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Message: <blockquote data-quote="winterwolf" data-source="post: 4291608" data-attributes="member: 34572">Mmm, I love this class! It looks like a lot of fun, and I hope to be able to try it out in a campaign!Now, after saying that, I have a few things to ask about minions, though:One, minions only ever have 1hp, so you don't have much of a reason to be able to spend a healing surge on them. Now, to change this, have you contemplated instead of using the standard rules for minions, give the necromancer a special ability that all of their undead minions (and they have a max of what, 4? excluding those mass-created by certain powers) have 5hp per necromancer level? It leads to a pinch more book keeping, but not significantly so, and the necromancer doesn't lose his entire force in one or two rounds of combat. Frankly, the person who will be running a necromancer will be the kind of person to not mind the book keeping, especially if he's tracking hexes, etc. Giving the 4 minions a standardized hit point system (2 or 3 per necromancer level seems to work out nice, easy to add up, etc. 2 if you feel that twice the necromancer's level isn't too weak, 3 if you think it is) ends in a nice, easily tracked number. For added fun, make a feat that gives the undead an extra hit point per level,  maybe even allow the feat to be taken 2-3 times. Or, you could let the necromancer's minions have 5hp per level, and the number  is split evenly between his minions (at least, the minions granted by the feats, not by the mass-raised ones given by a couple of powers). With this, the necromancer might not WANT to have more than one minion out at a time, even if he has the feats for it. It becomes situational: Do you want one minion who can take a few hits, or 3-4 much less hardy minions? If you do this, raising further minions reduces the amount of hit points held by the first minion (IE, if you have 1 minion and he has 30 hit points, you pick up a second, and they both drop to 15 hit points. You pick up a 3rd, and they both drop to 10 hit points. 4th, they both drop to 7 hit points. If the minions are already damaged, you still reduce them. So, if your 30 hit point minion was at 15 hit points, and you picked up another minion, the 1st minion drops to 7 hit points while the second sits at 15. Note that this system takes a LOT more book keeping). Second, IIRC, minions always do a flat amount of damage. I like the minions you have now, they're pretty good, but I don't think it'll change much to give them a flat damage.  There are a couple of powers you have that cause your minions to do maximum damage, but maybe you could shift that to add one of your stats to damage, or perhaps just a flat bonus (+2, +4, whatever).If you do decide to keep minions as they are, you might consider giving the necromancer one guardian-type creature that scales with level, plus the minions they have now (ala the necromancer in Diablo 2, Guild Wars, Vanguard, Everquest, etc.). Without at least 1 creation with more than 1hp, the necromancer will quickly run out of minions. Sure, he can create more, but if you have someone sitting on you, pounding you with a sword, you're going to want to deal with him, not summon another minion that he can frankly spend an action point and destroy (or just cleave, if a fighter). Yes, you have powers to slide an enemy away, etc, etc... but if after 2 rounds of combat, that's all you can do, you're not much of a necromancer. Necromancers should have at least one minion with staying power.I know the point of using the 1hp per minion rule is to keep the characters from micromanaging... but the type of person who'd love to play a necromancer (like myself, for example) won't mind keeping track of minion hit points. If you make the health a standard value per level (like, 5 per level) it's not even that hard to do so. Something else you might consider: Implements possibly affecting minions. Perhaps all (or one, but that makes it micromanaging again, determining which minion gets the bonus this round) gains a bonus to attack and damage equal to the implement bonus of the implement you are currently wielding (or the higher of the two, if for some reason you're running around with magic skulls in both hands). As another note, what about adding a value to your minions' attack, damage, and defenses, perhaps equal to 1/5th of your level (so first point comes in at 5th level). This won't overpower them, and it will keep them at least somewhat able to attack without you using powers on them every round. I don't think minions should be anywhere near as powerful as pcs of their level, but I don't think they should be unable to hit or cause damage, nor do I think they should automatically go down in one hit.Another question: What about minions equipping magic items? I'm not up on minion and magic item rules, but it would seem to me that you should have some way to keep minions from using (at the very least) any per-day magic items (or perhaps let a minion, but it uses up YOUR ability for the day). Power-wise, I think most of these are great. If I do end up running this class, I'm going to want to create some sort of exploding corpse spells, similar to the ones in Diablo 2 (sorry if I keep bringing that game up, but this necromancer reminds me a great deal of the D2 and Guild Wars necros... and 4th edition as a whole reminds me of Guild Wars in general). The ability to create a cloud of poison or of bone shards exploding from a body just appeals to me. Maybe an effect that infuses a corpse with so much shadow energy that it radiates shadow damage as long as you concentrate? I don't know. You have a few powers that raise an army of minions, and I love that as well, very cool. I think that those minions should stay as regular minions with 1hp, rather than expanding in hit points as your level increases, if you do end up setting up a rule about necromancer hit points per level. I also don't think those minions should benefit from any of the other minion level-based effects (such as attack and damage bonus of 1/5th your level, if you do end up using that thought), nor should they benefit from implement bonuses (again, if you pick that rule up). As to your rules in limiting the type of minion you can control that round? On the one hand, I don't think it'd change matter for book keeping one way or the other, nor do I think having a mix of minions (2 ranged, 2 melee, for example) would really overpower the necromancer. If it is a problem with book keeping... well, honestly, the necromancer is a class that does require a pinch of book keeping, and players will understand that. This kind of custom class isn't something a player will plop down, see, and think "Oh man, I have no idea what this class is, but I'll play it!" unlike the player's handbook, where it is possible to randomly pick a class and go with it. Because it is a custom class, and will require someone to actively look for it, the person who will be playing it will be someone who WANTS to play this kind of character, not one who arbitrarily decides to do so and then gets fed up with the book keeping. And, to be honest, the book keeping isn't that bad... the wizard, with his switching out spells each day, is conceivably just as bad. All in all, though... I'm very excited about the thought of running a necromancer like you've set up, and I know that next time I get a chance to play, I'll want to try it out. I've bookmarked this thread, because you've done a great job!Edit: For readability, a few errors, and changed my suggestion from hitpoints per day from 5, to 2 or 3.</blockquote>

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