Necromancer

Necromancer; the name alone strikes fear into one's heart. Necromancy is death magic, with all the horror that that implies. With power over Undead or animated dead, curses, plagues, death, dying, the dead, and the secrets that dead men do tell, the dark rituals of the necromancer are indeed formidable, especially when one has time to prepare… and the dead have eternity. These mages traditionally spend at least four years as necropolitans before their magical training begins in order to truly understand all facets of the arts of death.

As a magical tradition, necromancy is not a stand-alone class, but rather an optional magical tradition for apprentice wizards to learn.

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Skills
Blood-bonding Ritual

Necromancy of Intelligence

Set Bones

Effigy I

Fungal Lore I

Intimidation I

Tradition cost: 5 (in addition to the 8 to be an apprentice wizard, and the 13 to be a necropolitan, for a total of 26)
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Requirements:

Willpower: 15+

Stamina: 9+ or 0 (Undead)

Necropolitan Skill Suite (journeyman)

Training time: 5½ years minimum—four as a necropolitan, one as a sorcerer's apprentice, 6 months to learn necromancy

Features and bonuses: Add ½ level in necromancy (round up) to Personality and Grace when dealing with the Undead

Special: Wizard's tradition; designed for use with the apprentice wizard class


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Level bonuses
 +2 saves vs. magic; additional +5 vs. necromancy Undead familiar Rework Undead: recombine and reattach pieces to customize your animated minions or to repair damage Sensory link: with Undead familiar at will; sight and sound only; either of the pair may initiate this Slow Death: curse that prolongs the death of the victim in agony for one day per level of the necromancer; unwilling victims get a save vs. necromancy equal to caster's level at casting, and again on the final (dying) day; the effect is broken by the necromancer's destruction Speak with the Dead: conversations with a corpse; rather than using Necromancy of Intelligence ritual, instead may speak directly to the spirit if in the presence of the corpse Puppetry: remotely control Undead familiar Immunity to disease</li> Rebuke: this condemnation causes 1D8 points of damage to all Undead or Extrinsic creatures per round within the sound of the necromancer's voice; the multiplyer due to a 10th level wizard is already factored into this</li> Command Undead created by others</li> Summon Ghouls: all Ghouls within a radius equal to ½ the total experience level of the necromancer in miles must make a saving throw against mental attacks or proceed directly to the summoning necromancer; upon arrival, each Ghoul must win a Willpower contest or be forced to obey for one night or to complete one task; remember that living Ghouls are not affected by a necromancer's enhanced social attributes</li> Summon Vampire: all Vampires within a radius equal to the total experience level of the necromancer in miles must make a saving throw against mental attacks or proceed directly to the summoning necromancer; upon arrival, each Vampire must win a Willpower contest or be forced to obey for one night or to complete one task</li> Soul Trap: You are able to imprison the spirits of those you sacrifice</li> Undead Familiar now may be summoned and dismissed at will; no materials or time needed</li> Fetch: conjures a duplicate of someone to seek out and bring that person to you; Fetch can deliver one message and/or lightly tug at the victim; you must have met the victim before</li> Speak through Undead familiar</li> Soul Trap now applies to all slain by yourself or your Undead familiar</li> Exhume: this exhausting ability may be used to either dig or tunnel; causes 3 fatigue per 5 feet of work and 1 hit point of damage per 20 feet; each 5 foot cube takes 1 minute to dig out of soft ground or 10 minutes through hard stone</li> Augment Undead: enchant Undead with any mystic ability or spell you possess</li> Undying: ritual allows one to become one of the Undead; one month to cast, return in one month; see the section on Sorcerous Undead</li> Soul Trap now applies to all slain within 50 feet</li> Haunting Curse: variant of Soul Trap curses someone to remain imprisoned in a location as a ghost after death</li> Death Shank: each Death Shank is created to affect one specific person, and must be carved from the thigh bone of a blood relative; to be effective, the victim must be first informed about the existence of the weapon (the fear may help fuel the effects); thereafter, if the Death Shank is pointed at the victim while his or her name is called out, a saving throw against physical necromantic magic must be made at a 20 or greater, or the victim drops down instantly dead</li> Army of the Damned: this is perhaps the ultimate 'last act of defiance', and may be used to raze cities and destroy entire armies; after only a brief 5-minute ritual, the ground explodes with all of those who have been slain upon it, destroying all who live save only the invoking necromancer; the ground so used must have been a battlefield cleansed by a shadow lord, and may not be again invoked for a year and a day (when it may again be used by summoning the dead from this battle as well); due to their numbers and savagery of the Army of the Damned is undefeatable—only the invoking necromancer may walk away—all else is slain or destroyed</li> <li>May 'pre-cast' Undying rite to take effect automatically if slain in battle; return in one month; death wound remains forever visible </li></ol> Per additional level: +1 to any mystic skill
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=On Speaking with the Dead=

In order to communicate with the dead—such as through the Necromancy of Intelligence ritual—one needs to have either the name, or an object of importance to the deceased, if the body itself is not present. Many loremasters feel that the entity conversing with the mage is simply a psychic imprint, rather than a true sentience.