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Potentially playing in an AP, 6 person party, heavy on melee and some arcane already, some divine already.
Evil allowed, please no discussion about that.
Human, 20 point buy, 2nd level, 1000 gp.
Dhampir also very strongly considered, I really like that racial necromancer thing they got going on.
So, Necromancer is best Necromancer? Arcane or Divine?
If I go Arcane, do I go Sorc or Wiz?
If I go Divine, do I go Oracle of Bones or Cleric (Undead Master archetype?)
Also, other than Oracle of Bone for that revelation, is there any way to get an undead pet/skelly at lower level? Waiting for Animate Dead at lvl 7 (arcane) or lvl 5 (Divine, cleric) or lvl 6 (Divine, oracle) kinda sucks.
I mean sure, I could buy the scroll I guess, but if pet dies or some such, what then?
Advice please. Thanks!
A potential option, though it's less than optimal if you want to do an "army of the dead" thing at higher levels, is to make a Summoner, and give the Eidolon that evolution that makes them undead seeming, and just call yourself a necromancer. It's a much different feel, but it's the only way I can think of to have a low-level "undead" pet.
Also, if your DM allows it, one of the Carrion Crown books gives alternate summons, so a Summon monster I can summon a Bloody Human Skeleton, and Summon Monster VII allow Daughter of Urgathoa to be summoned. You might also be able to talk your DM to add some other undead to the list for levels in between. If you can convince your DM of that, you might want to consider Master Summoner, since your Eidolon shouldn't need to be too powerful, if you're going for a Necromancer feel.
If your party already is arcane heavy, go divine. Personally, I think divine casters are the better necromancers anyway. Specifically:
Undead Lord Cleric. Gets a permanent scaling Corpse Companion for free and a bunch of additional abilities that help keeping your undead army alive (or should that be "adead"?).
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Looking at it, the Undead Lord archetype for Clerics is very solid. You can have an undead pet at low levels, you are simply limited by your total levels as to its hit points. Still, it's a viable option.
I like the summoner idea too, but I also don't like the cheese that kind of calls up.
Thanks for the input! Still looking for other ideas, thanks!
If you want to rock pets, go Divine.
If you want to sling spells, go Arcane.
Personally I'm a fan of the Wizard version of the Necromancer, especially in a group that's already 6 big (adding pet actions to that gets... tedious).
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Both the Undead Lord cleric and the Gravewalker witch get a single undead companion available from level one. The cleric's reaching up to their hit die, and the witch reaching up to their caster level. The witch gets most of the requisite spells for animating and commanding from their patron, so that's a little less to worry about.
To be honest, I'm surprised that I don't see more people interested in Gravewalker witches. They have full spell progression, hexes, can deliver touch spells at range through their human-flesh voodoo doll familiar without risking it's safety, they get a scaling slot for commanding undead which is similar to channeling to command, they have access to all of the vital spells, along with an ability to spam desecrate at no cost. Adding to all of that, their Bonethrall is tied to their caster level, not class level, so you can easily mix it up with prestige classes like Mystic Theurge or Bloatmage without losing the progression of your companion. You end up with all of the required abilities to fill up an undead army, including animate dead as a third level spell instead of the wizard's fourth, combined with all of a Witches normal ability to debuff and disable opponents.