(3.5) The Corpsecrafted Spellstitched Necropolitan

[balistafreak]

Apparently, this is a terribly broken super-awesome way to add lots and lots of benefits to a character, at minimal cost.

Let me go over it, both so I can mull over it and also to present to you what it entails.

Basics of Necropolitan

Necropolitan is an acquired template from the book Libris Mortis. Essentially, you give up life for undeath. It's that simple, fluffwise, but the mechanics are a bit more complicated.

When you become a Necropolitan, your type changes to Undead, and you gain the Augmented subtye, for what it's worth. (Apparently nothing, just a name.)

While your HD changes to d12, your Constitution becomes (-), so you have an average of 6.5 HP per HD. Equivalent is a d8 HD with a +2 Constitution Modifier, like a Ranger with 14 Constitution. A d10 HD with a +2 Constitution modifier (14 Constitution) is better (7.5 HP per HD) and isn't at all hard to grab, so becoming a tougher Fighter is not the purpose of this template.

Your BAB, saves, and skill points all remain the same, though, which is often a straight improvement over the standard undead subtype of 1/2 BAB, good Will save, and 4 skill points. (Ironically, it appears that a typical Necropolitan is a wizard. A straight wizard would appreciate 2 extra skill points.)

Also, you naturally heal hitpoint and ability damage like a living creature, despite being undead, which is a small advantage. You can't use the Heal skill to help you, though; then again, the Heal skill was pretty much useless already in the face of spells. Magical healing will have to come in the form of negative energy.

Becoming a Necropolitan involves a ritual, the costs of which are your biological life, one entire level ala Raise Dead, and an additional 1000 XP on top of that as a last insult. If you run out of levels and XP (aka try to become at Necropolitan right upon becoming level 2 with only 1000 XP to your name), instead of rising up as a Necropolitan, you explode with no method of resurrection. So yeah. Don't do that.

As an undead, you have*deep breath*:

Benefits!
Darkvision to 60ft.
Immunity to mind-effecting, poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, disease, and death effects.
Immunity to critical hits, nonlethal damage, ability drain, and energy drain, as well as ability damage.
Immunity to Fortitude saves that don't effect objects. Disintegrate will blow you to pieces, though.
Charisma modifier to Concentration checks. This is a nice bonus for many casters.
Can be Resurrected (as in the spell) into your original living form. What this might entail can get confusing.
No need to eat, breathe, or sleep, although casters still need eight hours of "rest". As long as the rest of your party is biological, this should not be a problem, and you might want to rest to get a few extra hitpoints anyways. Remember, you heal naturally!

Cons...
Vunerability to anti-undead effects such as turning. Nothing says "embarassing end" like getting turned by the BBEG and promptly exploding. Fortunately, Necropolitan gets +2 to turn resistance and +2 to will saves on Control Undead effects, but still be careful, anyways.
Aside from turning and Control Undead, there are plenty of other things that are specifically meant to kill undead. Like Disrupting weapons, which force you to make a Fortitude save (and yours really, really sucks!) or instantly explode, Don't get in melee with anyone with a glowing sword.
Speaking of Fortitude saves, don't get Disintegrated either. There's probably some sort of method of blocking this, but I can't think of it right now. Probably something involving Contingency.
And the big one: dropping to 0 hit points instantly kills/destroys you. Be careful out there.

The Necromancer makes the Necropolitan

In the same book as the Necropolitan is a line of feats starting with Corpsecrafter. Each of these feats adds benefits to "undead that the character creates". While it can be argued that a necromancer doesn't create an undead, but changes something alive into one, that would pretty much cross off every single undead in existence from the list.

Technically, these benefits cost you nothing, since the creator has taken these feats, and is only applying these feats to you. I suppose that if you could come up with a good reason/background, your DM might let you have some of them.

These benefits range start with +4 Strength and +2 HP per HD from Corpsecrafter. Additional feats give:

+4 Turn Resistance. Can't hurt.
+1d6 cold damage on natural attacks. Probably not relevant for you as a caster (unless you want to punch something in the face; a Necropolitan monk might be a curiosity), and the implications of being naturally cold enough to cause damage are unclear.
The ability to explode in a burst of negative energy when you die. This should never, ever, happen to you, but it might have some oddball implications.
+2 Natural Armor. That's awesome.
+4 to Initiative and a +10 ft. untyped bonus to speed. Improved Initative for free (and you can still take the feat proper for a total of +8, to never, ever, be last in combat) is always a good idea, and being faster all the time is nothing but awesome. Throw in the Quick trait (you'll still be just as tough if not tougher than a regular caster with a mere 5.5 HP per HD) for 50 ft. speed.

Make your creator a Dread Necromancer8+, and you'll receive +4 to Strength and Dexterity, as well as another +2 HP per HD. The +4's from Strength won't stack with each other, but you'll still get the additional Dexterity and HP.

Throw in a Desecrate into your creation, and get a final +2 HP per HD.

Now, obviously having all those bonuses will make you patently ridiculous. You'll be getting 12.5 HP per HD on average, just like you had a +6 Constitution modifier. You might out-Dexterity the party Ranger/Rogue, and these benefits make even a Necropolitan melee-type viable. But seeing as Necropolitans lend themselves to casters anyways, perhaps the greatest use is simply negating most of the -6 to Strength and Dexterity that being Venerable gives you.

Just don't say I didn't warn you when the DM throws your copy of Libris Mortis in the trash.

Implications of Becoming Necropolitan

You essentially have LA +1, maybe more like +1.8 if you became a Necropolitan at 3rd level. Go out and stomp a monster or two to fix that - XP is a river, after all, you gain more of it in a party when you're a lower level, shooting you back up fast enough. When creating a character initially, the fact that Necropolitans actually have LA +0 means that becoming a Necropolitan "whateverraceyou'rethinkingof" has no cost other than becoming, well, a Necropolitan. All of your class abilities will be just as powerful, you'll just also be undead.

You get a LOT of immunities at the cost of a few major weaknesses. Is there a term such as "glass wall"? Because you're tough, but can instantly die/suck in many ways that are irrelevant to the average breathing party of meatsacks. I mean people.

No Constitution scores means that you can dump the stat and laugh it off. When doing a point-buy, this means that you can put 0 points into Constitution and pretend you have. A Necropolitan d4 HD caster essentially gets a Constitution of 18 - 2.5 per HD + 4 yields the 6.5 per HD a Necropolitan gets.

You might want to keep your Dexterity up, at the very least, to keep your AC up and make hitting with ranged attacks easier.

Strength shouldn't be important because you shouldn't be a fighter, but it's not as if there isn't ever a use for more Strength.

Since Charisma is used for Concentration now, that stat might become a little more important for a non-Charisma caster. A Charisma caster probably has this as his/her highest stat already, so yeah.

Keep in mind that the biggest hit of aging, the loss of Constitution, is completely negated by becoming a Necropolitan. If you become Venerable before you become a Necropolitan, you can add even more points to your mental stats. Strength still isn't important for a caster (although get too low and you'll have to play the equipment subgame, which isn't fun at all) and at higher levels your Dexterity will be basically irrelevant, with enough BAB or items to get your AC up or make ranged touch attacks hit.

Basics of Spellstitched

Spellstitched is a bit grayer in terms of using it as a PC. Appliable only to an Undead, there's no Level Adjustment listed, only a Challenge Rating adjustment.

However, there's a set of crafting rules, namely a creation process that requires Craft Wondrous Item, a massive XP cost of 1000 + 500xWisdom of the affected creature (which WILL be high, especially if you're a PC, generally ranging from at least 4000 for a Wisdom of 6 to a level-crushing 10000 for a Wisdom of 18). Less relevantly, it takes days equal to the Wisdom score of the creature, but more relevantly, the creator needs to be able to cast the spells that are to be imbued (a spell-stitched's major feature), which is a huge question when it comes to creation.

Depending on the creature's base Wisdom, if 10 or higher, it can be imbued with spells that it can use as spell-like abilities, which must be from the Conjuration, Evocation, or Necromancy schools. Depending on the Wisdom of the creature, higher level spells can be imbued - you need a Wisdom of 19 to get the highest possible, a 6th level spell-like ability.

Uses per day are fixed regardless of Wisdom, however, and are able to be used less and less often as the level of the spell rises, from 4/day for 1st level spells and 1/day to 6th level spells. Caster level is equal to the creature's HD, which manages to nullify the effectiveness of many direct-damage spells and limit the usefulness of buffs (shortened durations) but usually fails to change things like save-or-sucks (you never needed Hold Person to last more than one round anyways before the poor sod got coup-de-graced). Take those for maximum usefulness.

This ability can range from relatively innocuous (something like Bless Water would be quite amusing to have as an undead, or perhaps Hide from Undead for even greater irony) to useful (buffs and such) to dangerous (you have three schools; find the most broken spell you can think of and have it as a spell-like).

One thing to note when picking your Spellstitched abilities (if you can, that is; your DM might want to do so himself) is that as spell-like abilities, they have no components whatsoever. No verbal, no somatic, no material, no focus, no XP. Casting these spells as Silent/Stilled is already pretty awesome, but being able to cast Animate Dead without shelling out for ridiculous amounts of Black Onyx? Priceless.

Less prominently but just as important is that sufficent HD (at least 4) grants you damage reduction 5/magic or silver (magic and silver at HD 12). (Note: this appears to be in doubt. Even RAI is apparently contested on this one, so feel free to discuss.)

More vexing is that you have Spell Resistance of 12 + Charisma modifier; vexing for both your foes and possibly your allies, if they want to cast something like a buff or hit you with some negative energy for a heal. Remember that dropping spell resistance is a standard action, which is face-palmingly bad in a combat situation when you could be using that standard action to kill something. You can still cast heals/buffs on yourself, though, without the standard action. Incidentally, it says nothing as to when spell resistance comes back up; instantly, I presume?

Oh, and you also get a further +2 to turn resistance (which is cumulative) and a +2 profane bonus to saving throws, which is nothing but gravy.

Implications of Becoming Spellstitched

If your party already thought you were weird for being an undead, this will only solidify their opinion. Assuming you can find someone to cast the spells you want to have, and is willing to pay the soul-crushing XP cost, you essentially gain many permanent bonuses at no opportunity cost, unlike when you became an undead, trading the pros and cons of being alive for the pros and cons of being undead. Spellstitched is nothing but gain, basically like a magic item that you always have. (Okay, so someone can "see the runes on your body" with a DC 15 Spot check, but seeing as you were undead already it's quite likely that that detail is more important to them.)

That's basically all there is to it. If you decided to become undead, there's no reason not to become Spellstitched at the first possible opportunity.

(Corpsecrafted) (Spellstiched) Necropolitans in Gameplay

Here I run out of theory-steam, having never played one.

Obviously, you're an undead, making social situations EXTREMELY awkward. Having a high Charisma and lots of social skills might help in a much more forgiving environment, but fully expect the torches and pitchforks wherever you go. Consider investing ranks in Disguise, although you'll most likely given a -2 penalty, unless you count being undead as a "minor detail". (Unlikely.)

You'll be the aforementioned "glass wall". Especially if you've managed to conceal the fact that you're undead, chuckle when someone tries to sneak attack you, or cast something like a Suggestion on you. (That being said, your DM needs to be smart in a non-PC bashing way to have this happen.) Then cringe the moment a cleric shows up and tries to turn you, or someone whips out a Disrupting weapon, or even when your hitpoints run low, because remember, you INSTANTLY EXPLODE. NO NEGATIVE HITPOINTS. AT ALL.

60 ft. Darkvision is always helpful. No exceptions.

Even "XP is a river" will have a tough time regaining your XP if you Spellstitched yourself. If you're doing it yourself, definitely Thought Bottle. If you want spells that you can't normally cast, consider lending out a Thought Bottle to the gallant soul who undertakes the deed.

As for being Spellstitched, there are some major questions that have to be answered before you can proceed. Just who made you? Why do you have the spells imbued that you do? If they were a PC, how did they regain the XP? Heck, if they were a Cohort from Leadership, what does that mean? Many of these are unanswered, which probably is a reason why Spellstitched seems to be so rare/frowned upon, as if not having a Level Adjustment was bad enough.

As for in gameplay, being Spellstiched doesn't affect too much socially. You're already an undead, after all. But at lower levels (perhaps even level 2/ECL 1 for you) being Spellstitched with a 5th/6th level spell can be stupidly good for obvious reasons. With no clear LA, it's unclear what you'd have to do to create a new character with Spellstitched.

The Legality of Making a (Corpsecrafted) (Spellstitched) Necropolitan

Ranked in order of most to least grey in terms of legality.

First of all, becoming a Necropolitan is generally impossible at 1st level. You'll need to have a few levels underneath your belt before the option even becomes possible.

Corpsecrafted offers a hojillion benefits for no cost, as long as you can find someone with the feats. That might be hard, but then again getting the benefits obviously means that someone had to do it, kind of like attempting to answer the chicken-egg question by producing the egg first.

Spellstitched has a massive XP cost that your DM might force someone in the party to pay, but then again you might find a way to have some poor NPC do it for you. Probably the poor schmuck awesome necromancer who Corpsecrafted you in the first place. If YOU Spellstitch yourself, the massive XP cost will have you dragging way behind, multiple levels even, desite the fact that "XP is a river", and don't forget that you won't have any spell-like abilities that you couldn't already cast. Kind of like shelling out for extra-spell slots. It's really in your best interest to Spellstitch things you normally wouldn't be able to cast, either if it's because they're not on your spelllist or they're above the level of spells you can cast.

Necropolitan is however clearly spelled right out, and a DM who refuses to let you undergo the ritual probably needs to spell the reason out.


1st

Extended Prestidigitation. Because having Prestidigitation all day long is cool. Sure, the effects are replicable with a cheap item, but having it innate is even cooler. That, and the 1st-level slot is cheap enough. However, since this is a "universal" spell, it's unclear about whether it can be taken. Does "universal" mean that you can take it with only three normally allowed schools, or does it mean that you can't, because it isn't one of those three schools? Hmmmm.

Lesser Restoration. Yes, this is a 1st level spell on the Paladin list. How you justify a paladin Spellstiching an undead is what we call a "creative exercise."

(Extended) Floating Disk. Because having a disk that floats around with you to carry your junk is awesome, just like Prestidigitation. Finding creative things to do with a disk is even better. Extending it might be useful, but your 2nd level slots are precious, so perhaps not.

Summon Undead Line. If Animating dead wasn't good enough for you, keep in mind with the Conjuration school you can just summon them in.

2nd

Wings of Cover. This is how you avoid getting blown to smithereens by a Disintegrate. As an immediate action, you grant yourself total cover from a single attack, which means that most targetted spells and attacks requiring a line of effect auto-fail. If you're in an area of effect, you still get +8 AC and +4 to reflex saves.

Gentle Repose. Like Prestidigitation, this might be better taken as an eternal wand or simply cast yourself, but this means that as an undead you don't randomly rot all over the place and stink.

(De)(Con)secrate. Bypass the material cost in the name of awesome. While Consecrating might be a terrible tactical decision, Desecrating is basically a standard-action buff for you, that fits under the Evocation school.

Continual Flame. Yet another material-cost bypasser, but probably the weakest of them all. Making lights in your spare time is probably not what you want to be doing with 2nd level spell slots.

3rd

Stinking Cloud. You don't breathe. Cast it centered on yourself and watch everyone suck around you.

Animate Dead. No material cost, and I don't think I have to go into detail about the usefulness of undead minions. Do it in an area you've already Desecrated for maximum efficency.

4th

Lesser Planar Ally. You don't need to pay an XP cost for this, although the implications of free Planar Binding might have your DM hit you in the face.

Wings of Flurry (Races of the Dragon). A classic Evocation spell that simply pwns. All targets you select in a 30ft. burst, centered on you, take (casterlevel)xd6 untyped (aka force) damage, Reflex halves. And if they are so unlucky as to fail that save, they're dazed for a turn. Totally awesome, and might I mention that the damage is uncapped? Since all your HD count for Spellstitched SLAs, this means this spell goes all the way up to 20. The only problem this spell has is that while it's a 30ft. burst, its a 30ft. burst centered on you, meaning that casting this means you're within 30ft of your targets. At least you have d12 HD and extra health from being Corpsecrafted. You did get yourself Corpsecrafted, right?

5th

Raise Dead. Forget 5K worth of diamonds, free rezs, here we come! Oh, and this makes raising random corpses you find viable. Get yourself a reptuation of returning people to life or something.

Revivify. The small-window counterpart to Raise Dead, it has the advantage of not causing level loss. You could take both, but that seems kind of wasteful.

(Un)Hallow. The casting lasts a year, and you can weave one of a dozen other spells into it. Like Raise Dead you sidestep an immense material cost. This is cool. Get it.

Cloudkill. While Raise Dead and (Un)Hallow might have already taken up your two slots, this is a more offensive option. Cast it and walk with it as it moves. You don't care - you don't breathe!

Revive Undead. If you're feeling attached to your undead, or *gasp* have party members who are undead right alongside of you, this replaces Raise Dead.

6th

Planar Ally. Like its little brother but worse.

Wall of Iron. The whole industry of breaking down Walls of Iron just got a lot funnier.

Heal/Harm. This is a classic spell that generally finds a use somehow. The implications of access to a spell that (generally) makes you die instantly (Heal) are also qute interesting.

Create Undead. Like Animate Dead, but better.

Circle of Death. This normally expensive offensive option just got a lot cheaper. Alternatively, take its anti-undeath counterpart, Undeath to Death, for the lulz.

Awaken Undead. This isn't a particularly powerful choice, but there's simply something cool about Awakening the undead you're Animating for free already. Oh, yeah, you're also Awakening them with no XP cost. Tactically the Intelligence score is a bit low to be of great use, and the +2 turn/control undead resistance is only situationally useful, but Awakening them also might let you relinquish direct control over them and still have them follow your orders, letting you "control" even more undead, so yeah.

That's all I can think of. Please answer the questions I've raised, point out any corrections that need to be made, and generally discuss either part of this apparently infamous combination. Thank you all!

[Keld Denar]

Typically its understood that the best time to become a necropolitan is 3rd level. When you are Raised, you are treated as having lost a level. The rules for level loss are thus:

Level Loss
A character who loses a level instantly loses one Hit Die. The character’s base attack bonus, base saving throw bonuses, and special class abilities are now reduced to the new, lower level. Likewise, the character loses any ability score gain, skill ranks, and any feat associated with the level (if applicable). If the exact ability score or skill ranks increased from a level now lost is unknown (or the player has forgotten), lose 1 point from the highest ability score or ranks from the highest-ranked skills. If a familiar or companion creature has abilities tied to a character who has lost a level, the creature’s abilities are adjusted to fit the character’s new level.

The victim’s experience point total is immediately set to the midpoint of the previous level.

So, being revived as a Necropolitan would put you at the halfway point between 2nd and 3rd, or 2000 xp even. Then you apply the -1000 XP loss from the ritual which would put you at exactly 1000 xp, the exact amount needed to maintain level 2. Total xp lost is 2000 plus however far into 3rd level you were when you undertook the ritual.

If you waited till 4th level, you would drop to 3rd level at the half way mark, or 4500 XP. Then the loss of 1000 XP would put you at 3500 XP, for a net lost of 2500 XP, 500 more than if you had undergone the ritual at 3rd level. Every level above that results in a loss of 500 MORE xp than the level before.

Being lower level is a bit of a liability, especially given how fragile Necropolitans can be at low levels, but if your DM does xp strictly by the book (some do, some don't), you would recieve MORE xp from encounters your party overcomes due to the fact that you are lower level. This will help you bridge the gap with within 1k or so depending on how the levels fall with the challenges you face.

For example, if your party of 4 are all 4th level, and you are 3rd level because of the Necro transformation, and you kill a troll (CR6), your 3 party members would get 2400/4 xp = 600 each, while you would get 2700/4 xp, or 675 xp. There is an entire thread on this titled "XP is a river" somewhere over on the BG forums, IIRC.

Same principle with Spellstiching. By the time you are gonna think about it, about 8th to 12th level, the XP delta between levels is high enough that you'll be behind for a level or 3, but you'll eventually catch up.

Also, as a side note, you PERSONALLY never have issues affecting yourself with your own spells regardless of SR. In other words, you always automatically overcome your own SR, allowing you to buff or heal yourself with no chance of failure.

[Volthawk]

Augmented doesn't have in-game mechanical effects, it just sorta makes it easy to know what you were like beforehand.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

First and foremost, when a template refers to HD it always refers to Racial HD unless it specifies character level or class levels. Therefore RAI a Spellstitched PC will not gain DR unless they're a race which has at least that many racial HD. This is not explicitly spelled out so there are boatloads of RAW arguments against it, but the designers have made it clear that this is how they intended templates to work.

Be sure your Necropolitan template was granted by a Dread Necromancer 8+ with the entire Corpsecrafter line of feats from LM, in the area of a Desecrate spell with an evil altar present. That will grant the following additional benefits, free of charge:

+6 HP/level (Corspecrafter, DN, Desecrate)
+4 Enhancement bonus to Strength and Dexterity (DN)
+4 Turn Resistance (Bolster Resistance)
+1d6 Cold damage with natural weapons (Deadly Chill)
+2 Natural Armor (Hardened Flesh)
+4 Initiative, unnamed (Nimble Bones)
+10 ft. base land speed, unnamed (Nimble Bones)


If the base creature is a Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Planetouched, or Spirit Folk, you can take the feat Magic in the Blood from PGtF and all of your 1/day racial spell-like abilities become 3/day instead. That means if your 1st and 2nd level Spellstitched spell-like abilities are split 1/3/day (rather than 2/2/day), it will instead become 3/3/day since anything granted by a template is considered racial. Your 3rd-5th level Spellstitched spell-like abilities will go from 1/1/day to 3/3/day, and your 6th level will also be 3/day. All for a single feat and maybe two ranks in Kn: Local since it is a regional feat, and keep in mind that it must be taken at 1st level.

You could use Lesser Aasimar from PGtF as the base creature, which gets everything the MM Aasimar gets except that it's Humanoid instead of Outsider at a +0 LA. That gives you bonuses to Wisdom and Charisma for better Spellstitched bonuses, and it qualifies for Magic in the Blood.


The only plausible course of character classes for this would be any kind of arcane spellcaster with the Tainted Scholar prestige class from Heroes of Horror. Being undead you'll be completely immune to the negative effects of taint. Your spell DCs and bonus spells will be based on your Corruption and Depravity scores, which can become nigh-infinite on an undead character, especially considering that the act of casting a spell will increase your depravity. A generalist Wizard would certainly be the strongest choice for this character.

[balistafreak]

First and foremost, when a template refers to HD it always refers to Racial HD unless it specifies character level or class levels. Therefore RAI a Spellstitched PC will not gain DR unless they're a race which has at least that many racial HD. This is not explicitly spelled out so there are boatloads of RAW arguments against it, but the designers have made it clear that this is how they intended templates to work.

No damage resistance, then? Mmm. A loss.

Be sure your Necropolitan template was granted by a Dread Necromancer 8+ with the entire Corpsecrafter line of feats from LM, in the area of a Desecrate spell with an evil altar present. That will grant the following additional benefits, free of charge:

+6 HP/level (Corspecrafter, DN, Desecrate)
+4 Enhancement bonus to Strength and Dexterity (DN)
+4 Turn Resistance (Bolster Resistance)
+1d6 Cold damage with natural weapons (Deadly Chill)
+2 Natural Armor (Hardened Flesh)
+4 Initiative, unnamed (Nimble Bones)
+10 ft. base land speed, unnamed (Nimble Bones)

What. That's like... a hojillion bonus feats. But how would that fall under character creation? Making an NPC, sure, full stop, but I suspect that a PC would have to argue reaaaaaly hard to change this without being overpowered.

If the base creature is a Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Planetouched, or Spirit Folk, you can take the feat Magic in the Blood from PGtF and all of your 1/day racial spell-like abilities become 3/day instead. That means if your 1st and 2nd level Spellstitched spell-like abilities are split 1/3/day (rather than 2/2/day), it will instead become 3/3/day since anything granted by a template is considered racial. Your 3rd-5th level Spellstitched spell-like abilities will go from 1/1/day to 3/3/day, and your 6th level will also be 3/day. All for a single feat and maybe two ranks in Kn: Local since it is a regional feat, and keep in mind that it must be taken at 1st level.

That is also absurd. I'd like 3/day 6th level spell-likes, please... but does becoming Undead prevent you from taking this feat? Because it seems like it would. I'll go check later.

You could use Lesser Aasimar from PGtF as the base creature, which gets everything the MM Aasimar gets except that it's Humanoid instead of Outsider at a +0 LA. That gives you bonuses to Wisdom and Charisma for better Spellstitched bonuses, and it qualifies for Magic in the Blood.

I can't seem to find the actual Aasimar statline in PGtF. Maybe it's in Races of Faerun?

The only plausible course of character classes for this would be any kind of arcane spellcaster with the Tainted Scholar prestige class from Heroes of Horror.

Why? Just wondering. Perhaps mechanically that's super awesome, but storywise nothing really forces you to do this. Heck, even the whole Necropolitan/Wizard thing isn't necessarily true.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

No damage resistance, then? Mmm. A loss.

It also means Half-Fiend and Half-Celestial PCs don't get any spell-like abilities. Many people just ignore the whole only-racial-HD part, most out of ignorance, but it's not extremely unbalancing to allow class levels to grant abilities from level adjusted templates. Considering how expensive Spellstitched is, and how low its DR is compared to the level its gained at, it would work fine granting the DR for class levels.

What. That's like... a hojillion bonus feats. But how would that fall under character creation? Making an NPC, sure, full stop, but I suspect that a PC would have to argue reaaaaaly hard to change this without being overpowered.

The NPC has those feats, he turned your character (and many, many others) into a Necropolitan, and any undead he creates gains those benefits. It requires absolutely no investment on your part, those are all free bonuses. It would not be uncommon for the head guy in charge of making necropolitans for whatever sinister organization to have invested heavily in being able to create the best necropolitans possible. This is what he does professionally, he's likely been doing it for thousands of years, so of course he's going to be not just good at it, but the absolute best candidate for the position.

That is also absurd. I'd like 3/day 6th level spell-likes, please... but does becoming Undead prevent you from taking this feat? Because it seems like it would. I'll go check later.

Changing your creature type won't change your base race. A Gnome Necropolitan is still a Gnome, just an undead one. His creature type would read Undead (Augmented Humanoid (Gnome)).

I can't seem to find the actual Aasimar statline in PGtF. Maybe it's in Races of Faerun?

Page 191 details the changes for Lesser Planetouched. You use the Monster Manual Aasimar entry, modified according to what it shows in PGtF.

Why? Just wondering. Perhaps mechanically that's super awesome, but storywise nothing really forces you to do this. Heck, even the whole Necropolitan/Wizard thing isn't necessarily true.

Looking at the taint rules in HoH, being undead you automatically have corruption and depravity scores as it is. If you're an arcane spellcaster, you'd already qualify for Tainted Scholar. It is the most powerful choice mechanically, though the character may be a bit MAD starting out but you wouldn't need Int higher than 14 for the character to be playable before Tainted Scholar, and if you start high enough level to already have it you can have Int 11.

[balistafreak]

Just had a thought.

Spellstitched Necropolitan Lesser Aasimar for minimum needed base stat, but it can be whatever Race that can get Magic in the Blood.

Get 19 Wisdom. A Venerable Lesser Aasimar only needs a base of 14 Wisdom to get this, which, while "special", is well within the Elite Array.

Be Spellstitched for Prestidigitation 15 times, and throw in 3x5 of whatever other spells you want, at 1st/2nd/3rd/4th/5th level as needed. I'm too lazy to think of what should go there, but you need all three 6th level slots for Hero's Feast.

Congratulations, you now have the world's best (admittedly now-undead) grandmother. Cleans like a devil, and makes three square meals a day, the likes of which you've never had before.

...

*pounds head on desk*

What was the purpose of that experiment?

[balistafreak]

Considering how expensive Spellstitched is, and how low its DR is compared to the level its gained at, it would work fine granting the DR for class levels.

I'm not sure damage reduction 5/magic or silver is "low" at level 4 (4 HD), but it's surely not broken for the cost, I agree.

The NPC has those feats, he turned your character (and many, many others) into a Necropolitan, and any undead he creates gains those benefits. It requires absolutely no investment on your part, those are all free bonuses. It would not be uncommon for the head guy in charge of making necropolitans for whatever sinister organization to have invested heavily in being able to create the best necropolitans possible. This is what he does professionally, he's likely been doing it for thousands of years, so of course he's going to be not just good at it, but the absolute best candidate for the position.

Such a powerful organization would have little reason to let said super-necropolitans out of their grasp, though. Hmmmm. It's a nice thought. I'd love to use the super-necropolitan against the PCs, but as a PC, it would have generally have more HP than the barbarian (+6 HP per level as opposed to the maximum +4 that a barbarian probably would have normally), be better at combat besides (have a high base strength before becoming a necropolitan and you can have more than 18 strength), have more armor (+2 natural armor), have a free feat (Improved Initiative), and be just as fast as a barbarian besides (extra speed). Man, that'd be one mean necropolitan fighter.

Changing your creature type won't change your base race. A Gnome Necropolitan is still a Gnome, just an undead one. His creature type would read Undead (Augmented Humanoid (Gnome)).

Gotcha. But the idea taking in Magic in the Blood when you have none is simply amusing.

Page 191 details the changes for Lesser Planetouched. You use the Monster Manual Aasimar entry, modified according to what it shows in PGtF.

So you can get +2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma, Darkvision, +2 Spot and Listen, Daylight, and elemental resistances with LA +0, all for the cost of being treated as a Humanoid and Outsider? That's the only change I see on 191, and that confuses me. It doesn't seem right still, but if that is indeed what you are referencing, you'll be right. It just doesn't seem very "lesser" to me.

Looking at the taint rules in HoH, being undead you automatically have corruption and depravity scores as it is. If you're an arcane spellcaster, you'd already qualify for Tainted Scholar. It is the most powerful choice mechanically, though the character may be a bit MAD starting out but you wouldn't need Int higher than 14 for the character to be playable before Tainted Scholar, and if you start high enough level to already have it you can have Int 11.

Oh gods taint rules. Awesome builds aside, though, so there is no real fluff-reason, just optimization. Much as I like optimization, I try not to force the addition of further systems to get it, so that's probably the source of my antipathy. That, and tracking "taint" on the character I'm making makes me feel... well, tainted. So yeah.

As for my own questions:

Do bonuses from being Venerable transfer over into being Necropolitan? Because I can see a Council of Elders who benefit from their +3 to mental stats yet are still tough and kicking due to sidestepping the -6 Constitution. Heck, with the +4 to physical stats for an 8+ Dread Necromancer, the total -2 probably is nothing but a prominent annoyance, no more so than being nearsighted or something.

Unrelated to Necropolitans, but would you consider applying Venerable bonuses and penalties to a character is actually not that old as something odd/broken/cheesed out? I'm a sucker for the concept of the ill savant, and one who sidesteps being ill by becoming Undead (especially through a 8+ Dread Necromancer) is coming out way ahead.

Continuing in this vein, I'm of the mind to make him a Cloistered Cleric, at least base. Using E6 as a benchmark, he has six levels to play with. With endurance and long-term survivability in mind, I'd like to give him an at-will way to heal himself. The normal choice, Touch of Healing, is obviously going to be a very bad idea. I'm aware of the possibilities of a 1-level dip into Dread Necromancer for Charnel Touch, but that just seems horrible. Are there any ways to get at-will negative energy?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Such a powerful organization would have little reason to let said super-necropolitans out of their grasp, though. Hmmmm. It's a nice thought. I'd love to use the super-necropolitan against the PCs, but as a PC, it would have generally have more HP than the barbarian (+6 HP per level as opposed to the maximum +4 that a barbarian probably would have normally), be better at combat besides (have a high base strength before becoming a necropolitan and you can have more than 18 strength), have more armor (+2 natural armor), have a free feat (Improved Initiative), and be just as fast as a barbarian besides (extra speed). Man, that'd be one mean necropolitan fighter.

They don't have to let him out of their grasp. One NPC has those feats, every necropolitan in the organization gets those bonuses, because that one NPC created all of them. The NPC himself actually gets none of those bonuses, because those feats do not grant himself anything, they only add bonuses to undead he creates. There is no limit to how often he can use them, so it costs the organization nothing for each necropolitan they create to have those bonuses. That one NPC who's invested all those feats gains a higher rank/status within the organization, which I'm sure he's happy about, and in exchange every necropolitan he creates including the character in question gains those bonuses.

As for my own questions:

Do bonuses from being Venerable transfer over into being Necropolitan? Because I can see a Council of Elders who benefit from their +3 to mental stats yet are still tough and kicking due to sidestepping the -6 Constitution. Heck, with the +4 to physical stats for an 8+ Dread Necromancer, the total -2 probably is nothing but a prominent annoyance, no more so than being nearsighted or something.

Unrelated to Necropolitans, but would you consider applying Venerable bonuses and penalties to a character is actually not that old as something odd/broken/cheesed out? I'm a sucker for the concept of the ill savant, and one who sidesteps being ill by becoming Undead (especially through a 8+ Dread Necromancer) is coming out way ahead.

Continuing in this vein, I'm of the mind to make him a Cloistered Cleric, at least base. Using E6 as a benchmark, he has six levels to play with. With endurance and long-term survivability in mind, I'd like to give him an at-will way to heal himself. The normal choice, Touch of Healing, is obviously going to be a very bad idea. I'm aware of the possibilities of a 1-level dip into Dread Necromancer for Charnel Touch, but that just seems horrible. Are there any ways to get at-will negative energy?

You keep your current stats when you become a Necropolitan, so -6 physical and +3 mental for being venerable would stick. Undead are not immune to unnamed penalties to their physical ability scores, so if you go past venerable after gaining necropolitan you would still get the standard bonuses and penalties.

If this is E6, nobody can be a Dread Necromancer 8+, though you could homebrew a capstone feat which grants Undead Mastery.

With either UMD or the Magic domain you could use Eternal Wands from the MIC, though no low-level arcane spells which deal negative energy damage come to mind. Someone with Lord of the Uttercold from Complete Arcane could make an Eternal Wand of Uttercold Lesser Orb of Cold, and you'd get Cold Resistance 5 from Aasimar. Someone could use Arcane Disciple: Destruction to make an Eternal Wand of Inflict Light Wounds, but that's a bit questionable. Maybe an organization of necropolitans would have someone on hand who was able to craft such an item, but otherwise good luck finding one.

[balistafreak]

They don't have to let him out of their grasp. One NPC has those feats, every necropolitan in the organization gets those bonuses, because that one NPC created all of them. The NPC himself actually gets none of those bonuses, because those feats do not grant himself anything, they only add bonuses to undead he creates. There is no limit to how often he can use them, so it costs the organization nothing for each necropolitan they create to have those bonuses. That one NPC who's invested all those feats gains a higher rank/status within the organization, which I'm sure he's happy about, and in exchange every necropolitan he creates including the character in question gains those bonuses.

Looking back on my previous post, I realized something. I didn't say why I didn't think a super-necropolitans would be the norm. :/

To explain, I looked into the book for the ritual details. It takes a 24 hour ritual to make a necropolitan - and while it doesn't explictly state that the leader (aka our super-necropolitan maker) must be there the entire duration, it seems implied, else he wouldn't really be participating in the ritual, would he? A (larger) organization built around necropolitans might not have them all built to perfection (with a Dread Necromancer of Corpsestiching-awesome). While surely such an organization would have every reason to have a Corpsestitcher, to have him make every single one seems a bit daunting.

Then again, a smaller scale organization, something more akin to a "club", headed by such a Necromancer seems as good. Maybe he wouldn't have all the feats (if he dead, why isn't he at the head of a more powerful one? also, the cold enhancement seems a tad unnecessary, and plain annoying for intelligent undead outside of combat), but he might have some of them.

You keep your current stats when you become a Necropolitan, so -6 physical and +3 mental for being venerable would stick. Undead are not immune to unnamed penalties to their physical ability scores, so if you go past venerable after gaining necropolitan you would still get the standard bonuses and penalties.

Nice. What I meant about "sidestepping" was that you don't care about -6 to Constitution, because guess what! You don't have any!

If this is E6, nobody can be a Dread Necromancer 8+, though you could homebrew a capstone feat which grants Undead Mastery.

No, it's not E6, but I was thinking of it in terms of power; a heroicly fantastic character, but not earthshaking. Going by the whole:

1-5 Gritty Fantasy
6-10 High Fantasy
11-15 Wuxia Eastern Fantasy
16-20 Reshaping Reality Fantasy ala Cthulu

Then six levels is right where I want him. Tough enough to not randomly die, not powerful enough to do whatever he wants.

With either UMD or the Magic domain you could use Eternal Wands from the MIC, though no low-level arcane spells which deal negative energy damage come to mind. Someone with Lord of the Uttercold from Complete Arcane could make an Eternal Wand of Uttercold Lesser Orb of Cold, and you'd get Cold Resistance 5 from Aasimar. Someone could use Arcane Disciple: Destruction to make an Eternal Wand of Inflict Light Wounds, but that's a bit questionable. Maybe an organization of necropolitans would have someone on hand who was able to craft such an item, but otherwise good luck finding one.

Well, that's not awkward at all. There's got to be a feat-related way to get negative energy at-will... that isn't Charnel Touch. Heh.

But perhaps he doesn't need one. I think I've got the gist of him down now. Because I let my players grab ahold of my NPCs all the time, he needs to be as legal as I can get him to be.

Spoiler

Show

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was a human student at the great university of Kah, a place with literally millions of students. Not university of strictly magic (although yes, that was a subject), just one where people of all walks of life came to learn for the mere sake of learning, from the lowest goblin to the highest sphinx. Say a 10/14/8/17/17/13 statline (a 39 PB, in line with what most of my players have rolled), with the Frail flaw (even though this isn't really legal later). Probably Expert with ten Knowledge skills or something.

Of course, bad times always come eventually. Such a place of neutral learning could not last, and eventually a great evil warlord bordering on an eldritch abomination came and looted the place, not just of its physical treasures, but its greatest one of all: its minds.

The surviving students were put under a ritual that bent their physical energy into mental growth at an alarming rate. Once that was done, they were collected and subordinated into a huge nexus of thought, kind of like a supercomputer, used for research and calculation of various evil deeds. They would burn out in mere years, but at the rate the forces of evil were gathering minds, they'd conquer the world first.

Of course, various heroes of good made its inevitable appearance, and broke the nexus and freed the prisoners. However, they weren't able to break the life-to-mind ritual, being too busy with fighting off the evil and sealing it away. Most of the freed minds from the university died within a year, if not months. Our protagonist now has a statline affected by Venerable: 4/8/4/20/20/16, with death as the next step of aging.

Body failing him, now literally dying to learn, our protagonist does the most important study of his life, and figures out to become a necropolitan through a less-than-scrupulous organization. (He'll receive +4 Strength and Dexterity ala Undead Mastery. The extra hitpoints per level are burned on the Quick trait and paying off the "Frail" flaw he took while still a Human.) He undergoes the ritual, becoming a 8/12/-/20/20/16 necropolitan...

... and promptly wakes up to find the same forces of good that rescued him bursting into the ritual seconds to late to interrupt, hell-bent on purging "the cult".

Despite having no combat abilities to speak of, he manages to escape the scene, perhaps helped a little by being Quick. Now freed of his impending death, he goes straight back to what he had been doing in his conscious life: study. Bravely climbing back into the ruins of the university, he finds out the the place is dangerous now, basically its own dungeon. Dedicated to fixing the whole place up to its former glory, he cracks his undead knuckles and gets to work.

Somewhere in the middle of his work, the heroes of good that rescued then tried to purge him track him here, only to discover the work he's been doing and decide to leave him alone - he's not hurting anyone, and what he's doing is a noble cause, after all. Before they leave, though the cleric of the heroes sits down with our hero and has a long talk about being undead and what he is to do. When they depart, they leave a gift - they've Spellstitched him.

Centuries later, the (human, real-life) players around ECL 6-7 have come into the game investigating this evil that seems to be risking its escape. The old heroes are now all long dead. They track the history of the evil to what was supposed to be a dangerous ruin, in hopes of finding some clues.

Instead, they find our protagonist, who's taken the time to become a Factotum1/Cloistered Cleric5. Kind of slow level growth, but most of the XP he gained, he turned around spent on his work on restoring the place.

My plan is for him to ask the heroes in clearing out a particularly dangerous part of the ruin, in which they are ambushed by assassins from the growing cult worshipping the eldritch evil from yore. Our protagonist is NOT HAPPY at this reminder of his past. He cracks his undead knuckles, joins the party, and gets to work.

Feel free to poke as many holes in my character concept as possible.

[Geiger Counter]

Can you play a changeling necropolitan and regain a mortal appearance?

[TheMadLinguist]

First and foremost, when a template refers to HD it always refers to Racial HD unless it specifies character level or class levels. Therefore RAI a Spellstitched PC will not gain DR unless they're a race which has at least that many racial HD. This is not explicitly spelled out so there are boatloads of RAW arguments against it, but the designers have made it clear that this is how they intended templates to work.

Can you give me a cite for that, please?

Your interpretation makes a typical player character with the celestial creature template gain nothing whatsoever. That makes the heralds in races of stone, for example, have no reason to be celestial or fiendish.

[balistafreak]

Made some edits. Put in lots of what Biffoniacus_Furiou said.

With all the character optimization out there, I'm surprised that Spellstitched Necropolitan doesn't come up that often. What's the issue? Too much reliance on outside factors? Being undead? Not as good as other choices?

[TheMadLinguist]

Made some edits. Put in lots of what Biffoniacus_Furiou said.

With all the character optimization out there, I'm surprised that Spellstitched Necropolitan doesn't come up that often. What's the issue? Too much reliance on outside factors? Being undead? Not as good as other choices?

No listed LA means that your character advancement is now entirely in the hands of the DM.

[balistafreak]

Well, that's true for Corpsecrafted and Spellstitched. Still, I'd expect to see more Necropolitan casters wandering around than I do.

And you can always Spellstitch yourself. (Possible) damage resistance, spell resistance, and save bonuses are all good in my book.

[Irreverent Fool]

Can you give me a cite for that, please?

Your interpretation makes a typical player character with the celestial creature template gain nothing whatsoever. That makes the heralds in races of stone, for example, have no reason to be celestial or fiendish.

Seconded on the request for citation. It may be RAI, but by RAW, hit dice are hit dice, no matter where they come from.

@balistafreak

+4 to Initiative and a +10 ft. enhancement bonus to speed. While the enhancement bonus to speed won't stack with a lot of things, Improved Initative is always a good idea, and being faster all the time is nothing but awesome.

It bears mentioning that the 'Nimble Bones' Corpsecrafter feat grants unnamed bonuses, not enhancement bonuses or 'Improved Initiative'. One of the nicest things about this feat is that this means skeletons created gain a total of +8, as skeletons gain Improved Initiative as a bonus feat. That is, unless there were errata I didn't look at.

No Constitution scores means that you can dump the stat and laugh it off. When doing a point-buy, this means that you can put 0 points into Constitution and pretend you have.

iirc, you can't go lower than 8 in point-buy. I see what you're saying now. Put 0 points into constitution.

On Spellstitching: A character can spellstitch himself. Since XP components from NPCs are horribly expensive, this may be the way to go. Or maybe a party member is willing to spellstitch you.

The main advantage to spellstitching isn't the 'extra slots', it's the fact that, as SLAs, these spells have no material components. Animate dead is a popular spell to stitch for this reason.

Other than that, I love it. Corpsecrafter applied to necropolitan is something that never occured to me before.

obnoxious
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[PhoenixRivers]

First and foremost, when a template refers to HD it always refers to Racial HD unless it specifies character level or class levels.

Cite your source, because there's one that contradicts you.

Check Monsters and Class levels in the SRD.

A monster's HD include HD gained from Class levels AND racial HD. Can you show me anything saying that templates are an exception?

[Coidzor]

Wait...

Wouldn't Magic in the Blood not work for a Spell-stitched templated Necropolitan since it's a 1st level character only feat, and Necropolitans can't be created as 1st level characters, meaning the SLAs can't be acquired until later?

Or does it apply its benefit to abilities gained after the feat is taken, then?

[Irreverent Fool]

Wait...

Wouldn't Magic in the Blood not work for a Spell-stitched templated Necropolitan since it's a 1st level character only feat, and Necropolitans can't be created as 1st level characters, meaning the SLAs can't be acquired until later?

Or does it apply its benefit to abilities gained after the feat is taken, then?

Spellstitched does not add racial SLAs. This feat would not apply. I think there are other ways of achieving this, though.

obnoxious
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[PhoenixRivers]

Augmented doesn't have in-game mechanical effects, it just sorta makes it easy to know what you were like beforehand.

Without (Augmented XXX), you'd lose the base race abilities.

For example: if Necropolitan didn't augment Human, then you'd lose the bonus skill point and feat when you became one.

[balistafreak]

Seconded on the request for citation. It may be RAI, but by RAW, hit dice are hit dice, no matter where they come from.

I'll agree that the more I read, the more it seems that class HD should stack as well.

It bears mentioning that the 'Nimble Bones' Corpsecrafter feat grants unnamed bonuses, not enhancement bonuses or 'Improved Initiative'. One of the nicest things about this feat is that this means skeletons created gain a total of +8, as skeletons gain Improved Initiative as a bonus feat. That is, unless there were errata I didn't look at.

While I was simply making a comparison to Improved Initiative (same bonus, but not the same thing), I do realize I am incorrect about the enhancement bonus. What was I smoking?

... it was late. Going to fix that.

The main advantage to spellstitching isn't the 'extra slots', it's the fact that, as SLAs, these spells have no material components. Animate dead is a popular spell to stitch for this reason.

*jaw drops*

*flicks through SRD*

I can't believe I missed that.

Between (Un)Hallow, (De)(Con)secrate, Animate Dead, and Raise Dead (all money intensive spells), that's a huge amount of powerful spells for free. Spells that rightfully shouldn't be cast often at all will be cast every single day (well, hopefully not Raise Dead on party members )

Cast the two area buffs every single night you camp. Literally leave a swathe of (un)holy sites in your wake.

It's also a great moral question, one that might make a game memorable. Spellstitch an Undead with Heal, Raise Dead, Consecrate, and Hallow. What does he do with all these Positive Energy abilities? An excellent candidate for moral quandries - does he find ways to turn these spells for evil, or cooperate despite the fact that he wields forces that are literally anathema to his own being?

Alternatively, load him up with Harm, Slay Living, Desecrate, and Unhallow, but give him the same question.

The Postive Energy side has the benefit of not being quite gamebreaking as well. Heal generally doesn't auto-win an encounter, and Raise Dead for free, while awesome, is one of those spells that really shouldn't be cast very often anyways. The level-cost of death is already painful enough.

I just wish that I could shoehorn Atonement in there as well, but that's an Abjuration spell .

[Irreverent Fool]

Heal generally doesn't auto-win an encounter, and Raise Dead for free, while awesome, is one of those spells that really shouldn't be cast very often anyways. The level-cost of death is already painful enough.

I just wish that I could shoehorn Atonement in there as well, but that's an Abjuration spell .

What's stopping you from stitching abjuration spells?

Also: You can always stitch the lower-level spells to lesser undead that are controlled by the high-wisdom one. The Night Caller from Sunless Citadel (reprinted and increased in cost in Libris Mortis) is very useful for giving things minions without all the hassle of chain-of-command spawn: 2 zombies for anyone that feels like using the item. Once you've got your minions, pass on the item to someone else. If you're feeling generous awaken undead those zombies so they can use their abilities intelligently.

You said at-will at some point in the above post. The Spellstiched SLAs can be used a limited number of times per day, iirc, so even a harm spell won't be more than 'that one horrible attack the monster uses once in awhile'.

As for heal not auto-winning an encounter... well, that depends on the encounter. Also, for the undead with the moral dilemma, it may serve useful to have a spell with which one can destroy oneself in one go.

obnoxious
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[balistafreak]

What's stopping you from stitching abjuration spells?

I quote, from Complete Arcane, pg 162: "Any spells selected must be from the conjuration, evocation, or necromancy school." No illusions, transmutation, abjuration, etc. This is probably because these three schools are the most "blasty" and least annoying when used against players - usually. After all, Spellstitched is apparently supposed to not be used for a PC.

You said at-will at some point in the above post. The Spellstiched SLAs can be used a limited number of times per day, iirc, so even a harm spell won't be more than 'that one horrible attack the monster uses once in awhile'.

Actually, I said "Spells that rightfully shouldn't be cast often at all will be cast every single day." As in, a spell such as Hallow, a spell that one normally wouldn't be preparing and casting every day, if Spellstitched, is going to be used every day simply because, well, why not cast it? It's not as if you can do anything else with the spell. Close, and it's easily misread (with almost no change in meaning) as "at will". I did the first time when I looked back.

But if you're referring to the original post, I'll go back and fix those statements.

As for heal not auto-winning an encounter... well, that depends on the encounter. Also, for the undead with the moral dilemma, it may serve useful to have a spell with which one can destroy oneself in one go.

Okay, so if you're facing another undead, punching him in the face with Heal might end it there. But the majority of the time, I love the concept of an undead who has the ability to kill himself literally nothing more than a thought away... hanging over his head like the Sword of Damoclyes...

Incidentally, I'm stroking an imaginary goatee over the thought of adding the Evolved Undead template (Libris Mortis, pg. 100) to the list.

Like Corpsecrafted and Spellstitched, you're going to need a good story reason to take it: becoming an Evolved Undead means that you have existed as an intelligent undead long enough to become even more attuned to negative energy, granting additional benefits.

The main feature is that you have a list of 12 possible SLAs, of which you must have sufficent HD to cast as if you were a caster. Now, that statement is kind of vague, but RAI is quite clear - if you want to select Cone of Cold (a 5th level spell normally), you're going to need at least 9 HD. You can only cast it once per day, though. Although there is a system for selecting it randomly, the varying amounts of HD you'll need for the 12 abilities mean that you should probably just go and select it yourself. If you can already use the SLA, you simply gain an additional use, and if you can already use the SLA at-will, you must select another.

The other features are less flashy, but pretty useful. You gain +1 natural armor, +2 Strength and Charisma, and best of all permanent fast healing 3, making your encounter-to-encounter endurance ridiculous.

And if the DM complains, you can point to the very clear statement of "Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +1".

Now, are all of those abilities worth a level? Since this is an acquired template, all you basically have to say is "I'd like this SLA, so I'll apply this template instead of leveling once I get enough HD." I can see it being worth it for the stat boosts, but at the same time the loss of caster progression (as a Necropolitan, you are a caster, right?) is probably not worth the 1/day SLA you get. Hmmmm.

[PhoenixRivers]

I quote, from Complete Arcane, pg 162: "Any spells selected must be from the conjuration, evocation, or necromancy school." No illusions, transmutation, abjuration, etc. This is probably because these three schools are the most "blasty" and least annoying when used against players - usually. After all, Spellstitched is apparently supposed to not be used for a PC.



Actually, I said "Spells that rightfully shouldn't be cast often at all will be cast every single day." As in, a spell such as Hallow, a spell that one normally wouldn't be preparing and casting every day, if Spellstitched, is going to be used every day simply because, well, why not cast it? It's not as if you can do anything else with the spell. Close, and it's easily misread (with almost no change in meaning) as "at will". I did the first time when I looked back.

But if you're referring to the original post, I'll go back and fix those statements.



Okay, so if you're facing another undead, punching him in the face with Heal might end it there. But the majority of the time, I love the concept of an undead who has the ability to kill himself literally nothing more than a thought away... hanging over his head like the Sword of Damoclyes...

Incidentally, I'm stroking an imaginary goatee over the thought of adding the Evolved Undead template (Libris Mortis, pg. 100) to the list.

Like Corpsecrafted and Spellstitched, you're going to need a good story reason to take it: becoming an Evolved Undead means that you have existed as an intelligent undead long enough to become even more attuned to negative energy, granting additional benefits.

The main feature is that you have a list of 12 possible SLAs, of which you must have sufficent HD to cast as if you were a caster. Now, that statement is kind of vague, but RAI is quite clear - if you want to select Cone of Cold (a 5th level spell normally), you're going to need at least 9 HD. You can only cast it once per day, though. Although there is a system for selecting it randomly, the varying amounts of HD you'll need for the 12 abilities mean that you should probably just go and select it yourself. If you can already use the SLA, you simply gain an additional use, and if you can already use the SLA at-will, you must select another.

The other features are less flashy, but pretty useful. You gain +1 natural armor, +2 Strength and Charisma, and best of all permanent fast healing 3, making your encounter-to-encounter endurance ridiculous.

And if the DM complains, you can point to the very clear statement of "Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +1".

Now, are all of those abilities worth a level? Since this is an acquired template, all you basically have to say is "I'd like this SLA, so I'll apply this template instead of leveling once I get enough HD." I can see it being worth it for the stat boosts, but at the same time the loss of caster progression (as a Necropolitan, you are a caster, right?) is probably not worth the 1/day SLA you get. Hmmmm.

Depends. With LA buyoff, it's not bad.

[balistafreak]

Depends. With LA buyoff, it's not bad.

Wait, what?

LA buyoff means taking the template at 1st level and paying it off with the levels you gain afterward, right?

Well, see, there's one problem. You don't start as a Necropolitan, you become one.

Not to mention that if you need to buy off the LA, you probably don't have enough HD to use any of the SLA's provided by the template. Which... is kind of bad?

Unless my not-so-clear definition of LA buyoff is terribly off, of course.

As for a list of good Spellstitched spells, I'm going to start a list of cool ones to have, if not the "best". It currently operates under the assumption that multiple spell lists can be used to Spellstitch the same creature, which may or may not be true.

Remember, the only allowed schools are Conjuration, Evocation, and Necromancy.

NOTE: This post is no longer being updated. All further spell changes will be slotted into the OP.

1st

Extended Prestidigitation. Because having Prestidigitation all day long is cool. Sure, the effects are replicable with a cheap item, but having it innate is even cooler. That, and the 1st-level slot is cheap enough. However, since this is a "universal" spell, it's unclear about whether it can be taken. Does "universal" mean that you can take it with only three normally allowed schools, or does it mean that you can't, because it isn't one of those three schools? Hmmmm.

Lesser Restoration. Yes, this is a 1st level spell on the Paladin list. How you justify a paladin spellstiching an undead is what we call a "creative exercise."

Bless/Curse Water. There must be something useful you can do with free (un)holy water. Transmutation school. Should have guessed.

Summon Undead Line. If Animating dead wasn't good enough for you, keep in mind with the Conjuration school you can just summon them in.

2nd

Extended Floating Disk. Because having a disk that floats around with you to carry your junk is awesome, just like Prestidigitation. Finding creative things to do with a disk is even better. However, there might be better uses for your 2nd level SLA slots.

Gentle Repose. Like Prestidigitation, this might be better taken as an eternal wand or simply cast yourself, but this means that as an undead you don't randomly rot all over the place and stink.

(De)(Con)secrate. Bypass the material cost in the name of awesome. While Consecrating might be a terrible tactical decision, Desecrating is basically a standard-action buff for you, that fits under the Evocation school.

Continual Flame. Yet another material-cost bypasser, but probably the weakest of them all. Making lights in your spare time is probably not what you want to be doing with 2nd level spell slots.

3rd

Stinking Cloud. You don't breathe. Cast it centered on yourself and watch everyone suck around you.

Animate Dead. No material cost, and I don't think I have to go into detail about the usefulness of undead minions. Do it in an area you've already Desecrated for maximum efficency.

4th

Lesser Planar Ally. You don't need to pay an XP cost for this, although the implications of free Planar Binding might have your DM hit you in the face.

Wings of Flurry (Races of the Dragon). A classic Evocation spell that simply pwns. All targets you select in a 30ft. burst, centered on you, take (casterlevel)xd6 untyped (aka force) damage, Reflex halves. And if they are so unlucky as to fail that save, they're dazed for a turn. Totally awesome, and might I mention that the damage is uncapped? Since all your HD count for Spellstitched SLAs, this means this spell goes all the way up to 20. The only problem this spell has is that while it's a 30ft. burst, its a 30ft. burst centered on you. At least you have d12 HD and extra health from being Corpsecrafted. You did get yourself Corpsecrafted, right?

5th

Raise Dead. Forget 5K worth of diamonds, free rezs, here we come! Oh, and this makes raising random corpses you find viable. Get yourself a reptuation of returning people to life or something.

(Un)Hallow. The casting lasts a year, and you can weave one of a dozen other spells into it. Like Raise Dead you sidestep an immense material cost. This is cool. Get it.

Cloudkill. While Raise Dead and (Un)Hallow might have already taken up your two slots, this is a more offensive option. Cast it and walk with it as it moves. You don't care - you don't breathe!

Revive Undead. If you're feeling attached to your undead, or *gasp* have party members who are undead right alongside of you, this replaces Raise Dead.

6th

Planar Ally. Like its little brother but worse.

Wall of Iron. The whole industry of breaking down Walls of Iron just got a lot funnier.

Heal/Harm. This is a classic spell that generally finds a use somehow. The implications of access to a spell that (generally) makes you die instantly (Heal) are also qute interesting.

Create Undead. Like Animate Dead, but better.

Circle of Death. This normally expensive offensive option just got a lot cheaper. Alternatively, take its anti-undeath counterpart, Undeath to Death, for the lulz.

Awaken Undead. This isn't a particularly powerful choice, but there's simply something cool about Awakening the undead you're Animating for free already. Oh, yeah, you're also Awakening them with no XP cost. Tactically the Intelligence score is a bit low to be of great use, and the +2 turn/control undead resistance is only situationally useful, but Awakening them also might let you relinquish direct control over them and still have them follow your orders, letting you "control" even more undead, so yeah.

[Irreverent Fool]

I don't think you have to begin play with a Level Adjustment in order to buy it off later. It doesn't explicitly say 'starting' refers to 'the LA you had when you gained your first class level'. I'd be willing to argue that 'starting' can refer to 'the LA you had before you bought any off'.

I've never actually used the Spellstitched template. I wasn't aware of the school restriction. Guess you start misremembering things after awhile. Must be how my grandpa shot down that 800 lb. duck.

obnoxious
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[balistafreak]

Oh, wait, that's how Buyoff works again. See, normally I don't use buyoff, prefering to take other routes to power.

... so basically, for this +1 LA, if the character is to be 3rd level or higher, the LA is negated, letting me keep all my precious class levels.

Sweet.

And please help me fill in suggestions for the Spellstiched slots! I'm only going through Core right now, but I'd like to at least take a walk through the PHBII and the Spell Compendium.

[Jack_Simth]

Let's see...

If you have multiple necropolitans in the party (and if you're doing this, there's going to be a lot of frowning other players, some of whom may decide to take a similar route with their next characters), then Revive Undead (Libris Mortis, page 70) is a nice one to get (Necromancy).

Wings of Cover (Evocation) from Races of the Dragon is, while 1/day, crazy-useful to have when you need it (it basically says "no" to whatever was thrown at you just now).

Contingency is a 6th level Evocation spell.

[TheMadLinguist]

Spellstitched does not add racial SLAs. This feat would not apply. I think there are other ways of achieving this, though.

obnoxious
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Why wouldn't they be racial? Your race is what kind of creature you are, and you are a spell-stitched necropolitan elf. Just like how a half-celestial elf has a race of "half celestial elf", and a half-dragon ogre has a race of "half-dragon ogre".

I can't really see anything else they could be. They certainly aren't granted by class levels or feats.

You'd also still get the bonuses even if you have the feat at first level, by the same logic that makes practiced spellcaster gives you scaling bonuses even if you take it at level three as a wizard2/fighter1, and take three more levels of fighter.

[balistafreak]

I think the contention comes from what SLAs are associated with what races. You see, normally a Dwarf isn't going to use Drow SLAs, for example. But Spellstitched (and Augmented Undead too, for that matter) are additional templates, not replacements. It seems weird to benefit from a feat aimed at "natural" SLAs (elf, aasimar, tiefling, etc.) also apply for "additional" SLAs (the strange ones granted through being Undead and Spellstitched).

But I have no facts to back me, just my observations. Don't cite me as support.

Just a quick thoughts on playing an Undead:

You don't need to eat, sleep, or breathe, all hallmarks of the lack of Constitution score. But what about physical feats? Can you engage in the most strenous physical labor possible for your Strenght score for an indefinite period of time without ill effect, or will your undead frame begin to bend and break underneath the stress?

Can you run as fast as possible for an indefinite period of time? How does extreme heat/cold in climates (but not so extreme as to prevent life, think desert nomads or Eskimos) affect you?

Also, does not being able to sleep (and living forever as well, come to think of it) cause radical shift in how one perceives time? Could a Necropolitan get lost in a library for literally years until he reads every single book inside of it? Or would his mind wander from time to time, just like when he was alive, keeping him moving from task to task a little at a time? It's stated that long-lived races already view humans, the young race, as incredibly vivacious and always willing to try something new, so there's something to be said for age ----> dedication/inability to realize passage of time.

I had a great idea for a scene involving a Necropolitan character planting a seed in a garden patch along a library wall, entering and starting to read, and only coming back out when he heard a loud crash, namely the sound of the trunk of a huge tree grinding into wall. Time flies indeed.