THE NECROMANCER
The necromancer is the arcane master of death and undeath, an often evil,
sinister mage whose power over the living dead and death magic rivals that of
many death priests.
Necromancer is a path almost exclusively chosen by humans, although dwarves,
drow, and other subterranean races have been known to also explore this darkest
of roads.
GAME RULE INFORMATION
Necromancers (Ncr) have the following game statistics.
Abilities: Intelligence is of primary importance to necromancers, as it
dictates their power as spellcasters. Charisma also plays an important role in
their ability to command legions of undead.
Base Attack Bonus: Low (as a wizard)
Hit Die: d4
Saves: High Will
Alignment: Any nongood
Starting Age: As a wizard
Starting Gold: 3d4 x 10gp
Favored Class: Necromancer is a favored class for Humans and Half-Elves.
CLASS SKILLS
The necromancer’s class skills are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft
(Int), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int),
Profession (Wis), Scry (Int), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Intelligence modifier) x 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Intelligence modifier
CLASS FEATURES
All of the following are class features of the necromancer.
Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Necromancers are proficient with all
simple weapons and with the scythe. They are not proficient with any type of
armor or with shields.
1 The Dark Price, Spellcasting
2 Ghastly Minion
3 Command Undead
4
5
6
7
8 Necromantic Feat
9
10
11
12
13
14 Necromantic Feat
15
16
17
18
19
20 Deathly, Necromantic Feat
The Dark Price: The path of the necromancer is a costly, corrupting one.
The necromancer must pay one of the following Dark Prices when he steps on this
black road:
Spellcasting
[PHB/Web Version]: The
necromancer casts arcane spells as a wizard, using his Intelligence score to
determine maximum spell level, Difficulty Class, and bonus spells. The
necromancer can cast spells from the following list:
Spell Notes: When casting any spell with a Divine
Focus, the necromancer can substitute a humanoid skull; such spells have a minimum
casting time of 1 round. The undead spell is identical to shape
change except that the necromancer can only assume the forms of undead
creatures. The necromancer can enhance his spellcasting with the Deadly,
Gravetouched, Phantasmic, and White Necromancy feats.
Spellcasting [Full Version]: The necromancer casts arcane spells as a
wizard, using his Intelligence score to determine maximum spell level,
Difficulty Class, and bonus spells. The necromancer can cast spells from the
following list:
Spell Notes: When casting any spell with a Divine Focus
or Dragon Magic component, the necromancer can substitute a humanoid skull;
such spells have a minimum casting time of 1 round. The necromancer cannot cast
spells reserved for undead spellcasters until reaching 20th level and acquiring
the Deathly class feature. Finally, the undead spell is identical to shape
change except that the necromancer can only assume the forms of undead
creatures. The necromancer can enhance his spellcasting with the Deadly,
Gravetouched, Phantasmic, and White Necromancy feats. A list of each spell’s
source is at the end of this post.
Ghastly Minion (2nd level): The necromancer gains an undead familiar.
The necromancer can transform a dead animal into a undead familiar, as if he
had used the Familiar ability in conjunction with the Undead Familiar feat.
Command Undead (3rd level): The necromancer’s influence over undead
nearly rivals that of death priests. He can rebuke and command undead as an
evil cleric two levels lower. Command Undead stacks with a neutral or evil
cleric’s Rebuke Undead ability.
Necromantic Feat (8th/14th/20th level): The necromancer is a master of
death, undeath, and corruption. At the indicated levels, he selects one of the
following feats: Animation Mastery, Arcane Defense (Necromancy), Bruisefade,
Combine Turning, Corrupt Spell, Craft Phylactery, Dark Speech, Deadly, Death
Touch, Deformity (Clawed Hands), Deformity (Eyes), Deformity (Face), Deformity
(Gaunt), Desecrated Animation, Disciple of Darkness, Empower Turning, Evil
Brand, Extra Turning, Fearless, Greater Spell Focus (Necromancy), Greater
Undead Legion, Grim Visage, Heighten Turning, Improved Animation, Intrepid,
Lichloved, Malign Spell Focus, Pain Mastery, Poison Immunity, Poison
Proficiency, Poison Specialization, Quicken Turning, Requiem, Resist Disease,
Resist Poison, Sacrificial Mastery, Signature Spell, Spell Focus (Necromancy),
Spell Mastery, Spell Penetration (Necromancy), Strong Soul, Undead Legion,
Unnatural Longevity, Violate Spell, White Necromancy, and Willing Deformity.
The necromancer must otherwise qualify for any feat selected.
Deathly (20th level): The necromancer is not unlike the undead. He can
now use objects and cast spells normally reserved for undead, and
non-Intelligent undead now consider him one of their own and ignore his
presence. In addition, the necromancer is now immune to level drain and death
from massive damage, and he gains the benefit of the Extended Life Span epic
feat, adding one-half the maximum result of his race’s maximum age modifier to
his middle age, old, and venerable age categories.
Epic Necromancer: The epic-level necromancer continues his Hit Die,
skill point, and Command Undead progressions. He also continues his Necromantic
Feat progression at 26th level and every six levels thereafter (26th, 32nd,
38th, 44th, etc), adding the following feats to the Necromantic Feat list: Epic
Spell Focus (Necromancy), Extended Life Span, Negative Energy Burst, Out of
Body, Perfect Health, Spectral Strike, Undead Mastery, and Zone of
Animation.
In addition, he receives bonus epic feats at 24th level and every four levels
thereafter (24th, 28th, 32nd, 36th, etc), chosen from the Necromantic Feat list
and from the following: Automatic Quicken Spell, Automatic Silent Spell,
Automatic Still Spell, Automatic Vile Spell, Combat Casting, Disjunction,
Enhance Spell, Epic Counterspell, Epic Evil Brand, Epic Fortitude, Epic Poison
Crafter, Epic Spell Focus (Necromancy), Epic Spell Penetration (Necromancy),
Epic Spellcasting, Epic Touch Focus, Epic Will, Fast Healing, Focused Spell
Penetration (Necromancy), Ignore Material Components, Improved Combat Casting,
Improved Heighten Spell, Improved Metamagic, Improved Spell Capacity, Intensify
Spell, Multispell, Permanent Emanation, Planar Turning, Spell Focus
(Necromancy), Spell Knowledge, Spell Stowaway, Spell Opportunity, Spontaneous
Spell, and Tenacious Magic.
NEW FEATS:
ARMORED CASTING [General]
You can more easily cast arcane spells while wearing armor.
Benefit: You may ignore 5% of the Spell Failure normally associated with
casting arcane spells while wearing armor (to a minimum 5% for any armor).
Special: This feat can be taken multiple times, increasing the amount of
Spell Failure you can ignore by 5% each time.
BACKSTAB [General]
You can strike opponents when their guard is down for additional damage.
Prerequisite: Intelligence 13, Dexterity 13, BAB +3.
Benefit: If you catch an opponent that is unable to defend itself, your
melee attack deals an additional +1d6 points of Sneak Attack damage. All normal
conditions and restrictions of Sneak Attack apply.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Each time, the Sneak
Attack damage dealt is increased by +1d6. Backstab does not stack with other
forms of Sneak Attack damage.
BLUEBLOODED [General]
You were raised or mentored by nobility
Benefit: Diplomacy and Knowledge (Nobility) are always considered class
skills for you. In addition, you receive four times the normal starting gold
for your class.
Special: This feat can only be taken at 1st-level.
BRUISEFADE [General]
Your recuperate quickly from incapacitating.
Prerequisite: Great Fortitude feat, Toughness feat, Fortitude +4.
Benefit: Every hour, you recover a number of points of subdual damage
equal to your Fortitude modifier (with a minimum of 1), in addition to those
regained each day from normal rest.
CRAFT PHYLACTERY [Item Creation]
You can construct a single wondrous item of exceptional strength: a lich’s
phylactery.
Prerequisite: Greater Spell Focus (Necromancy) feat, 11th-level cleric, necromancer, sorcerer, or wizard.
Benefit: You can craft the phylactery required to become a lich but pay
only 75% of the normal experience point and gold costs. In addition, the
phylactery created has a Hardness of 25, 50 hit points, and a break DC of 45,
and whenever the phylactery is handled by a creature other than the lich who
created it, the lich receives a mental ping alerting him of the event.
Special: This feat replaces the Craft Wondrous Item feat normally
required to craft a phylactery.
DEADLY [General]
Your spells with the Death descriptor are more potent than normal.
Prerequisites: Greater Spell Focus (Necromancy), Able to cast three
spells with the Death descriptor, such as circle of death, finger of
death, and power word, kill.
Benefits: Add a +2 to the Difficulty Class of all saving throws against
your spells and spell-like abilities with the Death descriptor. This stacks
with the effects of all Spell Focus feats. In addition, for the purposes of
range, area of effect, and duration, your caster level is considered +1 when
casting these spells.
DEATH TOUCH [General]
Your touch brings death.
Prerequisite: Death Domain, or Spell Focus (Necromancy) feat and ability
to cast four Necromancy spells with a range of Touch, two of which must be chill
touch, harm, inflict critical wounds, inflict serious
wounds, slay living, or vampiric touch.
Benefit: Once per day, you may make a melee touch attack against a
living creature. If the creature’s current hit points are equal to or less than
6 x your level in the class that met the feat prerequisite, the creature is
instantly slain. This death effect is a spell-like ability.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Each time, you can use
your Death Touch once more per day. This feat stacks with the granted power of
the Death domain.
DISJUNCTION [Epic] [Metamagic]
You can separate magical effects and items, even artifacts, into their base
components, ruining them.
Prerequisite: Knowledge (Arcana) 30 ranks, Spellcraft 30 ranks, any
three Item Creation feats, must be able to cast analyze dweomer and
either break enchantment, dispel magic, or greater dispel
magic.
Benefit: Once per day, you can effect Mordenkainen’s disjunction
as a spell-like ability by utilizing a spell slot of the highest spell level
that you can cast. Causing the effect is identical to casting the spell but has
a casting time of a full-round and both Verbal and Somatic components.
EPIC TOUCH FOCUS [General]
Your touch spells are now even more powerful than before.
Prerequisite: Greater Touch Focus feat.
Benefit: Add +6 to the DC for all saving throws against spells with a
range of Touch. This supercedes (does not stack with) the bonuses from Spell
Focus feats but does stack with the Touch Spell feat.
FEARLESS [General]
You are fearless in the face of doom.
Prerequisite: Intrepid feat.
Benefit: You are immune to fear spells and effects.
GRAVETOUCHED [Special]
You have a natural talent for death magic, perhaps due to some ancestor’s
exposure to or union with a creature of death or undeath.
Benefit: You cast necromancer spells as a sorcerer, not a wizard. You
cast your spells without preparation, using the sorcerer’s spellcasting
progression but losing one Spells Per Day slot per spell level. Your Charisma
score now determines your maximum spell level, bonus spells, and the Difficulty
Class of your spells.
Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level necromancer.
GREATER TOUCH FOCUS [General]
Your touch spells are now even more powerful than before.
Prerequisite: Touch Focus feat.
Benefit: Add +4 to the DC for all saving throws against spells with a
range of Touch. This supercedes (does not stack with) the bonuses from Spell
Focus feats and Touch Focus but does stack with the Touch Spell feat.
IMPROVED WEAPON INSIGHT [General]
You wield both muscle and mind when dealing damage.
Prerequisite: BAB +6, Weapon Insight (Chosen Weapon) feat.
Benefit: You may use your Intelligence modifier as well as your Strength
modifier on damage rolls with the chosen weapon.
INTREPID [General]
You are brave in the face of doom.
Benefit: You receive a +4 bonus to all Will saves against all fear
spells and effects.
METABOLIC CONTROL [General]
Your wounds heal rapidly.
Prerequisite: Wisdom 13.
Benefit: You naturally heal a number of hit points per day of rest equal
to the standard healing rate + your Wisdom bonus.
METAPHYSICAL [General]
You can apply your Wisdom modifier to your Hit Die.
Prerequisite: Wisdom 13.
Benefit: You use your Wisdom modifier instead of your Constitution
modifier when determining your bonus hit points at 1st level. At higher levels,
your bonus hit points are determined by your Constitution, as normal. However,
you now gain +1 hit point every time your Wisdom is permanently increased 1
point.
Special: Metaphysical can only be taken as a 1st-level character.
NIGHT EYES [General]
You can see at night.
Prerequisite: Dark Price (Pale) class feature, Alertness feat.
Benefit: You gain low-light vision as an extraordinary ability.
OUT OF BODY [Epic]
You can enter a trance and release your astral form.
Prerequisite: Wisdom 23, Tranquility class feature or ability to cast
9th-level spells.
Benefit: After meditating for 10 minutes, you can free your astral self,
as if under the effects of astral projection cast by a sorcerer of your
character level. This spell-like ability can be used once per day.
PENUMBRAL [General]
Your can radiate arcane darkness.
Prerequisite: Able to cast darkness, deeper darkness, and no
light without preparation, or the Improved Darken feat and ability to cast darkness
and no light without preparation.
Benefit: You may radiate darkness at will. Initiating the effect
is a spell-like ability; maintaining and ending it are free actions. This feat
permanently consumes one 1st-level Spells Per Day slot.
PHANTASMIC [General]
Your Illusion (Phantasm) spells are more potent than normal.
Prerequisites: Greater Spell Focus (Illusion), Able to cast three
Illusion (Phantasm) spells, such as dream, nightmare, and weird.
Benefits: Add a +2 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against
your Phantasm spells and spell-like abilities. This stacks with effects of all
Spell Focus (Illusion) feats. In addition, for the purposes of range, area of
effect, and duration, your caster level is considered +1 when casting these
spells.
POISON PROFICIENCY [General]
You are skilled at handling and crafting poisons.
Prerequisite: Intelligence 13.
Benefit: You never risk accidentally poisoning yourself when handling
toxins. In addition, you receive a +2 bonus to all Craft (Poisonmaking) checks
and to Craft (Alchemy) checks to identify poisons.
SCRIBE [General]
You are familiar with obscure and arcane writing.
Prerequisite: Scribe Scroll feat.
Benefit: You receive a +4 bonus on Spellcraft checks when attempting to
identify glyphs, sigils, marks, symbols, magic circles, and similar
rune-based spells. In addition, Decipher Script is now a class skill; if it is
already a class skill for you, you now receive a +2 bonus to those checks.
SKEPTICAL [General]
You have a sharp eye for deception.
Benefit: You get a +2 bonus on all Sense Motive and Spot checks.
SLY [General]
You are elusive and cunning.
Benefit: You get a +2 bonus on all Bluff and Move Silently checks.
TACTICAL DODGE [General]
You cleverly evade blows.
Prerequisite: Intelligence 14, Dexterity 14, Dodge feat, Expertise feat.
Benefit: Against the subject of your Dodge feat, you can apply your
Intelligence modifier as dodge bonus to your AC when in light or no armor.
TOUCH FOCUS [General]
Your touch spells are more powerful than before.
Benefit: Add +2 to the DC for all saving throws against spells with a
range of Touch. This supercedes (does not stack with) the bonuses from Spell
Focus but does stack with the Touch Spell feat.
TOUCH SPELL [Metamagic]
You can cast a ranged spell as a more powerful touch spell.
Benefit: Any spell with a Close, Medium, or Long range can be cast
instead as a spell with the range of Touch with a +2 bonus to its Difficulty
Class. This supercedes (does not stack with) the bonuses from Spell Focus feats
but does stack with Touch Focus feats. A touch spell takes up a spell slot of
the spell’s normal level, modified by any other metamagic feats.
UNNATURAL LONGEVITY [General]
Time’s toll on you is slowed.
Prerequisite: Very Old, class feature that increases your age on a
per-level basis, such as the Dark Price (Decrepit) class feature.
Benefit: You are no longer ravaged unnaturally by time. Any class
feature you have that increases your age when you take a level in a particular
class no longer affects you, although any aging already inflicted remains and
you continue to age normally for a creature of your race. In addition, you can
no longer be magically aged.
Special: If you are slain and later raised or resurrected,
you lose access to Unnatural Longevity and must take the feat again to enjoy
its protections.
WEAPON INSIGHT [General]
You know how to strike a creature with a particular weapon to do additional
damage.
Prerequisite: BAB +1, Weapon Focus with chosen weapon.
Benefit: Select any single-handed melee weapon that meets the
prerequisite. With this weapon, you may use your Intelligence modifier instead
of your Strength modifier on damage rolls.
WHITE NECROMANCY [General]
Your knowledge of death magic allows you to heal as well as destroy.
Prerequisite: Ability to cast four arcane Necromancy spells with a range
of Touch, two of which must be 2nd-level or higher.
Benefit: Heal is now a class skill; if it is already a class skill, you
receive a +2 bonus to all Heal checks. In addition, the bard’s cure light
wounds spell is added to your class spell list as a 1st-level arcane spell.
If a wizard, you must still add the spell to your spell book; if a sorcerer,
you must still expend a Spells Known slot to cast the spell.
WILY [General]
You are difficult to pin down.
Benefit: You get a +2 bonus on all Bluff and Escape Artist checks.
Spell/Feat Sources: All spells and non-epic feats are from the Player’s
Handbook, except as follows: Book of Vile Darkness: Absorb
Mind, Absorb Strength, Angry Ache, Befoul, Bestow Greater Curse, Bestow Wound,
Black Bag, Boneblade, Boneblast, Charnel Fire, Circle of Nausea, Clutch of
Orcus, Consume Likeness, Corrupt Spell feat, Curse of the Putrid Husk, Death
Grimace, Deformity feats, Despoil, Disciple of Darkness feat, Dread Word, Ectoplasmic
Enhancement, Eternity of Torture, Evil Brand feat, Evil Eye, Eyes of the
Zombie, Fangs of the Vampire King, Flesh Armor, Glimpse of Truth, Heartache,
Heartclutch, Imprison Soul, Lahm’s Finger Darts, Lichloved feat, Liquid Pain,
Love’s Pain, Malign Spell Focus feat, Masochism, Morality Undone, No Light,
Pestilence, Plague of Nightmares, Poison Immunity feat, Power Leech, Pox,
Preserve Organ, Rapture of Rupture, Red Fester, Rotting Curse of Urfestra,
Sacrificial Mastery feat, Sacrificial Skill, Sadism, Sap Strength, Shriveling,
Slash Tongue, Slow Consumption, Sorrow, Soul Shackles, Steal Life, Stop Heart,
Suspend Disease, Unheavened, Unliving Weapon, Unnerving Gaze, Utterdark,
Violate Spell feat, Wall of Eyes, Wall of Ooze, Wave of Grief, Wave of Pain,
Whirlwind of Teeth, Willing Deformity feat, Wither Limb, Wrack, Wretched
Blight; Defenders of the Faith: Blight, Burial Blessing, Empower
Turning feat, Heighten Turning feat, Plague of Rats, Quicken Turning feat,
Scourge; Deities & Demigods: Greater Spell Focus feat; Dragon
Magazine: Animation Mastery feat (298), Atrophy (300), Befoul Water
(285), Blight Fire (285), Blood Blister (300), Blood Drinker (304), Blood
Siphon (300), Bone Soften (300), Bone Spurs (300), Breath of Contagion (304),
Channel the Void (304), Cheat Death (308), Contagion Ward (304), Control Blood
(300), Corpsebond (300), Curse of Pain Eternal (300), Desecrated Animation feat
(298), Disanimate (304), Graft Flesh (304), Greater Disrupt Undead (A5),
Greater Spectral Hand (304), Greater Undead Legion feat (298), Improved
Animation feat (298), Mass Harm (304), Negative Energy Aura (304), Phantasmal
Whisperer (291), Poison Specialization feat (303), Putrefaction (300), Ray of
Entropy (A5), Ray of Sickness (A5), Rot Earth (285), Rust Ray (A5), Semblance
of Life (304), Share Symbiosis (304), Spiritjaws (292), Spit Poison (304),
Starvation (292), Stench (302), Toughness of Death (304), Torture Air (285),
Undead Familiar feat (280), Undead Legion feat (298) Vileblade (300), Vile
Rebellion (300), Vorpal Claws (308), Wall of Maggots (300), Whirlwind of Bones
(284), Writhing Ruin (300); Forgotten Realms: Claws of Darkness,
Darkbolt, Flensing, Greater Spell Focus feat (again), Grimwald’s Graymantle,
Resist Poison feat, Signature Spell feat, Strong Soul feat; Lords of
Darkness: Devastate Undead, Dread Blast, Handfang, Skull Eyes; Magic
of Faerun: Blackstaff, Crawling Darkness, Crumble, Curse of Ill
Fortune, Darkfire, Death Armor, Death Dragon, Death Pact, Dirge, Disguise
Undead, Doomtide, Echo Skull, General of Undeath, Healing Touch, Infestation of
Maggots, Iron Bones, Kiss of the Vampire, Languor, Life Bolt, Mystic Lash,
Naturewatch, Reveille, Revenance, Shroud of Undeath, Simbul’s Skeletal
Deliquescence, Simbul’s Synostodweomer, Skeletal Guard, Skull of Secrets,
Spirit Worm, Stone Bones, Summon Undead I-V, Undead Lieutenant, Undead Torch,
Undeath After Death, Undeath to Death, Wall of Evil; Manual of the
Planes: Positive Energy Protection; Masters of the Wild:
Blight (again), Darkseed, Decomposition, Epidemic, Kiss of Death, Last Breath,
Resist Disease feat, Resist Poison feat (again), Scarecrow; Races of
Faerun: Grim Visage feat, Handfang (again), Mass Contagion, Plague
Carrier; Savage Species: Awaken Undead, Crawling Darkness
(again), Desiccating Bubble, Pain Mastery feat, Skeletal Guard (again), Undead
Mask, Vile Death, Wall of Limbs; Song & Silence: Requiem
feat, Wail of Doom; Tome & Blood: Arcane Defense feat, Choke,
Command Undead, Corpse Candle, Disguise Undead (again), False Life, Feign
Death, Ghostform, Greater Spell Focus feat (yet again), Hide Life, Negative
Energy Burst/Ray/Wave, Spiritwall, Undeath to Death (again); Unapproachable
East: abolish shadows, animate dread warrior, Beltyn’s burning blood,
bladebane, Sinsabur’s baleful bolt, soul scour, sphere of ultimate destruction,
; WotC Website: Allergic Reaction, Animate Dead Familiar,
Automatic Vile Spell feat, Combine Turning feat, Epic Evil Brand feat, Epic
Poisoncrafter feat, Fetid Breath, Focused Spell Penetration feat, Hemorrhage,
Junglerazor, Leech Ghost Skill, Mortal Wound, Rankletaste, Ray of Depletion,
Skull Eyes (again), Summon Blood Elemental, Theller’s Argauneau, Waves of
Exhaustion (again), Waves of Fatigue (again).