Author Topic: How to make Dread Necromancer the best Necromancer out there?  (Read 10493 times)

Offline Zelkon

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How to make Dread Necromancer the best Necromancer out there?
« on: December 23, 2012, 07:13:40 PM »
I'm kinda stuck on this. It's outshone by the cleric and even wizard, who can do other stuff on top of Necromancy easy. Do the brilliant gameologests have anything on this?

Offline SorO_Lost

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Re: How to make Dread Necromancer the best Necromancer out there?
« Reply #1 on: December 23, 2012, 07:22:08 PM »
Why not be both? Dread Necromancer 8 / Wizard(necromancer variant) 1 creates undead with +4 HP/HD, +4 Enhancement to Str/Dex, and can control a lot of zombies. With Corpsecrafter/Desecrate that's +8 HP/HD.

Other than that. PrCs can help. Pale Master 7 (LM) + Shiver (FCII) make you immune to most damage. Oh and don't forget FR:LoD's Rituals. One of them gives a <HD>d6 Negative Energy Ray that I think damage Wisdom (or Con), a level in Binder can heal the damage making it a spamable attack.

You won't be better than a Wizard, no real helping that. But you can control an army of superior-to-a-Fighter zombies and bring about the wightpoclypse.

Offline sirpercival

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Re: How to make Dread Necromancer the best Necromancer out there?
« Reply #2 on: December 23, 2012, 07:32:52 PM »
The reason it's behind wizard is due to (a) being focused on one theme, and (b) that theme being relatively low on game breakers.  A DN can keep up with a sorcerer with judicious spell-list expansion, usually via PrCs, Arcane Disciple, or the Bloodline feats from dragon compendium.
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Offline Zelkon

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Re: How to make Dread Necromancer the best Necromancer out there?
« Reply #3 on: December 23, 2012, 07:33:56 PM »
Why not be both? Dread Necromancer 8 / Wizard(necromancer variant) 1 creates undead with +4 HP/HD, +4 Enhancement to Str/Dex, and can control a lot of zombies. With Corpsecrafter/Desecrate that's +8 HP/HD.

Other than that. PrCs can help. Pale Master 7 (LM) + Shiver (FCII) make you immune to most damage. Oh and don't forget FR:LoD's Rituals. One of them gives a <HD>d6 Negative Energy Ray that I think damage Wisdom (or Con), a level in Binder can heal the damage making it a spamable attack.

You won't be better than a Wizard, no real helping that. But you can control an army of superior-to-a-Fighter zombies and bring about the wightpoclypse.
I know you won't be better then the wizard, but at least you can be better at raising dead.

Offline RobbyPants

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Re: How to make Dread Necromancer the best Necromancer out there?
« Reply #4 on: December 24, 2012, 08:04:16 PM »
I'm kinda stuck on this. It's outshone by the cleric and even wizard, who can do other stuff on top of Necromancy easy. Do the brilliant gameologests have anything on this?
What are you looking for, exactly?

The cleric is good at making undead earlier than other classes, and they get access to Desecrate. Also, they're clerics, which makes them awesome in other ways.

The wizard is good with negative levels, and you can do some cool stuff with certain metamagic feats. Also, they're wizards, which makes them awesome in other ways.

The dread necromancer is good at controlling a lot of undead at a time. That's really the only thing they have on top of the other classes. That, and they have some interesting familiar choices. So, if you can find a way to get Desecrate on your spell list and pull some metamagic shenanigans on Enervation, you'll start to pick up some of the necromancy tricks of the other classes. Also, pick wisely on your Advanced Learning spells. PrCing into different classes can also widen your spell list.

Beyond that, I'm not sure what you mean exactly by "best necromancer".


Also, have you read K's Revised Necromancy Handbook? I'm not sure if it's ported over here or not. I've heard some things are out of date, but it has some good info overall.
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Offline Libertad

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Re: How to make Dread Necromancer the best Necromancer out there?
« Reply #5 on: December 24, 2012, 09:19:18 PM »
Also, have you read K's Revised Necromancy Handbook? I'm not sure if it's ported over here or not. I've heard some things are out of date, but it has some good info overall.

Yup.  Ported over by yours truly!

Offline Bauglir

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Re: How to make Dread Necromancer the best Necromancer out there?
« Reply #6 on: December 25, 2012, 09:33:22 PM »
I think they are the best Necromancers already. They're just useless for anything else, which cuts down on synergy ability. For instance, Tomb-Tainted Soul as a mandatory 1st level feat contributes to a general feat starvation that reduces metamagic potential.

Probably the only thing I'd do is undo that rule that makes spontaneous casters take longer to apply metamagic, as that's about the only thing holding them back from the Wizard's tricks. And it's a stupid rule, anyway.

Offline RobbyPants

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Re: How to make Dread Necromancer the best Necromancer out there?
« Reply #7 on: December 26, 2012, 09:16:32 AM »
Also, have you read K's Revised Necromancy Handbook? I'm not sure if it's ported over here or not. I've heard some things are out of date, but it has some good info overall.

Yup.  Ported over by yours truly!
Thanks!
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