Well, I've got a kinda personality worked out for this guy. He doesn't animate undead, because that would be just wrong. Everyone knows that. But well... If someone else has already animated them, it would be wasteful to not make as much use of them as possible before destroying them.
In my experience, undead seem to be one of the most common opponent types in PF games. Even if they are not a focus of the campaign, they almost always pop up now and then. They are one of the most classic bad guys at all levels.
Also, the school of necromancy has some of the most interesting (in my opinion) attack spells. Enfeeblement, chill touch, enervation, bestow curse, blindness, etc... There are lots of ways to inflict energy or weapon damage. But not nearly as many ways to give an opponent all the conditions in the necromancy school.
A lot of groups will not work well with an animating necromancer. I can understand that form the ick factor if nothing else. But I think I can make the case of using up the ones that are already existing on suicide tasks. When there aren't any around, why then I have the whole necromancy school of debuffs.
Does this work out ok in actual practice? Have you tried it or seen it done?
Haven't even started on a build yet. I prefer arcane over divine, but not completely opposed to divine. Any recommendations?
... It's best that ONLY the GM knows from the start that you are a Necromancer. Let the others think that you are just a Wizard. ...
Oh yeah. That would make it even more fun to play.
... you'll still need Illusion spells to make your controlled undead look human if you decide to take them into settlements and encampments. Once you do have a sizable force they make for good meatshields ...
I don't know that I would try to keep that many going at once. I was more thinking along the lines of just grabbing what comes along and letting them be meatshields and get killed in the next couple of fights.
... and healing batteries.
I almost missed this part. How can they be healing batteries?
Make him a strictly consensual necromancer. He only animates dead bodies who have given written consent to their remains being animated prior to their death. He offers cash to their families in compensation. He views it as simply a more extreme form of organ donation.
Hiding it from the group would be a mistake. Hide it from the characters, maybe, but characters that deal in controlling undead are far enough from the norm in Pathfinder that it's very easy for someone to build a character that would be in direct conflict with yours. You don't want to show up at the table with this guy and someone else has written up a Pharasman cleric. If that happens, the cleric is the one who's in the right, full stop, because the cleric will fit in any standard party.
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Make him a strictly consensual necromancer. He only animates dead bodies who have given written consent to their remains being animated prior to their death. He offers cash to their families in compensation. He views it as simply a more extreme form of organ donation.
Having him be a Corpse Trader from Kaer Maga would be flavorful for this build.
Every time someone questions him about his practices, just pull out a contract. Profession (Barrister) for added emphasis.
The ability to command but not animate undead is extremely useful for, say, a necromancer who worships Anubis or Pharasma or has a similar "binding dead souls to dead flesh is morally wrong" mentality. Turning the vengeful dead upon their tormentors and then releasing them to return to the afterlife seems completely in character to me.
Having them tag along because "otherwise it's wasteful", on the other hand, would not be in keeping with such a character--if you're okay with using the creatures' souls while they're already being tied up and/or tormented via existence as undead, how is that any different from doing it yourself?
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Having them tag along because "otherwise it's wasteful", on the other hand, would not be in keeping with such a character--if you're okay with using the creatures' souls while they're already being tied up and/or tormented via existence as undead, how is that any different from doing it yourself?
I'm going for a guy that is deceiving himself as much as anyone else. Trying to convince himself that at least he isn't as evil as those guys. He is going to release them after all. Just as soon as they're used up.
That would totally work then. : D Especially if you went arcane, oracle, or a reluctant N cleric of an evil deity/demon lord like Asmodeus. (While Asmodeus isn't particularly inclined toward undead, he is definitely inclined toward rationalizing oneself into damnation.)
Probably arcane. Unless the campaign has a particular focus, I often have a bit of trouble wrapping my head around playing a devout character without becoming a zealot that just annoys the rest of the party.
Oddly enough, 2 of the last 3 campaigns I have played in actually had that sort of focus. So I ended up playing divine casters.
Therefore my natural inclination and just wanting something different are pushing me toward arcane caster builds.
I tend to play necromancers as fatalists that don't want to waste anything. Maybe they grew up poor or surrounded by death, or maybe they're just incredibly practical. They can have connections to living people, but bodies are just meat and bones. The one that I thought up was an elf who'd been pushed out of his home by a demonic raid. He had a strict code around undead- no undead's existence is worth a mortal life, he didn't raise honorable enemies, and he didn't ever use the remains of humanoid creatures as servants.
In general, animated dead in Pathfinder are only useful if you've got a ton of onyx laying around and find something big and strong to raise (like a dragon or huge animal).
You can play a perfectly serviceable necromancer by just focusing on debuffs and normal wizard stuff. Mine carries around a staff that can cast animate dead so that he can zap things if the chance arises.
In terms of function... you can never really go wrong with a full 9 level caster, whether cleric, wizard, gravewalker witch, or juju/bones oracle. I took Spell Focus (necromancy), several crafting feats to spam items, and some wizard discoveries (opposition research is great).