NewfieDave
First Post
In light of the new 4e Wizard losing out on Necromancy, it looks like we'll be getting a full-fledged Necromancer class sometime in the future (unless the Warlock kills him and takes his stuff).
I've never been satisfied with Necromancers in previous editions. In actual play, they always felt just like Wizards but with a handful of different spells. I say, let the Necromancer be what he should be: the ultimate class for dealing with powers of life and death. No Fireballs, no Glitterdust, no Disintegrate. That's what Wizards do. A Necromancer should have the power to kill you in his own unique way.
Obviously Necromancy in general needs a face lift in 4e. It had very few spells in 3.X when compared to some of the other schools, and most of it's effective combat options were save or die(ish). We know save or die won't be around, so how could a Necromancer be viable in combat?
The most obvious answer is the power to create and command undead. It's the most iconic thing the Necromancer has going for himself. Unfortunately, that makes it an inherently evil class that won't be able to co-exist with a typical LG Paladin. The ability to create/command undead should be a totally optional talent tree so that a "party friendly" version of the Necromancer can be played.
So what powers should a good/unaligned Necromancer have in combat? Vampiric Touch is a staple. Perhaps expand on the ability to tap into the raw life force of other creatures. Spectral Hand would be really enhanced if it was a swift action to summon at will. The Necromancer could be a striker, but one who has high survivability thanks to his mastery over his own lifeforce, as well as the lifeforces of those around him. Again, this sounds like a type of talent tree.
The other combat option I'd like to see them have is fear. Fear could easily be crafted as a viable option for all levels of play. A weak fear could impose penalties on the target(s); a moderate fear could reduce the available actions of the target(s); and a strong fear could actually be capable of dealing damage (cardiac arrest if reduced below 0). A third possible talent tree.
IMO, these three potential trees are promising enough to build an excellent Necromancer class. They could be expanded to look like this:
Undeath -> (create minions, command undead, gain undead traits)
Fear -> (penalizing, disabling, and damaging abilities)
Soul -> (abilities to damage/effect the lifeforces of others and heal/strengthen personal lifeforce)
The Necromancer's power source should be Arcane, and he should draw power from himself much like a 3.X Sorcerer. I like the idea that Necromancers are simply born with the latent power to effect metaphysical life forces. Some of the forces they work with are tainted (especially anything dealing with undeath) and working with these forces taints your soul and forces your alignment to evil.
Raise Dead and its friends should be restricted to Divine casters. Once dead, a body loses all of its lifeforce. A Necromancer can only revive a creature by infusing it with tainted lifeforce energy, that twists the corpse into an undead monstrosity. Non-tainted lifeforce energy is inneffective, since the creature's soul has already crossed over to the Divine realm.
I've never been satisfied with Necromancers in previous editions. In actual play, they always felt just like Wizards but with a handful of different spells. I say, let the Necromancer be what he should be: the ultimate class for dealing with powers of life and death. No Fireballs, no Glitterdust, no Disintegrate. That's what Wizards do. A Necromancer should have the power to kill you in his own unique way.
Obviously Necromancy in general needs a face lift in 4e. It had very few spells in 3.X when compared to some of the other schools, and most of it's effective combat options were save or die(ish). We know save or die won't be around, so how could a Necromancer be viable in combat?
The most obvious answer is the power to create and command undead. It's the most iconic thing the Necromancer has going for himself. Unfortunately, that makes it an inherently evil class that won't be able to co-exist with a typical LG Paladin. The ability to create/command undead should be a totally optional talent tree so that a "party friendly" version of the Necromancer can be played.
So what powers should a good/unaligned Necromancer have in combat? Vampiric Touch is a staple. Perhaps expand on the ability to tap into the raw life force of other creatures. Spectral Hand would be really enhanced if it was a swift action to summon at will. The Necromancer could be a striker, but one who has high survivability thanks to his mastery over his own lifeforce, as well as the lifeforces of those around him. Again, this sounds like a type of talent tree.
The other combat option I'd like to see them have is fear. Fear could easily be crafted as a viable option for all levels of play. A weak fear could impose penalties on the target(s); a moderate fear could reduce the available actions of the target(s); and a strong fear could actually be capable of dealing damage (cardiac arrest if reduced below 0). A third possible talent tree.
IMO, these three potential trees are promising enough to build an excellent Necromancer class. They could be expanded to look like this:
Undeath -> (create minions, command undead, gain undead traits)
Fear -> (penalizing, disabling, and damaging abilities)
Soul -> (abilities to damage/effect the lifeforces of others and heal/strengthen personal lifeforce)
The Necromancer's power source should be Arcane, and he should draw power from himself much like a 3.X Sorcerer. I like the idea that Necromancers are simply born with the latent power to effect metaphysical life forces. Some of the forces they work with are tainted (especially anything dealing with undeath) and working with these forces taints your soul and forces your alignment to evil.
Raise Dead and its friends should be restricted to Divine casters. Once dead, a body loses all of its lifeforce. A Necromancer can only revive a creature by infusing it with tainted lifeforce energy, that twists the corpse into an undead monstrosity. Non-tainted lifeforce energy is inneffective, since the creature's soul has already crossed over to the Divine realm.
