JoeGKushner
Adventurer
Necromantic Feats were first introduced in Encylopaedia Arcane Necromancy by Mongoose Games. In essence, the character draws upon negative energy to power the feat, unlike standard feats, and gains more powerful abilities than standard feats. With such power however, comes a potential price and every time such an ability is used, the character has to make a DC 15 Negative Energy Check to avoid suffering a side effect. These side effects are usually role playing based with some mechanics to back them up but don't provide any real, “I'd better only use this in an emergency” type play.
With that in mind, what Philip has done here, is taken the original feats and related material, like knowledge skill necrology, and augmented it with his own material and offered it as a free PDF.
Now the table of negative energy side effects is pretty much the same with 20 different things that can befall a necromancer who fails his test. One thing that Philip did is update the Undead Template but he only did half the job. For instance, he changed the ability boost from +1 Strength, -1 Dexterity and -2 Charisma to +2 Strength and -2 Dexterity and Charisma, but didn't note any changes to ECL. With the increase in hit dice, bonus armor class, and special qualities, it's got to be at least a +1 ECL template.
The feats themselves though, include all those found in the Mongoose book in addition to new ones. It would've been nice to have a master breakdown of all the feats with the requisites like the Player's Handbook has, or a breakdown with a quick definition of what the feat does like some books. It's not an art heavy book and for a short book, I don't think that the landscape format is really necessary but at the price, I'm not going to complain too loudly.
So what exactly can you do with these feats that have side effects? How about Empower Undead, giving them a Turn Resistance equal to half the caster's level? How about Resist Magic where you empower yourself with necromantic energy and get a spell resistance of 12 for 1d6 rounds? These feats are indeed powerful and in my game, best left to NPC's or players who are really good at role playing and not abusing the power these feats grant.
The whole concept of Necromantic Feats is an interesting option you can add to almost any game. Now if Philip is smart, he'll take the best parts of this, the Lore book from FFG, AEG's Undead, Ambient's Necromancer's Legacy and Green Ronin's Secret College of Necromancy, and come out with one hell of a book. In the meanwhile, enjoy the free PDF and get a sample of some of Mongoose's original material augmented with the mind of Philip Reed.
With that in mind, what Philip has done here, is taken the original feats and related material, like knowledge skill necrology, and augmented it with his own material and offered it as a free PDF.
Now the table of negative energy side effects is pretty much the same with 20 different things that can befall a necromancer who fails his test. One thing that Philip did is update the Undead Template but he only did half the job. For instance, he changed the ability boost from +1 Strength, -1 Dexterity and -2 Charisma to +2 Strength and -2 Dexterity and Charisma, but didn't note any changes to ECL. With the increase in hit dice, bonus armor class, and special qualities, it's got to be at least a +1 ECL template.
The feats themselves though, include all those found in the Mongoose book in addition to new ones. It would've been nice to have a master breakdown of all the feats with the requisites like the Player's Handbook has, or a breakdown with a quick definition of what the feat does like some books. It's not an art heavy book and for a short book, I don't think that the landscape format is really necessary but at the price, I'm not going to complain too loudly.
So what exactly can you do with these feats that have side effects? How about Empower Undead, giving them a Turn Resistance equal to half the caster's level? How about Resist Magic where you empower yourself with necromantic energy and get a spell resistance of 12 for 1d6 rounds? These feats are indeed powerful and in my game, best left to NPC's or players who are really good at role playing and not abusing the power these feats grant.
The whole concept of Necromantic Feats is an interesting option you can add to almost any game. Now if Philip is smart, he'll take the best parts of this, the Lore book from FFG, AEG's Undead, Ambient's Necromancer's Legacy and Green Ronin's Secret College of Necromancy, and come out with one hell of a book. In the meanwhile, enjoy the free PDF and get a sample of some of Mongoose's original material augmented with the mind of Philip Reed.
