Vigmortis's page

So here's a few questions on necromancy.

1) Are there any feats or focus spells for wizards who wish to be reanimators? Or are clerics still the go to class for that build?

2) When creating undead via the ritual of the same name, are you able to equip them with gear afterwards? Also are you able to craft your chosen undead using the different options and powers found in the Bestiary? Or are there just hardline stats?

3) Last, and most unlikely, are there any options/mechanics for good/neutral aligned undead creation aka White Necromancy?

Ah I see ok thanks my friend.

Vigmortis wrote:

BishopMcQ wrote:

Vigmortis wrote:

Speaking of Necromancy,

How does Undead Creation work now and are there any specializations for those who want to prioritize that kind of build?

Clerics have Feats and Spells that allow them to command and control Undead.

Create Undead is a ritual.

Thanks!!! No sign of anything for our Wizard friend? Or would that be too much to say ?

Wizards also have spells to control them, but I don't see any class feats that focus on it.

Hmmmmm my only guess would be under their Necromancy School powers or feats if any...if not no worries I'm satisfied with this information.

Vigmortis wrote:

Speaking of Necromancy,

How does Undead Creation work now and are there any specializations for those who want to prioritize that kind of build?

Clerics have Feats and Spells that allow them to command and control Undead.

Create Undead is a ritual.

Thanks!!! No sign of anything for our Wizard friend? Or would that be too much to say ?

Speaking of Necromancy,

How does Undead Creation work now and are there any specializations for those who want to prioritize that kind of build?

Vigmortis wrote:

But as far as I can tell, as it is, that’s a useless build/domain for three whole levels. Definitely needs a fix there if this is true as is.

The Undeath domain isn't required for the 4th level feat. Although you would have to pass on the ability to get the feat if you wanted the good Undeath domain power.

You’re correct. You don’t NEED anything to USE the domain power.

But my issue is, without any way to control undead until level 4, what exactly are you going to use it on?

3. When a power has a specific limitation (i.e. Unlife’s blessing can only be used on the undead whereas its sibling power healer’s blessing can be used on anything alive) it should get a bump in power. Otherwise it is just a worse power...

While we’re on the subject; a major problem with the Undeath domain as is, is that it’s completely useless until fourth level when clerics can select Command Undead. Until then, they have absolutely no way to gain undead followers/ minions until Level Four (Unless I completely missed something)

IIRC this was also a problem with 1es Core Cleric and that didn’t see a fix until Undead Lord archetype came along in Ultimate Magic, in which they were given Command Undead and a companion. Honestly just the Command feat at level 1 would fix this. Further, it would give a negative option to Turn Undead.

But as far as I can tell, as it is, that’s a useless build/domain for three whole levels. Definitely needs a fix there if this is true as is.

Hmmm, I was gonna say Humans should just get a bonus feat in general (not general the feat type, general meaning ‘in basic practice’), especially since they get feat taxed if playing a half breed. I think if we do that as a badic trait you won’t need thise two feats.

Or perhaps you can just combine the two into one feat and you choose one or the other?

I agree with this. At least one extra heritage or racial feat would be ok with me. Absolutely no more than three though.

Another thing I'd like to propose (and do a small write up on), is let the ancestries have more inherent traits (ie things like resistances and weapon specializations) but create and allow the racial feats that we select build upon what we have.

Like for the Dwarf for example. Allow us to pump up the Weapon Familiarity feat at later levels that give you more bonuses to your strikes or reduces the multi strike penalty sustained for multiple strike actions. Or Mountain Roots which likewise can either increase the bonus, or allow it to be used in other scenarios. Like shaking off charm or enchantment spells (Stubborn these hardy folk are)

These are amateurish examples admittedly, but I feel this method gives a lot more 'Growth' to the feel of your character as it levels; and also makes your ancestries feel more unique.

The lack of any options for undead mastery type necromancer makes me sad. And given how weak basic summons are, I’m wondering if summomers are even going to be viable builds anymore.

Not bad so far. Hopefully we get an expanded blog later in the week like the Cleric about the schools!

Lots of good stuff here. I really appreciate laying out the tennets in order of severity. AlsoThe one pinprick I see so far is the return of ‘Evil’ Spells. Was really hoping that was getting tossed but ugggggh alright.

Undead here at the get-go. Sweet. Though I’m most curious about customizable deities. How much of what the deity grants can we choose exactly? Obviously most if not all comes down to GM descretion I imagine?

Vigmortis wrote:

The new Command Undead feat for clerics sounds delicious. Definitely something to experiment with.

Interesting that Pharasma is only heal now. I remember her being a chief neutral deity. *shrugs*

I’m a little on the fence about anathemas. While it’s a really good rp flavor, I really hope that they make sense in the great scheme of things as I do see this being abused by both PCs and GMs (ESPECIALLY GMs).

The other concern that ties in with another, is how will it work with clerics who don’t worship gods but an idea or principle? Or is that not allowed anymore? That would be disappointing...

I was actually more surprised by Lamashtu letting you choose, honestly. I'm with you with Anathemas, but if they're like Paladin Codes as we have them now, it'll probably be fine.

As for godless Clerics....I wouldn't be surprised if they're gone. But on the other hand, letting them remain would be really easy, so I can see it going either way.

I actually didn't know who Lamashtu was tbh. I use very little Paizo lore in my games, yet ironically Pharasma happened to be one lol. Now that I see Lamashtu, yea that's a bit of a headscratcher. I guess Mother of Demons? Mother=nuture? I dunno...

I think an easy fix for godless clerics would be have anathemas to choose from or mandate you tell the GM like everything when you make a godless cleric.

Yeah, death. But not destruction. She was more about preserving life than just "bringing death" as many cleric edgelords like to do. The Death domain probably handles the specifics.

Thanks for that clarification. I'm hoping for a bit more diversity in how you 'wield' your domain as it were.

The new Command Undead feat for clerics sounds delicious. Definitely something to experiment with.

Interesting that Pharasma is only heal now. I remember her being a chief neutral deity. *shrugs*

I’m a little on the fence about anathemas. While it’s a really good rp flavor, I really hope that they make sense in the great scheme of things as I do see this being abused by both PCs and GMs (ESPECIALLY GMs).

The other concern that ties in with another, is how will it work with clerics who don’t worship gods but an idea or principle? Or is that not allowed anymore? That would be disappointing...

Strachan Fireblade wrote:

Something that intrigues me is the word Necromancy. It almost seems to have a neutral connotation now. Necromancy is part of all three spell examples. What it’s paired with seems to indicate how it is used or viewed. In the case of Heal, it is paired with healing and positive energy making this use of necromancy clearly an accepted use in society. With the vampiric spell it is mixed with Death and Negative energy, clearly a more evil use. The Regenerate spell seems to be in the middle.

I find this dynamic quite interesting.

Mark, does each of these types (necromancy, positive, negative, Death) belong to an essence? Can they belong to more than one?

BTW, this article is fantastic. Best one yet!

Necromancy is often attuned to the vital or spiritual essences depending on how you use it; certain more destructive or nefarious uses can sometimes be achieved through a connection to material essence because it's much easier to destroy something than it is to repair (to be fair, this inclusion is mainly because otherwise necromancer specialist wizards would be very sad indeed but this way they are happy). Death isn't always bad; I actually wanted to have remove disease include the death trait because it kills the disease or infection inside you, but first of all that confused everyone who saw it, and secondly we later made specific rules about being a death effect that it doesn't really gel with.

It’s good to hear your thoughts on this sir. Speaking personally, I’ve never played an evil necromancer even though I’d use spells with the evil descriptor. Having been raised on Diablo 2 and Legacy of Kain, I always felt necromancers were the folks who made the hard decisions to save the world that others wouldn’t have the stomach for. Of course the biggest challenge was convincing my GMs and fellow PCs that I wasn’t your typical Sauron but really that’s half the fun of good Role-play. Though, while on the subject, I’d love to see good aligned options for reanimation if such a thing is possible officially.

Maybe there will be "positive" versions of animated skeletons and zombies:)

Don’t play with my ‘offical non homebrewed’ Lawful Good Reanimator Hopes like that!!!

As a long time fan of necromancers, I’m very happy to see healing and restoration spells come home where they belong. Now on the flip side, I’m quite curious how spells like Animate Dead, Create Undead, etc. will work with the action system or will they be designated to Ritual casting considering cast time and cost for most reanimator spells.