Going to Play a Necromancer for the First time, wondering if there is any thing out there other than Hero's of Horror, Libris Mortis, BVD, PHB,and DMG??? to help with the Character? If you have Played a NERCO and feel like chiming in on how you run your charatcer feel free to do so...
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A decent Necromancer (Gluttony) might make a really good Varisian specific class/prestige class...
And since we're going OGL, Pathfinder needs a better ninja class too.
And since ninjas are sort of out of question (-> different thread) although some of the staff members really are into oriential adventures... ;-)
Going to Play a Necromancer for the First time, wondering if there is any thing out there other than Hero's of Horror, Libris Mortis, BVD, PHB,and DMG??? to help with the Character? If you have Played a NERCO and feel like chiming in on how you run your charatcer feel free to do so...
First of all you could play a specialist wizard (necromancy). And then there is of course a lot of stuff published by WotC (the books you mentioned). My tip is to start small if you are still unfamiliar with playing necromancers, and then you can build on top of it choosing from the books mentioned above as you (and your DM) like...
Greetings,
Günther
Spellcompendium, complete arcane, complete mage. Any book that has new stuff for arcane casters in general will help a necromancer. Not all of your spells need to be of the necromantic school, so don't be afraid to look at books outside that little niche.
Spells that increase your defences and/or make you less noticeable on the battlefield will be good. Being that the typical necromancer is the zombie/skeleton rasing theme, your probably going to want to hang back and buff your minions while staying clear of the conflict area. Long ranged attack spells would be good so you can throw down a little support for your horde. Area spells that do damage based on something your minions are immune to would be good, like stinking cloud (at least I'm guessing undead wouldn't be affect by stinking cloud).
A few spells that use reflex save would be good to snipe opposing clerics/paladins before they can turn/destroy your horde. Plenty of dispells would be handy for fellow necromancers wanting to control undead.
A decent Necromancer (Gluttony) might make a really good Varisian specific class/prestige class...
And since we're going OGL, Pathfinder needs a better ninja class too.
Green Ronin had an excellent necromancer book out, really top notch. The title was.... GAh! can't locate it in my collection at the moment.... I want to say it was The Forbidden School of Necromancy or something similar.
Take a look at the variant necromancers in the SRD. The Skeletal Minion variant is especially useful as a protector, freeing up one of the party members.
A Gnome Necromancer (Skeletal Minion variant)/Shadowcraft Mage (Races of Stone) can be very nasty to unprepared foes. It's not a typical build, so most foes will be unprepared...
Green Ronin had an excellent necromancer book out, really top notch. The title was.... GAh! can't locate it in my collection at the moment.... I want to say it was The Forbidden School of Necromancy or something similar.
'The Secret College of Necromancy' is the Green Ronin title you're looking for. Excellent resource.
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It's the Secret College of Necromancy - it's out of print and somewhat hard to find...good stuff!
And since ninjas are sort of out of question (-> different thread) although some of the staff members really are into oriential adventures... ;-)
Could you point me to the actual thread, I'm having a difficult time finding it?
Anyway, I didn't necessarily mean ninja - just something with this kind of flavor...
Dragon issue number 312 had alot of good stuff for evil pc's including necromancers and some variants for paladins like anti-paladin, corrupter etc etc....and had some new feats. I recommend you check it out if you haven't already.
I've played a dread necromancer from Heroes of Horror for 13 levels. I can't say he's the most powerful. A few things helped:
-- the summon undead spells are useful.
-- ghoul touch, spectral hand, command undead, and false life are incredibly helpful at low levels. I found these 2nd level spells more helpful than most 3rd level spells I had access to! Although speak with dead is a DM's bane :-)
-- at higher levels, commanding shadows and ghosts is very useful, since they are incorporeal and not as obvious/messy as other undead (especially when traveling in urban areas).
-- take the Arcane Disciple feat once or twice (from Complete Divine). This gives you access to spells of a cleric domain. Each day, you can cast each spell on the list once (assuming you are high enough level to cast the spell). The domains need to be of your god, so pick your deity wisely! Although domains like Fire might sound useful, I found Trickery and Travel were pretty useful (turning invisible is priceless! later, teleporting is a live saver).
In terms of role-playing, my character Cal was a changeling, which gave me a second angle to play him as a spy, etc. Anything that gives a second angle besides "death, death, and more death" can make play more enjoyable. Bringing zombies into town only evokes the ire of clerics and other do-gooder types, not to mention fear from the locales. I preferred to play Cal as discrete - death as a science to study and an art to use quietly behind the scenes.
Hope this helps.
Cool, Cool sounds good appreciate all the imput, thanks