In a recent video, Jeremy Crawford revealed that the Necromancer subclass not only received low satisfaction ratings for its mechanics but also that the subclass does not get played much, suggesting deeper problems with the subclass. This is one reason why the Necromancer subclass won't be included in the new PHB. So what would make the Necromancer worth playing? What are some practical, feasible solutions for improving the Necromancer subclass to boost its popularity and satisfaction levels?
The Necromancer subclass is just bad before it starts to be an actual necromancer, and really annoying after it does. Part of the problem is the "necromancy" school, part the subclass, and part which class they gave the necromancer to.
Starting with the Necromancy school in the PHB there are a grand total of two first level wizard necromancy spells, three second level, and three third (plus Speak with Dead which got added to the wizard list with Tasha's), one fourth level, and zero fifth level. That is ... very slim pickings. In addition to this the first spell that actually gets necromancers dealing with the dead is Animate Dead as a third level spell (alongside Speak With Dead); before that it's basically all generic "dark wizard" stuff. That's a long apprenticeship and not very much necromancy in your necromancer; you'd be better off playing a cleric of the death domain.
The necromancer subclass is ... not good.
- Level 2: Grim Harvest. Cool, a defensive buff to make your "dark evokers" tougher. There are no damaging level 1 or level 2 wizard necromancy spells other than Strixhaven's Wither and Bloom - and third level only gives you Vampiric Touch (and technically I suppose the life transference). So you get better cantrips and evocations?
- Level 6: Undead Thralls. Actual Necromancy! Yay! You get better skeleton warriors - but using all those warriors is a slow faff and they are incredibly vulnerable to frustrated DMs casually AoEing them. It's "white room powerful" but just lets you have a retinue of chaff
- Level 10: Inured to Undeath. I'm not calling resistance to necrotic and immunity to
level drain hp maximum reduction actively bad. Just something that's both passive and very situational; you can go entire adventures with it never coming up. It's bland.
- Level 14: Command Undead. Again this is adventure-specific. I'm not calling countering enemy necromancers bad - but I'm saying that you can go entire adventures and never use this.
The only real ability worth talking about there is Undead Thralls. And walking around with a collection of undead thralls can get annoying.
So the wizard has a bad spell list for necromancy - and wizards can't expand their spell list (outside Matt Mercer's dunamancy) because of the core class fantasy of doing everything; everyone would get the spells. The cleric simply has a better necromancy spell list, and yes necromancers should get spells like revivify.
So how would I do a necromancer? I'd give the subclass to the
Sorcerer, Tasha's style. A necromancer sorcerer:
- Gets to learn necromancy spells from any spell list. Yes, we have a sorcerer who can't heal but can revivify.
- Gets most of their bonus spells plucked from the conjuration list, not the necromancy list but they count as necromancy for the wizard; spells like Unseen Servant and Phantom Steed (and even Mage Armour) count as Necromancy for the Necromancer
- Our version of Grim Harvest can then be tied to metamagic; the turn after they kill someone a necromancer can metamagic a necromancy spell for one spell point less.
- Necromancy ritual spells last double their normal duration if cast using a corpse or bones (e.g. Phantom Steed with a dead horse or a horse skeleton); one set of bones may only empower one spell at a time.
- Necromancers get a permanent pet rather than lots of undead cluttering up the battlefield
- They also get to play games with the Soul Cage spell
