winterwolf
First Post
So, I've played this class a bit now, in our 4E campaign (KofSF) and so far, it's a lot of fun.
Few power balance suggestions: I think that the encounter ability: Enrage Minion should be a daily effect, since it lasts for the entire encounter. If you want it to remain an encounter effect, make it until the end of your next turn or something. Bad Luck should probably be Int v. Will, and grant -2 to all enemy attacks on a hit, with -1 on a miss, or give it +1 on a hit with a +1 effect (if you hit, you get +2, if not, the effect takes place whether or not you hit).
The daily ability Leap Attack would honestly make a much nicer encounter ability, I think... you give up your standard action to grant a move and an attack from a minion, and then it can take its normal move and attack.
The daily ability Instant Minion would make a very nice Encounter Utility effect, since it's not really an attack, and it's not overpowered per encounter, I think.
I've only hit level 2 so far, but a few of the utilities there could be changed a bit. You might consider making Siphon Life a minor or move action instead of a standard action. You might also consider making Shadow Shield a +2 to all defenses, and then making it daily as well. Right now, +2 to AC for the entire encounter is better than the mage's +4 to all defenses for the next round, since encounters last for quite some time from what I've seen. If it were daily as is, though, it wouldn't be as good as the mage one. +2 to all defenses once per day for an encounter works well.
As a note, we ended up making a couple of other changes: first off, took the necromancer's ability to heal an undead minion and instead gave it:
"Death to Life", an encounter ability similar to the cleric's Healing Word. What it does is, twice per encounter (with more times per encounter at the same level a cleric gains more uses) the necromancer can spend a healing surge and heal a dying companion for that companion's healing surge value. It's a mix of cleric (range, uses per encounter, action type) and paladin (uses necro's healing surge, no healing bonus) healing features, with the limitation that it only affects dying comrades. Thematically, it shows that a necromancer doesn't just focus on death, he focuses on preserving life energy. It also gives him a bit of a leader role for the living, as well.
Next, we used the decrepit undead from the monster manual as the base minion. With the Magus research feat, we gave it a ranged attack (same as the magus) with standard damage (I think 4, but can't remember). Also, we removed Undead Control 1, and said that all necromancers can animate at least 1 undead minion as a class feature, with more minions to follow as they level (using the standard feats). We also decided to use three hp per level for necromancer minions, plus an increase to attack and damage every 5 levels.
We are looking at throwing in some new feats: maybe an 11th level research feat to grant an additional HP per level per minion to the minions, as well as feats to allow the master to create higher level minion undead.
Instead of the Kin of Undead deathguard, we're thinking of giving the kin a daily ability to "Animate a creature you just killed. For the rest of the encounter, you have it as an undead guardian. It comes back to life at its bloodied value, has no new bloodied value, never counts as bloodied, and cannot be healed above what it starts at. It gains immunity to disease and poison, and is considered to be Dominated by you. There is no chance you may lose control of it, and if you die, it dies."
ALl in all, this class is a LOT of fun to run, and to tinker with. My group is rather fond of it. Thanks for the work!
Few power balance suggestions: I think that the encounter ability: Enrage Minion should be a daily effect, since it lasts for the entire encounter. If you want it to remain an encounter effect, make it until the end of your next turn or something. Bad Luck should probably be Int v. Will, and grant -2 to all enemy attacks on a hit, with -1 on a miss, or give it +1 on a hit with a +1 effect (if you hit, you get +2, if not, the effect takes place whether or not you hit).
The daily ability Leap Attack would honestly make a much nicer encounter ability, I think... you give up your standard action to grant a move and an attack from a minion, and then it can take its normal move and attack.
The daily ability Instant Minion would make a very nice Encounter Utility effect, since it's not really an attack, and it's not overpowered per encounter, I think.
I've only hit level 2 so far, but a few of the utilities there could be changed a bit. You might consider making Siphon Life a minor or move action instead of a standard action. You might also consider making Shadow Shield a +2 to all defenses, and then making it daily as well. Right now, +2 to AC for the entire encounter is better than the mage's +4 to all defenses for the next round, since encounters last for quite some time from what I've seen. If it were daily as is, though, it wouldn't be as good as the mage one. +2 to all defenses once per day for an encounter works well.
As a note, we ended up making a couple of other changes: first off, took the necromancer's ability to heal an undead minion and instead gave it:
"Death to Life", an encounter ability similar to the cleric's Healing Word. What it does is, twice per encounter (with more times per encounter at the same level a cleric gains more uses) the necromancer can spend a healing surge and heal a dying companion for that companion's healing surge value. It's a mix of cleric (range, uses per encounter, action type) and paladin (uses necro's healing surge, no healing bonus) healing features, with the limitation that it only affects dying comrades. Thematically, it shows that a necromancer doesn't just focus on death, he focuses on preserving life energy. It also gives him a bit of a leader role for the living, as well.
Next, we used the decrepit undead from the monster manual as the base minion. With the Magus research feat, we gave it a ranged attack (same as the magus) with standard damage (I think 4, but can't remember). Also, we removed Undead Control 1, and said that all necromancers can animate at least 1 undead minion as a class feature, with more minions to follow as they level (using the standard feats). We also decided to use three hp per level for necromancer minions, plus an increase to attack and damage every 5 levels.
We are looking at throwing in some new feats: maybe an 11th level research feat to grant an additional HP per level per minion to the minions, as well as feats to allow the master to create higher level minion undead.
Instead of the Kin of Undead deathguard, we're thinking of giving the kin a daily ability to "Animate a creature you just killed. For the rest of the encounter, you have it as an undead guardian. It comes back to life at its bloodied value, has no new bloodied value, never counts as bloodied, and cannot be healed above what it starts at. It gains immunity to disease and poison, and is considered to be Dominated by you. There is no chance you may lose control of it, and if you die, it dies."
ALl in all, this class is a LOT of fun to run, and to tinker with. My group is rather fond of it. Thanks for the work!
