Necrotic Cysts are just f&*+ing crazy, and you should ban it.
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Sounds like a poor candidate for a necromancer, with the inexperience and "gimme-gimme" attitude. This is a problem player, regardless of class. Tread carefully, but remain in charge without being directly confrontational. You are the referee, and as such, the rules will play him out if you enforce them.
1. Read the many posts on necromancers that I have defended them in, and note the opposition. While collecting and reanimating minions is "normal" for the class, it cannot be done blatantly without social repercussions (or a LOT of explaining, Bluff and Diplomacy checks). He will need to use discretion, else mobs of outraged villagers are likely to burn him at the stake. Make his cool powers worth something to him by the inherent risk
2. Underpowered? Hardly. There are tons of crippling spells and combos available to an experienced necromancer, like the create undead spell that spawns everything from ghouls to devourers. Don't give him everything he wants or he'll overpower your game. Make him earn the spell he wants, listed above, at the appropriate level. His character is not underpowered, just not yet powerful enough to bowl over the GM. Yet.
3. Necrotic Cysts are D&D 3.6, yes? That can be your first restriction, as they may not prove fully balanced for Pathfinder. How are they unlimited in use? It's a 2nd level spell, am I right? How often can he cast it, and does he not have to succeed in a touch attack to deliver it?
Control your allowed content, if your newish, start simple and add options (as far as 3rd party or D&D3.5, use caution). Make players at least feel like they're responsible for solving their own power issues- want more power? Quest for it, gain experience, research spells, etc. No gimme's. Also, evil characters in a mixed aligned group usually yield difficulty.
What level are you starting/currently playing at?
What are the other players classes/alignments?
What content is permitted in your game?
What are these "Necrotic Cysts"?
I need to know because reasons.
1. I agree with Pupsocket about the cyst. I know what they are.
As for your questions, dont make any special rules for him, and I would let him know that he might get in trouble for doing too much necromancy. I am not saying go out of your way to give him trouble, but if the NPC is fairly important the friends/family might hire someone to look into the disappearance.
What are these "Necrotic Cysts"?
I need to know because reasons.
They are from 3.5. Check the Libris Mortis book.
Basically you infect the person with the cyst by using a spell IIRC, and then you can use higher level spells to affect them that do really bad things. I dont think the higher level spells get saves once they(victims) are infected, but I am not sure.
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You should certainly not let him have a homebrew animate dead that creates ghouls. If for no other reason, then because the existing spell that creates ghouls (create undead) is a 6th-level spell, while animate dead is a 3rd/4th-level spell (depending on class).
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I understand he is a player, but he has to work within the laws of the campaign world or suffer just like an NPC would. Characters in the game don't have "PC" stamped on their forehead. Let him know that any obvious wrong doing will be met with a response. In short, just put your foot down. He can play or he can leave.
There's the skeleton summoner feat.
Also, Bloody Human Skeleton is listed as an alternate summonable creature on the PFSRD. You might consider allowing it. It's on par with the other stuff on the list.
As for the Cyst spells, yeah, that's opening a big can of worms. Don't be surprised if it becomes a big issue in your game.
The description of your player raises a lot of red flags. Necromancers are sticky concepts in the best of times. In the hands of a problem player, they can become game-killers. Hope things work out for yours.
I'm a fairly open-ended DM, and if I don't see a problem with it, I'll let it slide. With this player, he seemed to simply build the character without letting me see the sheet until the night of our first game, which was last week. As for Diplomacy, his Charisma is a 16, the rank is a 3, so out of the gate it is a +9 since it is a class skill for his Wizard build.
This is an issue. Especially if all your other players are open with character creation with the GM. I can understand if this player did not want to share his sheet with the other party members; however, the GM has finally say on all character within his/her game. If he is unwilling to even allow you to look over his character sheet... that bodes ill.
I can definitely see how he is creating a schism within the group not only with his in-character actions, but with his out of character actions as well. I have to agree with the others and put it plainly to your player: Actions have consequences. If he wants to try to infect the food supply and he is found out, then the villagers will likely seek to kill him. It's fairly simple. If he has an issue with that, then perhaps he should seek out a different gaming group that's more to his playing style.
Good luck either way!
This seems more like Advice than a Rules Question, but in response to the OP's 3 questions:
1 - I don’t know your relationship with the player. If the disagreement is primarily that he considers Necromancers underpowered you might want to point out how effective his PC has been in the game.
2 - Ghouls are generally created using the 6th level Create Undead spell, so a homebrewed spell to create them should probably be 6th level too. If the PC wants ghoul minions before then he can try to find a ghoul and command it. He could even abduct NPCs (possibly enemies) and have that “seed” ghoul infect them with ghoul fever, perhaps weakening the victims with poison or magic so that they’re more likely to succumb to the disease. This sort of thing is what being an evil genius is all about.
3 - The Necrotic Cyst spell you pasted doesn’t look too bad since it allows a Fort save and has fairly limited effects. I suspect there are some higher level follow ups to it which might be problematic though. Since it is 3.5 material and you're playing Pathfinder I don't think you should be shy about banning or strongly discouraging it though. You might consider offering a small reward to the player for giving up the power, maybe a minor magic item or the chance to gain an interesting undead servant (something other than just a skeleton or zombie)
Beyond that I can't imagine why Good PCs would put up with the Necromancer and his undead minions if they're getting out of hand. I mean, we do have one campaign where people put up with my Diabolist because they're all members of the Pathfinder Society, but even then my PC is very polite and cultured and generally goes through great pains to keep his evil servants out of sight or polymorphed into more pleasing forms.
I'll echo the general sentiment of "don't let the player have his way on this". In fact, you should sit down with him and tell him he can't have the necrotic cysts, or anything else from 3.5 either. If he balks overly much based on his attitude and interaction with players and in game actions, tell him to walk. He sounds as though he is ruining the game for everybody else. If he doesn't know this, point it out. If he doesn't care, tell him not to return.
I'll echo the general sentiment of "don't let the player have his way on this". In fact, you should sit down with him and tell him he can't have the necrotic cysts, or anything else from 3.5 either. If he balks overly much based on his attitude and interaction with players and in game actions, tell him to walk. He sounds as though he is ruining the game for everybody else. If he doesn't know this, point it out. If he doesn't care, tell him not to return.Nothing from 3.5? The vast majority of the material is perfectly fine. A lot of it is better than PF material. There's nothing wrong with the DM allowing 3.5 stuff.
We could have a long discussion about "better". However, I have never had anyone ask me as a GM if they could use some of the more mundane non-overpowering things. Besides, this is Pathfinder. Not Dungeons and Dragons. Give me a compelling reason to allow it in the first place and I might consider it.
Besides, the OP never stated whether he generally allowed 3.5 material at all. Rather, he said this particularly player hid his character sheet from him until the moment play began. Seems hardly on the up and up to me.
You should certainly not let him have a homebrew animate dead that creates ghouls. If for no other reason, then because the existing spell that creates ghouls (create undead) is a 6th-level spell, while animate dead is a 3rd/4th-level spell (depending on class).
I actually find the Create Undead spell to be significantly weaker than Animate Dead, so it's not as unreasonable as it first sounds. Certainly this doesn't sound like the kind of player you want to give ground to on the home-brew front (liberal use of 3.5 material without checking in with the GM and complaining that his full-caster is "underpowered"? Give me a break), but as far as creating ghouls goes he does have a point.
If you compare the CR of Animate Dead minions compared to Create Undead for a given caster level, Animate Dead beats it by a wide margin. Sure, many of the undead on the Create Undead list can have interesting abilities, but their CR is so low that the DC's are inconsequential by the time you access them.
The one-hour casting requirement is a significant downtime impediment. Create Undead can only create low-CR monsters, so you must cast it many times over to create enough of them to be worthwhile. If you seriously have nothing better to do with your downtime than to create minions whose CR is 10 points below your caster level, then you need to pick up a crafting feat. This compares poorly to animate dead, which has a 1-round casting time and can actually be used in-combat in an emergency.
Finally, the Create Undead spell does not establish any special control over the free-willed undead it creates. This forces you to use other methods to control your undead, although a cooperative GM might let you get by with diplomacy/intimidate checks. While there may not a HD cap like animate dead, the practical constraints are much more limiting.
In this single session, he attempted to infect the food supply of the hamlet, for his own devices
This is completely incompatible with adventuring with a good-aligned party. This sort of situation is very likely to lead to inter-party conflict that will leave one or more characters dead. Unless everyone at the table is mature enough to understand and accept those risks to this RP situation, and the evil character is subtle enough so the rest of the party members don't know about it (in-character), you need to find a way to put a stop to this behavior before the situation escalates.
You make it sound as though the PC is stealthy infecting people with a necrotic cyst, how is he doing that? Verbal and somatic components and touching the target. How has he done this multiple times without arousing suspicion?
I'd have a higher level NPC notice someone that he has infected with a cyst. That NPC then tracks down the group and explains to them what their necromancer friend has done. If the PC group is okay with his tactics, then they're complicit in his evil. The higher-level NPC rallies a lynch mob and takes the necromancer (or entire party) out.
You should certainly not let him have a homebrew animate dead that creates ghouls. If for no other reason, then because the existing spell that creates ghouls (create undead) is a 6th-level spell, while animate dead is a 3rd/4th-level spell (depending on class).
I actually find the Create Undead spell to be significantly weaker than Animate Dead, so it's not as unreasonable as it first sounds. Certainly this doesn't sound like the kind of player you want to give ground to on the home-brew front (liberal use of 3.5 material without checking in with the GM and complaining that his full-caster is "underpowered"? Give me a break), but as far as creating ghouls goes he does have a point.
To me, that argument makes it even more unreasonable to homebrew an improved version of animate dead. After all, if the spell is already stronger, why make it even more powerful? :)
That said, I do agree that create undead is a relatively weaker spell in optimal circumstances, but at the same time it doesn't require the caster to find non-humanoid bodies in order to achieve stronger minions (as animate dead does).
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Ok, as a GM and a Necromancer player myself I'd have to say
a. You said yes. first mistake. that's already showing a slice of favoritism towards the player, if only to keep the peace. You knew how he played, so it isn't a big surprise he's doing the same thing in your campaign. be calm. be authoritative, and be adamant.
b. limit access to extras as a GM. If you're playing pathfinder stay pathfinder. why? because one of the big downsides to 3x is the insane power creep, and what you're probably dealing with is a 3pp who was trying to outdo what was there at the time, thus Necrotic Cysts.
Now, as a player, I would (and i like to think I'm a good player to gm for) ask you to
a. talk it out with me. If I'm being a dick at the table, I need to know. Let me know how you feel. let me know your solutions.
b. I'd say that if he's going such large scale murder and mayhem, he's likely to become the focus of a haunt (all the innocents he's murdered) and is now the locus of a veritable storm of dead souls floating in the ethereal. Start rolling chances for, oh say, a single individual to become a ghost template to start haunting him down (hehe hunting).
If you need to axe the character, do it in style.
To me, that argument makes it even more unreasonable to homebrew an improved version of animate dead. After all, if the spell is already stronger, why make it even more powerful? :)
I fully agree that this would be way too much on a single spell known, and didn't mean to imply that. Rather than homebrewing a stronger version of Animate Dead, you would homebrew a buffed version of Create Undead as a completely separate spell.
That said, I do agree that create undead is a relatively weaker spell in optimal circumstances, but at the same time it doesn't require the caster to find non-humanoid bodies in order to achieve stronger minions (as animate dead does).
Actually not as big of a limitation as you might think. Most animals have plenty of HD, great natural attacks, and high strength scores. This means they're disproportionately good for making skeletons and zombies, to the point at which a GM often needs to ad-hoc the CR upwards after applying the appropriate template (fast zombie is particularly nasty). If you have access to dire animal corpses then the Create Undead line simply never overtakes Animate Dead.
Beyond this fact, most PC's will never have any shortage of corpses of powerful monsters. For NPC's, there's a bigger problem. Any party low-level enough to be legitimately challenged by ghouls isn't powerful enough to challenge an 11th level wizard. The Create Undead spell line is flavorful, but the CR difference between the caster and the created minion is so large that it's impractical for campaign design.
In the adventure, the group encountered a group of Xvargs dwelling under the hamlet they ventured to. He decided to infect their food supply so they would eat the tainted meat and obtain cysts themselves. He wanted to place cysts on the settlement's food supply, but my campaign's magical law-enforcers kind of made him retract that idea.
What I have are a group of witch-hunters that kind of keep things in balance, so I may have a small detachment track him down, like you said.
He infected the meat using the spell posted above? Assuming that the spell description that was posted is accurate, it looks like you allowed the necromancer to use the spell in a way that it is not designed to work. You've essentially buffed the spell, making it more powerful than it should be.
Also, if a food supply was infected with necrotic cysts, I imagine it would react in a different manner than regular food - i.e. perhaps have a terrible odor, have a terrible taste, etc. Actually eating one of the cysts would probably be so foul that no one could stomach it.
Lastly, even if someone did consume a cyst-infected piece of meat, there's no guarantee that the cyst would simply travel to the eater. At bare minimum, they would receive a Fortitude save, and know immediately that they're eating some kind of poisoned/diseased/etc meat.
Sending the witch-hunters after him sounds like a good idea. If you're still in the "give him a warning" phase, then those witch-hunters should make it clear that they know what he did, and what the punishment will be if he continues. They should demonstrate in some way or another how easy it will be for them to defeat him. That should get the point across and nudge the PC necromancer back in line.
To the OP, there are a few things pointed out in the posts above and all of them are good advice. I have run several mix of alignments in groups before.
In the way you describe the situation, the Necromancer PC obviously wants to have fun with his character. Unfortunately it sounds like he is not going to be a group player. You will definitely have to put your foot down on the rules here. But there are some ways to go about it without having to totally 'out' his character.
Since the Cyst spell says clearly, (Target: Living creature touched). I would let the player know that the use of it on grain (i.e. non-living creature) was a one time thing. Alternatively let him keep thinking it does work that way, until you let him have a Spellcraft check to realize he was wrong. Remember you are the final arbiter on actions in the game. He can believe whatever he likes, it's up to you to describe how actions affect the game environment.
Also in game it is very obvious what an 'evil' spell is after it is cast. Note, classes with Spellcraft or Paladins would know this during the casting. Unless the PC has some Silent/Still Spell metamagic to get away with it, he is in for some issues with the locals/fellow players. Diplomacy and Bluff, only goes so far. Yes he can sway opinion, but it only works on NPC's (not the players), and...it is really only useful out of combat. An angry mob of locals (guards or otherwise) will attack first and ask questions later.
I see there are two good characters in the party. Chances are they know quite well what the Necromancer is. No Good character is going to be ok with his actions thus far. If he endangers the locals, make it apparent to him there will be repercussions. Playing an evil character is fine, but it needs to be more subtle in certain situations. Especially if the group he is with is not onboard with evil actions. I would not allow alterations of spells either. Stick with the rules or you won't have much to go back on afterward.