

[ExLibrisMortis]

The Doctor did most of the work, I just yelled about heretical shamans and crab hacker barnacles and such. But seriously, this is about the best flavour you're going to get out of plague-based undead legions.

OoTS-related fun fact: the national flower of Gobbotopia is the yellow musk creeper. No, really (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0702.html).

[H_H_F_F]

Hadn't had the chance to give this more than a skim yet, but on the surface, this looks great!

Thanks, guys.

[Malphegor]

Oh neat you’re sharing this on here, necrobotany is cool and i remember your discussions about it on the discord

[Morphic tide]

The one functional hangup I see is that you're relying on Yellow Musk Zombie to get more things qualifying for Blightspawn, so applying Heal to them could be an issue. Using Harm to clear the timer should be fine since Juju Zombie doesn't have the same requirement.

...Sadly, you cannot apply Symbiotic Creature to an Undead. Otherwise, a Blightspawned Yellow Must Creeper host to a Skulking Cyst guest could supply the full processing sequence on one 6 HD minion. You could shove a Yellow Musk Creeper in full inside a Colossal creature, though, which usually have Swallow Whole.

[Arcanist]

No Animate Infectious Dead from City of Stormreach? For shame :smalltongue:

[Fero]

I have o ly had a chance to skim, but so far this is a very awesome guide. We discussed some similar concepts at: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?658101-21-HD-zombies-and-skeletons&highlight=Zombie. I think your guide has most of the material therein except maybe some very insightful posts by SirNibbles on necromatic diseases.

Good work!

[Doctor Despair]

The one functional hangup I see is that you're relying on Yellow Musk Zombie to get more things qualifying for Blightspawn, so applying Heal to them could be an issue. Using Harm to clear the timer should be fine since Juju Zombie doesn't have the same requirement.

Not only does the Juju Zombie template not carry that requirement, there is also no text in the game requiring a templated creature to retain the "prerequisites" for templates it has already acquired. This is notable because not only can you heal the Yellow Musk Zombie template away as soon as they become blightspawned (and, preferably, have a necrotic tumor implanted for subsequent control), creatures will also retain the Blightspawned template even after they become juju zombies and their type changes to undead. This allows our juju zombies to continue to spread Talona's Blight even in death.


No Animate Infectious Dead from City of Stormreach? For shame :smalltongue:


I have o ly had a chance to skim, but so far this is a very awesome guide. We discussed some similar concepts at: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?658101-21-HD-zombies-and-skeletons&highlight=Zombie. I think your guide has most of the material therein except maybe some very insightful posts by SirNibbles on necromatic diseases.

That spell came up in my searches (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?366551-Walking-Dead-in-D-amp-D) and got a mention in my Undead Bestiary (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QIKsct279kZgBNdCwQmstog3fuQrjNdxpnYq3VuNN48/edit?usp=sharing) under "GitP Mentions," but as the spell doesn't grant control of the undead created and results in normal zombies instead of the vastly superior juju zombies, I'm not sure I'd favor it over this technique. :smallwink:

The same more or less applies for the other necromantic diseases mentioned (although they are, in fact, news to me) -- zombies just sacrifice a lot of what makes a would-be minion interesting and useful. Juju zombies, retaining their intelligence, feats, and class abilities, are difficult to surpass as prospective undead minions.


Hadn't had the chance to give this more than a skim yet, but on the surface, this looks great!

Thanks, guys.


Oh neat you’re sharing this on here, necrobotany is cool and i remember your discussions about it on the discord



Good work!

Thanks! :smallbiggrin: Hope the text holds up as well to further scrutiny when time allows haha


OoTS-related fun fact: the national flower of Gobbotopia is the yellow musk creeper. No, really (https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0702.html).

When the heresy is accepted by Talona, perhaps some Gobbotopian churches would be in order :smallwink:

[Rebel7284]

No archivist sample build? Seems like a great way to get both cleric and druid spells.

Skypledged might work too, but limits your race.

[Doctor Despair]

No archivist sample build? Seems like a great way to get both cleric and druid spells.

Skypledged might work too, but limits your race.

You can absolutely do the trick with archivist, but it's not a superior option to cleric or shaman for enabling the core mechanics of the build.

There is a real RAW argument to be made that only a character with 12th-level cleric casting can use heal to remove the Yellow Musk Zombie template. Under that reading, a cleric is the only viable base for the class. Clerics with the Divine Magician ACF can also access important necromancy spells that only appear on the sorc/wiz list (or, at the very least, are not divine and therefore are not easily accessible to archivists). Additionally, it offers turn undead for persistomancy later in the game.

Meanwhile, if you take the view that it really just meant heal cast at caster-level 12, shaman offers an animal companion (which allows you to personally infect victims with Talona's Blight any number of times per day instead of just once) and also offers turn undead for the aforementioned persistomancy. Getting cha to saves is just a cherry on top.

Archivist is a strong base class, however, and can access the core pieces of the build -- the cyst feats, harm/heal, and summon nature's ally IV. It absolutely could work here. Likewise, any build that can access the key pieces can take a crack at necrobotany. The sample builds were just ones that we thought enabled the technique most effectively and elegantly.

[redking]

I doubt that necrotic domination will survive the change of type from plant to undead. It may not be allowed by many DMs and is likely to be hotly contested. If there isn't already, there should be an "rulings" section.

[Doctor Despair]

I doubt that necrotic domination will survive the change of type from plant to undead. It may not be allowed by many DMs and is likely to be hotly contested. If there isn't already, there should be an "rulings" section.

Spells don't constantly check creature type like that, and necrotic tumor is not a mind-affecting spell; becoming undead should not invalidate the spell. The technique is RAW-legal, although, as always, DMs can house rule however they like. Perhaps it would be good to make that explicit, although the fact that it functions is certainly already implicit in the structure of the handbook.

Edit:


If, while under the effect of a spell that depends on type (such as hold person), my character is transformed into a different creature type by polymorph, does the spell’s effect remain?

Yes. A spell only checks to see if you are a legal target when it is cast. If you become an illegal target later (such as via the polymorph spell), the spell remains in effect.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Skypledged might work too, but limits your race.
We did look at Skypledged, and a bunch of little reasons add up to "it's not worth it". Skypledged is limited to spells in the Player's Handbook, which is a problematic limit, and also to one spell levels' worth of spells per class level per day—access to SNA4 would be at ECL 11 at the earliest. Besides the spellcasting issues, it doesn't advance rebuking (of which you can have three types—Nature, Undead, and Blightspawn) or animal companion, and it has no useful class features.

What is a class worth considering—if you can massage the entry requirement a bit—is Hexer. That one actually grants spell access, is full-casting and full-base attack, and the Permanent curse it lets you inflict with a gaze can be used to ensure groups of creatures fail their saves against the plague and Undead Transformation (should stack with bestow curse, since it's a typed penalty).

Sadly, the spell requirement is really annoying to get. The class is made for adepts, and you're not going to be an adept if you want to do necrolobotany.

[Beni-Kujaku]

I don't know... It's appealing, but such heavy use of Necrotic Tumor and the necessity to subdue your victims first makes me think that you'd rather directly implant your victims with cysts rather than go through the process of Yellow Musk Zombie - Blightspawned - Juju Zombie. The resulting creatures with your method are indeed stronger, no problem there, but live shorter unless you sacrifice your creepers (and are clr 12), require a specific prestige class, and are vulnerable to adventurers destroying your creeper plant... I mean your facility. Also, if you're level 13+ to cast necrotic tumor, creating a Juju zombie yourself is still faster and simpler (though more expensive, I admit).

[Doctor Despair]

I don't know... It's appealing, but such heavy use of Necrotic Tumor and the necessity to subdue your victims first makes me think that you'd rather directly implant your victims with cysts rather than go through the process of Yellow Musk Zombie - Blightspawned - Juju Zombie. The resulting creatures with your method are indeed stronger, no problem there, but live shorter unless you sacrifice your creepers (and are clr 12), require a specific prestige class, and are vulnerable to adventurers destroying your creeper plant... I mean your facility. Also, if you're level 13+ to cast necrotic tumor, creating a Juju zombie yourself is still faster and simpler (though more expensive, I admit).

1. You absolutely do sacrifice your creepers. Otherwise they keep the Yellow Musk Zombie template which obviates the benefits of using Juju Zombies instead.

2. The trick does require 2-3 levels of a specific prestige class; guilty as charged.

3. You've already destroyed your creeper by that time.

4. As the title would suggest, the largest benefit is in the cost. It takes time, but it is free. Additionally, there is no HD limit on the creatures you can control, and no HD limit on the amount of creatures you can control. Animating the juju zombies directly means that, if they are worthwhile zombies, you will quickly run up against one of those limits while paying through the nose. You would also have to wait three more levels to begin making them.

[Clause]

Now i have a good BBEG!!

THANK YOU FOR THIS MARVELOUS MASTERPIECE!!!!