(edited to add brief note on undead from volo's guide)
To quote the Wizard school from the PHB:
"SCHOOL OF NECROMANCY
The School of Necromancy explores the cosmic forces of life, death, and Undeath. As you focus your studies in this tradition, you learn to manipulate the energy that animates all living things. As you progress, you learn to sap the life force from a creature as your magic destroys its body, transforming that vital energy into magical power you can manipulate. Most people see necromancers as menacing, or even villainous, due to the dose association with death. Not all necromancers are evil, but the forces they manipulate are considered taboo by many societies."
And now a word from a Necromancer......
Dearly departed, we are gathered here today to discuss the nature and furtherment of our most beloved school of magic. Those of us that practice necromancy above all other forms of magic are often reviled, who amongst our gathered host has not been chased by a pitch fork and torch carrying mob? Or been falsely accused of grave robbing?
The magic we use enables us to understand the mortal world in a way that other practitioners of magic cannot fathom. I was once party to a servant of Holy powers, a Paladin of great stature and greater renown who fervently berated me at every opportunity for using my Necromancy, then he died and was raised from the dead by a friend of his of the Clerical persuasion. I took great pride in telling him Necromancy had restored him to life, what? is that true? Oh yes my fellow necromancers, although our magic is commonly associated with the animation of the dead such as skeletons, zombies, ghouls and the like, even the most holy and goodly worshipers of the celestial powers must turn to our school of magic when their servants fall.
This leads to the question, why does animating a corpse with our magic result in creations which are considered "evil" when those of the clerical persuasion are not? This appears to be a combination of factors, firstly, the will of the spell caster and secondly, from where they draw their power.
Those of us that study necromancy as a profession understand that necromancy is not solely concerned with raising undead, we have the power to smite others with curses, to drain their life forces with a touch and even protect bodies from being raised as undead. And yet, because the nature of three spells, Animate Dead, Create Undead and Danse Macabre, we are marginalized and ridiculed, we are hounded and watched. So let us focus on our reputation for the creation and reanimation of the dead and as a side note, we should also point out to those that criticize our profession that spell casters from both Arcane and Divine natures have the capacity to use the spells of Animate Dead and Create Undead, therefore we should not be held solely responsible for the spells or how they are used.
Animate Dead and Danse Macabre:
If we are of good conscience why do our spells raise evil creations?
I do not feel this spell in any way defines us, as spell casters, as inherently evil. Skeletons and Zombies have no intellect or free will with which to make a choice or take any course of action, they merely operate as we, their creators, decide. In act and deed they are to us as a sword or mace is to a soldier and a shovel and pick axe is to a farmer or miner, they are tools and resources, nothing more. To say that a Skeleton or Zombie is evil because we order them to defend us from attack or protect our property, is like saying a soldiers armour and weapons are evil because he uses them as a defense when attacked.
To those folk that would say Animate Dead defiles the bodies of the dead it would be worth pointing out that this spell does not restore or bind the soul that once dwelled within the body. The body of the deceased merely acts as a housing for necrotic magical energies and allows us to manipulate the body, in essence we act like a puppeteer, without our input the animated corpse or pile of bones becomes a statue, incapable of movement or motivation with no drive for self defense and being thoroughly incapable of hate or malice. Our magic does not conjure back the soul of the departed, nor does it then twist that souls previous moral compass, we merely infuse a body with the mimicry of life, again, much like a puppeteer uses dolls to mimic life, its just our magic is much more precise and more versatile than a doll. Animating the dead is not evil, it is only the way in which they are used that they and their creator may be perceived as evil.
Create Undead:
Now here is when we as Necromancers, and indeed any spell caster using this spell, must decide whether we are evil. The common folk will perceive use of this spell as an act of evil. When we cast this spell we draw magic from the Abyssal realms and infuse it into a corpse to animate it as a Ghoul. This corpse is more powerful than a Skeleton or Zombie and bound to our will for a period of time, however, this creation is always ravenously hungry and should we ever lose our control over it we have released an undeniable evil on the world. To compound matters, should this spell be cast with more power, what would be considered 7th, 8th or 9th level of power, then increasingly dangerous undead can be created; the Ghast which combines the Ghouls hunger with a pestilent miasma and the Wight which is a murderous individual intent on extinguishing all life. This spell more than any other spell I can think of marks the user as one of evil intent. It is not just that we choose to draw power from the Abyssal realm and the various powers that dwell there to fuel the spell but that the undead we create with it are solely concerned with satiating their hunger and killing everything. If you are of good conscience you should learn it, study it, understand it and the creations you can make with it, but never use it.
Now then.....
It is only possible for us to create Zombies, Skeletons, Ghouls, Ghasts and Wights and yet we are always to blame for every form of Undeath, so just in case it slipped you by.....
We should also point out to those that criticize our profession that spell casters from both Arcane and Divine natures have the capacity to use the spells of Animate Dead and Create Undead, therefore we should not be held solely responsible for the spells or how they are used and evil intent only has a chance to come into being when an undead is ordered to do evil things by its creator or the undead is capable of independent thought or is driven by some higher power.
As Students of Necromancy you may find the following useful as a crib sheet for the study of Undead and conversation with others
Allip Not our fault, these come about when someone discovers a powerful secret, such as a Demons true name, the secret carries a curse which kills them and turns them into undead so blame demons and people with insatiable curiosity.
Banshee Ethereal Undead that were Elves that failed to bring joy to the world with their beauty, blame the Elven gods not us mortal necromancers, anyone ever think this is weird....you were beautiful and did'nt use it to bring joy to the world so now you are cursed to bring misery into the world...Elven gods are odd!.
Beholder Death Tyrant Large floating ball of eyes that apparently become undead by having a dream that they are undead...really.....if only creating undead was as easy as having a dream...may if I eat more cheese before bed I can have a really good dream and wake up as a Vampire.
Bodok Servants of Orcus undergo a ritual that turns them into these walking life annihilating creatures. The School of Necromancy is not directly responsible for these but its worth keeping an eye out for the holy symbol of Orcus.
Boneclaw: A spellcaster decides to become a Lich and fails, they may become a Boneclaw instead, whilst this requires necromantic rituals the sole blame for their existence cannot be placed at our feet, either way their spell casting career is certainly boned.
Crawling Claw They are the severed hands of murderers used as servants and killers....we may have to take the blame for this one and if you have one in your service you are a creepy (expletive deleted).
Death Knight Fallen Paladins...champions of the Divine powers.....School of Necromancy not responsible for their creation, once again Gods condemning their fallen worshipers to an eternity of damnation...oh and also giving them horrendous power in the process.
Deathlock Deathlock/Deathlock mastermind and Deathlock Wight: Warlocks who broke their pacts can turn into these undead, so not our fault...although apparently there is a spell or ritual which would enable a necromancer to turn a warlock into a Deathlock under our command.
Demilich and LichNot specifically a problem created by the School of Necromancy as any Spell caster can become a Lich and after enough time devolve into a Demilich and the spells and rituals required to attain such a state of being are undoubtedly necromantic.
Devourer Another one of Orcus' minions and created from a fiend in the Abyss so we're blameless if one of these turns up in the Material Planes.
Dracolich A Dragon decides it massively long life span isn't long enough and becomes a Lich....not our fault.
Flameskull Floating skulls throwing bolts of fire that are created from the skulls of dead wizards...we might have to take the blame for this one too.
Eidolon Are you unwavering in your loyalty to a particular god? then you too could become an Eidolon and serve as a protector to some shrine or holy site and animate statues to crush people of evil intent....but you can't blame Necromancers for their creation.
Ghost Ghosts appear for many reasons not all of them related to a necromancers interference.
Gnoll Witherling These are basically zombie gnolls, created by gnolls with a ritual to their Abyssal Demon God Yeenoghu.
Mindflayer AlhoonA Mindflayer undergoes a ritual to become something akin to a Lich, if a Mindflayer comes to see you and doesn't immediately blast your mind to fragments then we may just be able to find out what this ritual entails but otherwise it is nothing to do with us.
Mummypriests, funeral rites and gods of death, not our fault, blame the gods...and who ever trespassed in the tomb and woke it up. (EDIT) unless you use 9th level magic to cast create undead, although this does mean you have go through all the funeral rites and bandages to do it, unless these are bypassed by the spell, the description is a bit unclear.
Naga (Bone) The Naga are powerful snake creatures and occasionally the Yuan-ti (another form of snake creature) may corrupt one into an undead, blame them not us.
Nightwalker These are not of our creation, they are creatures from another Plane that sucks the life and soul out of anyone that goes there...so if you have access to the Planeshift spell remember the Negative Plane when you need somewhere that will absolutely, positively kill anyone you send there.
Revenant They come back form the dead by sheer force of will and therefore we are not responsible.
ShadowThese things come from darkness, kill people and turn them into more shadows, this s certainly a problem but not one of our making.
Skull Lord Creations of Vecna from the Shadowfell, not our creation, everyone's problem but oh look...another godly creation.
Spawn of Kyuss Powerful zombie-like undead created by a powerful priest of Orcus, unlike zombies, these creatures are covered in many tiny green worms that can burrow into you and turn you into a Spawn of Kyuss.
Specter They are the souls of creatures who died and were prevented from entering the afterlife, now, we may have spells that can do this but we should more likely point the finger of blame at the Gods or powerful Otherworldly Patrons.
Sword Wraith If you are vain, hungry for honour and glory and die in battle thinking you deserve more honour and glory, and have the force of will, you may be able to come back as a Swordwraith, Necromancy doesn't create them, vanity does.
Vampire and Vampire Spawn ok, we can't create these, my guess would be they are the result of a curse or a God or Fiend who likes to dabble in Necromancy, Vecna and Orcus spring to mind.
Vampiric Mist So you killed a vampire, kudos, if you haven't managed to destroy it completely it may turn into a vampiric mist, if you didn't have a fear of fog you will do if you survive an encounter with one of these.
Will O'Wisp Creatures that die in anguish and misery can become an ethereal Will O'Wisps, now although we could certainly cause anguish and misery so can every other being known to exist, so I don't think we have to take any responsibility here.
Wraith Wraiths are said to be malice incarnate and the result of those who entered into pacts with fiends, ergo, not our fault they exist.
So, all this said, brothers and sisters of the school of necromancy, we can say that Gods, Otherwordly patrons and an individuals sheer force of will create more undead and more evil than we do. So go forth brothers and sisters, practice Necromancy and school others in the forms of undead and how they come into being.
I simply use the dead bodies of my slain enemies to slay their friends. There is nothing wrong with that. It is like they are an arrow in my quiver. If I were to ever use something as uncouth as an arrow any how.
Those I travel with provide lots of dead and I help to provide more. Reduce Reuse and recycle.
Mummies are created specifically through Necromancy including by Necromancers - not all Necromancers are Wizards and the spell most used for the creation of Mummies is a Wizard spell (but also Cleric and Warlock).
Awesome post; it would be even better if you made those monster names into links: ([ monster ]Mummy[/ monster], for example, but w/o the spaces).
I thought the entire content of the post, given the title ("A primer for those thinking of taking up Necromancy"), would be "don't". (I've been playing a Necromancer for some time now, and am frankly a bit (but really just a bit, not a lot) disappointed. We can create more undead with Animate Dead than non-Necromancers, but can't maintain control over more (they do hit for more damage, and have a bit more HPs, which is nice, but managing a gaggle of skeletons and/or zombies is always a hassle). Grim Harvest is nigh useless. Inured to Undeath is nice, but necrotic damage is still fairly uncommon. Command Undead looks cool, and I'm looking forward to it. All in all, in my experience, Necromancers play like regular Wizards w/o a subclass, but with slightly better minions (a non-Necromancer can always choose to use Animate Dead, they'll just have to spend a bit more spell slots initially, and they'll do a bit less damage and have slightly fewer HPs).
Thank you for number 1 on your comment and I'll have a bash at adding links.
As for number 2, I'm thinking of doing a follow up "in character" style post to expand on Necromancy themes. In the mean time feel free to use/amend/abuse anything you find on my blog:
links for the undead added where I can so you can ghost (pardon the pun) over the name of the undead and if there is a stat block you should be able to view it although some digital purchases may be required to access the content.
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* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
You refer to the Demilich as a Devolved Lich, when according to my sources, which l have provided, it is in fact the opposite!
Well, A lich starts off with a humanoid form but if they do not have the physical, mental and/or magical fortitude for the rituals involved with becoming a lIch, or if the Lich fails to acquire enough souls for its Phylactery, then it's body turns to dust until only a skull remains. Where once the lIch had near unlimited power and ptential to travel anywhere it deemed worthy of visiting it is now reduced to being an entity that is only capable of rousing itself to see off intruders that blunder into its lair, all its previous machinations and plans reduced to less than the dust that was once its body. So that is why I would classify a Demilich as a devolved form of a Lich.
That is not to say some exceptions may exist, the legendary Acererak for instance, but I think these would be exceptions and likely not the rule. Although i do conceed that most information pertaining to the path of lichdom is hidden and the only creatures that know of the secret are those that have already achieved Lichdom and certain other entities such as Orcus, Vecna and I suspect Kiaransalee.
On a side note, did you ever find it odd that there is not a Dracolich equivilant of a Demilich? I wonder what secrets a Dracolich may hide on such matters.
Ah, A Fair point on the matters regarding the specifics of the Definition of Devolution. And now that you bring up the topic, l do find it quite odd that I haven't heard tales of a Floating Dragon Skull attacking people. Quite a interesting observation indeed. Perhaps l should send some of my simulacrums to investigate this matter...
just because you use “evil” minions (zombies, skeletons ETC) doesn’t mean we’re evil, I do more good using “evil” magic then I ever could using “good” magic. It’s all about perspective
just because you use “evil” minions (zombies, skeletons ETC) doesn’t mean we’re evil, I do more good using “evil” magic then I ever could using “good” magic. It’s all about perspective
Precisely. As long as the undead are firmly under our control, and not allowed to go wild, l don't see the difference between using a small army of undead to kill a group of bandits, and immolating them with a Fireball. Both are merely tools we use to get the job done, and honestly, in my opinion, a small army of zombies is a much better use of a 3rd level spell slot than a singe explosion. (Casts various protective spells to defend against the "Fireball Worshipers"(the "Just Fireball" "Only Fireball" type))
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(edited to add brief note on undead from volo's guide)
To quote the Wizard school from the PHB:
"SCHOOL OF NECROMANCY
The School of Necromancy explores the cosmic forces of life, death, and Undeath. As you focus your studies in this tradition, you learn to manipulate the energy that animates all living things. As you progress, you learn to sap the life force from a creature as your magic destroys its body, transforming that vital energy into magical power you can manipulate. Most people see necromancers as menacing, or even villainous, due to the dose association with death. Not all necromancers are evil, but the forces they manipulate are considered taboo by many societies."
And now a word from a Necromancer......
Dearly departed, we are gathered here today to discuss the nature and furtherment of our most beloved school of magic. Those of us that practice necromancy above all other forms of magic are often reviled, who amongst our gathered host has not been chased by a pitch fork and torch carrying mob? Or been falsely accused of grave robbing?
The magic we use enables us to understand the mortal world in a way that other practitioners of magic cannot fathom. I was once party to a servant of Holy powers, a Paladin of great stature and greater renown who fervently berated me at every opportunity for using my Necromancy, then he died and was raised from the dead by a friend of his of the Clerical persuasion. I took great pride in telling him Necromancy had restored him to life, what? is that true? Oh yes my fellow necromancers, although our magic is commonly associated with the animation of the dead such as skeletons, zombies, ghouls and the like, even the most holy and goodly worshipers of the celestial powers must turn to our school of magic when their servants fall.
This leads to the question, why does animating a corpse with our magic result in creations which are considered "evil" when those of the clerical persuasion are not? This appears to be a combination of factors, firstly, the will of the spell caster and secondly, from where they draw their power.
Those of us that study necromancy as a profession understand that necromancy is not solely concerned with raising undead, we have the power to smite others with curses, to drain their life forces with a touch and even protect bodies from being raised as undead. And yet, because the nature of three spells, Animate Dead, Create Undead and Danse Macabre, we are marginalized and ridiculed, we are hounded and watched. So let us focus on our reputation for the creation and reanimation of the dead and as a side note, we should also point out to those that criticize our profession that spell casters from both Arcane and Divine natures have the capacity to use the spells of Animate Dead and Create Undead, therefore we should not be held solely responsible for the spells or how they are used.
Animate Dead and Danse Macabre:
If we are of good conscience why do our spells raise evil creations?
I do not feel this spell in any way defines us, as spell casters, as inherently evil. Skeletons and Zombies have no intellect or free will with which to make a choice or take any course of action, they merely operate as we, their creators, decide. In act and deed they are to us as a sword or mace is to a soldier and a shovel and pick axe is to a farmer or miner, they are tools and resources, nothing more. To say that a Skeleton or Zombie is evil because we order them to defend us from attack or protect our property, is like saying a soldiers armour and weapons are evil because he uses them as a defense when attacked.
To those folk that would say Animate Dead defiles the bodies of the dead it would be worth pointing out that this spell does not restore or bind the soul that once dwelled within the body. The body of the deceased merely acts as a housing for necrotic magical energies and allows us to manipulate the body, in essence we act like a puppeteer, without our input the animated corpse or pile of bones becomes a statue, incapable of movement or motivation with no drive for self defense and being thoroughly incapable of hate or malice. Our magic does not conjure back the soul of the departed, nor does it then twist that souls previous moral compass, we merely infuse a body with the mimicry of life, again, much like a puppeteer uses dolls to mimic life, its just our magic is much more precise and more versatile than a doll. Animating the dead is not evil, it is only the way in which they are used that they and their creator may be perceived as evil.
Create Undead:
Now here is when we as Necromancers, and indeed any spell caster using this spell, must decide whether we are evil. The common folk will perceive use of this spell as an act of evil. When we cast this spell we draw magic from the Abyssal realms and infuse it into a corpse to animate it as a Ghoul. This corpse is more powerful than a Skeleton or Zombie and bound to our will for a period of time, however, this creation is always ravenously hungry and should we ever lose our control over it we have released an undeniable evil on the world. To compound matters, should this spell be cast with more power, what would be considered 7th, 8th or 9th level of power, then increasingly dangerous undead can be created; the Ghast which combines the Ghouls hunger with a pestilent miasma and the Wight which is a murderous individual intent on extinguishing all life. This spell more than any other spell I can think of marks the user as one of evil intent. It is not just that we choose to draw power from the Abyssal realm and the various powers that dwell there to fuel the spell but that the undead we create with it are solely concerned with satiating their hunger and killing everything. If you are of good conscience you should learn it, study it, understand it and the creations you can make with it, but never use it.
Now then.....
It is only possible for us to create Zombies, Skeletons, Ghouls, Ghasts and Wights and yet we are always to blame for every form of Undeath, so just in case it slipped you by.....
We should also point out to those that criticize our profession that spell casters from both Arcane and Divine natures have the capacity to use the spells of Animate Dead and Create Undead, therefore we should not be held solely responsible for the spells or how they are used and evil intent only has a chance to come into being when an undead is ordered to do evil things by its creator or the undead is capable of independent thought or is driven by some higher power.
As Students of Necromancy you may find the following useful as a crib sheet for the study of Undead and conversation with others
Allip Not our fault, these come about when someone discovers a powerful secret, such as a Demons true name, the secret carries a curse which kills them and turns them into undead so blame demons and people with insatiable curiosity.
Banshee Ethereal Undead that were Elves that failed to bring joy to the world with their beauty, blame the Elven gods not us mortal necromancers, anyone ever think this is weird....you were beautiful and did'nt use it to bring joy to the world so now you are cursed to bring misery into the world...Elven gods are odd!.
Beholder Death Tyrant Large floating ball of eyes that apparently become undead by having a dream that they are undead...really.....if only creating undead was as easy as having a dream...may if I eat more cheese before bed I can have a really good dream and wake up as a Vampire.
Bodok Servants of Orcus undergo a ritual that turns them into these walking life annihilating creatures. The School of Necromancy is not directly responsible for these but its worth keeping an eye out for the holy symbol of Orcus.
Boneclaw: A spellcaster decides to become a Lich and fails, they may become a Boneclaw instead, whilst this requires necromantic rituals the sole blame for their existence cannot be placed at our feet, either way their spell casting career is certainly boned.
Crawling Claw They are the severed hands of murderers used as servants and killers....we may have to take the blame for this one and if you have one in your service you are a creepy (expletive deleted).
Death Knight Fallen Paladins...champions of the Divine powers.....School of Necromancy not responsible for their creation, once again Gods condemning their fallen worshipers to an eternity of damnation...oh and also giving them horrendous power in the process.
Deathlock Deathlock/Deathlock mastermind and Deathlock Wight: Warlocks who broke their pacts can turn into these undead, so not our fault...although apparently there is a spell or ritual which would enable a necromancer to turn a warlock into a Deathlock under our command.
Demilich and Lich Not specifically a problem created by the School of Necromancy as any Spell caster can become a Lich and after enough time devolve into a Demilich and the spells and rituals required to attain such a state of being are undoubtedly necromantic.
Devourer Another one of Orcus' minions and created from a fiend in the Abyss so we're blameless if one of these turns up in the Material Planes.
Dracolich A Dragon decides it massively long life span isn't long enough and becomes a Lich....not our fault.
Flameskull Floating skulls throwing bolts of fire that are created from the skulls of dead wizards...we might have to take the blame for this one too.
Eidolon Are you unwavering in your loyalty to a particular god? then you too could become an Eidolon and serve as a protector to some shrine or holy site and animate statues to crush people of evil intent....but you can't blame Necromancers for their creation.
Ghost Ghosts appear for many reasons not all of them related to a necromancers interference.
Gnoll Witherling These are basically zombie gnolls, created by gnolls with a ritual to their Abyssal Demon God Yeenoghu.
Mindflayer Alhoon A Mindflayer undergoes a ritual to become something akin to a Lich, if a Mindflayer comes to see you and doesn't immediately blast your mind to fragments then we may just be able to find out what this ritual entails but otherwise it is nothing to do with us.
Mummy priests, funeral rites and gods of death, not our fault, blame the gods...and who ever trespassed in the tomb and woke it up. (EDIT) unless you use 9th level magic to cast create undead, although this does mean you have go through all the funeral rites and bandages to do it, unless these are bypassed by the spell, the description is a bit unclear.
Naga (Bone) The Naga are powerful snake creatures and occasionally the Yuan-ti (another form of snake creature) may corrupt one into an undead, blame them not us.
Nightwalker These are not of our creation, they are creatures from another Plane that sucks the life and soul out of anyone that goes there...so if you have access to the Planeshift spell remember the Negative Plane when you need somewhere that will absolutely, positively kill anyone you send there.
Revenant They come back form the dead by sheer force of will and therefore we are not responsible.
Shadow These things come from darkness, kill people and turn them into more shadows, this s certainly a problem but not one of our making.
Skull Lord Creations of Vecna from the Shadowfell, not our creation, everyone's problem but oh look...another godly creation.
Spawn of Kyuss Powerful zombie-like undead created by a powerful priest of Orcus, unlike zombies, these creatures are covered in many tiny green worms that can burrow into you and turn you into a Spawn of Kyuss.
Specter They are the souls of creatures who died and were prevented from entering the afterlife, now, we may have spells that can do this but we should more likely point the finger of blame at the Gods or powerful Otherworldly Patrons.
Sword Wraith If you are vain, hungry for honour and glory and die in battle thinking you deserve more honour and glory, and have the force of will, you may be able to come back as a Swordwraith, Necromancy doesn't create them, vanity does.
Vampire and Vampire Spawn ok, we can't create these, my guess would be they are the result of a curse or a God or Fiend who likes to dabble in Necromancy, Vecna and Orcus spring to mind.
Vampiric Mist So you killed a vampire, kudos, if you haven't managed to destroy it completely it may turn into a vampiric mist, if you didn't have a fear of fog you will do if you survive an encounter with one of these.
Will O'Wisp Creatures that die in anguish and misery can become an ethereal Will O'Wisps, now although we could certainly cause anguish and misery so can every other being known to exist, so I don't think we have to take any responsibility here.
Wraith Wraiths are said to be malice incarnate and the result of those who entered into pacts with fiends, ergo, not our fault they exist.
So, all this said, brothers and sisters of the school of necromancy, we can say that Gods, Otherwordly patrons and an individuals sheer force of will create more undead and more evil than we do. So go forth brothers and sisters, practice Necromancy and school others in the forms of undead and how they come into being.
Amen Brother Rob.
Awesome
I simply use the dead bodies of my slain enemies to slay their friends. There is nothing wrong with that. It is like they are an arrow in my quiver. If I were to ever use something as uncouth as an arrow any how.
Those I travel with provide lots of dead and I help to provide more. Reduce Reuse and recycle.
Two corrections re Mummies.
The spell Create Undead creates Mummies.
Mummies are created specifically through Necromancy including by Necromancers - not all Necromancers are Wizards and the spell most used for the creation of Mummies is a Wizard spell (but also Cleric and Warlock).
Great post, but just that bothered me a bit.
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well pointed out, I have amended the list
Two things:
Thank you for number 1 on your comment and I'll have a bash at adding links.
As for number 2, I'm thinking of doing a follow up "in character" style post to expand on Necromancy themes. In the mean time feel free to use/amend/abuse anything you find on my blog:
https://eeriecarnival.blogspot.com/2018/10/spell-casting-101-necromancer-feats-and.html
links for the undead added where I can so you can ghost (pardon the pun) over the name of the undead and if there is a stat block you should be able to view it although some digital purchases may be required to access the content.
Since you linked to this in my post, l hope Turnabout is fair game:
Selfless self promotion: https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/class-forums/wizard/151065-necromancy-101#c3
You refer to the Demilich as a Devolved Lich, when according to my sources, which l have provided, it is in fact the opposite!
Well, A lich starts off with a humanoid form but if they do not have the physical, mental and/or magical fortitude for the rituals involved with becoming a lIch, or if the Lich fails to acquire enough souls for its Phylactery, then it's body turns to dust until only a skull remains. Where once the lIch had near unlimited power and ptential to travel anywhere it deemed worthy of visiting it is now reduced to being an entity that is only capable of rousing itself to see off intruders that blunder into its lair, all its previous machinations and plans reduced to less than the dust that was once its body. So that is why I would classify a Demilich as a devolved form of a Lich.
That is not to say some exceptions may exist, the legendary Acererak for instance, but I think these would be exceptions and likely not the rule. Although i do conceed that most information pertaining to the path of lichdom is hidden and the only creatures that know of the secret are those that have already achieved Lichdom and certain other entities such as Orcus, Vecna and I suspect Kiaransalee.
On a side note, did you ever find it odd that there is not a Dracolich equivilant of a Demilich? I wonder what secrets a Dracolich may hide on such matters.
Ah, A Fair point on the matters regarding the specifics of the Definition of Devolution. And now that you bring up the topic, l do find it quite odd that I haven't heard tales of a Floating Dragon Skull attacking people. Quite a interesting observation indeed. Perhaps l should send some of my simulacrums to investigate this matter...
just because you use “evil” minions (zombies, skeletons ETC) doesn’t mean we’re evil, I do more good using “evil” magic then I ever could using “good” magic. It’s all about perspective
Precisely. As long as the undead are firmly under our control, and not allowed to go wild, l don't see the difference between using a small army of undead to kill a group of bandits, and immolating them with a Fireball. Both are merely tools we use to get the job done, and honestly, in my opinion, a small army of zombies is a much better use of a 3rd level spell slot than a singe explosion. (Casts various protective spells to defend against the "Fireball Worshipers"(the "Just Fireball" "Only Fireball" type))