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I've loved the necromancer at level 8, but some people have pointed out that it's a very different game when you can create two thralls per action and when you can use them for AOOs.
So how does a necro fare at lower levels ? We tried a severe encounter at level 4.
Our team:
- Polearm fighter
- Thief Rogue
- Tempest druid with an wolf
- Me, Bone necromancer.
We got a tip that some people were doing some kind of demonic ritual in a ramshackle house just out of town. When we got here, we found outside the bodies of the owners. Rogue took his bow, fighter drew his guisarme - just in time, as four shapes appeared from the darkness.
(Nobody did a recall knowledge, but it was 2 Abrikandilu (A1 and A2) and 2 Pusks (P1 and P2). 2 lvl 4 and 2 lvl 2 monsters).
Initiative order
- Rogue
- A1
- P1
- Druid
- A2
- Me
- Fighter
- P2
Rogue had his shortbow ready and shoots at A2 - and hits. It's a sneak attack for 11 damage. He attacks again and misses, then drops his bow and draws his shortsword.
A1 moves to druid and makes a jaw strike. He crits for a whopping 32 damage and the druid misses his fort save, losing 1 to charisma checks. But it's the least of his worries as he lost 2/3rd of his life in one hit. A1 attacks again with his claw and misses - thankfully !
P1 moves next to me and hits me for 8 damage, then attacks again and misses.
Druid casts 2nd level heal on himself for 22, and orders his wolf to attack A1. Wolf hits for 9, then misses.
A2 moves to the wolf and crits him for 28 damage then hits again with his claw for 12 damage. Wolf barely survives with 4 hp.
My turn. I cast calm emotions, 3 fails and 1 success. The end.
Since we wanted to test the power of the necromancer, we decide to roll back and I don't cast this spell. However, it's a testimony to how powerful the occult list can be, with whole encounters locked by a single spell.
So there, I don't cast calm emotions. Instead, I summon a thrall next to P1 (I hit for 3 damage), I summon a thrall next to A2 to help the fighter flank (I miss) and I summon a third thrall in front of P2 (I hit for 4 damage).
Fighter moves to flank A2 with my thrall and crits for a whooping 34 damage. It was a 18 on the dice so my thrall didn't help but hey, it could have. Fighter hits again with last action and deals 15 damage. Again, the flanking didn't help.
P2 attacks the thrall and kills it, then casts slow on the fighter - who saves.
END OF ROUND 1
So far, I didn't do much but P2 lost an action, P1 and A2 were flanked, and I have two thralls in play.
Please note that we deliberately rolled back to test the necro further.
ROUND 2
Rogue moves to P1, using my thrall to flank. He crits for 30 damage. P1 is barely alive, and another hit finishes him.
I use Inevitable Return and get one thrall back, go me !
A1 attacks the druid and hits for 19 damage. He casts fear on the fighter who misses his save and is now frightened 2.
Druid casts tempest surge on A2, trying to finish him off before his turn. A2 fails his save and is hit for 17 damage - close, but not enough to kill him. Wolf attacks and misses twice.
A2 crits wolf again and puts him at dying 2, then hits fighter thanks to the frightened 2, for 14 damage. He kills the thrall with last action.
My turn. I cast a thrall next to A2 then use bony barrage, getting all three remaining mobs in it. I sacrifice the thrall next to me to make it party-friendly. P2 critfail, A2 fail, A1 crit succeeds. Damage is 12 so A2 dies, P2 takes 24 damage and A1 is spared.
Fighter tries to trip A1 and succeeds, then attacks and barely hits for 14 damage. Since he's slowed, that's it for him.
P2 rolls a 4 and moves to the fighter, who decides not to use his AOO yet. Maybe he should have, because P2 hits him twice for a total of 16 damage.
END OF ROUND 2
A2 lost an action, and all opponents got hit with a 2P10 friendly AOE, which was pretty nifty at this level - much better than any 2nd level slot, since Sudden blight is a non friendly Fort save and couldn't have been used here.
I got one thrall left thanks to Inevitable Return.
ROUND 3
Rogue moves to A1 who's prone and critmisses, then hits for 17.
A1 stands up, eats an AOO from the fighter for a measly 8 damage. He attacks druid and crits for 30 then hits for 14 - enough to drop his opponent.
I use my last thrall 10 feet from me and next to P2, then use Bone Spear. Sadly, I cannot hit both opponents since they're not lined up.. It hits for 14 damage and drops the pusk. I use Inevitable Return and a thrall pops. For my last action, I consume it and get my focus point back.
Fighter is not slowed anymore. He attacks once and hits for 13 damage then makes a vicious strike that hits for 19 damage.
END OF ROUND 3
14 damage on this round for 3 actions and 1 focus point was disappointing. However, I got 1 point back if the fight drags on (although it won't, so it was merely to test it).
ROUND 4
Rogue flanks with the fighter and attacks 3 times. His first attack hits for 14, that's enough to kill him.
END OF FIGHT.
CONCLUSION
Despite being a severe encounter, this was still a pretty easy fight. True, the druid dropped, but he shouldn't have - and we didn't play optimally since I purposefully didn't use my spells slots. Thus, the rogue and the fighter did most of the heavy lifting.
At low level, the necromancer is still a full caster, with the power to end encounters with a spell slot - and the lack of spells is less glaring than later, since I only got 1 less level 1 and 2 spells than the druid.
However, it's true that the thrall system was more challenging. Without attacks of opportunity, they were less of a threat for the opponents, and I had to work harder to use them. Inevitable Return is
AWESOME at low levels. I didn't pay it much attention at level 8, but a thrall for every killed enemy (once per round) is incredible. Of course, against a solo boss, it won't be as useful - but most fights have at least 2 or 3 opponents so it works great.
Basically, it seems like a necromancer plays a bit like a psychic at low levels, then becomes more powerful at level 6 with AOO and especially at 7 with more thralls.
Thank you again for doing some testing and sharing your thoughts and results! And good call on the rollback. I don't think the potential broken-ness of the Calm spell needs any playtesting at this point. :D Though it might have been interesting to see how a sustaining a spell affects your overall action economy. I deliberately left sustained spells out of my spell selection when building a few Necromancers to see how they feel.
He casts fear on the fighter who misses his save and is now frightened 2
That should have been frightened 1 thanks to Bravery, no?
I cast a thrall next to A2 then use bony barrage, getting all three remaining mobs in it. I sacrifice the thrall next to me to make it party-friendly.
Since you aimed it at a thrall next to you, where you in the area of effect yourself? Sacrificing a second thrall only protects your allies, not yourself.
Neither of those are likely to have mattered in the end, of course.
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It's an interesting read and doesn't sound too bad for low level. But it seemed to be quite an ideal situation for the necromancer.
- It was close quarters so you didn't have to move once.
- You were directly engaged in melee which allowed you to spend a reaction to create a thrall and immediatly consume it, which otherwise might cause you to move due to its quite limited range.
- It was multiple enemies, including two that were quite a bit lower level than the party, which fueled your Inevitable Return very well. A fight against three on level or two PL+1 creature would probably go quite differently.
- An enemy dropping each turn for your to turn into a thrall is great when it happens. But it's not guaranteed and not available before level 3.
- Your level and build allowed you to have multiple focus spells and thus multiple focus points. If you don't have that option because you're still level 1 or simply want non-focus spell feats early on, you're in for a very rough start into your adventuring career.
I might just be a bit too pessimistic, mind you. It just seems like there's multiple factors at work here that made your experience quite smooth and that it could easily have been more clunky if only one or two of those points were different.
May I ask what your build looked like exactly? I think you had only Bone Spear and Bone Spray for focus spells so I'm curious what your remaining class feat was.
That should have been frightened 1 thanks to Bravery, no?
Yeah, you're right ! My mistake for writing it wrong.
Since you aimed it at a thrall next to you, where you in the area of effect yourself? Sacrificing a second thrall only protects your allies, not yourself.
It so happens that I wasn't in the area, but I could very well have been, because we never read the fine prints and I was convinced sacrificing a thrall made it harmless for everybody who isn't an enemy. I didn't realize I wasn't included, that's good to know !
It's an interesting read and doesn't sound too bad for low level. But it seemed to be quite an ideal situation for the necromancer.
- It was close quarters so you didn't have to move once.
Yeah but I rolled badly on initiative. If it hadn't been close quarters, we could have stalled for a bit while I built a couple thralls, or used AOEs on them without fear of friendly fire. It was actually quite lucky for them that they were so fast in close quarters.
- You were directly engaged in melee which allowed you to spend a reaction to create a thrall and immediatly consume it, which otherwise might cause you to move due to its quite limited range.
That's my biggest pet peeve about necromancer. I love it to death (no pun intended) but I would love for Bone Spear to have at least 30 feet range, maybe even 60 feet. However thrall at 10 feet + 15 feet line makes it possible to hit someone at 25 feet, which is almost middle range.
- It was multiple enemies, including two that were quite a bit lower level than the party, which fueled your Inevitable Return very well. A fight against three on level or two PL+1 creature would probably go quite differently.
Actually, even if I say it's awesome (because it feels so necromancer-y), Inevitable Return was not that useful in this particular fight. The only thing it did for me was give me back a focus point that I would have gotten anyway at the end of the fight. But that's because it was over in 3 rounds. In a longer encounter, it might have had more impact.
- An enemy dropping each turn for your to turn into a thrall is great when it happens. But it's not guaranteed and not available before level 3.
- Your level and build allowed you to have multiple focus spells and thus multiple focus points. If you don't have that option because you're still level 1 or simply want non-focus spell feats early on, you're in for a very rough start into your adventuring career.I might...
I did level 4 because it was a nice milestone. Balance at level 1 and 2 is kind of a moot point for me because
1) it's usually over pretty fast2) every caster has about the same experience. Get electric arc one way or another and you're set.
To be honest, he was really lucky to be able to catch all 4 melee monsters, 3 of which acted before him, with a 10 foot burst while avoiding all party members.
I didn't avoid the druid nor his pet but druid saved, pet didn't. I didn't think it was worth mentioning since we rollbacked ^^