[4e] Necromancer Help

[Often Normal]

Hi all. As a new DM/Player with 4e, I was wondering if anyone had any good ideas on making a bad guy NPC or PC (of divine or arcane flavours) that fulfills the role of a mortal who's focus is undead (creating/using, not so much slaying).

Classes, stats, feats, the works.

Any help would be great.


Thanks everyone!

[eepop]

The answers for PC and NPC will be very different as they use different rules for 4E.

Also, we need your list of allowed sources. People tend to not want to jump in on these kinds of things only to have their ideas shot down because they contain something from the Forgotten Realms players guide or Dragon Magazine.

[Yakk]

Creating a Leader-type necromancer NPC is not that hard. You just put the necromancer in an encounter with undead, and make sure that the necromancer is a leader spell caster type (possibly reskinned a tad).

Doing the same for a PC -- making a necromancer -- is harder. There are some summoning classes and powers in PHB2 and dragon magazine that could be reskinned.

Going really far, you could take the druid, reskin animal form to "wraith form", and reskin the powers to be all necromantic in nature (including the dragon magazine summons). Then you have a necromatic controller. :)

[kieza]

PC is difficult; I just posted a suggestion in another necromancer thread on the first page, so you might look at that.

NPC is pretty easy; use the monster guidelines in the DMG; give him powers that drain healing surges, deal necrotic damage, or maybe daze and/or stun. Make him an elite, and give him a supply of undead minions that he starts the fight with; when he becomes bloodied, he raises any that have been killed--and if he's killed any PCs, maybe have him raise them, too...

Incidentally, if you're looking for guidelines like 3E's limits on how many undead can be controlled or how much it costs to raise them, don't bother. So far necromancy in 4e is merely a plot device for the use of DMs; necromancers get to raise as many undead off-screen as they need to fill a dungeon. I fully expect to see a Raise Undead ritual someday, but it isn't out yet.

[NPCMook]

PC is difficult; I just posted a suggestion in another necromancer thread on the first page, so you might look at that.

NPC is pretty easy; use the monster guidelines in the DMG; give him powers that drain healing surges, deal necrotic damage, or maybe daze and/or stun. Make him an elite, and give him a supply of undead minions that he starts the fight with; when he becomes bloodied, he raises any that have been killed--and if he's killed any PCs, maybe have him raise them, too...

Incidentally, if you're looking for guidelines like 3E's limits on how many undead can be controlled or how much it costs to raise them, don't bother. So far necromancy in 4e is merely a plot device for the use of DMs; necromancers get to raise as many undead off-screen as they need to fill a dungeon. I fully expect to see a Raise Undead ritual someday, but it isn't out yet.

Or just add he Death Master Template to your NPC, pg 178 in the DMG

[Oracle_Hunter]

Yeah, look over here.

Also: what would you want the Necromancer PC to be able to do? A "death focused" PC is entirely a matter of flavor - a Wizard or Cleric with death-related Rituals and some roleplaying is all you need.

[ocato]

Depending on the level, I like the Satyr Piper's stats for a Necromancer villain. Retool the longbow into some sort of necromantic ranged spell (maybe upping the damage) and reflavor his pipes into some necromantic spells (daze enemies and buffs allies). You could even throw the Death Master template on him. This would result in a controller boss who can shift his undead, increase their attack, grant them saves, create more minions, protect them from radiant vulnerability, daze enemies, and serve as secondary artillery from the back of his horde. Couple him with a good encounter full of undead (Chillborns, a few Zombie Hulks, maybe buff up some Corruption Corpses for artillery) and you've got yourself a showdown.

Of course, the same could be done for just about any controller monster. The Troglodyte Curse Spewer is another excellent choice for reflavoring/templating, especially if you want a more offensive Necromancer as opposed to the Satyr's Necro-Leader.

As for a PC, break out Arcane Power and make a summoning wizard. Reflavor summons as various undead. That's about as good as you're going to get. Fortunately/unfortunately, 4e isn't really built for the kind of "control an army" character that 3.5e allowed. 4e does not use the same rules for PCs and NPCS, and as it was said above me, enemy necromancers create unlimited undead with DM fiat. Making armies of undead just isn't in the PC's bag of tricks, at least not yet.

EDIT: Another good Necromancer Villain is the Skull Lord. All of the monsters mentioned are in the Monster Manual. so they should be good to go. Just don't be afraid to build something from scratch, reflavor, or mix and match abilities. That's the fun of DMing.

[kc0bbq]

Depending on the level, I like the Satyr Piper's stats for a Necromancer villain. Retool the longbow into some sort of necromantic ranged spell (maybe upping the damage) and reflavor his pipes into some necromantic spells (daze enemies and buffs allies).

I like Deathlock Wights for low levels. Even without templates, as a boss fight a Deathlock Wight + Wight + decrepit skeletons + zombie rotters is a nice thematic mix for a first level, not especially optimized party of four boss fight. Even if they hit the fight freshly rested the healing surge losses make the fight interesting for the party defender.

Moreso when the wight gets back up again if the deathlock is still around when it goes down.

[Often Normal]

I've got a "Published Rulebooks Only" rule for my campaign.

It does seem 4e is really "flavour things how you'd like" which is nice.

Thanks everyone for your help, these are some great ideas.