How do I make Necro =/= Evil ?

[Tatsukun]

Hi all, I have a PC who wants to play a necromancer. I don’t want him to be evil (I don’t like having evil PC’s in my games in general).

So I have been thinking of some kind of contract people sign and sell/donate their bodies after death. A mage can then animate that body without the [Evil] aspect.

How should I go about making this document? Wondrous Item? Something else?

Thanks!

-Tatsu

P.S. > Mods, I couldn't decide between here or house rules. Please move if wrong .

 

[Shemeska]

Is an IC explanation needed to justify something imposed by the game mechanics? The [Evil] bit was new in 3.5 IIRC, and doesn't entirely make sense as far as I'm concerned. At most it's disrespectful if it involves stealing bodies to animate, but since it's effectively just animating a hunk of flesh and bone with negative energy (itself a neutral force) to make what amounts to a puppet, how is it evil in the first place?

 

[Voadam]

As DM simply remove the evil descriptor from animate dead and have mindless undead be neutral as they were in 3.0. Voila. No contract or special item needed.

 

[JimAde]

It's a question of what happens to the original creature's soul, I think. I get the impression that most (not all!) necromancy spells are evil because creating an undead somehow affects the departed soul. As GM, you can just say "No it doesn't" and as Shemeska says, most of the moral issues go away.

Now a lot of people might still believe necromancy is always evil, which can be a lot of fun...

 

[Andre]

Why does a necromancer have to animate dead? Playing a necro who never uses an [Evil] spell is quite easy and can be fun to boot.

A friend wanted to play a necro in one of my campaigns a couple years ago. We used some abilities from Mongoose's Necromany, Beyond the Grave but otherwise he only used PHB spells. His character used necromatic powers for good, but was constantly tempted by the evil possibilities. I added an evil artifact or two to the campaign just to give him a chance to roleplay this conflict and he had a blast. And no one was ever animated (at least, not by his character... ).

 

[Andre]

As for animating, I suspect pretty much any normal culture would consider that a desecration of the person's remains. It wasn't that long ago that using cadavers in medical schools was illegal. Imagine the outcry today if someone came up with electrical implants that would allow businesses to use dead bodies for manual labor...

Mechanically, changing the rules to allow non-evil animation is easy. Coming up with a valid cultural reason why it would be allowed by ordinary people would, IMO, be practically impossible.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Why does a necromancer have to animate dead? Playing a necro who never uses an [Evil] spell is quite easy and can be fun to boot.

I agree! A necromancer doesn't have to create undead to be a necromancer. There are lots of other spells to draw from.

 

[Umbran]

Well, there are a few ways to approach it...

As I read it, the [Evil] descriptor does not mean what you might think. We know that Clerics cannot cast spells with descriptors opposite their own or their deity's alignment. The spell effects of such magics might register on Detect <Alignment> spells. But that doesn't say that casting an [evil] spell is actually an evil act, now does it?

As a DM, you can stick by the above rules and still say that a good arcane caster can work those magics without becoming evil, so long as his purposes and results are not evil.

 

[Slobber Monster]

One way to do it is to envision a culture where the Necromancer calls upon his own family, tribal or clan ancestors for assistance. The culture feels that a person's obligation to defend his allies continues beyond death, so necromancy is not seen as inherently evil. Drop the Evil descriptor from the spells, and place some reasonable roleplaying limits on what can or cannot be raised, and you're ready to go.

 

[Desdichado]

Mechanically, changing the rules to allow non-evil animation is easy. Coming up with a valid cultural reason why it would be allowed by ordinary people would, IMO, be practically impossible.

I refer you to the Hollowfaust supplement for Scarred Lands.
And the Eberron Campaign setting, particularly Karrnath (iffy) and Aerenal.