PDA

View Full Version : Azure Necromancer (3.5)



JoshuaZ
2008-09-11, 08:42 PM
Azure Necromancer

Some control the bodies of the dead. I control their bodies and their souls. You cannot hope to stand against me.
- Dalet Farnan, Azure Necromancer, moments before his undead hordes razed the city of Talmagan to the ground.

The Azure Necromancer combines the power of incarnum with the art of necromancy. The Azure Necromancer uses raw souls to power his foul spells.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Feats: Necrocarnum Acolyte, Incarnum Spellshaping
Skills: Knowledge(arcana) 8, Knowledge(the planes) 8
Spells: Able to cast a necromancy spell of at least 2nd level with the descriptor.
Soul melds:
Able to shape one soulmeld with the necrocarnum descriptor.

Class Skills
The Azure Necromancers’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge(the planes) (Int), Knowledge(religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skills Points at Each Level: 2 + int

Hit Dice: d4.

Weapon Proficiencies An Azure Necromancer gains no weapon, shield or armor proficiencies.

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Spellcasting

1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+2|Meldshaping, Necrocarnum Conversion, Lesser Azure Necromancy |+1 level of existing spellcasting class

2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+3|Necrocarnum Infusion|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

3rd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+3|Improved Necrocarnum Manipulation|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

4th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Necrocarnum Knowledge|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

5th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+4|Azure Necromancy|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

6th|
+3|
+1|
+1|
+5|Improved Necrocarnum Manipulation|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

7th|
+3|
+2|
+2|
+5|Necrocarnum Knowledge|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

8th|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+6|Necromantic Reinforcement|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

9th|
+4|
+2|
+2|
+6|Improved Necrocarnum Manipulation|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

10th|
+5|
+3|
+3|
7|Necrocarnum Knowledge, Supreme Azure Necromancy|+1 level of existing spellcasting class
[/table]

Meldshaping:
At each level of Azure Necromancer, you increase your meldshaper level, the number of soulmelds you can shape, the number of chakra binds you can create, and your essentia pool as if you had gained a level in the meldshaping class to which you belonged prior to gaining the Azure Necromancer level. You do not, however, gain any other abilities of that class, such as new tiers of chakra binds. If you had more than one meldshaping class before becoming an Azure Necromancer, you must decide to which class to add each level for the purpose of determining your essentia pool, meldshaper level, and the number of soulmelds and
chakra binds available.

Spellcasting:
When a new Azure Necromancer level is gained, the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if he had also gained a level in whatever spellcasting class before he added the prestige class level. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If a character had more than one spellcasting class before he became an Azure Necromancer, he must decide to which class he adds each level of Azure Necromancer for the purpose of determining spells per day.

Necrocarnum Conversion (su) When you kill a sentient being with a necromancy spell you gain can drain essentia from that being.
Whenever you use a necromancy spell of at least first level to kill a living creature with intelligence at least 3 you gain temporary essentia equal to the spell level. You cannot gain more points essentia than half your class level (rounded up) or more than half the the slain creature's hit die. This essentia only lasts for 24 hours.


Lesser Azure Necromancy (su)
You may when casting a necromancy spell boost its power by adding raw necrocarnum to the spell.

You may when casting a necromancy spell invest a point of essentia in that spell. If you do, the spell gains the [incarnum] descriptor if it did not already have that and you add 1 to caster level and save DC for that spell. This occurs as a free action when casting the spell.

You may use this ability up to half your class level times a day. Whenever you use this ability on a spell, the normal visual effects of the spell are streaked with dark blue lines Anyone observing may make a DC 20 spellcaster check to recognize that the spell has been infused with incarnum.

Necrocarnum Infusion (su)
Any spell, spell-like ability or supernatural ability or other ablity you use that animates or summons zombies you may instead choose creates necrocarnum zombies instead of normal zombies.
You must choose to use this ability when you cast the spell. You may modify at most one zombie this way for a given spell even if the spell creates or summons multiple zombies.

If they are summoned or only created temporarily their presence or existence
still terminates at the usual time.

To use this ability you must invest 1 point of essentia. For every point of essentia you invest the necrocarnum zombie created zombies get an extra hit point. For every 3 points you invest the necrocarnum zombie gets a +1 turn resistance bonus. Invested essentia remain in the resulting zombie as long as the zombie exists.

Improved Necrocarnum Manipulation
Your study of necromancy has increased your ability to manipulate necrocarnum with a specific soul meld. Pick a specific soul meld from the list below. You gain a general benefit and also specific benefits when that soul meld is bound to specific chakras.

You may choose to modify Necrocarnum Circlet, Necrocarnum Mantle, Necrocarnum Shroud, Necrocarnum Touch, Necrocarnum Vestments or Necrocarnum Weapon.

You get this ability again at level 6 and again at level 9.


Note: For each of the benefits below they are in addition to the normal benefits from those soul melds.

Necrocarnum Circlet
When you use the Necrocarnum Circlet you may choose to instead of giving undead within
radius a turn resistance bonus keep that bonus for turning effects and have the same number as a penalty for rebuking.

Chakra Bind(Crown)
When bound to your Crown Chakra any necrocarnum zombie you create using this soulmeld gains an extra copy of the toughness feat.

Necrocarnum Mantle
For every point of essentia you have invested in this soul meld you gain a +1 profane bonus against effects with the [death] descriptor.

Chakra Bind (Throat)
You gain immunity to sleep effects.

Necrocarnum Shroud
You gain a +1 bonus on all melee attacks against living creatures.
Chakra Bind (Soul): You may when making such an attack choose to forgo the bonus essentia and temporary hit points and instead directly corrupt the body and soul of the individual you are attack. For every point of essentia (and 5 temporary hitpoints you forego) you deal 1d6 damage (half vile) directly to the target bypassing all damage resistance. You decide how much to allocate after the roll for the number of negative levels has been decided.

Chakra Bind (Waist)
You may designate any set of creatures as your allies and thus not need to make the will save against being shaken from being in the radius of your life-draining ability. Once a creature has been so designated it stays in effect until you remove that designation (which occurs as a mental free action) Also, for every point of essentia invested in this meld the DC for the will save goes up by 1.

Necrocarnum Touch Half the damage dealt by your necrocarnum touch corrupts the soul and is thus vile damage (you may choose to not apply this ability on an attack).

Chakra Bind (arms)
The range for your ray attack granted by this soulmeld is 30 feet + 5 feet per a point of invested essentia rather than 30 feet.

Necrocarnum Vestments
You gain 4 rather 3 hit points per a point of essentia invested in this soul meld.

Chakra Bind (heart) When bound to this Chakra you are immune to critical hits.

Chakra Bind (Waist)
You may designate creatures as allies that do not take damage from this soul meld. You must be aware of a creature to designate it as such and can remove designation as a free action.

Necrocarnum Weapon
Whenever you make a successful critical hit, you may choose as a free action to sacrifice a spell slot or prepared spell and do additional vile damage equal to twice the spell level sacrificed. This damage is added after the critical hit. If this damage is sufficient to kill the creature then the slot or prepared spell is not lost.

Chakra Bind(Hands)
When confirming a critical hit you may choose to sacrifice a spell slot or prepared spell slot to add the spell level to the attack roll to connfirm the critical hit.



Necrocarnum Knowledge
Your extensive knowledge of how incarnum and necromancy interact have given you more knowledge of necromancy than a normal mage.

You gain a a bonus spell a spell a necromancy spell with the [incarnum] descriptor that is at least one level below the highest level spell you can cast. If you are a spontaneous caster this is a bonus spell known that does not count towards your total number of spells known. If you are a prepared caster you are treated as having Spell Mastery of this spell.
You get this again at levels 7 and 10.

Azure Necromancy
Pick a Metamagic feat (you do not necessarily need to know the metamagic feat).
You may apply the benefits of the Midnight Metamagic feat to necromancy spells with respect to that metamagic feat as if you knew that metamagic feat. Whenever you use this ability on a spell, the normal visual effects of the spell are streaked with dark blue lines. Anyone
observing may make a DC 20 spellcaster check to recognize that the spell has been modified with incarnum.

Necromantic Reinforcement
Your necrocarnum and arcane magic twist together reinforcing each other.
No effect that suppresses soulmelds suppresses your necrocarnum melds
suppresses your soul-melds unless the effect also suppresses necromanctic arcane magic(if you are an arcane caster) or
necromantic divine magic (if a divine caster) (if you have spellcasting ability in both divine and arcane magic you must choose one here). So for example you could use Necrocarnum soulmelds in a Soulbanned zone.

Similarly, you can still cast necromancy spells anywhere that you could use necrocarnum soul melds.

Finally, any magical attempt to destroy one of your necrocarnum soulmelds requires a caster level check against with DC 15 + your primary spellcasting ability modifier.

Supreme Azure Necromancy
Whenever you cast any spell from the necromancy school with a duration other than instantaneous you may choose to give it the [incarnum] descriptor if you invest at least one point of essentia. If so the caster level of the spell is increased by 1 for every point of essentia you invest.

If the spell already allows an essentia investment then this essentia counts separately from essentia invested for that purpose. Whenever you use this ability on a spell, the normal visual effects of the spell are streaked with dark blue lines. Anyone observing may make a DC 20 spellcaster check to recognize that the spell has been modified with incarnum.

Furthermore the maximum number of essentia you can invest in any necromancy spell with the [incarnum] descriptor is increased by 1.

Playing an Azure Necromancer

Some spellcasters might use evil means to good ends. You do not bother with that pretence. You use manipulate and torture raw souls to fuel your already horrific magical powers. You might journey with other adventurers but this is only to serve your own ends. You aren't likely to betray or stab anyone in the back since you take a long view of things. Eventually they'll die and if they irritated you in life you can consume their souls.

In most civilized areas you will of course need to hide your true nature. You will likely need to pass as some form of generalist wizard. If necessary in an incarnum heavy area you might be able to pass simply as another incarnum using individual.

Combat: You have a variety of options depending on your spell selection. You can provide buffs or direct damage. You can use your soul melds to engage directly in combat but your low hit die make this rarely a good idea.
Advancement: The primary question of your advancement is how much emphasis you choose to place on necromancy. You will likely concentrate primarily on necromancy since that is where your class features provide you the most benefits. However, your abilities give you little additional flexibility beyond combat and so should consider having many non-combat spells from other schools of magic.

Resources: Not much. You might be affiliated with other necromancers or possibly with necrocarnates but neither are often the types that are willing to share much. Some necromancers have strong academic interest and might be interested in your abilities simply because of the strange fusion they represent and the power they offer. Such necromancers might be willing to work with you in hope of learning more about your abilities.

Azure Necromancers in the world
[I]There are necromancers who deserve to die. There are necromancers that deserve to burn in hell for all eternity. There necromancers who deserve oblivion. There are necromancers who deserve to burn in hell for all eternity and deserve oblivion. Azure Necromancers are in the final class. They are lucky that only one of the punishments is possible.
- Alanar, a cleric in the service of Pelor.

A brief description of how your class is persevered in the world and how he interacts with the world.
Daily Life: Most Azure Necromancers, like most necromancers, stay in one location quietly researching or engaging in long-term plots. They rarely adventure although one might be willing to if one had reason to find some powerful necromantic or incarnum related magical item. An Azure Necromancer is far more likely to hire a party of adventurers and maybe send along a necrocarnum zombie bird or such to keep track of them than to actually adventure himself.
Notables:Dalet Farnan was a powerful Azure Necromancer who lead a horde of undead and conquered multiple kingdoms. Unlike many Azure Necromancers Dalet took on apprentices and taught them the secrets to his power. This proved his undoing when his three most powerful apprentices challenged him immediately after an exhausting battle with an archmage. Even weakened, the battle was almost evenly matched but the apprentices prevailed. They quickly fell into infighting and Dalet's empire fell into ruins.

Organizations: No specific organizations are devoted to the Azure Necromancers. Since all Azure Necromancers are familiar with what happened to Dalet Farnan they often try to stay out of each others way. Any organization that is willing to accept necromancers of any sort will likely to be willing to accept Azure Necromancers although some of the more neutrally aligned organizations devoted to necromancy balk at the presence of Azure Necromancers.

NPC Reaction
The vast majority of good and neutral aligned beings are horrified at your magic when they find out how it works. If any neutral or good being knows that you are an Azure Necromancer they start off automatically hostile. However, most of them will simply assume that you are some form of more normal necromancer and react accordingly (this reaction may not be much better).

Azure Necromancers in the Game

The Azure Necromancer is less powerful than the average straight spell-caster simply because necromancy involves few battle-control or buff options. However, necromancy is not bad at dealing direct damage and the Azure Necromancer has many options when his spells are running out that the normal mage does not. An Azure Necromancer can easily substitute for a generic spell-caster in a party. The Azure Necromancer's low hit die
mean that they are generally ineffective as gishes.

Adaptation: One could change the flavor so that these were good or neutral necromancers using willing souls. If so, the main change necessary would be to replace the Necrocarnum Acolyte feat with some other ability and to change or remove the Necromantic Conversion ability.

Encounters: Azure Necromancers will generally be encountered as villains, possibly as a BBEG. They are powerful spellcaster who can do creepy things. There ability to make necrocarnum zombies means they can surprise PCs expecting any zombies they deal with to be slow, lumbering brutes.

Alternatively, PCs could get a mission from someone they do not know is an Azure Necromancer and then only find out late in the process who they are assisting. If the Azure Necromancer hired them to do something that is incidentally good but benefits the necromancer, the PCs may need to think carefully about what course of action they take.


Feats For Azure Necromancers
Midnight Necromancy [Incarnum]
Prerequisites: Azure Necromancy class ability, Knowledge(arcana) 15.
Benefit: Pick two metamagic feats(you do not need to know the feats).
You gain the benefits of the Midnight Necromancy feat for necromancy spells for those feats.

Special: You may take this feat more than once. Each time it applies to a new pair of metamagic feats.

Sapphire Necromancy [Incarnum]
Prerequisites: Lesser Azure Necromancy class ability, Soultouched Spellcasting feat.
Benefit:
You may invest essentia in Sapphire Necromancy. If you do you, you get an additional level 1 spell slot for every point of essentia invested. These spell slots can only be used to cast necromancy spells. Essentia invested in this way cannot be altered once invested and remains invested for 24 hours.

Also, if you have at least one point of essentia invested in Sapphire Necromancy you may as a swift action sacrifice a spell slot or prepared spell of at least first level. If you do, for the remainder of your turn you get a profane bonus to all your necrocarnum soulmelds equal to 1+ level of the spell sacrificed.

You gain 1 point of essentia.

JoshuaZ
2008-09-15, 12:31 PM
So any thoughts? Overpowered? Underpowered? I know one issue is that there aren't officially that many necromancy spells with the [incarnum] descriptor, and I'm actually working on homebrewing a lot more incarnum spells including a fair number that are necromancy. (I'll post that sometime in the next week or two). So any comments? criticism?