PFS Arcane Necromancer


Advice

Silver Crusade

So, I have searched the boards for information on this, but most of it doesn't pertain to what I want.

I would like some advice on making a PFS legal arcane necromancer that is more spell based than minion based.

None of the wizard guides seem to have any updates past Ultimate Magic, so I turn to you for help.

I want him to be human, but I don't know if wizard is the best class for this anymore. Are there any options that would be more powerful?

Any advice would be appreciated, along with feat and spell selection, perhaps a level progression.

Thanks!


I mean, what do you want to do, exactly? Use necromancery spells?

Just go through the list and pick spells you like.

Enervation is a good metamagic seed.

Much of your good stuff is touch, so some of the new familiar stuff may prove helpful.

Grand Lodge

Necromancer Guide

It is an Amusing Guide.

I personally Play with a Ring Bond instead of a familiar as I hate tracking the little bugger.

Some Favorite non-minion Necromancer themed spells:
MAGIC JAR- I've straight destroyed Dungeons with this spell. Its almost unfair at times.
Enervation- An amazing spell for bringing a BBEG down to size. Follow it up with a Quickened Ray of Enfeeblement and you just nurtured the Creature.
S. Hand (to Deliver touches)
Frigid touch- Staggered is a nice condition
Ray of Enfeeblement (Level 6+ this is a nice spell)
Defending Bone- This is a fun spell and can make you pretty tanky
Create Pit- Its like dropping them into a grave.
Color Spray- Levels 1-5 this is my bread and butter. I tend to oppose Enchantment and Color spray action economy beats out Sleep IMHO.
Command Undead- A Bread and Butter spell. You see an Undead...you control it and shove it back into the DM's Face.
Stink Cloud- Brutal condition. Can win fights.
Marionette Possession- (Cast this and then Possess an ally and cast your personal buffs on them.)
Black Tentacles- Brutal control spell...can be paired with other spells for Killer combos.
Wall of Fire- Cause its fun.
Fear- an AMAZING control spell
Cloud Kill- or Cloud Win the fight...pair with life bubble and your team and just run through it. A good spell to pair with Black tentacles too. Hold them in it.

I personally would take Greater spell focus Necromancy and Possibly spell focus in evocation and Conjuration for alternate control and making your few blasts do more damage. If anything Conjuration can offer alternative control methods and should be picked up.

Shadow Lodge

Reach Spell is going to be very useful for what you're planning. I suggest that you take the feat and probably a rod or two.

I also suggest the Magical Lineage trait for your 'signature spell' so that you can add Reach without increasing the spell level.
Bestow Curse is probably your best bet for Magical Lineage, but Vampiric Touch or Ghoul Touch might also be good ones.

A lot of your offensive spells target Fortitude, which will be the best save of most of your opponents. Having ways to debuff saves will be important.
Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus help there too.

The Necromancer's Athame will be absolutely essential for you. I recommend planning to use this from level 1 forward, even though it costs 20,000gp. Take a mundane bone knife as your bonded object at level one and don't look back. No other school has an item that provides that much flexibility.
Not only does it allow you to spontaneously cast any spell you know 1/day, but you can spontaneously convert any Necromancy spell to any other Necromancy spell. Prepare whatever you want and swap them out all day long.

Boost your caster level with:
Varisian Tattoo (+1)
Bloatmage Initiate (+1)
Deific Obedience: Urgathoa (+1)
Orange Prism Ioun Stone (+1)

Silver Crusade

Thanks for the replies so far, I'll be able to look at them in detail when I get home from school.


False life is a good basic defensive spell (and you can cast it on your buddies too).

Even if you're not creating undead, command undead is a great spell for turning the enemy's undead against them.

Make sure you have spells that target multiple saves - a lot of your best spells are Fort-based, but the fear ones are usually Will-based. Try and have one or two spells that target each save so you can pick the right one for the job. Fear against the giants, blindness against rogues and wizards, that sort of thing.


tonyz wrote:
False life is a good basic defensive spell (and you can cast it on your buddies too).

False life is personal.

Scarab Sages

As I've said before (perhaps on one of the threads you read), Arcane Necromancers have more to offer typical PC methods and interests than Divine Necromancers (who are more like "I gotcher 'boss fight encounter' right here, HAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!!").

I have a 'thing' for Necromancers - Tim Burton fan and all ("You think the Undead are Evil? Have you seen what the LIVING are like???"). I've never made a Necromancer Wizard (except in Neverwinter Nights 2 - Saturn Samhain was a true badass). My Society necromantic characters to date have been:

- An early attempt at a Gravewalker Witch (before the Archetype was blacklisted - and right as my character reached 3rd level and would finally get to start doing his Voudou doll stick-schtick! :C), who is now a no-Archetype Time Witch who nonetheless still knows and uses many necromantic spells (but his most recent, and greatest to date, feat of magic was to turn the Big Bad into a newt - who will *not* get better).

- A Hungry Ghost Monk (a necromancer of their own sort, who has to date progressed far enough to have benefited from draining a few suckers' ki)

- A Reanimator/Chirurgeon Alchemist (who, after 6 long levels of paying his dues, and being my first Pathfinder character to die - and be brought back - in his last adventure) has finally reached the all-important level 7, and is ready with reanimation serum for his next adventure!

- A Cleric of an Evil Goddess (Ymeri, Elemental Lord of Fire), who therefore of course Channels Negative Energy and has mostly-full access to Clerical Necromancy, although as a Theologian of Ash (presently limited to 2nd-level spells), she will always be more partial to her pyromancy.

- A Wayang Shadow Puppeteer/Dirge Bard - that last part's where the "Bardic Necromancer" comes in; presently 2nd-level, he has attained the first secrets of the Dirge Bard's path, namely increased knowledge of undead monsters, a truly awesome suite of saving throw bonuses versus many Necromantic powers, and the first of many steps in his own to-be-greatly expanded repertoire of Necromantic spells. With good defenses, the benefits of being Small with no Strength penalty (and a modest positive Strength modifier), a competent BAB, and Shadow Puppets to cover him in a fight, he should prove most capable with all those nasty necro-poking spells.

- An Investigator of the Spiritualist Archetype, who practices Necromancy in the more traditional sense of conversing politely with the dead (and Undead - she is a native of Geb with the Friend of the Dead Regional Trait).

- An Occultist of the Necroccultist Archetype who has been able to yank handy undead minions right out of the walls when necessary from level 1, and will continue to get all kinds of cool stuff as he progresses.

If you feel 'iffy' about a Necromancer Wizard now, maybe some of these characters can suggest alternatives.

That said, Wizards (and Sorcerers) make great Necromancers. You start off pretty limited - a few weak curses, scare spells that won't last beyond early levels, specialized protective spells, magical embalming - but it gets better with almost every level.

At 2nd level, False life is a proven lifesaver (greater false life, so much the better!), and spectral hand *can* be useful, if you can deal with the obstacle of spending a turn casting a spell just to cast other spells more safely, whereas life pact is a rare arcane healing (or at least triage) spell, ghoul touch is a powerful melee curse, command undead is something of a stable, as previous posters have said, and otherwise, 2nd-level Necromancy also offers a few race/faith-specific tricks (good ones, too), a means by which to take better care of your Familiar, some other scary melee spells, a weapon enchantment, a couple of darned ugly curses (though one of those is Society-illegal), a sort of magical weedwhacker, fun tricks for improving poison, the crazy-ass skinsend spell, and my personal favorite, blindness/deafness.

At 3rd level, you get the vunderful vampiric touch, and ray of exhaustion, which, let us be clear on this, is MEAN when it works. You also finally get access to basic reanimation of the dead and rudimentary possession, a couple of interesting spells exclusive to certain races or more useful to other classes, Deathwine, which you technically need your own copy of Rise of the Runelords to cast it in Society, a couple of variant-rules spells that aren't Society-approved, ways to mess with enemy undead and strengthen your own undead, and a bunch of quirky, scary curses.

4th level is where Necromancers strike gold at last - animate dead, greater false life, fear, enervation, bestow curse, contagion, all that good stuff, as well as ways to mess with your minions, a messed-up curse or two, the power to become a shadow, an instant ship's crew (Just Add Dead People! [TM]), and a few downright vicious weapon enchantments and offensive spells.

5th level gets you some serious offensive spells, defenses, curses, Familiar-care, monsters, monster-maintainence, and even rudimentary extraplanar travel

Pickings get leaner at 6th level, but are still good: snuff out the living, dust-to-dust the undead, create bigger and scarier undead monsters, a token damage spell, and some mean, mean curses.

7th level is where you start to get really scary - how does epidemic, waves of exhaustion, plague storm, umbral strike and of course finger of death sound to you? You also get control undead, temporary resurrection, and create variant mummy.

8th level doesn't give you many spells, but every one of them is a doozy! Clone, create greater undead, horrid wilting, and more!

9th level actually offers a comparatively large list for Necromancers, all of them f@&#ing crazy - Astral projection! Energy drain! Soul bind! A spell where canopic jars slurp up your enemies' organs like the dolls from Barbarella, then turn what's left of them into a powerful mummy! Curse the earth beneath your feet to render it a Necromantic wonderland! TWO METHODS OF MASS DEATH, AHAAHAAHAAHAAHAAHAAHAAAAA!!!!!!!

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