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Hey all, my goal here is to make a usable Dread Necromancer conversion from 3.5 to Pathfinder. I'm hoping to gather advice to further balance the character and notice any mechanical problems that I may have overlooked.
First, here is a link to the original class.
http://dndtools.eu/classes/dread-necromancer/
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D6 hit dice
1/2 base attack bonus progression
2+int skills points
Class skills: Bluff, Craft, Disguise, Intimidate, Knowledge Arcana, Knowledge Religion, Linguistics, Profession, Spellcraft, Stealth.
Dread necromancers have good Will saves
The Dread Necromancer is Proficient with light armor but not shields and thus does not suffer from the normal arcane spell failure while wearing it. If a dread necromancer wears medium or heavy armor, or uses a shield, she incurs the same chance of arcane spell failure as any other arcane caster if the spell in question has a somatic component.
To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the wizard must have an Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a Dread Necromancer's spell is 10 + the spell level + the Dread Necromancer's Charisma modifier.
Starting Spells: A dread necromancer begins play knowing Read Magic, and Detect Magic as 1st level spells as well as any two of their choice from his spell list.
Each time a character attains a new Dread Necromancer level, he gains two spells of his choice to add to his spells known. The two free spells must be of spell levels he can cast or lower.
A Dread Necromancer has the same spells per day advancement as a wizard.
Level 1
bane
cause fear
chill touch
detect magic
detect undead
doom
hide from undead
Ray of enfeeblement
Undetectable alignment
level 2
blindness/Deafness
Command undead
Darkness
Death knell
false life
Gentle Repose
Ghoul touch
Inflict moderate wounds
scare
spectral hand
Summon Swarm
level 3
Crushing dispair
halt undead
inflict serious wounds
ray of exhausten
speak with dead
vamperic touch
level 4
animate dead
bestow curse
black tentecals
contagion
deathward
dispel magic
enervation
fear
Giant vermin
inflict critical wounds
phatasmal killer
poison
level 5
blight
cloud kill
greater dispel magic
boiling blood
inflict light wounds mass
insect plague
nightmare
oath of blood-deleted
lesser plainer binding
slay living
undeath to death
unhollow
waves of fatigue
level 6
acid fog
antilife shell
circle of death
eyebite
Geas
harm
mass inflict moderate wounds
planar binding
waves of exhaustion
level 7
control undead
destruction
finger of death
mass inflict serious wounds
song of discord
level 8
create Greater undead
Horrid wilting
mass inflict critical wounds
symbol of death
unholy aura
level 9
Energy Drain
wail of the banshee
Soul bind
cursed earth
canopic conversion
1: Lich's Touch, Command Undead
2: Lich body
3: Negative Energy Burst
4: Advanced Learning
5: Fear Aura
6: Scabrous Touch
7: Corpse Companion
8: Undead Mastery
9: Negative energy Resistance
10: Light Fortification
11:
12: Enervating Touch
13:
14:
15:
16:
17:
18:
19: Craft Wondrous Item
20: Lich Transformation
Detailed Class Features
At 1st level, the Dread Necromancer becomes a conduit for negative energy and the chill powers of death, allowing him to make a melee touch attack dealing 1d6 points of damage from negative energy per every other level of the Dread Necromancer class he attains with a Will Save of 10+ 1/2 Dread Necromancer level + Charisma Modifier for half damage. This ability allows him to heal undead minions, and himself upon attaining the negative energy affinity ability at 7th level. He can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma bonus.
The spectral hand spell enables a dread necromancer to deliver a Lich’s Touch attack from a distance.
Starting at 2nd level, a dread necromancer begins her journey into undeath. The first symptom is her body's increased resilience to physical harm. She gains DR 2/bludgeoning and magic.
At level 4 her body becomes more attune with the undead granting her a +2 on saving throws to resist disease, exhaustion, fatigue, paralysis, poison, and sleep.
This DR increases in effectiveness to DR 4 at 7th level and she also becomes so attune with the undead she gains Negative Energy Affinity suffering all of the positives and negatives associated with it.
At 12th level her resistances strengthen from +2 to +4 and her DR increases to 6.
At 16th Level The Dread Necromancer Becomes truly one with the undead. Spells that affect undead or spells that have specific effects on undead (such as Command Undead, Halt Undead, and searing Light) affect the Dread Necromancer as if she were undead. Her DR increases to DR 8. She Gains Immunity to disease, exhaustion, fatigue, paralysis, poison, and sleep. The Dread Necromancer also taps into his conviction to bolster his health, the character loses any hit points gained or lost from constitution modifier and they are immediately replaced with his charisma modifier. This change does not affect fortitude saves or skills or any check that uses Constitution.
Beginning at 3rd level, a dread necromancer gains the ability to emit a burst of negative energy from her body, harming living creatures within 5 feet of her. This burst deals 1d4 points of damage per class level. A successful Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 her class level + Cha modifier) reduces damage by half. Undead creatures within this burst are healed the same amount of hit points as the damage she deals to living creatures The Dread Necromancer may choose to be in the blast or not. A Dread Necromancer can use this ability once per day at 3rd level, and one additional time per day for every five levels she attains beyond 3rd (2/day at 8th level, 3/day at 13th level, and 4/day at 18th level).
At 4th level, a Dread Necromancer can add a new spell to her list, representing the result of personal study and experimentation. The spell must be a cleric, witch, or wizard spell of the necromancy school, and of a level no higher than that of the highest-level spell the dread necromancer already knows. Once a new spell is selected, it is added to that dread necromancer's spell list and can be cast just like any other spell she knows. If a spell is on multiple spell list, use the lower of the spell levels (when different) to determine what level the spell is for a dread necromancer. A dread necromancer gains an additional new spell at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th level.
Beginning at 5th level, a dread necromancer radiates a 5-foot-radius fear aura as a free action. Enemies in the area must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 her class level + her Cha modifier) or become shaken. A creature who successfully saves cannot be affected by that dread necromancer's fear aura for 24 hours.
Starting at 6th level, once per day a dread necromancer can use her Lich’s Touch to inflict disease on a creature she touches. This ability works like the contagion spell, inflicting the disease of her choice immediately, with no incubation period, unless the target makes a successful Fortitude save (DC10 + 1/2 her class level + her Cha modifier). The DC for subsequent saving throws to resist the effects of the disease depends on the disease inflicted.
Activating this class feature is a swift action. The effect lasts until the dread necromancer makes a successful Lich’s Touch attack. The spectral hand spell enables a dread necromancer to deliver a scabrous touch attack from a distance.
A dread necromancer can use this ability once per day at 6th level, twice per day at 11th level, and three times per day at 16th level.
With a ritual requiring 8 hours, an undead lord can animate a single skeleton or zombie whose Hit Dice do not exceed her Dread Necromancer level. This corpse companion automatically follows her commands and does not need to be controlled by her. She cannot have more than one corpse companion at a time. It does not count against the number of Hit Dice of undead controlled by other methods. She can use this ability to create a variant skeleton such as a bloody or burning skeleton, but its Hit Dice cannot exceed half her Dread Necromancer level. She can dismiss her companion as a standard action, which destroys it.
All undead creatures created by a Dread Necromancer who has reached 8th level or higher gain a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength and Dexterity and 2 additional hit points per Hit Die.
In addition, when a Dread Necromancer uses the animate dead spell to create undead, she can control 4 + her Charisma bonus HD worth of undead creatures per class level (rather than the 4 HD per level normally granted by the spell).
Similarly, when a dread necromancer casts the control undead spell, the spell targets up to (2 + her Cha bonus) HD/level of undead creatures, rather than the 2 HD/level normally granted by the spell.
Beginning at 9th level, a dread necromancer gains a +4 bonus on saving throws made to resist negative energy effects, including energy drain, some ability drain, and inflict spells.
Starting at 10th level, a dread necromancer gains 25% resistance to critical hits; this is the equivalent of the light fortification armor special ability described on page 219 of the Dungeon Master's Guide. At 17th level, this fortification increases to 50%.
When a dread necromancer reaches 12th level, she gains the ability to bestow negative levels when she uses her Lich’s Touch attack. Each day, she can bestow a total number of negative levels equal to one-half her class level, but no more than two negative levels with a single touch. The saving throw to remove the negative levels has a DC of 10 + 1/2 her class level + her Charisma modifier.
Activating this class feature is a swift action. The effect lasts until she makes a successful Lich’s Touch attack.
A dread necromancer can use the Spectral Hand spell to deliver this attack from a distance.
Beginning at 17th level, the number of negative levels a dread necromancer can bestow per day increases to equal her class level.
At 19th level, the dread necromancer gains Craft Wondrous Item as a bonus feat. This helps her prepare the phylactery required to become a lich.
When a Dread Necromancer attains 20th level, she undergoes a hideous transformation and becomes a lich. Her type changes to undead, and she gains all the traits of the undead. She no longer has a Constitution score, all of her existing Hit Dice become d12's, and she must reroll her hit points. A dread necromancer need not pay experience points or gold to create her phylactery.
A dread necromancer who is not humanoid does not gain this class feature.
Remember feedback is much appreciated!
Shameless self bump!
It really couldn't be that no one on this board has an opinion on this, right?
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I would suggest for the "Lich Transformation" ability make it more like pathfinder to gain charisma for HP and not to change the Hit die. Also remember that in pathfinder crafting does not cost XP. The negative energy burst seems like the normal use of channel negative energy so the necromancer could gain the full use of the ability then. Also the HD may better be a D8 to suit the undead and the HP increase of pathfinder.
I loved this class in 3.5 and would be happy to see it in pathfinder.
Thank you Falcar! I simply forgot to take out the experience part all together so that was just my error. I do agree that the Lich transformation should get the D8 hit dice so that will be changed in the final draft. In fact I'll probably just change it to where they get the lich template at none of the cost.
Channeling negative energy as a cleric was something I did contemplate but I personally thought that would give this class a little too much. The difference being blasting 10d6 of negative energy 3 + cha a day (around 12-16 at level 20) or a straight 20d4 in a much smaller burst of 5ft radius just 3 times a day should be plenty for a class that already gets so much.
The d6 hit dice was also a precaution to help the class from being too strong. After a little bit of math I figure if you min-max charisma you can have 345HD of undead under your control at level 19(432 as a level 20 lich). To put it in perspective a cleric of level 20 would only be able to control 96hd.
Given the fact at level 16 he gets to use his charisma to HP instead of his con, d6 sounded lenient.
On second thought seems how the Level 19 min-max Dread necromancer above would be netting a cool 228hp from charisma, maybe he should get d8 and just lose the charisma to hp, at least until he's a full lich anyways...
D8 would be better for the lich transformation.
Beyond the fact the 3.5 version lacked, is their any reason why dread necro's should get cantrips? They are a full spell progress, 9th spell level caster. The lack of the summon dead spells seem to be major hole in their low level casting. Also they learn spells like sorcs do but have a really small list. The 3.5 dread necro learned all there spells automatically.As it it's using this werid hybrid of Wizard and Sorc casting.
I'm thinking Lich's touch shouldn't offer a saving throw. As it stands given that it has limited uses per day, requires a melee touch attack or casting a spell, and the dmg 1d6/2 levels i just don't think it is a needed drawback.
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Good points Ulfsarker! For the cantrips I was thinking the fact they get a martial weapon of their choice and light armor proficiency with no spell failure it would balance out a little more even. Yes you won't be able to start off with prestidigitation but you can start with an extra +4 AC without having to cast a spell and a more than handy martial weapon.
I did also consider giving them summon monster but in the end I decided to drop it due to combat management worries later on. I also felt that they would be able to carry themselves fairly well early on with the aforementioned extra Ac and most likely a martial reach weapon. I did however accidentally delete the fact that they get inflict light wounds as a first level spell. I also think it might be a good idea to go ahead and give them lesser animate dead as a second level spell to help close that gap.
Figuring out a balancing way to even out their spellcasting was a little tricky. I wanted them to maintain the spontaneous casting from 3.5 while making it to where they couldn't out blast the sorcerers when they get more damaging spells. If I were to keep them as they were they would be more versatile than a wizard as soon as they gained a new spell level as well as being as devastating as a sorcerer when it comes to flinging them. I figured my fix would be more appealing seems how they gain their new spell level 1 class level earlier than before while limiting how blasty they can be. I did mean to have inflict light wounds as a 1st level spell and lesser animate dead as a 2nd level spell
Honestly, now that you mention it, I think you're absolutely right about lich's touch not needing a saving throw.
TLDR armor and martial weapon proficiency, in my opinion, balance lack of cantrips and boost survibability greatly. Lesser animate dead as a 2nd level spell should mend most of that hole at low levels. Spellcasting is the way it is to insure wizards and sorcerers keep their niches. Lich's touch does not need saving throw.
Also I've decided that light fortification is a little out of place in this class, seems how most undead no longer receive it, and have decided to remove it completely.
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List of changes
Hit Dice is now a d8
Lich's touch no longer has a saving throw.
At level 16 the Dread Necromancer does not get to replace constitution with charisma when calculating max HP.
Dread Necromancer no longer gets Light fortification or its improvement at levels 10 and 17.
Lich Transformation now only applies lich Template to character at no material cost.
Inflict Light Wounds added as a 1st level spell.
Lesser Animate Dead added as a 2nd level spell.
Hmm, one of the major selling points of the 3.5 class was the fact that it got it's entire list as spells known. This was balanced by the fact that it had a really focused list. Also update the list of when are gained to include when upgrades to abilities or more uses per day are gained. Light armor is admittedly quite nice to have, but the martial weapon is honestly kinda just gravy, and Det magic and read magic are really hard to justify as 1st level spells.