I've seen many threads and posts about necromancer builds and such, but I'm looking for tactics and tips for actually playing necromancers. What do different players do to have/move their undead, how do you hide the fact that your a necromancer. How to get the most out of your minions. Tips of the trade and such.
A couple ive seen are: 1. Borrow knowledge and fabricate to outfit your undead in the latest styles of gear 2. Keep your eternal friends in a bag of holding which you turn inside out as an action. Thus "summonning" your prepped little group of bony friends.
What are some other tips of the trade people have learned over time?
Tip #1 : Talk to your DM and table about how to make a necromancer actually fun and not simply bog down combat until your own party is passive-aggressively friendly-firing your zombie horde so the game can actually progress.
You can use the "Handling Mobs" section from the DMG (although it requires a bit of setup)
That's what I'm doing for my Coffeelock. I just reached the level where I can use animate dead, but now need to find humanoid corpses somewhat ethically in order to create my horde.
Funds are also a problem if you want to equip an undead army, but adventuring may remedy that.
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Pronouns: he/him/his.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
Thats why I mentioned the fabrication/borrowed knowledge spell combo I figured out. Lets you get all the gear you need for cheap/free once you can cast a 4th lvl spell.
Hoping to find other neat ideas people have found. Not rules and such, just in game ideas
You can use the "Handling Mobs" section from the DMG (although it requires a bit of setup)
That's what I'm doing for my Coffeelock. I just reached the level where I can use animate dead, but now need to find humanoid corpses somewhat ethically in order to create my horde.
Funds are also a problem if you want to equip an undead army, but adventuring may remedy that.
Oh, you better get DM approval for this kind of shenanigan. Also, keep in mind that it's entirely within the DM's scope to say there's no "ethical" way to build an undead army; the PHB sideboard on the schools of magic specifically says that frequently creating undead is an evil act.
A human skeleton fits inside a 40x40 cm box, with plenty of room to spare. Not enough for a halberd, but still, a bit of gear would fit too. So have a wagon, and a full load of those. That's what I'd do.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
You can use the "Handling Mobs" section from the DMG (although it requires a bit of setup)
That's what I'm doing for my Coffeelock. I just reached the level where I can use animate dead, but now need to find humanoid corpses somewhat ethically in order to create my horde.
To ethically create an undead horde you'd need to get explicit consent of the each person before they died, or the permission of their family after they died. It's a absolutely huge amount of work and requires really high persuasion, considering IRL organ donation rates are around 50%, and that's something that is purely to save the life of another person. Not become a monster that the creator might lose control of and end up running around attacking innocent people.
Yeah, that's the big thing to remember when people talk about "ethical necromancy" in the context of creating undead; undead are not meant to be neutral tools. They're meant to be unnatural creations that have an innate desire to destroy life.
Animate dead is a nice distraction spell. Send them one way and you go the other.
But as you know the spell animates them and gives you control for a day but after that you no longer have control and they wonder around doing their own thing. Which is a nice way to occupy a dungeon or hide out. just make sure the doors are locked securely so they stay inside.
Think about secretly hiring local grave robbers to acquire new materials. Just remember that using them close to the area you "found: them could mean someone recognizes them and then the whole of the town will be real mad about it and start looking for you. Or at least a necromancer in general.
But a few in a bag of holding or a portable hole is never enough. You will always want to carry more around with you.
Just remember that if you need a few on the road or in a dungeon you just need to find a humanoid, Anything human shaped. Animate it after the battle that killed it and use it or them to attack the next group. Then your at least not carrying them around like smelly socks.
"good" adventurers burn their enemies alive, poison them, stab them a dozen times. All sorts of grisly deaths. The body afterwards? You don't need permission.
The soul is gone, they aren't using it. Its not wrong to use a dead body, cause they don't know or care. Its like a funeral, they are only for the living, not the dead. This idea that one way of horribly killing people is ok, but another is wrong is.... bs.
However, I'm not concerned with being a good character. In our games, we mostly ignore alignment cause its all total bs anyways.
And by that logic if you’re going to use artillery you might as well break out the nerve gas and biological weapons too. Within all of the core material there is a massive difference between using directed energy to kill a foe and creating a being with an innate and wholly indiscriminate desire to destroy all life.
meh, this is literally a game about murder hobos. They have no home, and sovle all their problems by murdering people and stealing thier stuff. The entire system is designed around murder.
Again, the ethics are overblown, cause the game assumes some forms of hidious murder are ok, and others are not.
That’s one possible interpretation of the game, but not the typical one. Besides, there’s a list of other non-lore reasons why the zombie army bit is generally not desirable at a table:
- It’s a massive drain on combat time to have a bunch of extra units in play; there’s a reason spells like Conjure Woodland Creatures get something of a negative reputation
- As a corollary to the first, it allows a single player to substantially dominate the field in combat, which is not typically a positive experience for other players.
- Most of the time when someone wants to do this, they want to add armor, shields, and alternate weapons, which compounds the bookkeeping headache as then the DM can’t even stick with the standard stat block.
If your DM is game with all this, have fun storming the castle, but there’s a broad list of reasons regarding both roleplay and gameplay why a player wanting a personal zombie army is very problematic.
The undead army thing basically boils down to: the undead army plays its own game off-screen while the party plays party-appropriate content. If that's your jam then go for it talk with your DM about setting up situations where the undead army is useful as such, but it's just not fun to play with a undead horde on the combat map with the rest of the party.
Re: Ethics - being a murderhobo is also not ethical. Since it is a game, sure feel free to ignore ethics entirely and play video-game style where the authorities completely forget about you murdering people after a couple of minutes of not seeing you. But that is one particular style of playing which IME many tables of players who aren't children aren't looking for.
Hey everyone.
I've seen many threads and posts about necromancer builds and such, but I'm looking for tactics and tips for actually playing necromancers. What do different players do to have/move their undead, how do you hide the fact that your a necromancer. How to get the most out of your minions. Tips of the trade and such.
A couple ive seen are:
1. Borrow knowledge and fabricate to outfit your undead in the latest styles of gear
2. Keep your eternal friends in a bag of holding which you turn inside out as an action. Thus "summonning" your prepped little group of bony friends.
What are some other tips of the trade people have learned over time?
Thanks
Tip #1 : Talk to your DM and table about how to make a necromancer actually fun and not simply bog down combat until your own party is passive-aggressively friendly-firing your zombie horde so the game can actually progress.
You can use the "Handling Mobs" section from the DMG (although it requires a bit of setup)
That's what I'm doing for my Coffeelock. I just reached the level where I can use animate dead, but now need to find humanoid corpses somewhat ethically in order to create my horde.
Funds are also a problem if you want to equip an undead army, but adventuring may remedy that.
Pronouns: he/him/his.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
Thats why I mentioned the fabrication/borrowed knowledge spell combo I figured out. Lets you get all the gear you need for cheap/free once you can cast a 4th lvl spell.
Hoping to find other neat ideas people have found. Not rules and such, just in game ideas
Oh, you better get DM approval for this kind of shenanigan. Also, keep in mind that it's entirely within the DM's scope to say there's no "ethical" way to build an undead army; the PHB sideboard on the schools of magic specifically says that frequently creating undead is an evil act.
A human skeleton fits inside a 40x40 cm box, with plenty of room to spare. Not enough for a halberd, but still, a bit of gear would fit too. So have a wagon, and a full load of those. That's what I'd do.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
To ethically create an undead horde you'd need to get explicit consent of the each person before they died, or the permission of their family after they died. It's a absolutely huge amount of work and requires really high persuasion, considering IRL organ donation rates are around 50%, and that's something that is purely to save the life of another person. Not become a monster that the creator might lose control of and end up running around attacking innocent people.
Yeah, that's the big thing to remember when people talk about "ethical necromancy" in the context of creating undead; undead are not meant to be neutral tools. They're meant to be unnatural creations that have an innate desire to destroy life.
Animate dead is a nice distraction spell. Send them one way and you go the other.
But as you know the spell animates them and gives you control for a day but after that you no longer have control and they wonder around doing their own thing.
Which is a nice way to occupy a dungeon or hide out. just make sure the doors are locked securely so they stay inside.
Think about secretly hiring local grave robbers to acquire new materials. Just remember that using them close to the area you "found: them could mean someone recognizes them and then the whole of the town will be real mad about it and start looking for you. Or at least a necromancer in general.
But a few in a bag of holding or a portable hole is never enough. You will always want to carry more around with you.
Just remember that if you need a few on the road or in a dungeon you just need to find a humanoid, Anything human shaped. Animate it after the battle that killed it and use it or them to attack the next group.
Then your at least not carrying them around like smelly socks.
i think the "ethics" are way overblown.
"good" adventurers burn their enemies alive, poison them, stab them a dozen times. All sorts of grisly deaths. The body afterwards? You don't need permission.
The soul is gone, they aren't using it. Its not wrong to use a dead body, cause they don't know or care. Its like a funeral, they are only for the living, not the dead. This idea that one way of horribly killing people is ok, but another is wrong is.... bs.
However, I'm not concerned with being a good character. In our games, we mostly ignore alignment cause its all total bs anyways.
And by that logic if you’re going to use artillery you might as well break out the nerve gas and biological weapons too. Within all of the core material there is a massive difference between using directed energy to kill a foe and creating a being with an innate and wholly indiscriminate desire to destroy all life.
meh, this is literally a game about murder hobos. They have no home, and sovle all their problems by murdering people and stealing thier stuff. The entire system is designed around murder.
Again, the ethics are overblown, cause the game assumes some forms of hidious murder are ok, and others are not.
That’s one possible interpretation of the game, but not the typical one. Besides, there’s a list of other non-lore reasons why the zombie army bit is generally not desirable at a table:
- It’s a massive drain on combat time to have a bunch of extra units in play; there’s a reason spells like Conjure Woodland Creatures get something of a negative reputation
- As a corollary to the first, it allows a single player to substantially dominate the field in combat, which is not typically a positive experience for other players.
- Most of the time when someone wants to do this, they want to add armor, shields, and alternate weapons, which compounds the bookkeeping headache as then the DM can’t even stick with the standard stat block.
If your DM is game with all this, have fun storming the castle, but there’s a broad list of reasons regarding both roleplay and gameplay why a player wanting a personal zombie army is very problematic.
on the 'bog down combat' theme...this might be helpful both you and your DM...its free.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/448959/A-Wizardly-Guide-to-Dead-Squads
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
A rather comprehensive list of free WotC D&D resources
Deck of Decks
The undead army thing basically boils down to: the undead army plays its own game off-screen while the party plays party-appropriate content. If that's your jam then go for it talk with your DM about setting up situations where the undead army is useful as such, but it's just not fun to play with a undead horde on the combat map with the rest of the party.
Re: Ethics - being a murderhobo is also not ethical. Since it is a game, sure feel free to ignore ethics entirely and play video-game style where the authorities completely forget about you murdering people after a couple of minutes of not seeing you. But that is one particular style of playing which IME many tables of players who aren't children aren't looking for.