Neutral good cleric and necromancy

[stonepaw]

So I've been playing my Cleric for a little over a year now and felt the need to begin managing my character getting to know the in's and out's, now its to my understand that Necromancy is usually evil or not able to be cast by good Clerics however... I have been looking through a few books and I came across a spell Blood of the Martyr, this spell is Necromancy. BUT! It is also healing AND good, it allows me to heal someone from afar using my own life as a means to heal another. This doesn't seem evil to me in the slightest, and Paladins have access to this spell as well. Would it be reasonable to say a Good Cleric could use said spell? Or is it completely out of the question due to Necromancy? I would really like to use this spell, because there is a few scenarios in which this spell would help to keep one alive in a dire situation.

 

[Celebrim]

Necromancy is only evil if it is marked as evil on the spell.

Beyond that it's really up to the DM, and the particular tenets that the cleric is required to adhere to by the deity he serves.

 

[Ragmon]

Necromancy isn't inherently evil, only the spells marked with the [Evil] template. So a good cleric can use necromancy too, just not the ones with the aforementioned template.

Beyond the rules I would say no spells is inherently evil, its all about how you use it. Like, why isn't fireball Evil? I can only see 2 uses for it, killing and destroying...and melting snow. Magic Missile... come one only 1 use, dealing damage. Now in comparison Symbol of Pain its evil, what does it do, gives you penalties, but does not damages you...now how is that evil?

So don't worry, use necromancy as a good cleric, just watch out for the [Evil].

 

[Jackinthegreen]

The description of necromancy is as follows from the SRD.

Necromancy spells manipulate the power of death, unlife, and the life force. Spells involving undead creatures make up a large part of this school.

There is nothing inherently evil about necromancy. Divorce yourself from that idea when it comes to D&D. Only the spells that actually have the [Evil] descriptor are restricted to Good clerics. For example, if you used Summon Monster I to summon a fiendish raven then it would have the Evil descriptor on it since you're summoning an inherently Evil creature. Note that it's a conjuration spell, not a necromancy spell. Likewise, the Protection from Good spell is also Evil and is abjuration, not necromancy.

 

[Grogg of the North]

From the description of the necromancy school, you could even make the argument that healing spells should be necromancy and not conjuration.

 

[Vegepygmy]

From the description of the necromancy school, you could even make the argument that healing spells should be necromancy and not conjuration.

In 1st and 2nd edition, they were necromantic spells.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

In 1st and 2nd edition, they were necromantic spells.

Indeed. Some of us have never officially recognized the change.

 

[jonesy]

I've always given my players the choice of which of those two schools (or both) they want their healing spells to be. As far as necromancy goes, it's like dynamite - you can use it to blow up people or use it to remove stumps or mine for gold...

Do you mean that you allow characters to take healing spells from the conjuration school as if they were necromancy spells? And vice versa?

 

[jonesy]

Not that it ever came up very often, but I generally let the players tweak their character's spells to better fit their character on a case-by-case basis, so if they want a single spell from a banned school for thematic reasons or want a certain spell to work with a particular feat they took or something, I'm open to changing a spell's school or having it belong to multiple schools.

But not often? I was mainly interested in whether interesting issues caused by it had popped up during play. Things or conflicts that switching them around caused that would be surprising or not that obvious beforehand.

 

[ZethVorador]

Necromancy isn't inherently evil in itself, only the spells marked with the 'Evil' template. So a good cleric could use necromancy too

​