Necromancy study of Death and...Life

[Troile]

Problem: Necromancy spell list is very short.

Necromancy as I see it is the magic of the fabric of life and death. Positive and Negative energy. Not just negative energy...

And...we don't want the wizard to step on the cleric's toes

However I think there should be more positive energy necromancy spells (disrupt undead is one...)

Maybe not even that but combining the 2...playing with life forces a little more. Or even using positive energy to try to create life...I'm thinking of the alchemy rules here.

The alchemy rules have a lot of transference stuff...certain things about life being transferred...limbs growing back etc that are still corrupted enough that I don't think they step on the toes of clerics at all.

Has anyone toyed with the idea of adding more necromancy spells to your spell lists?

I have the 2nd ed spellbook tombs...I should dig those out.

I think there is so much promise to raise necromancy over and above the evil npc magic that it is. And what better to bait players with the power that necromancy holds if you could seemingly do good with it...

Thoughts?

[Steve Miller]

Has anyone toyed with the idea of adding more necromancy spells to your spell lists?

You bet. The "Spookmaster" advanced class that I recently did for d20 Modern was supposed to be a spellcaster, and all the spells were Necromantic. I changed directions with it, though.

The five spells I designed before abandoning the spellcaster angle may or may not be making their way into another product. If they don't, the Frat site may be a good home for them.

BTW, if memory serves, the 2E Al-Qadim books had some nice "white"Necromancer spells in them.

[Gemathustra]

BTW, if memory serves, the 2E Al-Qadim books had some nice "white"Necromancer spells in them.

Wasn't the Ghul Lord kit from Al-Qadim allowed access strictly to necromancy spells?

[The Giamarga]

The Ghul Lord from the complete Shai'rs Handbook had very special rules for spellcasting. They gained their spells as special abilities somehow.
You can download the Complete Sha'ir from this site: http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/zakhara/
(BTW Arabian Adventures also has a few necromancy spells in it.)


Here's a passage from the Complete Necromancer's guide summarizing the Ghul Lord Kit:

Ghul Lord

Ghul Lords are necromancers who channel the dangerous energies of the Negative Material Plane. These necromancers do not cast spells like normal wizards. Instead, they employ raw manipulations of negative energy that can be used to attack, defend, provide transport, and yield information. These manipulations are not like normal spells, and are powered by the wizard's own life force. However, since their powers come from the Negative Material Plane, Ghul Lords can only duplicate the effects of spells from the school of Necromancy. Once they reach 10th level, they also gain a limited ability to turn or command undead.
These considerable powers do have a drawback. The Ghul Lord pays a terrible price for them. The negative energy slowly twists and corrupts the user's body, eventually turning it into a hideous monstrosity as the wizard progresses in experience. In addition, since the Ghul Lord's powers involve the channeling of negative energies, the wizard cannot try manipulations that duplicate spells outside the school of Necromancy.
Since the Ghul Lord does not memorize and cast spells in the standard fashion, he or she is a unique type of necromancer, akin to the sha'ir wizard native to the Land of Fate (of course, the DM can easily transplant the Ghul Lord to any arid or desert climate). While he or she might serve as a spooky "speaker of the dead" for a secluded village or town, the wizard will usually be a reclusive loner because of his or her progressively horrendous, undead appearance. As the kit's name implies, the mysterious wizard will probably be encountered in the wild, commanding a pack of ghouls.
Like the Arabian sha'ir, the Ghul Lord is at a disadvantage in melee when compared with standard wizards who need only a few moments to unleash a memorized spell. The Ghul Lord, in contrast, needs at least one round of uninterrupted concentration to prepare a manipulation. When designing a combat encounter, make sure to include numerous allies (undead or otherwise) to protect the Ghul Lord while the wizard prepares his or her manipulations.

A must for anyone delving into necromancy is the 2E Complete Necromancer Guide. It has loads of spells and material on the Art of Necromancy plus a comeplete small island campaign in Zakhara.

Html version available here: http://gctm.free.fr/add/necromant/index.html

Between the CNG, 2.5E Spells & Magic, The Complete Wizards Handbook and the Tome of Magic the Necromancy school has more than enough spells. Thy jsut have to be converted to 3E..

[ScS of the Fraternity]

There are always a few ways to look at necromancy. Dragon Magazine, before its deplorable transformation, published three completly different types of necromancer prestige classes.
But to the idea of spells, creating new spells might be in order.

There's a few themes for necromancers -
Diseases and toxins: all sorts of fun can be had with disease touches, disease clouds, contagious plagues, ect...
Bio-weapons: spells designed to manipulate blood, bones, muscle, skin and even nervous tissue. There can be all sorts of spells designed to enhance abilities or deform opponents. Bone armour is a classic, but what about
epilptic aura - field that causes enemies to fly into seizure fits
hemophila - every wound causes 1 more damage as the blood refuses to clot.
adrenal-cascade - each hit causes enchanted creature to grow stronger (str bonus) - though causes con drain and draws them closer to death by adrenaline posoning.

Monster Creation: More than just undead, necromancers can be involved with all manner of abberations and oozes - espeically if they combine these abominations with traditional necromancy.
Perhaps a spell that allows someone to transform into an ooze, eat opponents and thus heal damage?

Negative Energy: Beyond death spells lie a plethora of entropic enchantments. Perhaps spells to cause rapid aging, or decay in structures and equipment. Necromancers can devise spells to reduce the power of divine magic, sunlight, and other wholesome energies.

[Jester of the FoS]

It depends on perspective.

Some necromancers might view death as the only constant in life, the great equalizer. They resent any breach of the natural order and act as a balancing force. They might have spells that leech the negative energy away from undead, disrupt the connection to the negative material plane or protect people from the effects of the same.

Other might view it as a way to speak and commune with the dead. They might focus on and develop new spells specializing in communication, sharing thoughts, talking over far distances with the dead and seeing things from an alternate perspective. This is tricky in Ravenloft with the whole ‘contact with the minds of the dead leads to insanity’.

And others may view it as an alternate to clerical healing grafting dead flesh onto living tissue, staving off death for natural healing to take over, restoring souls or preventing them from leaving the area, reincarnation and the like.

[Troile]

Thanks for all the tips (:

There is going to be a Necromancer player in my next campaign...and it isn't an evil campaign.

Not that he'll be good by any means...

I think since his story revolves around his quest for more power/knowledge we'll be creating a lot of spells as we progress.

I dug out my 4 2e Wizard's Spell Compendium books and while there is a lot of crap there is some good stuff too.

I see necromancy as having so much potential. The spells can be so powerful b/c there is always a drawback.

Either you have to touch the foe which really isn't good...or the more extreme ones you have to give up life all that fun stuff.

It leaves a lot of room for character development too. How much power does the wizard want?

I think I'm going to design spells that have to do with transforming/affecting/growing different parts of the body and the way the body functions

AND

Spells that require a variable sacrifice from the caster. Any ability points or health or whatever depending on the spell.

[Steve Miller]

Here's a trio of spells that may or may not be of use to you. (I remembered I posted them to my message board before it was savagedby hackers. Part of the thread has been recovered...)

http://p075.ezboard.com/fstevemillersba ... =252.topic

These are some of the spells referenced up-thread that were originally intended for the Spookmaster before I made it a non-spellcasting class. They'll be incorporated into a little product that will be coming out later this year, but I see no harm in letting visitors to the Fraternity view them and use them if they like 'em.

[Gemathustra]

Spells that require a variable sacrifice from the caster. Any ability points or health or whatever depending on the spell.

Would these sacrifices include the ever-popular, perennial favorite of the "virgin sacrifice"?

[Troile]

Would these sacrifices include the ever-popular, perennial favorite of the "virgin sacrifice"?

If the caster wants to sacrifice his own virginity...sure! :p

Those spells are so stolen.

I like the spirit armour one. I think that could be turned into a really neat 3rd level cleric spell to give protection against negative energy.

A positive energy shield...protect against the draining touch of certain undead and against incorporeals and such...

[Gemathustra]

Would these sacrifices include the ever-popular, perennial favorite of the "virgin sacrifice"?

If the caster wants to sacrifice his own virginity...sure! :p

"In order to summon the Grand Pooba of Darkness... I'm to touch myself where?"