Hey guys! So I am trying my best to come up with a good necromancer prestige class that gives a little more punch than anything that is out there right now. So i have a work in progress and i am looking for some criticism and feedback. This is actually for my big bad guy but how balanced would this be if a player were to try it?
Ultimate Necromancer 10 level prestige
Class Details
Progression:
Attack Bonus: Sorcerer
Saves: Sorcerer
Hit Die: d8
Requirements: To become an Ultimate Necromancer, a character must fulfill all of the following criteria.
Alignment: Any Evil
Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 10 ranks, Knowledge (religion) 10 ranks.
Spells: Must be able to cast animate dead.
Class Skills
The Ultimate Necromancer’s class skills (and the key abilities for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Spellcraft (Int), Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class Features
The following are class features of the lord of the dead prestige class.
Weapon and Armour Proficiency:
Lords of the dead gain no new proficiencies with any armour or weapons.
Spells per Day
When a Ultimate Necromancer gains a level, he gains new spells per day as if he had also gained a level in a spell casting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. This essentially means that he adds the level of Ultimate Necromancer to the level of whatever other spell casting class he has, then determines spells per day and caster level accordingly. If the character had more than one spell casting class before he became a Ultimate Necromancer, he must choose which class he adds each lord of the dead level to for the purpose of determining spells per day.
Aligned Class (Ex)
At 1st level, the Ultimate Necromancer must choose a class he belonged to before adding the prestige class to be his aligned class. He gains all the class features for this class, essentially adding every Ultimate Necromancer level beyond 1st to his aligned class to determine what class features he gains. He still retains the Hit Dice, base attack bonus, saving throw bonuses, and skill ranks of the prestige class, but gains all other class features of his aligned class as well as those of the Ultimate Necromancer prestige class.
Necropolitan (Ex)
An Ultimate Necromancer gains a bonus equal to his Ultimate Necromancer level (minimum +1) on Diplomacy and Knowledge checks regarding undead creatures. Because of his obsessive focus on the undead, he takes a –2 penalty when attempting such checks regarding living creatures.
One With Death (Ex)
A Ultimate Necromancer lives at the intersection of life and death. At 2nd level, a living Ultimate Necromancer only receives half damage from negative energy, while an undead one takes half damage from positive energy.
Inspired Necromancy (Ex)
Starting at 2nd level, when determining the maximum number of Hit Dice of undead he can control with spells like animate dead, a character counts his Ultimate Necromancer levels twice. This ability does not factor into how many undead he can create with a single casting of a spell. Thus, a cleric 7/Ultimate Necromancer 3 would be able to control 52 Hit Dice worth of undead with Animate Dead.
Spawn Mastery (Su)
At 3rd level, whenever a Ultimate Necromancer would create a free-willed undead, that undead is instead under the Ultimate Necromancer’s control. A Ultimate Necromancer can control up to 4 HD of undead per Ultimate Necromancer level in this manner. Excess undead are free-willed unless previously controlled undead are released. If there is class feature from another class that might enhance his HD per caster level (as per Aligned Class), then this limit also increases. This is also modified by the Undead Mastery class feature.
Undead Mastery:
All undead creatures created by a Ultimate Necromancer of at least 3rd level gain a +2 enhancement bonus to Strength and Dexterity and 1 additional hit point per Hit Die. In addition, the Ultimate Necromancer adds his Spell Casting Modifier to the limit for controlling undead creatures created by the Animate Dead spell.
At 6th level this bonus increases to +4 Strength and Dexterity, +2 hit points per hit die and the Ultimate Necromancer adds 1.5 Spell Casting modifier to each caster level of his control limit.
At 9th level this bonus increases to +6 Strength and Dexterity, +3 hit points per HD and the Ultimate Necromancer adds twice his Spell Casting modifier to the number of HD of undead per caster level that she can control.
One with Death, Greater (Ex)
At 4th level, the energies that govern the well being of the Ultimate Necromancer become even more ineffective. The Ultimate Necromancer no longer takes damage from harmful Negative or Positive Energy. However if Channel Energy is used for another effect (such as healing or Turn Undead) it still takes effect. Only harmful energies are blocked by this feature.
Undead Manipulator (Ex)
At 4th level, the Ultimate Necromancer gains great insight into the minds and necromantic forces controlling undead creatures. An Ultimate Necromancer’s spells and spell-like abilities with mind-affecting effects treat undead creatures as their original type. Thus, an Ultimate Necromancer can use charm person against a humanoid zombie or confusion against a horde of skeletal champions.
Negative Energy Conduit (Ex)
At 5th level, an Ultimate Necromancer bolsters undead around him. As a standard action, an Ultimate Necromancer manifests an aura identical to the desecrate spell, except this foul aura has a duration of 10 minutes per level. An Ultimate Necromancer can use this ability once per day. In addition, any undead the Ultimate Necromancer creates is treated as having been created within the area of a desecrate spell.
Truly One with Death (Ex)
At 7th level, whenever an Ultimate Necromancer would be affected by harmful energies, he instead heals for 1/2 the damage dealt.
Death’s Shroud (Su)
At 6th level, he learns how to cloak his true intentions, gaining the ability to use nondetection or undetectable alignment once per day. The caster level for this ability is equal to the Ultimate Necromancer’s highest caster level.
Secrets of Death (Ex)
At 8th level, an Ultimate Necromancer gains new insights into the dark arts of necromancy. At the time he gains this ability, the character may add a number of necromancy spells that are not normally a part of his class’s spell list to his spell list. The number of spells that the character may add is equal to his Spell Casting modifier. For example, an Ultimate Necromancer with levels of wizard might choose to add spells like death watch, inflict critical wounds, and slay living to his spell list, while an Ultimate Necromancer with levels of cleric might choose to add spells such as enervation, magic jar, and vampiric touch. An Ultimate Necromancer may choose to add spells he cannot yet cast—this does not allow the Ultimate Necromancer to cast spells of a higher level than he normally could, but rather merely grants him access to those spells when he reaches the level required to cast them.
Undeath Initiate (Ex)
At 10th level, an Ultimate Necromancer has prepared his body and mind for the transition into undeath. He gains a +5 bonus on any ability check, skill check, or saving throw related to the process of transforming into an undead creature. This bonus can be used on any check related to becoming a creature like a lich (the process of which is largely left up to the GM’s discretion). Additionally, if slain by an undead creature with the create spawn ability, the agent of death retains his Intelligence (regardless of the type of undead he is transformed into) and free will (he is never under the control of the creature that killed him). Unless otherwise noted by the undead creature’s create spawn ability, the newly created undead Ultimate Necromancer loses all of his class levels. This makes transformation into a lich and vampire among the most appealing options for an Ultimate Necromancer seeking undeath.