Is there a way to just preserve a bunch of dead bodies in the storage area, also I would only go when the party takes a long rest and the dm and I could have a private session that involved going to said area
Is there a way to just preserve a bunch of dead bodies in the storage area, also I would only go when the party takes a long rest and the dm and I could have a private session that involved going to said area
Said area might be hundreds of miles away depending on where the party goes. And long rests often happen in the middle of a regular session and often only last a minute or less in real time.
Your best bet is to get a Portable Hole as soon as possible. Only real option for a portable undead holder outside of a covered wagon that you take everywhere but don't let anyone look in or use. Alternatively, you could just hold off on summoning/raising undead until later levels. The amount that you can control is limited. There are threads online about how many a Necromancer can control, around 120-140 if I remember right. But those don't need to be built up. You can just deplete all your spell slots in a day. (If you have the required number of bodies available.) Finger of Death is the only way to truly create an "army" of undead, but takes time because it's 7th level. (Limited number of castings per day)
Assuming that most of your characters time and energy will be spent adventuring but you have a homebase to return to, you could think a little more outside the box to further vex the other characters and hide your true intentions.
You culd play it as the reason you go adventuring is to collect samples/specimens and do research. Tell the DM you want ot try and cultivate a varity of "Russet Mold". Russet Mold is mentioned on page 196 of Volo's Guide to Monsters within the Vegepygmy listing. Effectively it looks like rust but emits poisonous spores. If someone dies from the spores then 1 or more Vegepygmies (plant based creatures) grow 24 hours later. So what you could do as a personal campaign behind the scenes is try to make a version of Russet Mold that animates the dead body as a zombie 24 hours later instead of a vegepygmy, then you could just leave the mold to do its thing somewhere close to where you want to enact your master plan, feed rumours into the local towns/cities of a ruin or cave filled with treasure and you just sit back and watch the outcome. Then should you get powerful enough to be able to control large amounts of undead you can then do a Walking Dead affair and lead them to wherever you need to go.
You could also use the Contact Other Plane spell to contact minions and servants of entities like Orcus and Vecna to liaise with them over the plan and maybe get some help.
Another option, dont use armies of undead. Use a Planeshift spell. Find a place in the town you wish to cause undead havoc in and planeshift someone to the Negative Plane. To quote from the Nightwalker listing in Mordenkainens Tome of Foes (page 216) "For each creature that enters the plane, a nightwalker is released to take its place". Just make sure you have a very good escape plan because Nightwalkers are nasty. This route would likely entail you adventuring to ascertain the correct ingredients needed to attune the fork required for the material component of teh Planeshift spell.
A final option I can think of, use Summon Greater Demon to summon Dybbuk (requires lvl4 spell slot) and/or Maurezhi (requies lvl6 spell slot and both in Mordenkaines Tome of Foes pages 132/133) and leave them to do what they do (Possess corpses and create ghouls respectively). This could be more useful as a diversion as people start looking for a Demonic incursion not a Necromantic one.
I had a final thought which could also serve as a reason to be on the road but is going to be require a large investment of time/money/resources. Magic Item creation.
Create a Wand/Rod/Saff/Orb of Undead Control.
Description: (probably lengendary) Wonderous Item. Requires attunemtn by a wizard (Necromancer) or cleric (Grave or Death domain). Whilst attuned to this item the user can use an Action and hold it aloft and expend a charge to attempt to Control Undead. To determin the CR of undead affected, treat this as the cleric ability Channel Divinity: Turn/Destroy Undead accept any undead failing their saving throw fall under the users control for 24 hours. The orb has 7 charges and recovers d4+1 charges daily at dusk (not dawn because its more "evil").
You could prbably tweak this a little to tidy up the language but thats the gist of it...although might make your character look like Jeremy Irons in that awful Dungeons and Dragon movie.
2: Multiclass as a Cleric, or give the NPC the feat "Cleric Initiate". The former would give you better Clerical class features.
3: Despite your dual needs for Wisdom and Intelligence, make sure your NPC has a high Charisma score. This will aid them as they attempt to cover their true identity when confronted with adventurers asking your wizard uncomfortable questions about their identity and motives during free action role play.
2: Multiclass as a Cleric, or give the NPC the feat "Cleric Initiate". The former would give you better Clerical class features.
3: Despite your dual needs for Wisdom and Intelligence, make sure your NPC has a high Charisma score. This will aid them as they attempt to cover their true identity when confronted with adventurers asking your wizard uncomfortable questions about their identity and motives during free action role play.
And just saying, I love the idea!!!!!!!!
Or you could skip Cleric and go with Artificer, keep everything Int based and still pick up enough healing magic to pull it off. Cure Wounds is an Artificer spell after all.
Is there a way to just preserve a bunch of dead bodies in the storage area, also I would only go when the party takes a long rest and the dm and I could have a private session that involved going to said area
Said area might be hundreds of miles away depending on where the party goes. And long rests often happen in the middle of a regular session and often only last a minute or less in real time.
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Your best bet is to get a Portable Hole as soon as possible. Only real option for a portable undead holder outside of a covered wagon that you take everywhere but don't let anyone look in or use. Alternatively, you could just hold off on summoning/raising undead until later levels. The amount that you can control is limited. There are threads online about how many a Necromancer can control, around 120-140 if I remember right. But those don't need to be built up. You can just deplete all your spell slots in a day. (If you have the required number of bodies available.) Finger of Death is the only way to truly create an "army" of undead, but takes time because it's 7th level. (Limited number of castings per day)
Assuming that most of your characters time and energy will be spent adventuring but you have a homebase to return to, you could think a little more outside the box to further vex the other characters and hide your true intentions.
You culd play it as the reason you go adventuring is to collect samples/specimens and do research. Tell the DM you want ot try and cultivate a varity of "Russet Mold". Russet Mold is mentioned on page 196 of Volo's Guide to Monsters within the Vegepygmy listing. Effectively it looks like rust but emits poisonous spores. If someone dies from the spores then 1 or more Vegepygmies (plant based creatures) grow 24 hours later. So what you could do as a personal campaign behind the scenes is try to make a version of Russet Mold that animates the dead body as a zombie 24 hours later instead of a vegepygmy, then you could just leave the mold to do its thing somewhere close to where you want to enact your master plan, feed rumours into the local towns/cities of a ruin or cave filled with treasure and you just sit back and watch the outcome. Then should you get powerful enough to be able to control large amounts of undead you can then do a Walking Dead affair and lead them to wherever you need to go.
You could also use the Contact Other Plane spell to contact minions and servants of entities like Orcus and Vecna to liaise with them over the plan and maybe get some help.
Another option, dont use armies of undead. Use a Planeshift spell. Find a place in the town you wish to cause undead havoc in and planeshift someone to the Negative Plane. To quote from the Nightwalker listing in Mordenkainens Tome of Foes (page 216) "For each creature that enters the plane, a nightwalker is released to take its place". Just make sure you have a very good escape plan because Nightwalkers are nasty. This route would likely entail you adventuring to ascertain the correct ingredients needed to attune the fork required for the material component of teh Planeshift spell.
A final option I can think of, use Summon Greater Demon to summon Dybbuk (requires lvl4 spell slot) and/or Maurezhi (requies lvl6 spell slot and both in Mordenkaines Tome of Foes pages 132/133) and leave them to do what they do (Possess corpses and create ghouls respectively). This could be more useful as a diversion as people start looking for a Demonic incursion not a Necromantic one.
Fun fact, a 14th level necromancer can relatively easily turn a Nightwalker into an undead thrall, due to the creature's low Intelligence score.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Ohhh I really like that last option! Making it an even more difficult secret to be found out!
I had a final thought which could also serve as a reason to be on the road but is going to be require a large investment of time/money/resources. Magic Item creation.
Create a Wand/Rod/Saff/Orb of Undead Control.
Description: (probably lengendary) Wonderous Item. Requires attunemtn by a wizard (Necromancer) or cleric (Grave or Death domain). Whilst attuned to this item the user can use an Action and hold it aloft and expend a charge to attempt to Control Undead. To determin the CR of undead affected, treat this as the cleric ability Channel Divinity: Turn/Destroy Undead accept any undead failing their saving throw fall under the users control for 24 hours. The orb has 7 charges and recovers d4+1 charges daily at dusk (not dawn because its more "evil").
You could prbably tweak this a little to tidy up the language but thats the gist of it...although might make your character look like Jeremy Irons in that awful Dungeons and Dragon movie.
I KNOW HOW TO MAKE IT WORK!!!!!! :)
1: Build an NPC wizard.
2: Multiclass as a Cleric, or give the NPC the feat "Cleric Initiate". The former would give you better Clerical class features.
3: Despite your dual needs for Wisdom and Intelligence, make sure your NPC has a high Charisma score. This will aid them as they attempt to cover their true identity when confronted with adventurers asking your wizard uncomfortable questions about their identity and motives during free action role play.
And just saying, I love the idea!!!!!!!!
💙🤍~*Ravenclaw*~ 🔮
Or you could skip Cleric and go with Artificer, keep everything Int based and still pick up enough healing magic to pull it off. Cure Wounds is an Artificer spell after all.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting