So, the first step for the playtest will be me building out my character from Blood Lords who was a non-caster necromancer.
Vin Barlow was a gnoll from the Mana Wastes sick of just scraping by and living off whatever nasty creatures could be hunted down and burned into some semblance of edibility. He moved to Geb and got some work with the construction guild. Clandestinely, he started performing rituals to tie his hammer to the construction projects themselves, drawing out the secrets the stones held in them. It was enough to make him quite knowledgeable and a passable ritualist. Filled with questionable notions of the gnoll rulers of the area predating Nex and Geb's arrival, he sought to obtain a life of luxury, attended by undead servants and eating inexpensive food prepared by immortal chefs with centuries of experience. After an untimely death, he got an off-the-books resurrection from the Church of Zon-Kuthon in exchange for his worship (however transactional). He'd impressed them earlier with his ability to make undead feel pain. The secrets of the stones shifted to secrets of the shadows, and he mostly paid his debts by inflicting pain rather than enduring it.
Vin was a Thaumaturge (weapon implement primary) with Undead Master free archetype. Wide-ranging knowledge thanks to Diverse Lore, some undead creation rituals, and a scorpion whip reflavored to a spiked chain. His undead mount was four skeletons carrying a throne, reflavored from zombie mount because skeletal mount is way too fragile for combat.
This isn't a particularly one-to-one rebuild, because Vin's build was the best workaround I could do at the time. The overarching goal is one of hedonistic luxury and undead minions to boss around.
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As a Necromancer proper, Vin would be Int-based instead of Cha, which means grabbing Courtly Graces to still fill similar social roles. Undead Lore puts in a lot of work in the campaign, along with Society and Occultism. Int base works better with kholo than Cha, so he gets a free Str boost at the expense of Wis- fine by me.
1st level:
Grim Fascination: Bone Shaper. Zombies make for unsightly and unhygienic servants, and spirits can't do much. That gives one focus spell, Fleet, and the thralls have a 30% survival rate for AoEs. Well, for one of them to survive at any rate. We get Undead Lore (equivalent to a good background selection at this level), and we can damage undead with void spells. Will need GM permission to use this feature in Geb, because it says that it does vital damage instead, which is illegal, but that's probably fine.
So how does level one look? Well, we can make a d6 attack at thirty feet, which is like a weak Kineticist. We have one focus spell which is a fifteen foot line from a thrall. It's an attack roll, so... we really don't want to use it on the same round we summon. It's a d8 instead of a d6. That feels so bad, I might rethink the subclass choice entirely, just like I had to go with zombies instead of skeletons for the mount in the old build.
What else do we have? One prepared spell per day, and cantrips. Uff, level one feels bad. Let's go look at zombies... We get Toughness, an equally good feat. Thralls leave difficult terrain. The focus spell reduces movement, immobilizes, or grapples on a crit fail. Unfortunately, these all end with a single point of damage. Trading two/three actions for one attack action? Ehhh... maybe. Looks like level one is just going to suck regardless. It really feels like Necrotic Bomb should be a freebie so you have a good, reliable option.
Combat cantrips need to be save-based, so that'll be Void Warp and Haunting Hymn. GM permission will be needed to target undead with Void Warp.
2nd level:
As a focus-point class, I need something good to do with my focus points. Bone Speaker or Conceal Spell would be thematic and fun, but I just can't afford to go until fourth level with a bad focus spell and a pool size of one. Necrotic Bomb is some good save-based damage with a useful shape. It's weird that Mastery of Life and Death isn't optional- if I'm an undead necromancer detonating a thrall next to me, I have to damage myself.
With the addition of the second focus spell, the class seems more where it needs to be. Vin can summon a thrall, have it attack, and detonate it. That's twice per fight, after which he needs to start using his two real spells, cantrips, or try to fit in a Consume Thrall. I'm a little bummed that it feels so mandatory to take that.
3rd level:
Reaction thralls on death! It's just fun.
4th level:
Body Shield looks fun, but with one thrall per action, that's a bit impractical right now. Bony Barrage is nice, but cones are hard to place, and again, two thralls is a bit steep right now. Let's go for the old Vin flavor and grab Bone Speaker.
6th level:
Bone Burst, easy call. Next level, we're getting two thralls, and this doesn't take focus points.
8th level:
Conglomerate of Limbs. Big summon to muck up the battlefield and lock people down, plus we hit three focus points.
10th level:
Lifesense, I think? Hmm. It's that or go all the way back to second-level feats and grab Conceal Spell.
12th level:
Reinforced Skeleton or Vital Conduit, depending on what I settled on.
14th level:
We're moving past where the game ended. We've got a few spells here- five thralls that deal a little bit of chip damage on attacks, or a one-action save-vs.-frightened. Those both seem underwhelming for a 14th level focus spell? I know Skeletal Lancers is good action economy and makes thralls, but a successful save against 7d12 is still equal to four lancer hits, and that's a 2nd level feat.
16th level:
Desperate Revival is a terrible choice in Blood Lords. Effortless Concentration, probably- it's just such a good deal, even with so few slots.
18th level:
Ectoplasmic Aura is an easy pick, since I'm not trying to wade into melee.
20th level:
Should Living Graveyard force more saves? If it's just initially, then it's a pretty bad deal. Perfected Thrall makes good use of Effortless Concentration. Oh, but as a thrall it shares MAP with Vin... I guess it's a second 10th-rank slot, then?
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Overall... Necromancer didn't do much at all to fulfill any dreams of undead-supplied leisure. It feels like human Necromancers are the ones getting the full experience, and everybody else is making cuts to catch up. An attack-roll focus spell shouldn't be one of the starting options, because of how anti-synergistic it is with the core class feature, and the flesh starting focus spell shouldn't be brushed off with a point of damage.
I needed a little more from the class. Another focus spell included by default, a fun out-of-combat feature... I'll need to try it in play to see if the actual play experience feels better, because it's entirely possible I'm just dismissing the thrall action too much. At the same time, it feels like I'm also brushing over how with one flying or long-range enemy, and everything falls apart.