Weird necromancer

[abri]

In the campaign I'm DMing, I have a typical necromancer (ie, neutral evil, wants to animate everything, mind you the whole group seems to be neutral with evil tendency), and I'm playing the most common type of good necromancer in another campaign (ancestor spririts worshipper, kind of a diviner-necromancer, actually only researching necromancy to bring back a girl back to life).
Even with added spells I really think that necromantic specialization is taken for roleplaying reason, as none of the low level necromantic spells are cast more than once a day. (Well untill you reach high level, where Enervation/banshee/circle of death change the power-level of the necromancer.)
Now, I'm curious. Anyone knows of interesting concept for non-typical necromancer (especially good or neutral)? And can someone thing of original use of animate dead spell ?

 

[Zappo]

A friend of mine had a player who absolutely wanted to have a good character who wanted to become a lich. I suggested him that he could be an atheist necromancer who firmly believed that the soul does not exist, that gods are incredibly powerful beings but NOT the makers of the multiverse or the rulers of afterlife, and that there's nothing at all beyond death. Therefore, he thinks that there's nothing wrong with animating dead people, since it's not like he's tormenting their souls or condemning them to eternal damnation or some similar mumbo-jumbo. He fears death, of course, and seeks lichdom for this reason.

 

[SableWyvern]

A friend of mine had a player who absolutely wanted to have a good character who wanted to become a lich. I suggested him that he could be an atheist necromancer who firmly believed that the soul does not exist, that gods are incredibly powerful beings but NOT the makers of the multiverse or the rulers of afterlife, and that there's nothing at all beyond death. Therefore, he thinks that there's nothing wrong with animating dead people, since it's not like he's tormenting their souls or condemning them to eternal damnation or some similar mumbo-jumbo. He fears death, of course, and seeks lichdom for this reason.

Hmmm.

I just pointed out in another thread that one of Mythlandlore's characters might find himself in a moral dilema if he realised he'd made a mistake.

Suffice to say, I think this beats that circumstance.

 

[Zappo]

Hmmm.

I just pointed out in another thread that one of Mythlandlore's characters might find himself in a moral dilema if he realised he'd made a mistake.

Suffice to say, I think this beats that circumstance.

I also suggested to my DM friend that, when the moment comes, arrange things so that the character has to travel to the planes to find the lichdom ritual. Then, when the character sees with his own eyes that he has always been horribly wrong, the things will start being interesting.

 

[Guacamole]

product plug

The Hollowfaust city sourcebook has an interesting take on non-evil necromancers, including some spells that flesh out the class and make it a little more playable as a specialist, and some prestige classes, some of which are directly applicable to a necromancer, and some, like Mourner, which would be applicable to a bard. Hollowfaust is a city in which basically good and neutral necromancers control the city politics and conduct research while the ordinary folk take care of the rest of the business. A pretty cool idea.

I've used a sect of admitantly heretical priests and mages who believed that animating the dead allowed the deceased to work off time in "purgatory" by serving them, and their general alignment was good. It was an alternate cosmology so it might not work everywhere.

I personally don't see why animating coporeal, unintelligent undead is different from creating golems, or how it is somehow more unethical to make a pile of bones walk around, but not say, to bind free willed elemental beings for perpetual slavery and servitude. Then again, I think necromancers usually get the short end of the stick.

Maybe we should form a group along the lines of B.A.D.D., and call it something like B.A.N.E., Bothered About Necromancy always being Evil....

 

[nharwell]

In 2nd ed, I played an anatomist-necromancer as a sort of alchemist/scientist, searching for ways to better life (healing, life-extension, etc.) without the need for gods and clerical magic. He was deeply suspicious of deities (with good reason, in that campaign) and thought that his research and the spread of knowledge could help make the common people less reliant on gods.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Salutations,

My last character in 2nd edition was a good necromancer who used the Ghul Lord kit from the Shi'Ar Handbook.

He believed the only way to defeat the forces of evil was to understand their power (negative energy and the undead)- and eventually use their own power to defeat them.

Of course, he became increasingly bitter and untrusting of the world around him- but that is the psychological cost of your body being degraded for the fight of "good".

FD

 

[abri]

Re: product plug

Well, first thanks everyone for the ideas.

The Hollowfaust city sourcebook has an interesting take on non-evil necromancers, including some spells that flesh out the class and make it a little more playable as a specialist, and some prestige classes, some of which are directly applicable to a necromancer, and some, like Mourner, which would be applicable to a bard. Hollowfaust is a city in which basically good and neutral necromancers control the city politics and conduct research while the ordinary folk take care of the rest of the business. A pretty cool idea.

I've used a sect of admitantly heretical priests and mages who believed that animating the dead allowed the deceased to work off time in "purgatory" by serving them, and their general alignment was good. It was an alternate cosmology so it might not work everywhere.

I personally don't see why animating coporeal, unintelligent undead is different from creating golems, or how it is somehow more unethical to make a pile of bones walk around, but not say, to bind free willed elemental beings for perpetual slavery and servitude. Then again, I think necromancers usually get the short end of the stick.

Maybe we should form a group along the lines of B.A.D.D., and call it something like B.A.N.E., Bothered About Necromancy always being Evil....

Who makes the Hollowfaust books? Well, the B.A.N.E. idea seems real good.

 

[Guacamole]

Sword and Sorcery

Sword and Sorcery publishes it, it is part of the Scared Lands line, but I will probably just drop it into my campaign with an alternate history....

One of the best things about it is that it continues to expand the necromancy school. Necromancers get a first level, animate dead animals, spell, which still isn't as good as Mon. Sum. 1, which bothers me frankly.

Does anyone else feel that the animate dead spell should be scaled the same way the monster summoning spell is scaled?

 

[josh rotten]

I'd have to agree. the summoning and the animate spells should be based on the same scale. The idea of animating something does seem harder then calling something to you so i guess i can see it both ways


i run a (modified) ravenloft campaign and i plan on putting hollowfaust in there as well. By modified i mean i had to remove the power check systems view on necormancers.

In that campagin i have an NPC who follows a voodoo like religion he doesn't see dark or negitive magic as evil, as long as you're trying to do good. If you were to cast heal you wouldn't see that as evil, unless you were healing an evil beast so it could attack a small town. IF one was to animate dead alot of people would see that as evil.. unless you were going to send those creatures to stop that same evil beast.

so i guess i'm saying as long as the end justifies the means a good necromancer is do able