D&D (2024) A Revised Necromancer Subclass?

[Tonguez]

whats a better word than Necromancy for a wizard that deals with Death and Life processes?
Necromancers deal with necrotic rot (evocation), fear (enchantment), sickness, preservation (healing) and corpse animation (transmutation), shadows and spirits (conjuration) and life transference/vampire (healing). I can certainly see why Healing spells in general should be there as well as other spells that manipulate the body, maybe even the the Enhance Ability and Enlarge/Reduce spells of transmutation.

but such a class would need a name that doesnt automatically tie it to Death so maybe:
Vitamancy - magic of life processes
Vivimancy - magic of living things (brings to mind vivisection and flesh golems)
Animancy - magic of Anima (animating force)
Somatomancy - magic of physical bodies
Sanamancy - magic of Health
Sciomancy - magic of shadows/spirits
physiognomancy - magic of physical forms

others?

 

[TwoSix]

whats a better word than Necromancy for a wizard that deals with Death and Life processes?
Necromancers deal with necrotic rot (evocation), fear (enchantment), sickness, preservation (healing) and corpse animation (transmutation), shadows and spirits (conjuration) and life transference/vampire (healing). I can certainly see why Healing spells in general should be there as well as other spells that manipulate the body, maybe even the the Enhance Ability and Enlarge/Reduce spells of transmutation.

but such a class would need a name that doesnt automatically tie it to Death so maybe:
Vitamancy - magic of life processes
Vivimancy - magic of living things (brings to mind vivisection and flesh golems)
Animancy - magic of Anima (animating force)
Somatomancy - magic of physical bodies
Sanamancy - magic of Health
Sciomancy - magic of shadows/spirits
physiognomancy - magic of physical forms

others?

I think it depends on how exactly they're manipulating "Life and Death processes". Are they trying to manipulate biology to enhance life and stop death? Or are they manipulating the soul to control the natural processes that cause life to cease and the afterlife process to start?

There are quite of few strains of fantasy necromancy, really.

Stopping the progression of Death. "White" necromancy, revivification and healing.
Understand the Afterlife. Speaking with ghosts and spirits to acquire information.
Manipulate the Trappings of Death. Animate skeletons and corpses, bone magic.
Manipulate the Afterlife - Binding and controlling souls, possession, raising undead by trapping souls in material objects.
Manipulate Vital Energy - Enervation and Draining effects, blood magic and poison effects.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

level 3 feature is summon undead, and find familiar, bonus spells, THP boost to undead you control, and a new spells that creates a horde/swarm of undead that have 1 turn and grow larger and hit harder with higher level spell slots.

Level 6, ability to dispel enemy undead by spending a spell slot and maybe if you succeed you can make it explode instead of just going inert x/lr. You can also dismiss your own undead as an action to make them explode on thier way out.

I think they key is to be able to play it as a sort of anti-necromancer as well as a classic necromancer.

 

[DEFCON 1]

For people who want to play Necromancers, at some point there comes a time where they no longer need to try and jerry-rig the design of the game so that their desires become "universal rules" for D&D on the whole... but rather just worry about their own specific game. Which means working with their DM to just refluff spells that could work as Necromantic spells and using those, rather than trying to get WotC to make them.

Want an undead minion at Level 1? Find Familiar, except it's a small zombie rather than a bat/cat/raven etc. Want that undead zombie to actually do simple tasks for you? Cast Unseen Servant and for that hour that zombie minion of yours can do everything a normal US can do. Want to raise zombies to defend you in battle? At 3rd Level you cast Mirror Image, and instead of 3 illusory duplicates of you showing up, three corpses climb out the ground and potentially block incoming attacks just like the spell does. Son and so forth.

Yes, these spells will not be a part of "the D&D game" on the whole. But you don't need to worry about all the other schmucks out there in D&D land who won't play a Necromancer the way you get to... you can at least play the Necromancer you want. Now sure, you might very well not be able to wander from game to game and play this self-same Necromancer at different tables if the DMs at those tables have a bug up their butts about refluffing... but at the very least at your home game with a ameniable DM you can create whatever type of character you want and not have to wait for WotC to do it for you.

And if your DM is no ameniable to refluffing? Find a new DM who is. Or just choose a different archetype to play until you can.

 

[jerryrice4949]

I find it strange WoTC is going with Abjuration instead of Necromancy. I agree the Necromancy subclass needs some work. It really should be its own class but that is never going to happen. But I have had several people play a Necromancer and I have had Zero players in any of my groups play an Abjurer. I was shocked to hear it’s more popular than the Necromancer subclass.

 

[Kobold Stew]

I find it strange WoTC is going with Abjuration instead of Necromancy. I agree the Necromancy subclass needs some work. It really should be its own class but that is never going to happen. But I have had several people play a Necromancer and I have had Zero players in any of my groups play an Abjurer. I was shocked to hear it’s more popular than the Necromancer subclass.

I agree, and I hope you said so in your feedback!

Ten years into this game, I still have no idea what the abjurer is.

 

[Neonchameleon]

I find it strange WoTC is going with Abjuration instead of Necromancy. I agree the Necromancy subclass needs some work. It really should be its own class but that is never going to happen. But I have had several people play a Necromancer and I have had Zero players in any of my groups play an Abjurer. I was shocked to hear it’s more popular than the Necromancer subclass.

The problem with the wizard subclass is how many "generic" subclasses there are that basically don't change what they do assuming you have a good generalist loadout.

• Abjurer: Gain 2*Level +INT Temp hp for casting Mage Armour - and a few more for Shield/Absorb Elements or Counterspell
• Conjuration: Entirely generic loadout until L10 (when you keep concentration on conjuration spells)
• Divination: The only divination specific talent lets you get a discount on the divination spells you cast
• Enchantment: No reason to take any enchantment spells before Level 10
• Necromancy: Other than cantrip choice there's so little direct damage in Necromancy that Grim Harvest is pretty pointless. You're a generic wizard who always has a superior Animate Dead
• Transmutation: You always have Polymorph from level 10. Other than that no reason to prepare a single transmutation spell
• War Wizardry + Order of Scribes - both deliberately school independent

So as long as your generic wizard has Mage Armour then for levels 1-9 you're basically picking between Generic Wizard, Illusionist, and Evoker. And 90% of games end by level 10. Abjurer on the other hand is a good defensive set of options, which wizards need.

 

[Gorck]

I agree, and I hope you said so in your feedback!

Ten years into this game, I still have no idea what the abjurer is.

Here is Wiktionary's definition of the work Abjure:

Verb[edit]​

abjure (third-person singular simple present abjures, present participle abjuring, simple past and past participle abjured)

1. (transitive) To renounce upon oath; to forswear; to disavow. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][2] quotations ▼
   To abjure allegiance to a prince.
   To abjure the realm (to swear to abandon it forever).
2. (transitive, obsolete, historical) To cause one to renounce or recant. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][2]
3. (transitive) To reject with solemnity; to abandon forever; to repudiate; to disclaim. [First attested around 1350 to 1470.][2] quotations ▼
   To abjure errors.
4. (transitive) To abstain from; to avoid; to shun.

So, based on these definitions, an Abjuration Wizard is . . . an Oathbreaker Paladin? Now I'm even more confused than I was before.

 

[Neonchameleon]

I agree, and I hope you said so in your feedback!

Ten years into this game, I still have no idea what the abjurer is.

A wizard who specialises in magic that pushes things away. "I abjure thee. Thou shalt not pass! Return to the abyss from whence thou came!" It's defensive magic including wards, anti-magic (dispel magic/counterspell), banishment, and protection magic.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

We haven't seen how the summon spells and Animate Dead will get revised. Though with it might be they have the Summon Spells from the PHB (the go look in the Monster Manual types) with some from Tasha's Summon Spells (with their own statblocks). Or they could go the route of just having the Tasha's Summon Spells.

What they might or might not do with summoning type spells would definitely affect both the Necromancer and the Conjurer as subclasses.