Hey guys. I'm starting a new campaign this week, and I've decided to try out the Arcanist class. There is a lot about it that I really like. Here's where I need help. I'm planning to build him as a Necromancer type. I don't want him to have massive undead hordes, but rather, I'd prefer to build him to be a decay and poison caster, with the potential of having maybe one or two good minions later on. So my first question is has anyone done a build like this, what did you do and how did it play?
Second, I was looking at the School understanding exploit, which would allow me to learn to channel energy and gain Command Undead. I've seen a lot of talk both ways about this combo, but with the route I'm taking, how essential is it for me to take this?
Third, are there any exploits, feat and/or spell combos I should consider when building this character?
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Hey guys. I'm starting a new campaign this week, and I've decided to try out the Arcanist class. There is a lot about it that I really like. Here's where I need help. I'm planning to build him as a Necromancer type. I don't want him to have massive undead hordes, but rather, I'd prefer to build him to be a decay and poison caster, with the potential of having maybe one or two good minions later on. So my first question is has anyone done a build like this, what did you do and how did it play?
Second, I was looking at the School understanding exploit, which would allow me to learn to channel energy and gain Command Undead. I've seen a lot of talk both ways about this combo, but with the route I'm taking, how essential is it for me to take this?
Third, are there any exploits, feat and/or spell combos I should consider when building this character?
I like to Have Command Undead Feat and Spell.
Undead are a typical enemy in most adventures. I persoanly like to Command Undead the feat to answer a big horde of undead enemies. COmmand Undead the spell I use on more single target undead. I like these tools as it turns the dungeon against the DM. Say you have 4 undead zombies. You channel/command and Grab even 1. That is 1 more on your side. 1 more to fight one of his friends. This is a great tool for turning the tides of the fight to your favor and Controlling the battlefield at the same time. Very sound strategy as well as one that is not Labeled or thought of as Evil. You did not make those undead.
It is not essential but to me as a wizard player I usually like abilities that Let me not waste a spell.
It is a good Strategy but not the only way to play. Not every player plays the same. I myself employ the above strategy with the Mantra: "They can always roll a 1."
Necromancy BTW is my favorite school and I never oppose it. Very solid school and if played right will get stronger as the adventuring day goes on and the Body pile gets bigger and bigger.
My GM was given a D&D module called the World's Largest Dungeon. Not sure what's in it, but I wanted to make sure I'd be able to be useful. An undead horde build may not be terribly effective and highly situational, plus it might not be well received by some of my party members. I was considering the Universalist school for the nice throw ability early on. It's something I can do without having to burn spells or waste ammo, plus I'd have better hit with my high intelligence.
I figured a decay/ poison necro build would be a safer and more useful approach. The problem is if I take the universalist school understanding exploit I can't do the spell and command without cross classing, which is why I wanted to know how essential it was.
I made an attempt at this type using the school understanding for Necromancy. It provided an offensive touch ability and a limited command undead ability with the feat, but it was practically useless with intelligent undead. The DC to be free every time I wanted them to do something against their nature was just too easy. With the unintelligent undead, they would get obliterated by most things we came across after level 5, right about the same time it was easy to replace them with spells. Perhaps it was the campaign, but it ended up being underutilized, so I retrained out of it for something more useful.
How did you retrain out of the exploit?
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I made an attempt at this type using the school understanding for Necromancy. It provided an offensive touch ability and a limited command undead ability with the feat, but it was practically useless with intelligent undead. The DC to be free every time I wanted them to do something against their nature was just too easy. With the unintelligent undead, they would get obliterated by most things we came across after level 5, right about the same time it was easy to replace them with spells. Perhaps it was the campaign, but it ended up being underutilized, so I retrained out of it for something more useful.How did you retrain out of the exploit?
Likely by using the retraining rules that are part of downtime (Ultimate Campaign). They are even allowed in Pathfinder Society
I would look at the possession/magic jar spells.
Immunity to mind affecting becomes increasingly common as the game goes on but very few creatures are immune to that and you can take a feat to get around spells that prevent it. This will allow you to easily take down creatures normally immune to what necromancy throws at them.
With the spell focus necromancy chain and potent exploit you can really boost the DC without even trying.
There is no harm in adding the spell blood money and some undead creation spells to your spellbook if you ever need to whip up an undead henchman for the next day, these things cost you no feats or class features and with potent magic you can boost the caster level.