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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DrunkonDuty" data-source="post: 8669399" data-attributes="member: 54364">Hi ya.So, I'm late to the party on this but I did recently have to come up with some wizardly necromancer NPCs so I have some thoughts.I should say, I'm not familiar with Agent of the Grave and a few of the feats but I notice Quickened Channel in there so I'm assuming Agent of the Grave gets you channeling. Also I've not run any necromancer beyond 8th-ish level. Those caveats accepted:I know you've mentioned people have said this already but, a wizardly necromancer isn't doing too well on minions. The minion creation spells are... kinda sub-par in terms of what they get you for your level. By which I mean if your 15th level necromancer is creating level 8 or 9 minions (I'm spit-balling, I cannot recall exactly what level monster you get for Create Greater Undead.) Anything with that big a level discrepancy is only good for providing flavour, flanking bonuses, and sucking up an area of effect attack or 2. As for 20HD Pit Fiend skeletons... sure they're okay if you have some means of providing a continual supply but, I'm gonna be honest here, that ain't likely. I mean, certainly your necromancer ain't gonna be killing Pit Fiends... Sorry but true. Also, they only have BAB equal to half their HD. +10 isn't great at 20th level. So as far as the "master of minions" thing is concerned - it's good if you want an army of mooks to threaten the Land of the Good People, but it will not slow down an equal, or even slightly lower level bunch of PCs/NPCs.Regards opposition schools, I think I can offer some good advice. The most important piece of advice is: opposition schools doesn't mean your character cannot cast those spells, they just need more spell slots. How to exploit this? Scrolls and wands of your favourite opposition school spells. Scrolls for the big spells you need to work at caster level, wands for anything you might want to spam. Also, a lot of important stuff can be done in the background, off camera as it were. In theory your character is burning through spell slots on the days they need to recast opposition school spells, so you know, do it judiciously. Not when the local chapter of paladins of Sarenrae are knocking down your door. Also if you eschew having a familiar and have a spell focus item you can cast any spell from your books once per day. Schools I like: Abjuration, Transmutation (I'm a big fan of buffing), and Conjuration. As you note Illusion is also great for keeping wizards alive (or you know, whatever passes for that for a necromancer.) Walls of force are nice if you're in need of a quick rest and recovery. All very combat useful. Divinations are things that can be cast on quiet days so that's my number one choice for your second opposition school. No idea what spells to pull from other lists... there's so many. Cause Wounds spells to heal your minions, Planar Ally spells because they are so very abusable. So many...I hope the above helps you with some of your decisions.Can I offer some off the wall ideas?If you do want to have mooks, see if your GM allows Summon Monster spells to summon undead. I mean, there's no reason they can't. If so then I can strongly recommend summoning shadows. Yeah, protection from evil is a real PITA for summoners but there's no perfect plan. But think of the combination of summoned shadows and black tentacles. All those poor grappled people getting strength drained. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" /> Leadership but your cohort and followers are undead. Again, GM permission required but there's no good reason they can't be undead. The bolster undead ability (alternative school feature that replaces grave touch) is good for buffing your undead cohort. Well it's good for buffing any undead obviously. Or completely forgo minions and just be a combat necromancer, spamming things like Ghoul and Vampiric touch.</blockquote>

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