D&D 4E Necromancers in 4e

Any ideas on how this would work? I believe that PC necromancers are popular enough for the role not to be NPCed. There are many, many necromancer builds out there, a dread necromancer class, and a bajillion PrCs, including one for a necro-bard.


One of the things I hated about 3.5 was that, whenever new undead came into being via splatbooks, we were never told how a necromancer could create them. A good example is the entomber from LM. It says in the flavor text that necromancers create them as servants to deal with corpses, but gives us no way of doing so. This should change, but probably won't due to Mike's Monsters.

Another thing was that clerics were better necromancers than wizards, even necromancy specialists. This should be changed. The wielders of arcane power should remain supreme in this regard, for, as rare as the cleric archtype is in fantasy, I haven't found any necro-clerics outside of D&D.

Plus, could we get rid of the expensive component? Those little humanoid skeles are NOT worth 100 gp.

Thoughts? I hope the WoTC designers read this!

I think that Specialty wizards deserve their own book. There's so much you can do with them. Personally I prefer the 'Your specialty wizard is its own class' like the Dread Necromancer/Beguiler route - spellcasting + abilities keyed to your focus.

Alternatively, I see three routes that Necros should be able to take:

White Necromancy: Absorbing or reversing the flow of negative energy/decay, permitting healing (sub-par compared to Clerics). Guarding/combating Undead (by blocking and reversing their link to negative energy).

Gray Necromancy: Protection from necromantic magics/level drain/undead. Creation or Conjuration of Undead/Deathless. Some negative effects/anti-buffs (Ray of Enfeeblement, Fear effects, Bestow Curse).

Black Necromancy - Straight-up killing magics, potent curses, more powerful undead-related abilities (Creating Vampires, Mummies and Liches). Blight magic (Killing surrounding vegetation/living things to enhance spellcasting).

An undead/deathless Cohort that functions like the Paladin's Mount or the Druid's animal companion - it grows stronger, and the Necro can command it/enhance it/they share a link.

Perhaps a talent tree that mimics the Dread Necromancer's descent into Undeath. Or at least taking traits like them.

I'd also like to see a 1st or 2nd level spell that lets you make undead animals. Zombie or skeleton dogs/bats/etc. And spells that let you enhance/see through your undead/cast spells through them.

That was another peeve of mine - no undead until level 5-8. And you're a necromancer.

I think most of that would be mimiced via talent trees, etc for wizard. I'd take Black necromancy, myself.

Also, if necromancers are supreme masters of life and death, I think it would be cool if they could heal and resurrect as well as kill and animate...

..probably won't happen, but it's a thought.

While I'm likely to get flamed for bringing up such a videogamey concept, I really would have liked something like the Necromancer from Diablo II. The idea of raising minions from your slain enemies is one that I really like. If the stats of said minions are, as in Diablo, tied to the abilities of the caster, rather than those of the creature, it won't cause major trouble with respect to game balance.

I like the tactical options presented by a character who throws expendable goons into battle and then buffs/debuffs the various combatants. Arcane Leader, perhaps?

Dr. Awkward said:

While I'm likely to get flamed for bringing up such a videogamey concept, I really would have liked something like the Necromancer from Diablo II. The idea of raising minions from your slain enemies is one that I really like. If the stats of said minions are, as in Diablo, tied to the abilities of the caster, rather than those of the creature, it won't cause major trouble with respect to game balance.

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I like the Necromancer from Diablo (and subsequent Warlock from WoW it was based on). Namely a character that throws around damage over time spells (Poison effects), debuffs (Curses and other Negative Conditions), and yes, the minions trick.

An Anti-Buffer like a Dragon Shaman/Marshal that throws negative effects on his enemies would be real sexy to me.

I like the tactical options presented by a character who throws expendable goons into battle and then buffs/debuffs the various combatants. Arcane Leader, perhaps?

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Pretty sure the Arcane Leader is going to be the Bard.

Rechan said:

I like the Necromancer from Diablo (and subsequent Warlock from WoW it was based on). Namely a character that throws around damage over time spells (Poison effects), debuffs (Curses and other Negative Conditions), and yes, the minions trick.

An Anti-Buffer like a Dragon Shaman/Marshal that throws negative effects on his enemies would be real sexy to me.


Pretty sure the Arcane Leader is going to be the Bard.

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An arcane leader, you mean.

Agree on every point the op makes. I want true old school Necromancers. I want to be able to make any kind of undead that exists (they should have exact creation methods for each in their monster entries.)

A Dragon Shaman/Marshall esque aura debuffer would be cool as well. Put all this together and you have a winner.

From what few comments we have seen, and the info released so far, I would be willing to bet that the new "Sorcerer" is going to be a skeletal class structure (a cross-breed of something like the Warmage and ToM's Shadowcaster) for building specialist spontaneous casters. What you will basically get is a core class with available "paths" of talents, spells, etc. that will basically let you choose to make your sorcerer into one of the specialty sorcerers we are already familiar with such as the Dread Necromancer, Warmage, Beguiler, Shadowcaster, etc. I hope this pans out as it makes the sorcerer much more unique and variable.

And the implement of necromancy will be a skull! How cool is that?

To be or not to be - let's compromise

Frostmarrow said:

And the implement of necromancy will be a skull! How cool is that?

To be or not to be - let's compromise

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If Necromancers are just specialist wizards, they will need the four implements - skull for orb, wand and staff made from bones, and of course the tome written on the skin of humans, elves, dwarves etc.