Necromancy is evil?

[kenobi65]

Their reasoning is that raising the dead disturbs the soul at rest. But my thinking is that the soul is gone, the body is left to decompose without a true owner, so raising the corpse to do good works wouldn't upset the spirit at all.

Some people / cultures feel that, after death, the body is simply an empty shell, and no longer connected to the person. Those are the ones who'd agree with what you're saying, and would probably not have an issue with what you're proposing. If the culture in your game world views things this way, it obviously wouldn't be problematic. (See: Klingons.)

Others feel, very strongly, that the body must be treated with due respect, even after death, for a variety of reasons (belief in physical resurrection after death being one). There are going to be some people who would get *very* upset if they saw dear departed Grandpa out there toiling -- even if he's building a home for widows and orphans. (See: ancient Egypt, where a sizable amount of the culture's output went towards preparing bodies for the afterlife.)

 

[IcyCool]

I've always wanted to play a good necromancer. I had this vision of an old man, clad in bones, with a giant army of undead following him, going into towns and building them a brand new town hall with this massive "union" of perfectly obedient, immensely strong, tireless workers.

Right. The townsfolk have no problem with these frightening creatures crawling all over their town. If they didn't run away in horror, they're probably grabbing pitchforks and torches. Not to mention what might happen if one of these undead minions gets destroyed in a construction accident and Mr. Genial Necromancer decides to replace it with Aunt Mabel from the town cemetery. Yeah, that'd go over well.

You would not only need the GM to be nice and bend rules for this to work, you'd also need said GM to adjust the game world so that the walking dead is not only culturally acceptable, but asthetically (sp?) pleasing. Good luck. I'm not saying it's an impossible idea, just highly improbable.

 

[DMH]

In AD&D all healing spells where necromantic. Funnily enough this seems to have changed in 3E

Something in Morningstar brought that to my attention recently and I find it strange, but not suprising. Just something to house rule back.

As for the necromancer with the work force, I had the same idea but with cheap golems made of wood. I think the reaction of the people depends on the world. Are the people insular like the Dark Ages and usually never see a spell caster, much less an orc, or are they use to magic (which is the assumption in the DMG) and monsters?

As for zombie workers, I can see cultures that kill their elderly when they are still in good condition as to make a better worker-zombie. They want as much man power as possible and this is one way to get it. When they go to war, they may have a preference for living soldiers and use necromancers to raise the dead of the battlefield to bolster their numbers as a secondary resort (since the bodies are going to be chewed up from battle damage).

 

[Staffan]

You would not only need the GM to be nice and bend rules for this to work, you'd also need said GM to adjust the game world so that the walking dead is not only culturally acceptable, but asthetically (sp?) pleasing. Good luck. I'm not saying it's an impossible idea, just highly improbable.

For an example of this, look at the 2e mini-setting Jakandor, specifically the book Jakandor - Isle of Destiny that described the society of wizards on the island (Brief recap: the setting was about an island where two different cultures lived, a bunch of spiritual barbarians that distrust arcane magic and consider the dead sacred, and an ancient society built on mastery of magic and using undead as labor and soldiers. The two do not like one another, to say the least.).

Basically, long ago, the wizard society (the Charonti) was really powerful, and ruled large swathes of the world. Then, suddenly, a magical plague struck them, and their civilization fell almost overnight. Relatively recently, the remnants have started to try and cooperate to rebuild their civilization to its former glory. A huge part of the Charonti's mindset is focused on the individual serving society. To their way of thinking, being turned into a skeleton or zombie after death is a way to continue serving, which is considered good.

 

[humble minion]

This is something of a hobby-horse of mine.

Accoding to the PHB, necromancy is about spells that 'create, destroy, or manipulate life force'. However, the overwhelming majority of the spells assigned to the necromantic school seem to be there because WotC has decided that 'necromancy' is synonymous with 'icky evil scary stuff'. Inflict wounds spells are necromancy, while cures are conjuration. Fear spells are necromancy, while every other emotion-affecting spell is enchantment. Arcane necromancers can cause disease, but not cure it. Pretty much all the spells that could be read as creating or enhancing life force (Bull's strength etc, Heroism, Animate object, Haste, Tenser's Transformation) have been shoehorned into another school. Even the offensive necromancy spells (Eyebite) often have the Evil descriptor attached, while much more destructive evocations and so on don't have to worry about such things.

Conclusion - conceptually, it should be possible to play a 'white' necromancer, but in terms of game mechanics it is very difficult indeed. WotC seems to have decided that a specialist necromancer should pretty much be an NPC-only option...

 

[tigycho]

Some people / cultures feel that, after death, the body is simply an empty shell, and no longer connected to the person. Those are the ones who'd agree with what you're saying, and would probably not have an issue with what you're proposing. If the culture in your game world views things this way, it obviously wouldn't be problematic. (See: Klingons.)

Others feel, very strongly, that the body must be treated with due respect, even after death, for a variety of reasons (belief in physical resurrection after death being one). There are going to be some people who would get *very* upset if they saw dear departed Grandpa out there toiling -- even if he's building a home for widows and orphans. (See: ancient Egypt, where a sizable amount of the culture's output went towards preparing bodies for the afterlife.)

See Hollowfaust: City of Necromancers by Sword and Sorcery Studio for an excellent exmaple of a place that is both of these... The city has regular patrols and working parties of the undead, the corpses for which come from the city's citizens who are unable or unwilling to pay a small 'death gratuity'.

 

[Darkness]

WotC seems to have decided that a specialist necromancer should pretty much be an NPC-only option...

PCs need not be good.

Or even neutral.

 

[ivocaliban]

If you're using the Greyhawk gods it's likely you have several non-evil Necromancers who follow Wee Jas (LN). Unfortunately, a Wizard who specializes in Necromancy is going to have some difficulty making the most of his or her limited spells without doing some pretty questionable things.

 

[Tonguez]

Personally I think necromancy should be dropped entirely and all its spells distributed amongst the other schools as appropriate if heal spells are conjurations then inflict spells should be too, disease and cure disease should be identical (albeit opposite)
in fact I'd even go so far as creating a new 'somatic' school in which all the Buff spells would be placed alongside with their opposites - Bulls Strength vs Weakness, Haste vs Slow sort of thing...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think Hollowfaust and Jakandor both point to non-evil necromancy, but it should be noted both of those locations are set outside the official settings, wherein the vast majority of the gods (Wee Jas loves to screw up the bell curve) who grant spells that allow control or the creation of the undead are evil, evil, evil.

Of course, I have the same issue with spells labelled Good and Evil as noted above. There are some very curious omissions, to say the least.