Hi, we're starting a Tomb of Annihilation campaign and I've always wanted to play a necromancer. I am fairly new to DnD still and this will be my first time playing a Wizard (I played a Ranger in our previous campaign that is getting cut short). I've been throwing around background ideas in my head for a while on how to make an interesting character to rp with.

I've been kicking around ideas using the Haunted One background, but I feel like that one is going way overboard. I don't want to make things too complex or fleshed out so I can leave a lot of rp room and surprises. Worships Eldath, goddess of peace seeking peace from her troubles. Tries to hide that she is haunted but may be rendered a little insane.

The idea I came up with recently may be better but I'm fairly new so I'm not sure how this fits: 

Priestess of the dead. Loves to read and study. Can be a little strange. By day she and her master tend to the graves, a small temple, and perform funeral rites for a small village. By night they secretly study and practice necromancy. However the circumstances surrounding the Tomb interrupts things and she is sent to seek answers despite not being very experienced (thus a reason she joins the party). Little does she know her master had once been dead and is wasting away from the curse and wants to hide this from her.

I'd like to know what you guys think of these ideas and if you've played a Necromancer wizard before, what backgrounds do you recommend? 

Extra note: I have read a lot of arguments about necromancers and alignment, please don't bring that in here. My DM knows I will likely be playing necromancer and is fine with it in the game.

The "priestess of the dead" idea sounds cool. Give her the Acolyte background to match, I'd say.  If her master had once been dead, and is now wasting away from the curse... maybe consider an Undying Patron Warlock, your undead master being the Patron?  Unless you're dead (haha) set on playing Necromancer.

Thought I'd share my Necromancer's background, since we're at it... human wizard, raised by elves.  He quickly noticed how short his lifespan is, compared to his (adoptive) family's, and became obsessed with extending his lifespan.  Turned to magic (naturally) for it.  But elves hate necromancy (or, at any rate, the elves he lived with do), so there wasn't much information on it, so he set out to find the solution.  Took the Sage background (specialty: Researcher) to reflect his studious bent.  Eventually, if everything goes as planned, he'll become a Lich.  He's not evil (lawful neutral, actually), but so obsessed with "living forever" that he'll stop at nothing to achieve it.

Thanks for the feedback and info! I am dead (badum tst) set on Necromancer for sure, I'm saving my Warlock ideas for another time. the only thing I'm stuck on is what god to worship for the main part. I've given it a little thought and I could fuse the Acolyte and Haunted One together in a sense, use the same background and throw in some haunted one effects along with it. I really like the idea of a necromancer worshipping a deity of peace for some reason, not because they are completely peaceful, but because that is what they desire most. I could do this without the full haunted one stuff and have her this somewhat violent, turbulent, pervasive part that she tries to hold at bay. Giving all the more reinforcement for her want of peace. So I'm torn between the two backgrounds. 

One characterization aspect I think would be neat and interesting is if she kept a journal that she resigned these forbidden thoughts into as a form of coping and releasing tension she bottles up, as well as maybe a love of literature and poetry for calming effect to. Kind of like "I'm stressed, I'm gonna read a book or write some stuff" kind of character. I can't help but to think of what a curious party member might find if they dare look inside a Pandora's Journal.

I really like your necromancer background as well! I am leaning towards playing a human as well. I usually favor elves so I'd like to switch it up and playing something else. I considered tiefling as well (my dm suggested that), but I feel like a Tiefling Necromancer may be stacking too many social negatives together. I like the idea of wizards with some crazy goal like that as it can create quite the story dynamic as the campaign progresses.

I'm also a little worried about going a little too far with my character creation because I tend to do that...

Thanks a lot for your responses! I appreciate all the feedback I can get, we're going to do session 0 on Saturday

I'm seconding the Acolyte background recommendation. The idea that your necromancer actually plays a helpful role in the community is really neat, so I think you should flesh that out some more. Did her congregation know about her necromancy practices, or did she keep that aspect secret from them? Does she think that her necro studies will ultimately help her community, or is she doing it for more selfish reasons? I presume that, if she were to learn that her mentor is wasting away, her goal would be to find a way to reverse his disease - but if she started studying necromancy before that happened, what was her original motivation?

I'm also going to be playing a necromancer in my next game, Morrigan Devlin; she is of the Noble background, and comes from a family that has long been rumored to be cursed/blessed (it's hard to tell sometimes) by Wee Jas, the lawful neutral goddess of death and beauty. Morrigan studies necromancy partially because she feels obligated to, due to her family history; but she also wants to better understand what separates necromancy from "regular" healing magic - you'll recall that all resurrection spells are technically necromancy spells, so what really  separates a reanimated skeleton from an adventurer who was brought back to life using revivify? Are there long-term consequences to using resurrection spells that people aren't aware of? That's what she wants to find out; she is, ultimately, a medical researcher.

Consider a Death Cleric. Spells for healing and helping plus spells for killing and raising the dead.

One character I play is a Death Cleric. For her the god she serves is simply Death itself, it is Neutral not evil and her role as Cleric was more about maintaining balance: ensuring those who must die at their fated time do so and those who must not are saved. It is rare for these fated events to be interfered as most of life and death falls into chos not fte so the demands placed on her are minimal. She uses the dark powers to destroy those she views as evil and uses the light powers to heal those she views deserving it. She favours a good morality but the demands of her God come first.

Not all Death Clerics must be evil. Death, by its nature is Neutral, as is Life.