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Thread: Necromancer Without Undead
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2011-01-14, 01:36 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2010
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- New York
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Necromancer Without Undead
So, I am thinking about designing a campaign. I'm going to start be creating the BBEG, his motives, and his character sheet and move on from there.
I want to create a set of characters that use necromancy in a way that goes beyond OMG ZOMBIE HORDE. Sort of a soul collector type of character. My initial thought is a Favored Soul and a Sorcerer (I believe spont casters would be easier to play as a DM, since I don't need many toolbox spells). I need ideas of spells/ACFs/feats that show an understanding of undeath without resorting to the cliche undead army to take over the world scheme.
First of all, classes. I have recently decided that Bone Knight is my favorite PrC ever, so I'm going to reflavor it to work w/o needing Turn/Rebuke and available to arcane caters (limited to light armor without ASF). While this is a starting point, perhaps there are classes that fit my needs better. I think I may also replace the Skeletal Steed with an Item Familiar (Bonecrafted weapon for the Favored Soul, light Bonecraft armor for the Sorcerer).
Second, the spells. I want to find spells that work with souls or general negative energy. Things like Magic Jar or Darkfire. The problem with the former is how to expose PCs to it without taking them out of the game. Any similar, but less devastating, spell suggestions would be appreciated. Both Arcane and Divine will be useful. I plan to have these two be recurring villians up until level 16-17, so I believe that their choices of magic will largely define the overall reactions of the party to all elements of the campaign.
Less important is feats to be used by the characters. I'm thinking the Fell metamagic feats would be nice to attactch to their spells. I'm open to suggestions, but not in dire need of them for this part.
I would like to avoid homebrewing things myself, since I tend to overestimate what PCs are capable of, thus potentially killing everyone.
Thank you for the help.
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2011-01-14, 01:44 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2010
Re: Necromancer Without Undead
Have you ever heard of Frank and K? If not, then I can tell you that are a team of homebrewers who have created just the PrCs you need for this in their Tome of Necromancy. The classes in question are the Soul Merchant and Theif of Souls, the two of which make a nice grusome twosome. The Soul Merchant is a cunning arcane caster who can bargen people out of their souls, use stolen souls for some abilties and are flavored as cunning, evil spellcasters who turn soul stealing and selling into a rather lucrative buisness. Despite being a class in a Necromancy tome that focuses on soul-stealing they actually don't need to actually use lots of necromancy spells and their abilites actually deal with conjuration spells more then necromancy ones.(Though their soul-related abilites certainly are "necromantic" in flavor.). The Theif of Souls is a caster/rogue hybrid class that focuses on, well, stealing people's souls and is quite a nice blend of sneaking and spellcasting who dose not need to lose a lot of CLs to enter the class.(Technically only one level of rogue is needed for entry into the class if you use and save skill points wisely.) Without frank and K, homebrew or third party your not going to find many soul-related options for any casters since there is only a limited number of such spells created by Wizards. However, those two frank and K classes work great for what your trying to do and I highly sugjest you give them a look even if you don't plan on using anything else from Frank and K.
Last edited by Maho-Tsukai; 2011-01-14 at 01:58 PM.
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2011-01-14, 01:49 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2009
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- Ohio, USA
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Re: Necromancer Without Undead
While we're throwing around homebrew, the Grey Arcanist by Cardea is focused around the often-neglected debuff and manipulation aspects of Necromancy.
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2011-01-14, 02:08 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2010
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- New York
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2011-01-14, 02:15 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2010
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- Sacramento, CA
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Re: Necromancer Without Undead
There are several spells in Libris Mortis that sound like the sort of thing you could use. Blade of Pain and Fear (also in Spell Compendium) and Energy Ebb (shudder), and Night's Caress all could fit well with your concept. Also, consider making use of the Fell feats. Fell Drain, Fell Frighten, or Fell Weaken are all extremely useful for a BBEG, esp. with feats to make metamagic cheaper. The Death Devotion feat (allowing melee weapon attacks to grant negative levels) is invaluable for any necromantic cohorts with the BAB to make it useful. If you do go with sorceror, don't forget to give them the ACF in Complete Champion that gives them a domain (spells AND the granted power).
Further, if they have any of the Craft Item feats, you could equip them with items that were constructed using the rules for substituting captured souls for xp. The party might be hesitant to use them, but flavorwise they're great.Recent homebrewed necromantic spells (PEACH):
- Hungry Mists (yay, ghost rat swarm!), Long Shadows of the Grave (watch those undead run), Caress of Infinite Pleasure (pain, pleasure, it's all necromancy)
- Deep Sleep (a good night's rest in one hour)
- Envivifying Ray (boost the living, harm the dead)
- Khefernatra's Gracious Wound Refusal ("No, no, really, it's too much. You keep it.")
- Sun Scarabs (glowing undead eating bugs)
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2011-01-14, 02:28 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
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- New York
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