Necromancy "Default" powers...

[Celebrim]

Necromancers in my game can do the following:

a) Most iconicly IMO, literal necromancy, that is to contact with the dead in various ways, such as speaking with the dead, séances to return the dead, seeing through the eyes of any skull in range, etc.
b) Animate the dead, either temporarily or permanently.
c) Create, control, and destroy undead
d) Drain vitality, vigor, and life from the living and in turn bestow it on themselves. This also includes various wilting, blighting, and cursing of the living.
e) Drain energy from the environment and in turn bestow it on themselves
f) Change into undead forms
g) Utilize the dead and death as a power source for other sorts of magic

 

[steeldragons]

That does, however, bring up an interesting question...DO I want a pseudo-good necromancer option or is that something that doesn't really matter nowadays?

With devil-pacting warlocks, demon-blooded sorcerers, not to mention vampire PCs [entire RPGs built around them, in fact] and an D&D entire race [though it does not appear in this game of mine] with built in "fiend-ancestry" does anyone even care about/want to play necromancers anymore? Or is this page space better used on something...anything else?

 

[steeldragons]

Necromancers in my game can do the following:

a) Most iconicly IMO, literal necromancy, that is to contact with the dead in various ways, such as speaking with the dead, séances to return the dead, seeing through the eyes of any skull in range, etc.
b) Animate the dead, either temporarily or permanently.
c) Create, control, and destroy undead
d) Drain vitality, vigor, and life from the living and in turn bestow it on themselves. This also includes various wilting, blighting, and cursing of the living.
e) Drain energy from the environment and in turn bestow it on themselves
f) Change into undead forms
g) Utilize the dead and death as a power source for other sorts of magic

Oo...ya know...that's not a bad idea...Speaking with the Dead...kinda a medium/necromancer shtick...that has possibilities.

 

[tuxgeo]

Necromancers in my game can do the following:

a) Most iconicly IMO, literal necromancy, that is to contact with the dead in various ways, such as speaking with the dead, séances to return the dead, seeing through the eyes of any skull in range, etc. < snip >

There's that, too: The etymology of the word "necromancy," IIRC, is about gathering information from the dead -- either by interrogating the dead or by using them to predict the future. However, "Speak with Dead" is a slightly higher-level spell (3rd-level in 5E Next), and it might not be a thing that PCs would need to do often; so, while it is truly iconic, it might not work well as a default.

Another thought, though this is based on 4E cosmology: use the Shadowfell, or whatever plane or location is the "Realm of the Dead" in your game. Let necromancers draw their power from there, and let this power source color their lives in other ways--give them a graying of their skin; give them much easier generation of shadows and darkness; give them a pervasive odor of something like decay, or of soap, or of embalming fluid, or of whatever incense hides the smell of dead bodies best; or give them a bonus to Stealth.

 

[the Jester]

Animate dead screams "necromancer!"

Vampiric healing screams "conveniently-flavored way for a character to heal and attack at once!"

 

[DEFCON 1]

Animate dead screams "necromancer!"

Vampiric healing screams "conveniently-flavored way for a character to heal and attack at once!"

Yeah, well Animate Dead screams "conveniently-flavored way for a character to do pet or swarm damage!"

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I'm pretty sure stories about commanding the undead are a lot newer than stories about "draining health", even if zombies are actually relatively new to the west.

 

[Celebrim]

There's that, too: The etymology of the word "necromancy," IIRC, is about gathering information from the dead -- either by interrogating the dead or by using them to predict the future.

For me, despite its limitations, the big lure of necromancy to a necromancer is the fact that it can end up emulating the power of many of the other schools of magic.

Literally, 'necromancy' is a form of divination. So a necromancer, to a certain extent, is freed from the need to know divination particularly. Likewise, the necromancer gains power in the negative over the flow of energy, being able to draw it away from things, and thereby is freed to a certain extent from the need to know evocation particularly. The necromancer gains the power to summon spirits (of the dead) and to animate the bodies of the dead, thereby freeing himself somewhat from the need to learn conjuration. And by taking on the form and power of the undead, he free himself somewhat from the need to learn abjuration and transformation magic.

In this additional respect, beyond the fact that all of its power is in the negative and the taking away, 'necromancy' becomes a consummate dark art - easier and more seductive, and yet all encompassing and variegated in its powers, the sort of thing that attracts those who always weigh benefits to a nicety but never weigh the costs.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Consider Speak with Dead and Cause Fear.