Good day lords and ladies,
I am working on one of three characters who may become the final boss of my campaign (that outcome will be decided by the players actions in game), in this case it is a Necromancer. I cannot go into details of her build as i may run the risk of my player's seeing this thread and finding stuff out that they do not yet know. Therefore general suggestions regarding necromancy as a whole, for either a cleric necromancer build or a wizard necromancer build will be required as to keep it vague enough for them yet useful enough for me.
I have everything done now besides equipment, i do not know what magic items to give her. As a level 15-20 final boss or prelude to the final boss her money limit is not really an issue. But with such a vast choice avalible deciding is difficult.
I am deffinately going to be taking the 'Necromancer's Athame' if going for a wizard build, and i may or may not go for one of the ability score boosting headbands. It is likly i will try take the quicken spell metamagic rod as well, depending upon how much money is left will depend upon what version of it i take.
So yeah...mainly just suggestions and ideas for magic items would be highly appriciated. Sorry for being difficult, i am just being cautious as at least half my group use these forums.
Thank you and good day.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Good day lords and ladies,
I am working on one of three characters who may become the final boss of my campaign (that outcome will be decided by the players actions in game), in this case it is a Necromancer. I cannot go into details of her build as i may run the risk of my player's seeing this thread and finding stuff out that they do not yet know. Therefore general suggestions regarding necromancy as a whole, for either a cleric necromancer build or a wizard necromancer build will be required as to keep it vague enough for them yet useful enough for me.I have everything done now besides equipment, i do not know what magic items to give her. As a level 15-20 final boss or prelude to the final boss her money limit is not really an issue. But with such a vast choice avalible deciding is difficult.
I am deffinately going to be taking the 'Necromancer's Athame' if going for a wizard build, and i may or may not go for one of the ability score boosting headbands. It is likly i will try take the quicken spell metamagic rod as well, depending upon how much money is left will depend upon what version of it i take.
So yeah...mainly just suggestions and ideas for magic items would be highly appriciated. Sorry for being difficult, i am just being cautious as at least half my group use these forums.
Thank you and good day.
A couple quick suggestions:
-make sure to get her a Robe of Bones, which will give her a quick source of undead for when the party takes out the first couple undead she had created/dominated.
-Make sure she either has the Reach Spell feat or has a meta rod of Reach Spell, which will let her use Inflict spells from range on her undead minions. You generally don't want a Necromancer to get up in melee range with the party if you can help it.
-If you have a cleric in the player party, get a few necrotic talismans (listed in Goods and Services for 500gp each) to give them a little boost to their channel resistance. For the character herself, a phylactery of negative channeling is always a good idea.
May I suggest you go old school and give your Necromancer the Hand and Eye of Vecna. Two powerful artifacts that are designed to work together and provide excellent synergy; yet are not what most player characters desire (since they have to pluck out an eye or cut off a hand--and if they later lose the artifact, it kills them).
Sure, you will have to go back to your 3.5 DMG to find the stats, but it is easily ported over. It might even lead into the final adventures of your campaign as the party finds themselves in possession of these horrid evil artifacts . . . that they can't sell. That every Necromancer and Vecna-cultist in the land wants. Not even their church will take them.
No, the party gets told that they must destroy these items to rid your world of them for ever.
Just a thought.
Master Arminas
What level do you want her to be?
One spell (of many) you should be abusing to the max is Magic Jar! Used this in conjunction with a recurring villian in one of my games. The NPC had kidnapped a PC's girlfriend, Magic Jar'd into her, put a mask on, then went toe to toe with the party. When the party finally beat him/her they tore off the mask *cue dramatic music*
Seriously, if you want this guy to be a recurring villian and one the heroes will be tearing out their hair in frustration at, this is a must have spell.
The gravewalker witch gets a similar ability at-will from 8th level onwards, however this can only be used on their undead minions (the only way to take possesion of none-intelligent undead that I've found)
A couple quick suggestions:
-make sure to get her a Robe of Bones, which will give her a quick source of undead for when the party takes out the first couple undead she had created/dominated.
-Make sure she either has the Reach Spell feat or has a meta rod of Reach Spell, which will let her use Inflict spells from range on her undead minions. You generally don't want a Necromancer to get up in melee range with the party if you can help it.
-If you have a cleric in the player party, get a few necrotic talismans (listed in Goods and Services for 500gp each) to give them a little boost to their channel resistance. For the character herself, a phylactery of negative channeling is always a good idea.
I hadn't concidered the reach spell, thank you for the reccomendation, and i didn't know about the necrotic talismans, which book they in, CRB?
May I suggest you go old school and give your Necromancer the Hand and Eye of Vecna. Two powerful artifacts that are designed to work together and provide excellent synergy; yet are not what most player characters desire (since they have to pluck out an eye or cut off a hand--and if they later lose the artifact, it kills them).
Sure, you will have to go back to your 3.5 DMG to find the stats, but it is easily ported over. It might even lead into the final adventures of your campaign as the party finds themselves in possession of these horrid evil artifacts . . . that they can't sell. That every Necromancer and Vecna-cultist in the land wants. Not even their church will take them.
No, the party gets told that they must destroy these items to rid your world of them for ever.
Just a thought.
Master Arminas
I don't know what these Items are or the book you're refering too. Is there a link to the pdf of the book, or a link to a site with the stats? Sounds very interesting to me :D
What level do you want her to be?
As i said in the original post. Level 15-20 (was keeping it vague incase any of my players see this post)
One spell (of many) you should be abusing to the max is Magic Jar! Used this in conjunction with a recurring villian in one of my games. The NPC had kidnapped a PC's girlfriend, Magic Jar'd into her, put a mask on, then went toe to toe with the party. When the party finally beat him/her they tore off the mask *cue dramatic music*
Seriously, if you want this guy to be a recurring villian and one the heroes will be tearing out their hair in frustration at, this is a must have spell.
The gravewalker witch gets a similar ability at-will from 8th level onwards, however this can only be used on their undead minions (the only way to take possesion of none-intelligent undead that I've found)
Ohh yes there is alot of ways Necromancers can screw with the party and this is one i've concidered. Also along the same line of reccuring threat without resorting to lichdom, is having her turn into a daughter of urgathoa upon death, or using the 'clone' spell to bring her back after they thought she was already dead. (yes they come back 2 levels lower, but that can be fixed with a restoration spell)
I do like the idea of possessing the player's lover though, that could be very fun to use. ;)
Also a contingency spell, on self trigger condition to be the necromancer's death, in conjunction with a create greater undead spell (or even a Wish if castable) to be reborn as any undead type you want, just when the PC's think they have won.
I don't know what these Items are or the book you're refering too. Is there a link to the pdf of the book, or a link to a site with the stats? Sounds very interesting to me :DMay I suggest you go old school and give your Necromancer the Hand and Eye of Vecna. Two powerful artifacts that are designed to work together and provide excellent synergy; yet are not what most player characters desire (since they have to pluck out an eye or cut off a hand--and if they later lose the artifact, it kills them).
Sure, you will have to go back to your 3.5 DMG to find the stats, but it is easily ported over. It might even lead into the final adventures of your campaign as the party finds themselves in possession of these horrid evil artifacts . . . that they can't sell. That every Necromancer and Vecna-cultist in the land wants. Not even their church will take them.
No, the party gets told that they must destroy these items to rid your world of them for ever.
Just a thought.
Master Arminas
I take it that you played Dungeons & Dragons, be it 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 3.5 then? lol Vecna
That should give you plenty of information about him; his artifacts are fully covered in the 3.5 Dungeon Master's Guide, under artifacts.
However, I will sum up those items for you.
The Eye of Vecna appears as a rough orb of ancient stone, jagged and broken, when it is first discovered. However, it detects as magic (overwhelming) and evil (overwhelming). As an artifact it cannot be destroyed through normal force of arms or craft. In order to be of any use, the character must pluck out one of his own eyes (if he has them both) and insert the stone into the empty socket. At that point, it melds with the character, becoming part of his body--appearing as a black orb with a crimson iris. The character gains constant use of darkvision and true seeing. Three times per day, he can use eyebite and dominate monster. Once each per day, he can use destruction and unhallow. All of these powers are at 20th caster level and have a DC of 20.
The character who bonds with the Eye permanently loses 2 points of Charisma; no spell (not even miracle or wish) can restore those lost points. If he is not evil, he must make a DC 17 Will save upon the eye melding with him, failure resulting in his alignment changing to Evil. Every seven days he must once again save (same DC) until he fails or dies.
If the Eye is ever removed from the character, the character dies immediately.
The Hand of Vecna is a mummified severed left hand. It too detects as magic (overwhelming) and evil (overwhelming) and it cannot be destroyed through arms or craft. To claim the Hand, a character must sever his own left hand from his body and press the artifact against the stump of his wound. It melds with his flesh, but retains its mummified and shriveled appearance. Once grafted onto a character, the Hand allows that character to make a touch attack at will, inflicting 1d10 points of cold damage. Three times per day, the bearer of the Hand can permanently drain 1 ability point from a victim that he touches (no save)--transfering that point to himself. He can choose which ability score he drains and receives an unnamed bonus to the same ability. These bonuses last until the following sunrise, at which point they disappear. The victim does not regain his lost ability score points.
Once each per day, the bearer of the Hand can cast blasphemy and unholy aura. All of these powers are at 20th caster level and have a DC of 20.
The character who bonds with the Hand permanently loses 2 points of Dexterity; no spell (not even miracle or wish) can restore those lost points. If he is not evil, he must make a DC 17 Will save upon the hand melding with him, failure resulting in his alignment changing to Evil. Every seven days he must once again save (same DC) until he fails or dies.
If the Hand is ever removed from the character, the character dies immediately.
If a single character bonds with both the Hand and the Eye, the DC for all powers increases to 25. He gains a +2 (unnamed) bonus to both Strength and Intelligence, but permanently loses 2 points of Wisdom. He gains the ability to use summon monster IX (evil outsiders only) once per day. If he is not evil, he must make a DC 23 Will save upon the second item melding with him, failure resulting in his alignment changing to Evil. Every seven days he must once again save (same DC) until he fails or dies.
Master Arminas
Mix in some animate objects or construct crafting with the rest of the undead horde. Surprise your party with "undead" that are immune to positive energy, Smite Evil, etc. (This is more good for laughs than actual challenge...usually.)
And here is a funny Vecna-related story: The Head of Vecna
MA
Necromancers come in two types:
Type I raises lots of undead. Clerics work better for this type (since they have easier access to animate dead, plus spells like desecrate and unhallow and negative energy use, either channelling or inflict spells.) There's a lot of fun stuff in the 3.5 book Libris Mortis -- the Corpsecrafter feat chain gives you lots of benefits to your undead.
Type II snuffs out your soul with negative energy. Wizards (with enervation and fear and magic jar) work much better for this. Or they debuff you for their minions to take down. Also, consider the potential of the enter image spell for someone who's used sculpt corpse to make all their undead look like them...
There's overlap between the two types, and certainly one of them could have someone of the other type as a partner or a minion.
Just a reminder, i was looking for suggestions of magic items that would be of use equipping to her, rather than general suggestions. I do appriciate the advice,and i love the contingency spell idea as well as the hand and eye of Vecna.
You could look throught the spell books in Ultimate Magic.
Some give a special power if you learn X number of spells from them.
Perhaps making the villain a Mystic Theruge where they take both necromancer levels as a wizard and cleric? Would be interesting to see, I think.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Perhaps making the villain a Mystic Theruge where they take both necromancer levels as a wizard and cleric? Would be interesting to see, I think.
Yeah, a Mystic Theurge would be really good, especially if you take the Undead Master feat, which will make up for the lost caster levels as far as the amount of undead you can create.
A quick build that might help you put something awesome together:
Human, max out Int and Wis.
1: Wizard (Necromancy(Undead)) 1: Arcane bond(bonded object, Necromancer's Athame when you can afford it), Feat: Spell focus (necromancy), Skill focus (Knowledge religion)
2: Wizard 2
3: Wizard 3: Feat: Spell Specialization (animate dead, lesser)
4: Cleric (Undead Lord) 1: Command Unead
5: Cleric 2: Feat: some metamagic feat
6: Cleric 3
7: Mystic Theurge 1: Feat: some metamagic feat
8: Mystic Theurge 2
9: Mystic Theurge 3: Feat: Undead Master, change Spell Specialization to animate dead (at this point you can create up to 48 hit dice of undead as a wizard and 48 hit dice as a cleric using animate dead spells! Caster level for each is equal to 3 + 3(Mystic Theurge) + 2(Spell Spec) + 4(Undead Master))
10: Mystic Theurge 4
11: Mystic Theurge 5: Feat: some metamagic feat
12: Mystic Theurge 6
13: Mystic Theurge 7: Feat: ?
14: Mystic Theurge 8
15: Mystic Theurge 9: Feat: Spell Perfection (animate dead) (at this point you can create up to 96 hit dice of undead with each of your classes, since Spell Perfection doubles all the numerical bonuses from your other feats. Caster level is 3 + 9(Mystic Theurge) + 4 (Spell Spec) + 8 (Undead Master))
16: Mystic Theurge 10
17: Cleric 4
18: Cleric 5
19: Cleric 6
20: Cleric 7
Now, the only thing that is really suffering with this build is your channeling, which will suck since it doesn't go up from MT levels. However, that probably don't matter that much, and you can definitely pick up an amulet of negative energy channeling to give it a little boost. You will also definitely want to pick the Reach Spell feat at some point since this will let you heal your undead minions with inflict spells from range, keeping you out of combat.
As far as undead minions to put up against your players, I'd suggest a few high-level fast zombies, and maybe a few bloody skeletons (since they regenerate). In theory, you could have single creatures with up to 48 hit dice, or even 96 if you created them in an area of desecrate, but of course you couldn't expect your players to actually defeat such insane enemies. Since your channeling sucks so much, if you make any undead using create undead you will have to command them with spells such as command undead or otherwise "befriend" them. For example, you could say that the necromancer created a mature adult Green Dragon skeletal champion (CR 14), but since it's an intelligent creature, the necro would have to either convince it to fight for him or use the command undead spell on it each day, with a chance to fail and have it attack him/her.
Magic items? One comes to mind. Ring of Revalations (I forget the name, but the Juju Oracle one that allows you to control 6x your level in HD of undead and makes all zombies have maximum hp). Activate it with UMD.
Also: Reliquary Item (if you're a cleric, or have access to one) for a permanent unholy alter, for those all too essentiaL desecrate spells.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Magic items? One comes to mind. Ring of Revalations (I forget the name, but the Juju Oracle one that allows you to control 6x your level in HD of undead and makes all zombies have maximum hp). Activate it with UMD.
Also: Reliquary Item (if you're a cleric, or have access to one) for a permanent unholy alter, for those all too essentiaL desecrate spells.
Ring of Revelations won't work in this case: "The ring has no effect if worn by a non-oracle." HOWEVER, if you wanted to use such a ring, you could replace the Cleric levels shown above with Oracle (Bones) levels, then wear the ring to give you the Spirit Vessels power, giving you an absolutely insane 240 hit dice toward animate dead spells at level 15.
Looking for magic items?
A pair of rings of friend shield might be handy... The necromancer can have an undead with regeneration or fast healing cast this on him and absorb some of the damage that would otherwise hit him.
A darkskull is rather expensive, but a mobile unhallow effect offers all sorts of interesting possibilities for a creative necromancer.
A hat of disguise would offer him the chance of concealing an undead as something else.
Yeah the ring idea was kind of pushing it really. I still stand by the Reliquary item though.
Don't waste a hat of disguise, just cast Sculpt Corpse instead.
I wasn't going to post the details of the necromancer prior to her involvement in the campaign incase one of my players who uses the forums spots this... but yes she is a MT. Leaning more towards the wizard side of things than the cleric than your build 'cartmanbeck', but her feats, spells, levels and the like are already done. I was mainly asking on here for items as a final boss or prelude to the final boss the items open to her are pretty much limitless in choice, so i was having difficulty equipping her due to such vast selections avalible.
I deffinately will go with the Reliquary Item and Darkskull, thank you 'tonyz' and 'Mirrel the Marvelous' for those suggestions and thank you to everyone else for your suggestions thus far. Hopefully more suggestions will arise for things i may have overlooked/not known about, but so far things are going very well. :D
An Athame (from APG) would be a massive boon if as you say she is going for a more wizard-necromancy aspect. One downside, like all arcane bonds, if she loses it, she's in trouble!
Very nice build!
240 hd of skellies??? What would the effective combat level of that be?? not to mention the logistics of trying to get over 200 corpses... you would have to empty the nearest town just to be able to get your army up to size. That would also be quite the gauntlet for the pcs to try and mow down over 200 skellies with the BBEG constantly raising more! Would need some serious streamlining to make the turns take less than an hour each!