Don’t forget though if you’re a wizard necromancer. The necromancy school gives you the ability to boost your undead summon more really good stuff that an arcane trickster, or death cleric ect can’t do
The Barbarian Path of the Ancestral Guardian is a better necromancer fit. They quite literally summon spirits for defensive, offensive and divination purposes. If you imagine that those spirits are being dragged screaming and wailing back from death against their will then you have yourself a big strong necromancer...
Hey, I saw this post and I wanted some help. I started d&d a few months ago and picked druid not really understanding how classes worked. I have since been playing that campaign for a year now and always wanted to be a necromancer but my friends told me not to multiclass. Any advice on what I should do?
Talk to your friends about why they think you shouldn't multiclass since they know you better. If the reason is a valid one, I'd listen. If not, talk to your DM about the possibility and about the reasons why you want to multiclass. If the DM isn't ok with it, consider asking for a change to Circle of Spores from Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica.
If that's a no go consider focusing on the decay aspects of what you have going and flavor any summon spells as raising undead versions. If there are school of necromancy spells, pick those up and then start flavoring your actions with other spells and actions as a way to finish the life cycle and bring about the decomposition of things that are old to help fuel the things that will be new.
thanks, I have it on Tuesdays so I'll ask them. Also, something to note is that they've been playing d&d fo a couple of years now so they know better than me when it comes to that type of stuff.
I'm currently playing this guy in our campaign. I'm only level 7 at the moment, but this is what he'll look like when he grows up. Not entirely a Necromancer, but Finger of Death is a must.
ddb.ac/characters/9031295/o6Yfnp
I am really impressed with your build. At what levels do you incorporate your Warlock? Also, if you do not mind sharing, how did you build your character at each level stage (spells chosen; etc) ?
To make your character even more necromancery, you can always "reflavor" your spells with a necromantic theme. For example, when you case magic missiles, you can describe it as a ghostly archer shooting bone arrows. Fireball? Thats a giant flaming skull. Grease? You conjure a big fat zombie that immediately dissolves into a puddle of slippery goo....
I've been messing around with some "off tank" necromancer builds, for fun. Not exactly aiming for a tank, since your HP will still be low but the idea is to have a high AC at low levels wearing heavy armor. Which, by the time you have undead minions that shouldn't matter as they are your body guards. If you notice, my build leans towards cold damaging evocation and necromancy spells for a sort of "lich king" inspired theme.
For my builds I went with Levistus Tiefling, for the spells Ray of Frost and Armor of Agathys. And I've messed around with a few of the class combinations for multiclassing, the Wizard class typically being the one I dip most of my levels in. For my examples I have them as a 4th level character so they have the ability score increase / feat option as a 4th level Wizard. And each of the builds I chose the feat for Heavily Armored, or Tough / ABI if they were already proficient with heavy armor.
Artificer 1 / Wizard 4
Cleric 1 / Wizard 4
Paladin 4 (Oathbreaker) / Warlock 1
Warlock 1 (Hexblade) / Wizard 4
Fighter 1 / Wizard 4
The ones I found to be enjoyable the most were Wizard combinations with Warlock, Cleric, and Artificer. The Artificer build is nice because the Artificer uses the Wizards spell list for it's spell casting, and gives you second level spell slots a little earlier than the other multi-class classes. The Cleric build has the most cantrips, and some other neat abilities for necromancing if you go the Death / Grave Domains. The Warlock I think was my favorite combination since you don't need to go Levistus, you can go the normal Tiefling or any other race as the Warlock tree will have Armor of Agathy's available as a Warlock spell. That, and the Warlock class has some pretty amazing necromancer themed spells such as Danse Macabre and the new Tasha's spell Summon Undead.
I didn't find the build for a Warden (Warlock / Paladin) very practical, but it does seem interesting. (You'd be putting your levels into Paladin). But each time that I look at Paladin, it seems like it's less troublesome to just go straight Oathbreaker as the class does a very good job of being exactly what it is, a "dread lord". The only downside is that the class is a half-caster and doesn't gain access to Animate Dead until 9th level. But if you're okay with that then the Oathbreaker is a solid choice.
Overall if your goal is to amass an army of the undead, then stick to the best necromancer class there is; Wizard School of Necromancy. If you want to have a smaller horde and take a different approach, then there are various options that can be fun as well.
Don’t forget though if you’re a wizard necromancer. The necromancy school gives you the ability to boost your undead summon more really good stuff that an arcane trickster, or death cleric ect can’t do
Plus you have access to all of the spells that make undead.
When the DM smiles, it is already to late.
You also get simulacrum, which greatly enhances your ability to control undead, for one day, then they just go off to cause mayhem.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
if you don’t know what class to use you can roll it on this table
d12
1 barbarian- use spirits of dead animals
2 bard- spells like lesser restoration and healing word
3 cleric- self explanatory
4 druid- mending and healing spells
5 fighter- eldritch knight
6 paladin- cleric
7 ranger- druid
8 rogue- arcane trickster, choose necromancy spells
9 sorcerer- self explanatory
10 warlock- self explanatory
11 wizard- self explanatory
12 reroll
theres ways to make these all work
jack l p
How does a barbarian use the spirits of dead animals?
When the DM smiles, it is already to late.
with the totem path you can say that’s why they can do those things
jack l p
I wouldn't call that a necromancer though. IMO a necromancer brings the dead back to life, usually through undeath.
yeah you’re right
jack l p
they’re harnessing the powers of the dead, so maybe it could work
jack l p
You could do barbarian, subclass wizard and use some necromancy spells, and have them control dead in 2 ways. That would be cool.
jack l p
The Barbarian Path of the Ancestral Guardian is a better necromancer fit. They quite literally summon spirits for defensive, offensive and divination purposes. If you imagine that those spirits are being dragged screaming and wailing back from death against their will then you have yourself a big strong necromancer...
Hey, I saw this post and I wanted some help. I started d&d a few months ago and picked druid not really understanding how classes worked. I have since been playing that campaign for a year now and always wanted to be a necromancer but my friends told me not to multiclass. Any advice on what I should do?
Be a Circle of Spores druid.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Talk to your friends about why they think you shouldn't multiclass since they know you better. If the reason is a valid one, I'd listen. If not, talk to your DM about the possibility and about the reasons why you want to multiclass. If the DM isn't ok with it, consider asking for a change to Circle of Spores from Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/ggtr/character-creation#DruidCircleofSpores
If that's a no go consider focusing on the decay aspects of what you have going and flavor any summon spells as raising undead versions. If there are school of necromancy spells, pick those up and then start flavoring your actions with other spells and actions as a way to finish the life cycle and bring about the decomposition of things that are old to help fuel the things that will be new.
thanks, I have it on Tuesdays so I'll ask them. Also, something to note is that they've been playing d&d fo a couple of years now so they know better than me when it comes to that type of stuff.
I am really impressed with your build. At what levels do you incorporate your Warlock? Also, if you do not mind sharing, how did you build your character at each level stage (spells chosen; etc) ?
Awesome ideas in here. Thanks so much.
No love for Deep Gnome?
Tiny gnome wizard commanding minotaur skeletons, wraiths and ogre zombies...
WTF is going on with physics!?!?!??
To make your character even more necromancery, you can always "reflavor" your spells with a necromantic theme. For example, when you case magic missiles, you can describe it as a ghostly archer shooting bone arrows. Fireball? Thats a giant flaming skull. Grease? You conjure a big fat zombie that immediately dissolves into a puddle of slippery goo....
I've been messing around with some "off tank" necromancer builds, for fun. Not exactly aiming for a tank, since your HP will still be low but the idea is to have a high AC at low levels wearing heavy armor. Which, by the time you have undead minions that shouldn't matter as they are your body guards. If you notice, my build leans towards cold damaging evocation and necromancy spells for a sort of "lich king" inspired theme.
For my builds I went with Levistus Tiefling, for the spells Ray of Frost and Armor of Agathys. And I've messed around with a few of the class combinations for multiclassing, the Wizard class typically being the one I dip most of my levels in. For my examples I have them as a 4th level character so they have the ability score increase / feat option as a 4th level Wizard. And each of the builds I chose the feat for Heavily Armored, or Tough / ABI if they were already proficient with heavy armor.
The ones I found to be enjoyable the most were Wizard combinations with Warlock, Cleric, and Artificer. The Artificer build is nice because the Artificer uses the Wizards spell list for it's spell casting, and gives you second level spell slots a little earlier than the other multi-class classes. The Cleric build has the most cantrips, and some other neat abilities for necromancing if you go the Death / Grave Domains. The Warlock I think was my favorite combination since you don't need to go Levistus, you can go the normal Tiefling or any other race as the Warlock tree will have Armor of Agathy's available as a Warlock spell. That, and the Warlock class has some pretty amazing necromancer themed spells such as Danse Macabre and the new Tasha's spell Summon Undead.
I didn't find the build for a Warden (Warlock / Paladin) very practical, but it does seem interesting. (You'd be putting your levels into Paladin). But each time that I look at Paladin, it seems like it's less troublesome to just go straight Oathbreaker as the class does a very good job of being exactly what it is, a "dread lord". The only downside is that the class is a half-caster and doesn't gain access to Animate Dead until 9th level. But if you're okay with that then the Oathbreaker is a solid choice.
Overall if your goal is to amass an army of the undead, then stick to the best necromancer class there is; Wizard School of Necromancy. If you want to have a smaller horde and take a different approach, then there are various options that can be fun as well.
Edit: Links and corrections.