Which class would be best for a recurring necromancer villain?


Advice


Which class should this recurring villain, necromancer NPC be?

She's going to be a servant of the personification of death, trying to steal the PCs items which give them their mythic power and is always followed by a, um, squad I guess, of zombies and skeletons.
I don't know which class would be best. Has to be arcane, because divine magic in the game comes from the Gods, but not from daemons or Titans.

Either Witch with the Plague patron or Sorcerer with the Undead bloodline, I think. Wizard doesn't fit the flavour. I envisage her dealing damage or debuffing from afar while the undead do the dirty work. Which of these classes would be most powerful, in your opinion?
I think the archmage path would be right, unless there are others that grand necromantic powers?

Cheers! :D


Wouldn't she be a cleric or oracle of the death god/goddess, then?


Paladin of Baha-who? wrote:
Wouldn't she be a cleric or oracle of the death god/goddess, then?
toxicpie wrote:
Has to be arcane

My guess is no.

For the OP, I don't see what about Necromancer you don't see as fitting. Maybe you could explain?

For Witch, Plague patron; or Death, Occult, Spirits, or Winter with Gravewalker.

An Undead Bloodline sorcerer (regular or Sanguine) would probably work better as a damage dealer, but Witch may be the better debuffer.

You could consider Agent of the Grave prc, especially for Secrets of Death.


Why do you think it needs to be arcane? Just have a cleric of Death (ideal).

If there really is a reason why it has to be arcane, a Deathmage (either version) seems like an obvious choice.

EDIT: Actually if you want to go for a partially martial necromancer the new Reaper class seems like a natural choice.


A wizard of the Necromancy school is pretty much a home run. Wizards have access to more spells than a spontaneous caster, and gain spell levels faster.

Pathfinder? A cleric of Urgothoa might also be an avenue to explore.


toxicpie wrote:

Which class should this recurring villain, necromancer NPC be?

She's going to be a servant of the personification of death, trying to steal the PCs items which give them their mythic power and is always followed by a, um, squad I guess, of zombies and skeletons.
I don't know which class would be best. Has to be arcane, because divine magic in the game comes from the Gods, but not from daemons or Titans.

Either Witch with the Plague patron or Sorcerer with the Undead bloodline, I think. Wizard doesn't fit the flavour. I envisage her dealing damage or debuffing from afar while the undead do the dirty work. Which of these classes would be most powerful, in your opinion?
I think the archmage path would be right, unless there are others that grand necromantic powers?

Cheers! :D

Reincarnated Druid ...only way you can assure they recur without shenanigans !!

They come with their own 'posse' as well that can recur(animal companion, summons, call animal) and will be a threat in any environment. Chuck on a robe of bones for some necromancer fu and go heavy on the reach metamagic poision and death spells.


You could try an Alchemist with the Alchemical Zombie Discovery for something unexpected.


After some looking around a Dhampir using the Cruoromancer archetype seems like a good bet as well. Since it doesn't effect Arcane school choices you can even be a Cruoromancer Necromancer.


Something like Accursed or along those lines with Arcane sorcerer can be incredibly dickish and terrorize players. Oh, that mythic sword you have is pretty cool. It'll go nicely with these negative 2 levels I'm giving you. Just so the rest of you don't feel left out here's a permanent -6 to an ability score as well. Merry Christmas.


in D&D3.5 the best was cleric...in pathfinder the best is wizard


In this world, arcane magic is banned as it is seen as a perversion of the "pure" magic of the Gods. Those with arcane powers are hunted down and killed by the inquisitors. So Death (a daemon [er, not the Pathfinder daemons], not a god) is playing on her hatred of the gods to manipulate her into helping destroy creation. Death doesn't give her powers but was drawn to her because of her necromantic abilities.

I'm trying to keep it as third party-free as possible, sorry should've mentioned that!

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. :)


i'm glad i'm not playing there xD!!! i can't live without arcane magic xD

that's also a big problem... no damaging prevention..

Arcane Magic = Prevent Damage
Divine Magic = Repair Damage


Hahah, well it's alright because none of the players wanted to play an arcane caster, I wouldn't have made that part of the story if they did. :)


Necromancer wizard, as they have great escape options. Sorcerers are almost as good but don't have "matched" abilities so I would stick with a wizard.

High-level clerics can use Word of Recall to escape, but until that point their only advantages are earlier access to undead-creation spells and being able to heal undead allies.

Sczarni

Better than a Necromancer Wizard, an Agent of the Grave Necromancer Wizard.


What level are we looking at for this?
Because if your recurring bad guy is beyond L9 then the spell of choice for her would be Magic Jar.
dual purpose of giving her disposable bodies to throw at the PC and at the same time provide leverage on the party when the chosen body also happens to be another NPC favored by the party.

At low level I suggest the following as a one time handy escape.
1. cursed feather token:catapult
2. single use feather fall item.
On falling in battle the combo activates, the cursed token loads her into the catapult and fires it. the feather fall token ensures she survives impact.


It's an npc, right? Play an Oracle/Cleric and just give them necromancy spells from the Sorcerer/Wizard list. :)

Oracle of Bones is nifty, since they can literally call bones to themselves to act like armor.


Any elf, half-elf or human(racial heritage elf feat) can be a lorekeeper elf oracle archetype = 9 arcane spells without worries.

How do bards fare in this world? As arcane casters are they hunted??
A bard with the right archetype can also pick up arcane spells!


A Razmiran Priest-sorcerer (either the archetype or the prestige class) would drive the "perversion of Divine magic"-angle home.


Oh okay, which escape abilities does the necromancer wizard get? I've never played/with a wizard haha

I'm not sure on her level; probably introducing her at level 4 (starting level is 3) and carrying on to match the PCs' levels at whatever point in the game. Thanks, I'll keep that in mind!

Hm, how overpowered would a sorcerer or witch with the channel energy feature be? It would really emphasise her connection to death, being able to heal her undead and to damage the PCs.

Ah, only human allowed, I'm afraid.
I haven't given it much thought, but I think I'll say they get their powers from the Nine Muses' inspiration. Might be neat, in a way, if it's hypocritical as the players could try to understand other arcanists and end the feuds and misunderstandings.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Advice / Which class would be best for a recurring necromancer villain? All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Advice