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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5507743" data-attributes="member: 2067">Actually, it's pretty much the same thing as a pyromancer, since the pyromancer is a mage specialization that forms either the major or minor point of the class...Pyromancers aren't their own class, they're a mage school, just like Illusion and Enchantment and, now, Necromancy and Nethermancy. They're not necessarily single-note, but the idea behind a focused character is that you want to be focused, so you choose things that enhance your focus. The githyanki pyromancer I played used entirely fire spells (many of which were evocations as well -- that was his minor school) for the 20 or so encounters I played him for, and I found him to be lots of fun (though he was not a very effective controller per se: mostly they were a passive way of getting enemies to break up formations, stand far apart, avoid flanking my allies, and not stand in certain spaces, because otherwise, they would get hurt). One of those encounters featured a wave of about 40 or so devil minions, who had fire resistance. Another featured a tiefling solo -- again, heavy fire resist. A third was a demon solo: variable resistance. The adventure wasn't even particularly fire themed. I would have been an exceedingly frustrated player in each of those instances without the ability to ignore resistance. Necromancers, as far as I can see, are facing a similar problem, and the design of the class tried to take that into account. Only, they took it into account in a way that I think is interesting, but less than ideal. A necromancer who is not using his school's powers to do necrotic damage, or who is using his school's powers on those with necrotic resist that AREN'T undead (the variable resistance of the demon comes to mind) are going to be legitimately frustrated, I think. These are corner cases, but a broad, simple rule like "Ignore Necrotic Resistance" would have avoided those corner cases, and would have avoided using the powers like a kludge. I think the pryomancer is a pretty good example of what a specialist should be able to do. I don't think I'm going to be as impressed with the Necromancer (though we shall see!).As a caveat, it is true that a pyromancer and a necromancer probably "control" differently. A pryomancer controls via damage: do this thing, get hurt; don't do this thing, get hurt; move there, get hurt; don't move here, get hurt. Fire spells don't often have a lot of control potential outside of damage. If damage is mitigated, control is mitigated, and the pyromancer can no longer fullfill his role in the party.Necromancers might not rely so heavily on damage punishments for their control. Damage might be more icing on the controllery cake, with effect lines that are severe, and damage lines that aren't that great to begin with, and nifty other things they can do instead of damage. This might mean that a necromancer who isn't doing any necrotic damage can still be a great controller. A pyromancer doesn't have the same option, as much.</blockquote>

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