D&D 5E (2024) A Revised Necromancer Subclass?

[Undrave]

The Spore Druid is an adjacent archetype and rhyme but aren't in the way

Unless they control cordyceps...

 

[Mephista]

The problem here is that as ever the wizard subclass is a hat on a hat, in this case the hat of undead themed spells on the hat of access to all arcane spells.

Of the rest:

<snip>

Who said anything about problems or in the way of anything? I was making an observation that "dark magic" in D&D is kind of stuck in a rut. That there's not a lot of variety.

 

[M_Natas]

The problem here is that as ever the wizard subclass is a hat on a hat, in this case the hat of undead themed spells on the hat of access to all arcane spells.

Of the rest:

• The Shadow Monk is a ninja. They aren't in the way
• The Cleric has hat-on-a-hat problems (clerics do in general) but the Death Cleric is a dark blaster to mirror the light cleric's laser blasting. Not what I'd have gone with but fine.
• The Shadow Sorcerer should be the pasty faced squishy who commands the dead - but with Necromancer already in the way they needed the Hound of Ill Omen not something more versatile. Unfortunately they are a pre-Tasha's sorcerer and need a rewrite
• The Undying Warlock was ... a mistake
• The Undead Warlock is a Death Knight. They work and don't clash with the rest except maybe the Death Cleric
• The Spore Druid is an adjacent archetype and rhyme but aren't in the way

I think the problem can be solved if you gate access to certain spells by Subclass or another method.
A Wizard who picks a school of magic as his subclass should be a master of that school of magic.
But because every wizard gets every spell, that is just not the case and so you can't really do interesting stuff with subclassspecific spells.

Because of all the discussions here about the Necromancer and about the Wizard/Fighter imbalance, I tried my hand at a revised Wizard Class: https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-specialist-wizard-the-wizard-2-0.700649/
Accesses to higher level spells of a a school of magic are gated now behind proficiency and expertise of that school of magic. Expertise represents, that you studied that school of magic thoroughly and more than most others. It is similar to a PHD of Nuclear Physics or something. You specialised. You know one arcane subject very well, better than anybody else. But the trade off is, that you are not an expert in other schools of magic.
Now a Necromancer Expert is the only one who gets some cool necromantic spells and you can create spells, that fit the theme even better and don't need to be afraid, that the evocation wizard will just take the cool Necromancer spells, too and vice versa
A Wizard is his spellbook and with gating Spellselection behind proficiency and expertise and connecting them to subclass, Wizard Subclass Choice now would become meaningful instead of ribbon abilities like copying spells for half the price.

I had to add some cool new Wizard spells to balance out the Spelllist for the Schools of Magic and at higher levels they may get a little wacky, but that is D&D.

 

[Aldarc]

This is currently possible for the 1st-level chain warlock.

It seems like having a primary, even if basic, undead minion should be possible for a Necromancer Wizard.

 

[maceochaid]

I haven't read through all the responses, so maybe someone already said this, but in addition to Summon Undead, Spirit Shroud could be a central spell to the class. The Necromancer being surrounded by a mass of undead spirits is pretty iconic. They could re-release the spell in the book that debuts the Necromancer and maybe even rename it "Summon Undead Spirits" It still needs much more of a banger at level 3 to compete with portent, and minor illusion, but both Spirit Shroud and Summon Undead are unavailable till a higher level.

 

[GarrettKP]

Just make the Necromancer the pet class for the Wizard. At 3rd give them an undead minion they can enhance as they level up and supplement with other undead summoning spells to build an undead army, with their original minion as the general.

 

[Jim Cummins]

I haven't read all the replies, but what about, focusing the class on a undead spirit familiar, that grows in power and benefits as the class progresses, with potential separate paths for necromancer development -summoner - animator - necrotic damage - life draining. It provides a connection to the negative energy required for non spell necrotic abilities, this way though a caster you can use the spells available to enhance the necromancer focus.

 

[TheSword]

The only necromancer worth playing!

 

[WanderingMystic]

So they already have one that is ready for public playtest that got good reviews from the staff. It got cut from the phb due to other sub classes being more popular on DND beyond and to give a mechanical opposite to the evocation school

 

[kigmatzomat]

"Mwahahahahah! It shambles about once more! It veritably oozes meta-recursion as a years-dead thread on necromancy is reanimated! A triumph!"
- faceless necromancer