Author Topic: Dread necromancer  (Read 14952 times)

Offline Mizori

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Dread necromancer
« on: February 25, 2014, 08:24:31 AM »
Hello all,

Recently my DM started a new campaign and i had the idea of going Dread Necromancer because it sounded fun and i did not mind it being a tier 3 class.
His response to this was laugh and say he would kill my Dread Necromancer several times until i finally come to terms that the class is to weak to play.
Now i have looked around and cannot find a really amazing build that will prove him wrong.

What i want to do is command undead (Surprise :O) and preferably kill most stuff he throws at me (he will always be able to kill me he is the DM but i want to make it so hard that it shows he is just out to get me).

The campaign starts at level 3, all books from 3.5 (no homebrew) apart from psionic are allowed (he does not recognize it as a real game mechanic so anything psionic related is a no go).
LA+1 is bought off at this point so this opens up more races.
We use a 28 point buy system.

What i am looking for is a level progression the more detailed the better that i can follow to make my Dread Necromancer as strong as possible i do not mind going into prestige classes or dipping levels into other classes if in the end i come out a unholy terror with a army of undead build on the Dread Necromancer as a starting point.

Thank you all in advance and if i missed out any information that is required i will do my best to add this.

Offline Raineh Daze

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #1 on: February 25, 2014, 08:32:39 AM »
I think something to do with metamagic--like stacking Fell Drain + Grave Mist--works out well? Never played one myself, though.

Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2014, 08:49:45 AM »
I'd suggest starting out as a necropolitan, especially if you can claim all the benefits of being created by another dread necromancer with Corpse Crafter, Nimble Bones, etc (questionable whether this is legal, so talk to the DM). Then you'll have unlimited out of combat healing for yourself (and your minions), and all of the benefits of the undead type. You'll also be able to totally dump constitution in your point buy.

Fell Animate + metamagic reducers + a cantrip (to Coup De Grace unconscious/incapacitated enemies) can let you start out with animated minions.
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Offline ksbsnowowl

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2014, 09:04:50 AM »
This probably isn't at all what you are going for, but Fiendblooded from Heroes of Horror can allow you to add ANY enchantment, illusion, necromancy, or [fire] descriptor spell to your spells known list. It does so a few times over the course of its progression.  Getting delicious things like Consumptive Field as a spell known might just be worthwhile.

Offline snakeman830

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #4 on: February 25, 2014, 09:21:57 AM »
But... a dread necromancer can get Consumptive Field without PrC's.

If Necropolitan isn't an option, I would suggest grabbing Tomb Tainted Soul, especially if you can retrain it once you do become undead.  Free healing to yourself, at least.  The rest of the party too, if they decide to take the feat as well.

Silly trick if becoming undead doesn't seem likely: play a Warforged and take Tomb-tainted Soul.  You receive full effect from negative energy effects, but Conjuration (Healing) only is half as effective.  Due to the Cha penalty, you personally may want to skip this, but it's worth mentioning.

In any case, remember you always have Summon Undead spells, even if you don't have any other minions.

For your martial weapon proficiency, I suggest you take Longbow.  Stay back and fire away.  Between your DR (which is quite relevant at level 3), range, and self-healing ability, you should be fairly durable until you start getting more potent spells.
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Offline Mizori

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #5 on: February 25, 2014, 09:33:31 AM »
I'd suggest starting out as a necropolitan, especially if you can claim all the benefits of being created by another dread necromancer with Corpse Crafter, Nimble Bones, etc (questionable whether this is legal, so talk to the DM). Then you'll have unlimited out of combat healing for yourself (and your minions), and all of the benefits of the undead type. You'll also be able to totally dump constitution in your point buy.

Fell Animate + metamagic reducers + a cantrip (to Coup De Grace unconscious/incapacitated enemies) can let you start out with animated minions.

The idea sounds amazing and i just managed to get a hold off my DM he said that the being made by a dread necromancer was alright but he did not want to give him the 2 feats as a compromise he said that if i got the feats myself i would be able to apply them to me. This however would mean i spend my first and third level feat on these two. Would this still make it viable?

Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #6 on: February 25, 2014, 09:52:19 AM »
I'd suggest starting out as a necropolitan, especially if you can claim all the benefits of being created by another dread necromancer with Corpse Crafter, Nimble Bones, etc (questionable whether this is legal, so talk to the DM). Then you'll have unlimited out of combat healing for yourself (and your minions), and all of the benefits of the undead type. You'll also be able to totally dump constitution in your point buy.

Fell Animate + metamagic reducers + a cantrip (to Coup De Grace unconscious/incapacitated enemies) can let you start out with animated minions.

The idea sounds amazing and i just managed to get a hold off my DM he said that the being made by a dread necromancer was alright but he did not want to give him the 2 feats as a compromise he said that if i got the feats myself i would be able to apply them to me. This however would mean i spend my first and third level feat on these two. Would this still make it viable?
Absolutely. Those are great feats for any necromancer who wants to rely on undead minions.
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Offline ksbsnowowl

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #7 on: February 25, 2014, 10:33:11 AM »
But... a dread necromancer can get Consumptive Field without PrC's.
... Indeed you are correct.  You learn something new every day.  I had assumed it was restricted to sorcerer/wizard spells, just like Beguiler and War Mage.  Gigantic note to self...

Okay then.  Well, Fiendblooded can still expand your repertoire with a few illusion and fire spells.  Snagging Greater Mirror Image isn't a bad thing (and trust me, that spell will drive your DM nuts).  But again, it may not be what you are wanting.

Offline DaCraw

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #8 on: February 25, 2014, 11:50:06 AM »
I'd suggest starting out as a necropolitan, especially if you can claim all the benefits of being created by another dread necromancer with Corpse Crafter, Nimble Bones, etc (questionable whether this is legal, so talk to the DM). Then you'll have unlimited out of combat healing for yourself (and your minions), and all of the benefits of the undead type. You'll also be able to totally dump constitution in your point buy.

Fell Animate + metamagic reducers + a cantrip (to Coup De Grace unconscious/incapacitated enemies) can let you start out with animated minions.

The idea sounds amazing and i just managed to get a hold off my DM he said that the being made by a dread necromancer was alright but he did not want to give him the 2 feats as a compromise he said that if i got the feats myself i would be able to apply them to me. This however would mean i spend my first and third level feat on these two. Would this still make it viable?

Make sure you put points into Bluff and buy a hat of disguise. Being a necropolitan gives you a bunch of immunities and bonuses, but it does expose you to being turned (or worse). The best way to avoid this is to make sure that NPC clerics never figure out that you're undead. PC clerics too, for that matter, although you'll have to come up with some reason why they should use negative rather than positive energy on you.

Oh, also, in addition to taking those feats, make sure your cruximigration is done in a desecrated area with an altar (+2hp/HD). Note that desecration is a spell that you can learn, and that building an altar doesn't cost you anything.

You'll also want to check whether you're playing with the taint rules, and exactly how the undead immunities to taint work. If you are playing with them, undead can gain taint, and being immune to the negative effects of taint includes being immune to both insanity and death from massive taint, then you can take one level of tainted scholar to cast off of your taint score (which you can get as high as you like). This is cheesy as hell, though, so check with your DM (they'll probably say no).
« Last Edit: February 25, 2014, 01:47:14 PM by DaCraw »

Offline snakeman830

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #9 on: February 25, 2014, 01:31:04 PM »
Honestly, it's better to just pay for a casting of Desecrate for the ritual.  Deadwalker's Ring (Complete Mage) provides the important stuff for undead you create yourself.
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Offline Mizori

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #10 on: February 25, 2014, 06:03:51 PM »
Make sure you put points into Bluff and buy a hat of disguise. Being a necropolitan gives you a bunch of immunities and bonuses, but it does expose you to being turned (or worse). The best way to avoid this is to make sure that NPC clerics never figure out that you're undead. PC clerics too, for that matter, although you'll have to come up with some reason why they should use negative rather than positive energy on you.

Oh, also, in addition to taking those feats, make sure your cruximigration is done in a desecrated area with an altar (+2hp/HD). Note that desecration is a spell that you can learn, and that building an altar doesn't cost you anything.

You'll also want to check whether you're playing with the taint rules, and exactly how the undead immunities to taint work. If you are playing with them, undead can gain taint, and being immune to the negative effects of taint includes being immune to both insanity and death from massive taint, then you can take one level of tainted scholar to cast off of your taint score (which you can get as high as you like). This is cheesy as hell, though, so check with your DM (they'll probably say no).

I shall ask my DM and come back on you for that one  :).

In the meantime.
The DM gave me some more information about the campaign.

The starting level is now 5 for some reason he did not like me at level 3 with the current stats  :P but if i am correct the higer level i get the better.

Stat point buy:

str:  10 (2 points)
dex: 10 (2 points)
Con: -3 (-5 points) <-- wont matter after becoming undead  ;)
int:  10 (2 points)
wis: 10 (2 points)
cha: 18 (16 points) <-- only stat i know to put into.
Total 19 points so i have 9 more.

Does anyone have suggestions on where to put my last points.

Feats would be Corpse Crafter, Nimble Bones for level 1 and 3.
I was thinking human as my initial race for the extra feat and 1 more skill point per level.
Any suggestions on that?

As for spells and skill distribution perhaps you can help after i explain the setting of the campaign(see below).

Campaign:

The land we are in is heavily ruled by the church aka allot of paladins and clerics around making sure everybody is a good boy/girl.
We as the players are going to be evil (chaotic neutral or lawful is up to us).
Now he is running the campaign as follow, the entire party starts of on their own as evil people tend to not work well in a party without the token good member.
We can do adventures anywhere between solo and a group of four teaming up as and when it suits us and backstabbing / leaving when it no longer is beneficial.
Our tasks are messing up the area so that the good people can fix it (aka your normal party would fix it up). We for example would poison the water well so a group of goblins can move in and feed of the now weak humans or assassinate a target i assume you get the drift ^^.

He has  already said that i will be going against clerics and spell thieves/rogues with a "i see you are undead haha *grabs scroll out of pouch*".
 
Now what would I go for skills / spells (my generics picks per day I know it can change per situation.)

I would like to finish by saying you have been a great help and have come up with ideas i would not have thought about.

Offline Jackinthegreen

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #11 on: February 25, 2014, 07:41:14 PM »
Even with those undead bonuses you might have a tough time considering all those guys with Turn Undead at their disposal.

I see a bit of an issue with your reasoning though...  If you're out to screw with the DM, you're going to have problems.  It's unlikely that you're going to beat him at his own game.  Backing out now might give him a "Ha, I told you so" moment, but keep on playing like this and he'll potentially have a lot more of those moments.  You might want to just see how far you can take this and simply not care about the DM's reaction so much.

All that said, have you looked at the handbook index to see what handbooks are offered from the DN?  The three ones listed are http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=399.0, http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214212, and http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=10037.

As far as races go there's http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=1281 for LA +0, and then http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=342 for LA +1 (and more) races.  One of the possible tricks to get +4 Cha is to have half-giant and with the Primordial Giant (Secrets of Xen'drik page 81 template.  It'll dump your str by 4 and con by 2, but boost your int and cha by 4 each.  All told, a primordial half-giant would have -2 str, -2 dex, +0 con, +4 int, +0 wis, and +4 cha for its stat changes.

Offline linklord231

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #12 on: February 25, 2014, 10:55:41 PM »
I'd suggest putting your extra points in to Dex for ranged touch attacks (of which you have several) and bow shots, and Wis to make use of the Arcane Disciple feat - one of the better ways to expand your spell list.
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Offline zook1shoe

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #13 on: February 26, 2014, 02:29:50 AM »
Snag Invisible Spell for undispellable invisible undead minions
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Offline Mizori

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #14 on: February 26, 2014, 08:45:01 AM »
Even with those undead bonuses you might have a tough time considering all those guys with Turn Undead at their disposal.

I see a bit of an issue with your reasoning though...  If you're out to screw with the DM, you're going to have problems.  It's unlikely that you're going to beat him at his own game.  Backing out now might give him a "Ha, I told you so" moment, but keep on playing like this and he'll potentially have a lot more of those moments.  You might want to just see how far you can take this and simply not care about the DM's reaction so much.

All that said, have you looked at the handbook index to see what handbooks are offered from the DN?  The three ones listed are http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=399.0, http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214212, and http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=10037.

As far as races go there's http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=1281 for LA +0, and then http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=342 for LA +1 (and more) races.  One of the possible tricks to get +4 Cha is to have half-giant and with the Primordial Giant (Secrets of Xen'drik page 81 template.  It'll dump your str by 4 and con by 2, but boost your int and cha by 4 each.  All told, a primordial half-giant would have -2 str, -2 dex, +0 con, +4 int, +0 wis, and +4 cha for its stat changes.

Thank you for your input.

If you're out to screw with the DM, you're going to have problems.  It's unlikely that you're going to beat him at his own game.

I did say i know the DM will always be able to beat me, my goal is more to show him the dread necromancer can be a valid class and can be powerful if built right.

You might want to just see how far you can take this and simply not care about the DM's reaction so much.

Seeing how far i can take this is a valid end the showing up my DM would be a nice bonus on my part :).

That aside.

I did read 2 out of the 3 handbooks posted above i am now reading the third thank you for pointing me there :).

As for the races my DM ruled that seeing as becoming a necropolitan takes of one level when turned this would count as a +1 LA and this sounds reasonable to me (unless i am missing something here i would love some +1 races :p).

As for the +0 races looking at the races that give me +cha most are good aligned races.
The only race i found that was valid really was the spell scale aside from that human is always valid.
So it would be a +2 cha bonus and blood quickening meditationVS feat / skill point.

Make sure you put points into Bluff and buy a hat of disguise. Being a necropolitan gives you a bunch of immunities and bonuses, but it does expose you to being turned (or worse). The best way to avoid this is to make sure that NPC clerics never figure out that you're undead. PC clerics too, for that matter, although you'll have to come up with some reason why they should use negative rather than positive energy on you.

Oh, also, in addition to taking those feats, make sure your cruximigration is done in a desecrated area with an altar (+2hp/HD). Note that desecration is a spell that you can learn, and that building an altar doesn't cost you anything.

You'll also want to check whether you're playing with the taint rules, and exactly how the undead immunities to taint work. If you are playing with them, undead can gain taint, and being immune to the negative effects of taint includes being immune to both insanity and death from massive taint, then you can take one level of tainted scholar to cast off of your taint score (which you can get as high as you like). This is cheesy as hell, though, so check with your DM (they'll probably say no).


Thank you for the Desecrated area since i can cast Desecration and building a altar is free my DM said it was no problem.

We are not playing with the taint rules so that part does not apply but thank you for the suggestion.

I'd suggest putting your extra points in to Dex for ranged touch attacks (of which you have several) and bow shots, and Wis to make use of the Arcane Disciple feat - one of the better ways to expand your spell list.

Dex sounds good the wisdom depends on how high i can get it and what god gives me what spells i shall look into that. Thank you.

Snag Invisible Spell for undispellable invisible undead minions

My DM says i have 2 options there as i am a spontaneous caster i can either treat the minions as summoned with normal invisibility and not have a spell level increase or take a +1 to spell level and it would be greater invisibility. it would still count as a full round action in either case.
 
 thanks you.

Offline phaedrusxy

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #15 on: February 26, 2014, 09:16:08 AM »
Magic-blooded is a LA +0 template that gives +2 cha/-2 wis. (Magic of Faerun, IIRC)
« Last Edit: February 26, 2014, 09:20:04 AM by phaedrusxy »
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Offline sirpercival

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #16 on: February 26, 2014, 09:42:28 AM »
Magic-blooded is a LA +0 template that gives +2 cha/-2 wis. (Magic of Faerun, IIRC)
Nope it's from Dragon.
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Offline Mizori

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #17 on: February 26, 2014, 10:03:07 AM »
Magic-blooded is a LA +0 template that gives +2 cha/-2 wis. (Magic of Faerun, IIRC)
Nope it's from Dragon.

Unfortunately dragon magazine is not allowed :(

Offline linklord231

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #18 on: February 26, 2014, 12:16:16 PM »
Counting Necropolitan as an LA +1 race is only reasonable if your DM allows LA buyoff. Under the normal rules, you'd eventually catch up on your XP (I think around level 9 or so, if I'm remembering right from back when I did the math). If he treats it as a permanent level adjustment, you're forever down a level.
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Offline Raineh Daze

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Re: Dread necromancer
« Reply #19 on: February 26, 2014, 12:18:54 PM »
Counting Necropolitan as an LA +1 race is only reasonable if your DM allows LA buyoff. Under the normal rules, you'd eventually catch up on your XP (I think around level 9 or so, if I'm remembering right from back when I did the math). If he treats it as a permanent level adjustment, you're forever down a level.

Says that LA 1 is already bought off in the OP.