Necromancy

[dyslexicfaser]

So, I was looking into making a cleric necromancer the other day - and heard mention of special feats with a [Necromantic] tag. And not the Corpsecrafter line, which was what I was familiar with. Does this sound familiar to anyone, that could point me to what book or somewhere online I could check these out?

Incidentally - any recommendations on what to do with a cleric necromancer after the first 6 levels or so? I'm having a hard time finding any good PrC's that let me keep my spellcasting/rebuking.

EDIT: An additional question: what's the point of feats that increase your controlled undead's turn resistance? Doesn't that just make them harder for you to control, since rebuke is a function of turn undead? Am I missing something here, or would your necromancer basically be shooting himself in the foot?

[Kyeudo]

1. Check Libris Mortis and Heroes of Horror. If feats like that are anywhere, they should be there.

2. Look here for necromancy tips in the extreme. They only get a few minor points wrong, such as the interaction of alignment tagged spells and clerics. Everything major checks out.

3. Boosting your controlled undead's turn resistance makes it harder for them to be bolstered by you, but it makes it harder for them to be rebuked/turned/commanded/destroyed by enemy clerics, which is why you'd want to bolster anyway. Turn Resistance doesn't count against your Hit Dice of controlled undead, to my understanding of the rules.

[Jimbob]

Well I am playing a Cleric that focused in creating undead and by 5th level when I go animate undead I was very nasty.

I took as many corspcrafter feats as I could, playing a human helped for the extra feat. My two domains where Evil increasing my caster level for evil spells, AKA animate undead and one that I cant rememeber the name for but it increases the amount of undead you can control. So instead of 2hd per caster level its 3hd. I also bought beads or karma, which increase your caster level by 4 for 10 minutes.

So at 5th level my caster level was 30 (level 5, +1 evil domain, +4 beads of karma, x3 for other domain) not to bad. Then if you cast desicrate it doubles your amount of hd you can control, giving you 60hd of undead to control at 5th level . So just find your nearest graveyard and go nuts :)

Hope that helps in any way.

[Keld Denar]

My two domains where Evil increasing my caster level for evil spells, AKA animate undead and one that I cant rememeber the name for but it increases the amount of undead you can control. So instead of 2hd per caster level its 3hd.

That would be the Deathbound domain. Highly recommended for any necro cleric.

[Jimbob]

Ahhhh thank you very much lussmanj.

[AKA_Bait]

There is a really nifty homebrewed variant up right now you might want to look at here.

Edit: Oh, wait, you already did... silly me.

[Tehnar]

Doesnt the deathbound domain grant you the amount of undead you can create (using animate dead) to increase to 3hd/lvl (instead of 2hd/lvl), but not the amount you can control.

Same thing with desecrate.

I dont think there is a feat (or domain power) that allows you to control more then 4hd/lvl undead by using the animate dead spell.


Question: What kind of action is commanding undead created with animate dead spell (it says verbal command, but is it a free or standard action).

Commanding undead you control by the virtue of rebuke undead ability is a standard action; so I ruled as a DM that commanding undead controlled by animate dead is also a standard action, but I cant find anywhere where this is explicitly written.

[Keld Denar]

Doesnt the deathbound domain grant you the amount of undead you can create (using animate dead) to increase to 3hd/lvl (instead of 2hd/lvl), but not the amount you can control.

Yes

Question: What kind of action is commanding undead created with animate dead spell (it says verbal command, but is it a free or standard action).

Commanding undead you control by the virtue of rebuke undead ability is a standard action; so I ruled as a DM that commanding undead controlled by animate dead is also a standard action, but I cant find anywhere where this is explicitly written.

Commanding controlled undead (such as those animated previously by animate dead OR controlled by a previously sucessful rebuke attemt) is the same as controlling an animal (such as a trained animal, but not companion), its a move action. I'm pretty sure you can issue commands to any number of undead as part of that move action, and they continue to atempt to perform that action until the action is invalid, the undead are destroyed, or the necro issues a new command. The advantage of undead is that you don't have to make handle animal checks to push them into doing something they don't want to do, because they have no independant will.

[Chaos Bringer]

This may be ever so slightly off topic, but the thread reminded me to ask: Is there a good way to convince your DM to let you play a Good aligned necro cleric? Maybe having the undead you command pay "penance" to be released once their evil debt is paid?

[Tehnar]

Yes


Commanding controlled undead (such as those animated previously by animate dead OR controlled by a previously sucessful rebuke attemt) is the same as controlling an animal (such as a trained animal, but not companion), its a move action. I'm pretty sure you can issue commands to any number of undead as part of that move action, and they continue to atempt to perform that action until the action is invalid, the undead are destroyed, or the necro issues a new command. The advantage of undead is that you don't have to make handle animal checks to push them into doing something they don't want to do, because they have no independant will.

SRD says its standard:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/spe...OrRebukeUndead

but I agree with you on just about everything else.

[mostlyharmful]

easy enough if the DM uses the "playing with fire" varient of thought about negative energy that Keyodo linked to, where negative energy is simply a natually occuring force in the multiverse that has no inherent moral connertations. If your DM rules that negative energy is inherently evil then your out of luck i'm afraid.

[Jimbob]

Well that sucks big time , this is from the SRD and the animate undead spell,

The undead you create remain under your control indefinitely. No matter how many times you use this spell, however, you can control only 4 HD worth of undead creatures per caster level.

But 40HD worth of undead at 5th level is still not to bad.

[leperkhaun]

i think its the tomb touched feat that gives you some undead traits. Great for playing a cleric that spontaniously inflicts.

[dyslexicfaser]

On a related note, what kind of gear would benefit a necromancer?

Besides the awesome 10k gp rod from Libris Mortis that lets you control 8HD of undead per level, of course.

[Dante & Vergil]

So, I was looking into making a cleric necromancer the other day - and heard mention of special feats with a [Necromantic] tag. And not the Corpsecrafter line, which was what I was familiar with. Does this sound familiar to anyone, that could point me to what book or somewhere online I could check these out?

I have seen feats with the [Necromantic] tag, but they are homebrew. The place where I see them at are here.
(It's in the 'Necromancers with Style' section.)

[The_Snark]

On a related note, what kind of gear would benefit a necromancer?

Besides the awesome 10k gp rod from Libris Mortis that lets you control 8HD of undead per level, of course.

And the rod that lets you rebuke as a cleric three levels higher than you actually are... and the rod that gives undead near you -4 turn resistance (and the turn resistance can go into the negatives)... and, if you have Perform or good charisma, the lyre that gives undead another -4 turn resistance when played. All from Libris Mortis. Excellent in an undead-focused campaign.

If your DM allows the Phylactery of Undead Turning to augment rebuking as well as turning, that's good too.

And there's a ring in Complete Mage that gives created undead extra HP, although it doesn't stack with a Desecrate effect.

[Kyeudo]

If your DM allows the Phylactery of Undead Turning to augment rebuking as well as turning, that's good too.

By RAW, it already does. DM has to house rule that it doesn't.