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Couple weeks ago I saw a guy trying to run an undead animating PC in PFS games. He’s not very high level yet 4 or 5, but he seemed to be having a very hard time of it. I don’t know any details about his build. He wasn’t at my table, I just overheard what a struggle it has been for him. I have been considering one myself, and I’m wondering if I should drop the concept.
Issues I am aware of:
1) Can’t be evil.
2) Paladin (or some other PC’s) may have a problem with an animator in the group.
3) I’m told the best 2 archtypes for this are not allowed in PFS.
4) Can’t already have an animated anything with you at the start of a scenario. So mostly all you will have to animate is the humans that you kill in the first fight. The good monsters will probably only be your last fight where you needed the special undead.
5) Expensive to keep animating things since you can’t keep any of them.
For item 1), most of my characters are good anyway. A fairly amoral/mercenary neutral would be a decent change of pace for me. But I wouldn’t want to run an evil in PFS even if I could.
For item 2), I have enough PC’s that if any of the other PC’s seem likely to have a problem, I will just run something else. Not a problem.
Have you seen a successful animator in PFS? How did they get around or deal with items 3), 4), and 5) with their PC’s?
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It's too late for the playtest now, but if you wait for Occult Mysteries, the occultist playtest has some decent options. The Necromancy implement class allowed you to have a permanent undead familiar, increases the HD you can control, and animate skeletons that advance in abilities as you level.
Shall we take bets on whether it ends up being PFS legal? =)
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Undeath subschool Necromancer Wizards are still legal, so you've got that going for you. They're pretty solid. If you're concerned about recurring costs and are willing to spend a feat, False Focus can cover your material costs up to 100gp for any spell by waving an equivalent cost divine focus at it.
If you play any character focused on one subset of possible monsters, even if it is a common one like undead, you're going to have limitations. The key, though, is that a wizard is not particularly limited because of their spell choices. Magic Jars on the high end, Cause Fear and other similar utility on the low end, and you can keep plenty of great schools around, too.
I haven't played, but the theorycraft is solid enough and there's even a Necromancer guide for PFS that's floated around.
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Undeath subschool Necromancer Wizards are still legal, so you've got that going for you. ...
{sigh} I suppose. But wizard is my least favorite class to play. All the crap of a prepared caster plus the hassle of a spell book, just to use your primary ability.
I'd much prefer a cleric, oracle, or sorcerer if at all possible.
... If you play any character focused on one subset of possible monsters, even if it is a common one like undead, you're going to have limitations. ...
Agreed. It sounded like the guy at the other table had more than that. His animated creatures were too weak to do anything other than absorb a single hit. He felt like his character was almost always not contributing and useless except for some skill checks. He was talking about just dropping and not playing that character any longer.
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I would suggest focusing on the Skeletal Summons feat. That way you can summon undead for free, rather than have to animate corpses and pay lots of gold, and not get to keep them. And any class with access to summon spells can do it.
Maybe Summoner? You could make your eidilon look like undead, and there might some evolutions that add undead like traits.
I never considered that approach.
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I've played alongside and GM'd for a player with a cleric necromancer in PFS. No Blood Money, just straight-up casting Animate Dead and paying for it out of pocket. It's an absolute monster in any scenario with decent monsters in the first fight or so; somewhat disadvantaged if just fighting numerous humanoids with class levels, of course.
Anecdote: In one infamous dungeon-delving module it is possible to fight the frankly horrifying final boss as the second encounter; after they defeated it, he then animated this boss and rampaged throughout the rest of the dungeon with it.
Although while this player hasn't done it, you can always animate hordes of humanoid enemies as Burning Skeletons and basically use them as "bombs" so they'll be effective even at higher levels (albeit not versus things with fire resistance).
If the "other guy" in question is playing a Wizard necromancer, he might be suffering due to the fact that wizards cannot use actual Animate Dead until 7th level, as it is a 4th level spell for him; while Lesser Animate Dead is much weaker, being able to animate only a single target at a time with no templating.
Consider the fact that while PETA might throw paint at you, if you're desperate to start with an undead buddy in each scenario you can throw a few hundred gold at a purchasable animal and "convert" them at any time.
Also consider that if you're strapped for cash or unable to use Blood Money, you could buy onyx worth 750 GP using 2 prestige, which will animate anything up to 30 hit dice. Alternatively, you could buy two 150 GP onyx gems for 1 prestige each, good for two castings of up to 6 HD each.
