(3.5) A good 9th level necromacy spell?

[Claudius Maximus]

As the thread title suggests, I'm trying to find a good 9th level necromacy spell for a 17th level Necromancer to learn.

Energy Drain is kinda... meh compared to what I could do with an Enervation in the slot, and Astral Projection is banned. It has been ruled that Wail of the Banshee would have to try to target as many creatures as possible (does it do that normally?), which would unfortuately include living allies more often than not, and I don't think I'll ever need Soul Bind, much less have it prepared if I need it.

This leaves whatever I (or anyone who wants to help me) can find in other sources, unlesss I have misjudged the usefulness of any of the aforementioned spells. I am unfortunately removed from most of my books for now, and so I can't look at them myself; thus I am asking my fellow playgrounders for assistance in this endeavor.

[monty]

Well, Crystal Keep only has one other 9th level Necromancy spell listed, and it's basically Clone+, so situational at best. Nothing else that I know of.

[Eldariel]

Unfortunately, Necromancy's only really strong 9th level spell is Astral Projection, and even then only when abused to act without the risk of death. Enervating Breath [SpC] is decent, but that requires...y'know, you to have a breath weapon in the first place (I suppose some magic could grant you one). The next best thing is really Wail of the Banshee, and it isn't amazing by any stretch of imagination (death-effects when Death Ward has been around for 10 levels are kinda meh, and even if it succeeds, it offers a Fort-save and is limited in targets and so on; that said, at least simple Death Ward can easily allow you to "target" only enemies as your team is immune).

Plague of Undead in Libris Mortis/Heroes of Horror is pretty good; you could get a nice skeletal 80 HD creature. The trick is, of course, finding a dead 80 HD creature in the first place, but that's nothing little Divination couldn't avail you to.

But this is really why you don't specialize in Necromancy; the school is really narrow and level 9 just doesn't offer goodies.

[wadledo]

Wail of the Banshee normally targets the closest creatures first, but since you should be flying, it is actualy half decent.

If this the extra spell you get from specializing, take wail of the banshee for the chance that you'll get to kill 17 enemies at some point, cause that's your best and only option.

[Claudius Maximus]

Thanks for the help, Monty. I'll consider that spell, although it's not too spectacular. By the way, thanks for introducing me to that site, it rules.

On another note, I was going through Tome and Blood, one of the few books I have with me, and found Hide Life, which has got to be the most poorly described spell I've ever seen. It seems pretty neat, but how does it work? I don't want to derail my own thread, but I'm curious if anyone knows how to handle it. (It's 3.0, so I don't even know if it'll be allowed)

[Zaq]

I'm assuming you're a specialist Wizard who basically HAS to use your 9th level spell slots (some of them, at least) on Necromancy? Given the dearth of choices, your best bet would probably be to use lower level Necro spells metamagicked to high heaven. Not exactly a thrilling revelation, but it's better than leaving the slots empty.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

On another note, I was going through Tome and Blood, one of the few books I have with me, and found Hide Life, which has got to be the most poorly described spell I've ever seen. It seems pretty neat, but how does it work? I don't want to derail my own thread, but I'm curious if anyone knows how to handle it. (It's 3.0, so I don't even know if it'll be allowed)

Seems basic enough. You store your life force in a Finger. Then you cut it off and hide it in a Secret Chest, which you then destroy the focus to.
When you hit 0 or lower HP, or are hit with anything that would kill you, you don't die or fall unconcious. Instead, when below 0 HP, you become Staggered(only able to take one standard action a turn). It costs 5,000 XP, and Flesh to Stone beats it, so it's a good buff but not OP, IMHO. The only really confusing issue I see is the fact that it's an instantaneous effect rather than a permanent one, despite the fact that the description includes phrases like "if the spell is ended" and "while this spell ios in effect".

[Claudius Maximus]

I'm looking for a third spell to learn for free when I gain a level. Since I'm a necromancer, it must be necromacy. The spell slot would probably be used for metamagic, as you suggested.

[Kaiyanwang]

Mandatory 9th? Do you have avasculate?

[JoshuaZ]

Plague of Undead (is in Heroes of Horror) is nice fluff wise but isn't that practical unless you are making lots of undead that you lose frequently. The entire cyst line of spells (from Libris Mortis) is nice and the 9th level spell amounts to a save or be permanently destroyed (and on a save take a lot of damage) but they take a special feat to be able to cast.

[hamishspence]

on subject of a nice 80 HD creature, how about Polymorph Any Object- great wyrm ordinary dragon body to great wyrm prismatic? since its still a dragon, still a great wyrm, it might be permanent.

(Technically, animate dead can be used to create 80 HD Zombie dragons from Draconomicon at 20th level, if you have an Altar and Desecrate, since zombie dragons, unlike ordinary zombies, don't have a HD limit)

[CthulhuM]

Mass Harm from HoH isn't bad - 1d12 damage per caster level to targets in a point blank burst, will save for half. It's basically a less binary wail of the banshee.

[Claudius Maximus]

Isn't Avasculate a 7th level spell? I don't see what it has to do with my 9th level spell choice.

Concerning Plague of Undead, I guess more animation never hurt a Necromancer, so I'll consider it, but that PAO trick involves more metagaming than I'd like, and I'm not sure if it would work anyway. I could still find a good 40ish HD metallic dragon to zombify though.

The character doesn't have Mother Cyst, and couldn't take it until 18th, so Necrotic Termination is not an option for this particular situation.

I don't have HoH, but Mass harm sounds decent enough if I can get it.

About Hide Life: Thanks for clearing that up, Sstupidtallkid, but there's still something I wonder about: it says that if I'd normally be disabled, dying or dead, I'm staggered instead, but then it says that I can't benefit from healing if I'd otherwise be dead. Does that mean that once I hit -10 I'm staggered forever? I might honestly rather die.

Thanks to everyone who's trying to help me, and sorry for the disorganized post.

[Lappy9000]

How about this:

Spoiler

Show

Soul Nova
Necromancy
Level: Sor/Wiz 9
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target: One creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

This spell causes the target’s body to turn on itself from the inside out as it transmutes into a pure energy. This spell deals 1d6 points of damage per each point of the target’s Constitution score. (For example, a creature with a Constitution score of 18 suffers 18d6 points of damage.)

Material Component: A flawless white opal worth 900 gp.

OGL Spell from Jhonen Olian's Eberron Journal [link]

The only problem is that a Fortitude save negates the effects, and the target is likely to have a high constitution score. It may be best used on a caster, who tend to put some extra points in Constitution yet have poor Fort saves.

[Kyeudo]

How about this:

Spoiler

Show

Soul Nova
Necromancy
Level: Sor/Wiz 9
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target: One creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

This spell causes the target’s body to turn on itself from the inside out as it transmutes into a pure energy. This spell deals 1d6 points of damage per each point of the target’s Constitution score. (For example, a creature with a Constitution score of 18 suffers 18d6 points of damage.)

Material Component: A flawless white opal worth 900 gp.

OGL Spell from Jhonen Olian's Eberron Journal [link]

The only problem is that a Fortitude save negates the effects, and the target is likely to have a high constitution score. It may be best used on a caster, who tend to put some extra points in Constitution yet have poor Fort saves.

Against anything you'd want to use a Fort-save based effect on, that spell fails compared to Disintigrate. It's only advantage is that it doesn't need an attack roll, and touch attacks are ridiculously easy to make (with optional True Strike for near auto-success).

[monty]

Isn't Avasculate a 7th level spell? I don't see what it has to do with my 9th level spell choice.

Does it matter? I may be remembering the rules wrong, but I don't think that it's absolutely required that you learn a spell of the highest level you can cast.

[Talic]

There is Avascular Mass, but it's not too awfully much better.

Whatever else you learn, I advise Maw of Chaos. It's AoE Damage (No save) combined with a will-save-or-suck. If they fail more than one, it's usually save-or-die. Not necromancy, but might as well be, considering how few things have strong will saves.

[Kaiyanwang]

Does it matter? I may be remembering the rules wrong, but I don't think that it's absolutely required that you learn a spell of the highest level you can cast.

Mee, too. The spell worked very well for me in some istances, so I wanted to point it out to you ^_^

[ericgrau]

Wail of the banshee has a 65 foot or so range with a 40 foot radius from that point of origin. So you may be able to avoid hitting allies. While it does allow both a save and SR, the large AoE and up to 17 targets means you're probably gonna kill at least some of the baddies.

[Claudius Maximus]

Wow, I can't believe that I forgot that it didn't need to be 9th level. That gives me many, many more options.

But what really surprises me is that I've played this game for years without realizing that Wail of the Banshee had a range. I have never looked at that line, and I bet I've read that spell dozens of times. I just assumed it was centered on the caster (kinda makes sense, I guess, since it's a scream).