Mystic Theurge Necromancer

[zKonz]

Hey guys,

I'm playing a Necromancer that I plan to head towards the MT track. (I know people are going to say don't do it, but I've got my reasons.)

What I'm trying to pitch to my DM would be a feat that would allow me to combine my arcane and divine spell caster classes into the same HD pool I have to control undead. I agree that there are two different pools. Even if the HD totals end up being to an equal amount as a single caster class, they have much lower HD ceilings. It keeps a Necromancer from getting control of over some big skeletons/zombies. So here are my rough drafts:

Necromatic Theurgy
Preq: Theurgy (feat), Spell Focus (Necromancy), (maybe a required MT level?)

When determining the maximum number of Hit Dice of undead he can control with spells like Animate Undead, a character can combine all appropriate spell casting class levels.

I'm suggesting "spell casting class levels" for two reasons: 1) My necromancer is going to dip into Agent of the Grave and their Inspired Necromancy class feature counts their AotG class level twice 2) I didn't want to go with combined caster level because that would mean the MT caster level pool would grow twice as fast which seems a little OP.

Improved Necromatic Theurgy
Preq: Necromatic Theurgy, Theurgy (feat), Spell Focus (Necromancy), Command Undead, (def a required MT level - 7th level maybe?)

When determining the maximum number of Hit Dice of undead he can control with Command Undead feat, a character can combine all appropriate spell casting class levels.

It just seems crazy to me that if you prestige class as MT and are studying necromancy from the Divine AND Arcane that your Command Undead Feat would actually stall out in its power. I can see the Channel Energy dice not getting any stronger, but there should be a way to control more undead. Is that crazy?

Would love some feedback! Thanks!

[zKonz]

Any thoughts out there on this? Or has anyone else come up with any suggestions on how to get the arcane/divine pools combined?

Thanks!

[Dasrak]

zKonz wrote:

What I'm trying to pitch to my DM would be a feat that would allow me to combine my arcane and divine spell caster classes into the same HD pool I have to control undead.

It already works this way. Arcane caster level and Divine caster level are two different things. You can control up to 4 HD of undead per caster level. If you have 9 arcane caster levels and 7 divine caster levels, you have 16 caster levels in total.

[LordKailas]

So, for the 1st feat there are different interpretations for how animate dead from different classes stack. Some feel you have 1 pool and others feel you have multiple pools. Following the 1st interpretation the feat does nothing. In the 2nd interpretation it feels underwhelming since it only makes a difference if you're trying to have 1 powerful undead instead of several. At the very least its pre-reqs need to be easier. Spell focus is a feat tax for necromancers that focus on minions.

The second feat seems quite useful, but i would hate to see it locked behind the mystic therge prestige class. My last necromancer was a cleric/pathfinder savant and it would if been nice if my command undead ability had been able to progress along with my spellcasting. As soon as you add a class requirement to a feat it becomes limiting since only certain builds can take it w/o being taxed for it.

[zKonz]

Thanks for the ideas Kailas. Dasrak, I appreciate the input, but I've seen a lot of posts about the fact they really should be separate pools.

My thought on the second one is about trying to separate the Channeling from the spell casting. I can see how the damage/healing wouldn't get better when I progress in a prestige class like MT, but I was hoping the HD I control would keep progressing like you had mention Kailas. Do you think it would be too OP if I combined the two feats or should they stay separated? I'm thinking about keeping the class requirement since I think my DM would want to see a reason why it should be based of character HD and not cleric/necro levels respectively. Any other suggestions on pre-reqs?