Players really want the Necromancer? (Forked: Non-published concepts you want)

[Ahglock]

Maybe I read it wrong, but I picked up there that he thought summon undead was STILL too evil even after you take demon creatures and pacts with devils into account.

If I read it wrong, then yeah, the mistake is definately on my shoulders.

well one of us read it wrong that's for sure.

 

[Andor]

Necromancy is a staple of Fantasy archetypes and roleplaying.

Now one of the oddities of D&D has always been that Arcane necromancers are feeble hacks compared to Divine necromancers. Personally I've always hated this, bymmv.

In any event the 'evilness' of necromancy depends on the fluff. If the undead are being animated by mere magic then what's wrong with it? If the souls of the dead are being somehow bound and enslaved then it's exactly as evil as any other form of slavery.

Be that as it may I've played more than one necromancer who never animated anything in their lives. One was fascinated with the nature of life, death and the soul and wasn't willing to take the God's word for what happened. Another loathed undead and took a fight fire with fire approach to destroying them by attacking the very necromantic energies that animated them.

Just about my favorite book in 3e was Hollowfaust, a scarred lands book about a city run by necromancers, and one of the safest places to live on the continent. Necromancers, after all, have a keen appreciation for sanitation and disease prevention.

 

[Korgoth]

Now one of the oddities of D&D has always been that Arcane necromancers are feeble hacks compared to Divine necromancers.

Not "always", chum. In OD&D Animate Dead is only a Magic-User spell, not available to Clerics, and evil Clerics (also called "anti-clerics") have no ability to affect undead (but instead of the Raise Dead spell they can cast Finger of Death).