What kind of person dedicates their life to necromancy?

Necromancy is dangerous; it involves meddling with dead bodies and spirits, as well as negative energy, all of which can be harmful to one's health. Getting involved in these practices might lead people to view you negatively. To make matters worse, the deity who oversees the dead and her followers absolutely loathe the creation of undead beings, who can not only kill you but also turn you into one of them in a very painful way.

This raises an interesting question: who would go to such lengths as to not just dabble in this art but to fully commit their lives to it, transforming it into an entire class rather than just a spell or archetype? It’s not merely a gamble on your social status or physical well-being; it’s a risk to your life, soul, and afterlife. This is definitely not something you should take lightly or do on a whim.

If you're looking for an army, there are far better options—like creating constructs or summoning outsiders. And if your goal is to bring someone back to life, resurrection magic already accomplishes that. So why take the necromancy path?

One possibility is that undead worshippers, such as clerics of Urgathoa, Zura, and Orcus, as well as members of the Whispering Way, encourage their followers to seek undeath. However, this sounds more like the role of a cleric and aligns with an evil character, so I don't think this is what the developers intended.

Another possibility involves people who are dissatisfied with the current laws governing the cycle of souls. This includes those who wish to live forever by becoming undead or those who want to bring back a soul that has already been judged.

What do you think would motivate a necromancer, and what type of necromancer do you believe this class is meant to represent?

Imagine if you could bring all your pets back -forever-.

To conquer death, you must delve into all it's secrets.
To bring someone back you must dedicate yourself to a divine being, or delve into necromancy.
To have easy to find soldiers you just hit up a few graveyards instead of buying tons of materials and slave away crafting golems.

There's always reasons, good, poor or vile for delving into necromancy.
Necromancy is often viewed as the quick and dirty path to power. The cost to sanity and soul are often not worth the reward and risk.

The mechanics right now don't mesh with my idea of a necromancer, so I can't really answer the last question, though I do hope it improves because it is interesting.

- Necromancy is one of the most reliable routes to avoiding death, apart from communicable undeath. It's also a route to immortality that avoids risk of disease and infirmity. (Playable undead rules notwithstanding.) Plenty of people want to avoid death.
- Necromancy greatly expands the possibilities for keeping a loved one around. Of the non-undeath routes to immortality, very few allow bringing someone else along for the ride.
- Avoiding one's afterlife might be intentional. Even the "neutral" options aren't really a lot of fun, and all involve ego-death and fueling the overall system.
- Undead are the easiest source of free work. Black market undead labor is probably very profitable. Constructs are difficult and expensive, and elementals have far more will of their own.
- Necromancy is legal some places. Kaer Maga, Geb, Nidal.
- The rules for players aren't how the setting actually works. People in- world can be born with an aptitude for necromancy and nothing else, or obtain necromantic power from a source or situation in their life. If it's necromancy or being powerless, plenty of people would choose necromancy.
- Necromancy can mess a person up something fierce. If you want revenge, it's hard to beat necromancy for the amount of suffering it can inflict, being able to affect even the soul.
- Academics. Understanding necromancy can lead to useful insights and discoveries, especially since its reputation means it's under-reoresented in research.
- Someone might need to deal with undead anyway. Osirian, Ustalav, Geb, etc. all have plenty of undead whether one is pursuing necromancy or not.

Mechanically, the Necromancer class potentially has the most focus points per ten minutes of any class, representing reliable, plentiful power. They aren't beholden to anything for power, which is a point in favor for many people in-world.

Imagine if you could bring all your pets back -forever-.

Like Pet Sematary? I wish I could bring my cat back. Some bastard in my neighborhood started killing cats, and if I ever find him...

Some folks don’t get involved in all the disgusting politics or faux morality - they are admirers of the architecture of forms whether physical or spirit, released from “living” ties, and freed to act in new ways, pushing boundaries of what is considered “life”.

White necromancers use the undead as just another tool, deadly power bent to holy aims.

Spiritwhisperers provide succour and solace to those spirits that are trapped, hurt, lost or even haunted by their own form and function, and might be repaid in aid or make pacts and bargains for same.

And then, yes, there are twisted vile souls who live for nothing other than to be…knee deep in the dead, doom…ed to scour the lands for body parts and grisly keepsakes, to wrest wicked control over poor souls rotting in the spirit world, using and abusing tortured spirits, twisted bones and rotting flesh, wracked by the desires for power and control.

Of course, none of that particularly pertains to the narrative constraints and strictures of Golarion.

I usually create a hidden village or a quietly practicing family for my morally different characters to come from.

The idea that some individuals have knack for certain magic,or are born into the practice is a simple place to start.
No need for crazed dedication, it's just comes easy to you, or it's just a way of life.

In RL, "alternative" beliefs exist invisibly all around us.
If you know your practices would be hated and looked down upon, you are liable to hide them, but you might never give them up, especially if they give you actual power.

The more obscure your practices, the easier it is to mask them.
In a world like Golarion, there are "acceptable" ways to summon undead, so Create Thrall should hardly make a ripple.

I do wish life sense was basic to the class starting from level 1.
If you can sée the energies at work, all the more reason you would pursue an interest in them.

Imagine if you could bring all your pets back -forever-.

They don't make fish bowls that big.

Agonarchy wrote:

Imagine if you could bring all your pets back -forever-.

They don't make fish bowls that big.

Supramarine Chair from Howl of the Wild.

Ravingdork wrote:

Agonarchy wrote:

Imagine if you could bring all your pets back -forever-.

They don't make fish bowls that big.

Supramarine Chair from Howl of the Wild.

Nope. Not going to cut it.

I'm just not sure that the class is really pursuing the fantasy of being a necromancer as much as it is pursuing the fantasy of being a bone summoner.

I'm just not sure that the class is really pursuing the fantasy of being a necromancer as much as it is pursuing the fantasy of being a bone summoner.

Well, yeah. Look back at my list- that'd be ridiculous to cram into one class! Pathfinder classes are also pretty fundamentally oriented towards combat, even for something like Investigator. Things like "cheat the cruel march of time", "gain a business advantage through mostly-soulless husks", or "hear the voice of your loved one again at any cost" aren't really suitable for a class to get as features because they're not very combat-y. You could maybe make a "Necromancy's Reward" ribbon feature at 10th or something with some options, but that uses a lot of space. On the flip side, "raise an army" is too much to actually give the class, even though that's what most people want from a Necromancer. So, this tries to get as close to that feeling as it can. Having played it once so far, a disposable army to throw at enemies and then use for power once they've served their purpose feels accurate.

Plus, becoming undead is pretty thoroughly covered. There'd be no point in Necromancer being about becoming a lich when the Lich archetype is about becoming a lich. From your posts, though, it sounds like that's your point of contention. Fair enough- I myself want more of the undead servants feeling of a necromancer, despite the availability of minion archetypes.

Some people like to play the underdog or 'forbidden' thing.

Drow, tieflings or orcs who aren't evil. Drizzt Do'Urden? Triumph of the Tusk? Nocticula? It's a popular thing. (And it's not just RPGs. The popularity of characters like John Wick, *a professional assassin,* or Harley Quinn, or Deadpool, are all examples of our fascination with the morally 'forbidden.')

Infernal / Abyssal sorcerers who resent the source of their power, stick their middle finger up at good societies that persecute them, and do good deeds *regardless.* (like the Abyssal sorcerers among the Matanje orcs of the Mwangi expanse, which I, for one, love)

And yeah, Necromancers. Anything the game sees fit to include, but then says 'you shouldn't want to play this, and if you do, you are a bad person and we encourage others to judge you for it, but here are rules for them anyway?' gets my back up and intrigues me. It's like a challenge. The fact that undead minions have, historically, been rubbish (and cost more than they were worth in onyx!), both in terms of mechanical usefulness, risk of use and slowing down the game, means that your classical evil necromancer-what-has-hordes-of-zombies is no fun to play anyway. Just a pain in the butt, *for the player,* let alone the GM or anyone else at the table.

Which leaves the more fun sorts of 'white necromancers,' who got into necromancy *to help lay ghosts to rest* (someone who reveres the Empyreal lord Ashava, for instance) and better understand the mechanics of life and death to better prevent bad stuff, just as a doctor studies cancer not because he wants to make more cancer, but because it exists whether we like it or not, and therefore someone has to understand it, if we want to defeat it.

It's definitely personal preference, but if I'm gonna play a necromancer who uses undead at all, it's gonna be more a 'Jason and the Argonauts' thing where I throw some small bones at the ground and skeletons rise up to fight my enemies, and when combat is over, they crumble away until I next cast the spell / use the class ability. No shambling hordes of stinky zombies I have to keep track of, keep under control, maintain, clothe, arm, armor, clean, repair, or, worse, justify, or get killed by an angry mob for having.