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No, not THAT sort of necrophile.
Been wanting to make a magic-user who makes use of undead, and there are definitely options now. I'm just not sure which Faction would be suitable. Allow me to give a bit of background.
Character, being somewhat frail, had a sister who acted as his guardian; stood up to bullies, etc. A day came when their village was attacked by marauding evil-doers, and to give him a chance to live, his sister hid him and wound up being killed.
He was wracked with grief, and has since set out to find some way to bring her back. Driven perhaps just a touch mad from the events, he collected her bones, and keeps her with him, where she can still act as a guardian of sorts, if only as an animated skeleton until he can give her true life again.
Any ideas?
Also, build ideas would be appreciated, too.
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I am new around these parts, but from what I have read this isn't really possible as a PFS character.
The sticking point is Alignment infractions. (Pg 34. Guide to Organized Play) Regardless of intent, Animate Dead has an Evil Descriptor, and the act of keeping some poor shlub shambling around is pretty darn evil - regardless if you are crazy or not.
Considering that even if you started out as neutral, the moment your character brought animated someone, they should get a warning from the GM saying this is a route to your character being evil. And evil characters are removed from play and logged as dead.
The only exemptions I've seen in this rule is if your faction head directly ordered you to make skeletons, in which case you are not held accountable for the bad karma of your leaders.
Now, like I said, I am new, and by no means familiar with all the options for this out there. You said there are definitely options now, I'm interested because a local player is wanting to make a similar themed character - and we've been going over the books seeing if it is legal.
But if it is legal? I'd think Chelix. Maybe Osirion or Scarni?
I'd be very interested to seeing how to make a non-evil necromancer that raises the dead. We didn't think it was possible because casting [Evil] Descriptor spells - means the end of a character for sanctioned play.
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I am new around these parts, but from what I have read this isn't really possible as a PFS character.
The sticking point is Alignment infractions. (Pg 34. Guide to Organized Play) Regardless of intent, Animate Dead has an Evil Descriptor, and the act of keeping some poor shlub shambling around is pretty darn evil - regardless if you are crazy or not.
Considering that even if you started out as neutral, the moment your character brought animated someone, they should get a warning from the GM saying this is a route to your character being evil. And evil characters are removed from play and logged as dead.
Casting [evil] spells doesn't make you evil. Just like channeling negative energy doesn't make you evil.
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@ Mordaith. I present to you Oracle of Bones. Very necromancer-y feel. But not evil, per se; there's no alignment restriction. In fact, due to how oracles work fluff-wise, you could have a reluctant necromancer. Oracles tend to have their abilities thrust upon them.
I understand and appreciate the thought process there, and with some classes/builds, it's a given, such as antipaladin (which indeed is banned from PFS). I've just long been a proponent that while reanimating bones can easily be considered evil, one who does so does not have to be.
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The [Evil] descriptor makes it so Good-aligned divine casters can never cast the spell, but neutral casters can use it all night and day without an alignment infraction. True, the way these spells are used is often evil('I need more skeletons. Let's just kill these prisoners, since they will probably just be executed anyway once we drag them back to civilization... who will know we didn't give them a trial?'), but the act of casting the spell in and of itself will not make a character evil.
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I am new around these parts, but from what I have read this isn't really possible as a PFS character.
The sticking point is Alignment infractions. (Pg 34. Guide to Organized Play) Regardless of intent, Animate Dead has an Evil Descriptor, and the act of keeping some poor shlub shambling around is pretty darn evil - regardless if you are crazy or not.
Considering that even if you started out as neutral, the moment your character brought animated someone, they should get a warning from the GM saying this is a route to your character being evil. And evil characters are removed from play and logged as dead.
I think that is an overreaction.
Yes, it is an evil act but I do think circumstances matters.
For example, I have a bone oracle with a Zombie servitor who shows up once a game or so. He is my character's dead brother, and she treats him as her brother. Also, she didn't really have a choice, her kinda sorta boyfriend/death god (Zyphus) offered to bring him back as a favor and there wasn't really a polite way to say no. Moderating sexual harrassment from a death god can be a challenge after all.
On the other hand, I saw a player cast Mass Cause Serious Wounds in a bar with 0 level npcs, and then animate them all with afterwords. As far I'm concerned had I been GM I would have taken him aside and given him a chance to take the action back. Had he refused I would have declared the character dead on the spot. I regret not leaving the table.
If you have an Osirian or Lantern Lodge character who is 'calling upon honored ancestors' or a summoner whose eidolon is 'her little dead sibling' who looks in on the character (from another plane the afterlife), these are reasonable character choices and are not the same as 'animating any poor shlub' as you put it.
All the Best,
Kerney
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If you have an Osirian or Lantern Lodge character who is 'calling upon honored ancestors' or a summoner whose eidolon is 'her little dead sibling' who looks in on the character (from another plane the afterlife), these are reasonable character choices and are not the same as 'animating any poor shlub' as you put it.
All the Best,
Kerney
Exactly. It's not the magic itself, it's how it's used. Speaking of which, if I was GMing a table where a guy killed a bunch of innocent commoners on purpose, just to animate them, I would have made his character irredeemably evil and unplayable in the blink of an eye. I mean, dang, that's arch-villain level evil there.
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Excellent! I hope no one was thinking I was being argumentative. I was looking for the exact same thing that Paul was. My friends will be thrilled to know they can expand the concept for the Necromancer they had.
I really hope no one thought I was being a jerk about it. Just from what we saw, our limited knowledge on PFS concepts of morality, and our own play style we thought Undead = No no.
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Well...taking your topic title literally....
I remember there was a true neutral deity in 3.5 (Evening Glory) that was all about "eternal love." A little creepy (...especially when raising things that are not humanoids), but when applied correctly could be construed as neutral. Would probably be a character that could align with Chelaxian "ideals" a lot. And if you aren't a character that needs to worship a deity, it could work.
Would be a hard character to play in PFS with a younger crowd or people who may get offended by it, though. Have to figure out a way to tone it down while still justifying it.
(And I apologize for bringing this to such a creepy note)
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Excellent! I hope no one was thinking I was being argumentative. I was looking for the exact same thing that Paul was. My friends will be thrilled to know they can expand the concept for the Necromancer they had.
I really hope no one thought I was being a jerk about it. Just from what we saw, our limited knowledge on PFS concepts of morality, and our own play style we thought Undead = No no.
Relax, it's all good. You weren't being a jerk. Hope I wasn't either.
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casting infernal healing [evil] or animate dead [evil] does not make you evil in PFS just like casting protection from evil [good] does not make you good. PFS requires more concrete rules than normal games so when the ambiguity of alignments comes up the powers that be decided to just ignore them. the only people barred from casting alignment descriptor spells are clerics/druids/inquisitors whose alignment is the opposite of the spell descriptor, as per described in those classes' descriptions.
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A good option if you want an undead companion who sticks with you is the Severed Head familiar which you can get by taking the Improved Familiar feat. Admittedly, it's a little less body than you might want, but it's pretty flavorful. My Dirge Bard is working towards getting a Severed Head of his own.
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A good option if you want an undead companion who sticks with you is the Severed Head familiar which you can get by taking the Improved Familiar feat. Admittedly, it's a little less body than you might want, but it's pretty flavorful. My Dirge Bard is working towards getting a Severed Head of his own.
Sesharan, unless the Severed Head comes from another source that I am not aware of "Pathfinder 43: Haunting of Harrowstone" it is not legal for PFS play as a Familiar according to Additional resources.
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A good option if you want an undead companion who sticks with you is the Severed Head familiar which you can get by taking the Improved Familiar feat. Admittedly, it's a little less body than you might want, but it's pretty flavorful. My Dirge Bard is working towards getting a Severed Head of his own.Sesharan, unless the Severed Head comes from another source that I am not aware of "Pathfinder 43: Haunting of Harrowstone" it is not legal for PFS play as a Familiar according to Additional resources.
............Well crap. Time to completely reselect his next four feats. Thank you for the heads up. I would've hated to have that sprung on me at a con when I was halfway through the character or something.
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or a summoner whose eidolon is 'her little dead sibling' who looks in on the character (from another plane the afterlife)
I would consider asking this character a Summoner, and giving him an Eidolon with Undead Appearance.
... Y'know, I hadn't even thought of a summoner. Question would be what appearance to give the eidolon, I know the book says it can't look like a 'common' creature.
