so Im helping a friend that is new to dnd I told him about the necromancer school for the wizard and he wants to go a pure undead horde necromancer. can you guys help me out with the best stats and race combo for this. what is the best background for this kind of build. what spells should I start with and have. Im remaking a level 3 warlock to be this necromancer so what spells should I have and what levels.
-
The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
best build for Necromancer horde wizard
- Thread starter Killoth
- Start date
Z. H. Darkstar
Explorer
Speaking from my experience as an AL DM, necromancer horde wizards tend to draw the ire of the rest of the table for excessive time consumption. AL is generally played in a time-constricted environment. If each of your turns take 5 minutes to handle all of your horde's actions, expect the DM and other players to begin disliking your character. It may also lead to unexpected difficulty spikes, as the DM has to ramp up encounters to factor in all of your horde. Also, there's no guarantee that one DM will accept the undead you have left over from your adventure with a different DM, nor do they have to accept the proposition of spending DTD to start the adventure with a horde.
Simply put, my advice for playing a necro in AL is don't. Your mileage will vary wildly from table to table, and no one will want to play with someone who drains time during combat. If you must, then play it in an AL Home game. Plus, it's a rather complicated and resource-heavy character for a newbie to play.
Lastly, you can't transfer ownership of a character between players. Your friend will have to start at 1st level, unless the Warlock was his to begin with at 1st level.
Simply put, my advice for playing a necro in AL is don't. Your mileage will vary wildly from table to table, and no one will want to play with someone who drains time during combat. If you must, then play it in an AL Home game. Plus, it's a rather complicated and resource-heavy character for a newbie to play.
Lastly, you can't transfer ownership of a character between players. Your friend will have to start at 1st level, unless the Warlock was his to begin with at 1st level.
Last edited:
Im gonna show this to him and try to get him to pick something new. Thank you for your insight I will make sure we keep the flow going. I don't want him to get hated on right off the get go and I can see how this would be very annoying. he already has the level 3 warlock from the two games he has already played but he was interested in the necromancer after he got his phb and read a bit about it. the warlock was a pre gen our DM gave him.
Wizard (Necromancy) to level 6
Cleric (War) to level 5
Warlock (Fiend) to level 5
For the rest it's up to you.
Mind you this is entirely dependent on whether you want to play in AL or not. If not, Wizard (Necromancy) to 6 and then the Oathbreaker Paladin for the rest.
The setup I provided gives you the ASIs you want + Crusaders Mantle (best buff for an undead horde to add damage) + short rest rechargable level 3 spell slots for Animate Dead.
As for gameplay, you're going to have to do average damage when you start getting a true horde. So roll to hit and then average damage for those that hit. Alternatively, bring along a die rolling app on your phone/tablet and just plug in the enemies AC. I've done it before and it wasn't too bad.
Cleric (War) to level 5
Warlock (Fiend) to level 5
For the rest it's up to you.
Mind you this is entirely dependent on whether you want to play in AL or not. If not, Wizard (Necromancy) to 6 and then the Oathbreaker Paladin for the rest.
The setup I provided gives you the ASIs you want + Crusaders Mantle (best buff for an undead horde to add damage) + short rest rechargable level 3 spell slots for Animate Dead.
As for gameplay, you're going to have to do average damage when you start getting a true horde. So roll to hit and then average damage for those that hit. Alternatively, bring along a die rolling app on your phone/tablet and just plug in the enemies AC. I've done it before and it wasn't too bad.
mellored
Legend
I agree that full undead hordes are too time consuming for most tables.
They also tend to be bit bang and bust. You either have a massive horde and dominate an encounter. Or your horde get's wiped out with an AoE dragon breath and you're basically dead weight for the rest of the day.
Of course, you can go necromancer and only summon a few undead while still casting other spells. That keeps time time down, and doesn't put all your bones in one basket.
They also tend to be bit bang and bust. You either have a massive horde and dominate an encounter. Or your horde get's wiped out with an AoE dragon breath and you're basically dead weight for the rest of the day.
Of course, you can go necromancer and only summon a few undead while still casting other spells. That keeps time time down, and doesn't put all your bones in one basket.
FormerlyHemlock
Hero
Inspiring Leader for temp HP, and the fact that your skeletons have bows and don't need to clump up in order to be effective, should protect you against AoE effects. It should take three or more dragon breaths to kill all of your skeletons, and if a dragon gets three breaths off, you were probably looking at a TPK anyway if the skeletons hadn't been there to soak the damage.
Squads of five to eight skeletons works well as a balance between dispersal and convenience.
Use some of your skeletons/zombies to grant advantage to other PCs with Help action. (I.e. give orders in advance to "Help this guy kill things.")
IMO, spells like Web are a better use of concentration than Crusader's Mantle. Instead of boosting damage by d4, ensure that they will have advantage to hit something caught in a web.
mellored
Legend
Spreading out the control seems like good idea.
Gnome is probably the best race. Stat's should be some combination of Int/Con/Dex, but they don't matter much since they don't take Int to cast or need Concentration save.
Similar Threads
