l am coming up with ideas for characters and one of them is a necromancer and l decided to make this to ask for ideas/feedback of my ideas (ie if its possible with rules as written or lf me and the dm would have to use homebrew/"rule of cool" )
my idea for the late game (le lv 17-20) is to be able to have a massive army of reanimated corpses (RC's) (zombies,skeletons ect) and have them go out (without me) and kill/reanimate anything they come across. that way l can have a ever growing horde and take over the continent from the comfort of my own home (crypt). is there a spell or stalf or something that would allow me to have a huge army of RC to do my bidding? like the items from this skyrim mod. also would my RC be able to do complex things like be given a "staff of worms" (again from this mod) and go kill every humanoid,but spare the weak/children,(or make cake) or would they be mindless beasts that can only be pointed in a drection and kill anything it sees?
is there a way to bring a soul back to the body but have it still be fully under your control? the reason to do this would be for info/maybe be a general in the army/send them to be diplomatic/buy stuff/ able to do complex things if normal RC cant. (though at this point why would you buy stuff lol)
also obviously this kind of thing would be better for the BBEG to do,but you can have the BBEG do whatever you want,but being the player in charge makes it more fun. (and maybe be able to make the PC the next campaings BBEG)
also l want to keep the use of the wish spell to a minimum. l know l could probably do a good chunk of this with that spell but l want to try to do it with out it.
on a side note,in D&D,are soul gems a thing? like gems that can store souls,like in skyrim? lf so, maybe l could use them ln a ritual to make that souled undead like l talked about before.
EDIT this would likely only be used in a oneshot (maybe a prequel to the main campaign following the BBEG's rise to power)
I think all of this should be discussed with your DM beforehand. Some DMs might not like the idea of a PC being at the head of an army of undead. Some DMs might be okay with it, but you will certainly have to deal with consequences of your clearly evil acts ("have them go out (without me) and kill/reanimate anything they come across"), which might even get your character kicked out of the party by the other characters (unless they're clearly evil as well).
As for bringing a soul back to the body while keeping control, outside of a Geas on a living target, I can't really see a way. Maybe you could simply cast True Polymorph on one of your minion to make it look normal ?
Soul gems aren't really a thing AFAIK, but again, you should consult with your DM. Anything involving soul gems will probably be considered extremely evil as well though.
The main issue I see is integrating this character in a campaign, because of 1) their evilness and 2) they seem to want to be able to do everything alone, and break the power balance. You would need to have other players which are ok with both these things.
thanks for the feedback. l would 100% talk to the dm ahead of time for the ok and planing. true polymorph is a great idea. the planing would be interesting,but maybe the other players are collaborators that also want the world ruined/enslaved?
"AFAIK as I know" why did you add the extra "as l know" ? AFAIK stands for "as far as l know" so the extra "as l know" is unneeded.
Just to warn you, if you do that some DMs May force you to retire the Character and then use it as the Villain for the next campaign. I would anyway.
l would WANT/ASK my dm to use it as the next BBEG. thats the idea. its like playing with blocks as a kid: you have fun building the tower but you also have fun destroying it.
maybe,but its a cleric/druid only spell,also l want a army of slave corpses,that is just bringing someone back to life. though lt would make them have a mind and be able to do tasks, l doubt it would follow my every order and be my servant. though maybe adding Mass Suggestion might help. casting it at lv 9 to make it last a year and a day,tell it its orders,one of which is to return to me b4 the year&day are up so l can re cast the spell,that might be possible. can Mass Suggestion work on reanimated corpses? cause if so................
Just to warn you, if you do that some DMs May force you to retire the Character and then use it as the Villain for the next campaign. I would anyway.
l would WANT/ASK my dm to use it as the next BBEG. thats the idea. its like playing with blocks as a kid: you have fun building the tower but you also have fun destroying it.
The issue might be when that character gets retired. It might be hard to sustain the credibility of his presence in a group while he's building an undead army. And it would be frustrating to see your character get turned into an NPC just as he starts to succeed doing what he wanted.
A necromancy wizard can use its command undead feature to try and control a creature that can create more undead under their control like a mummy lord or wight.
A necromancy wizard can use its command undead feature to try and control a creature that can create more undead under their control like a mummy lord or wight.
cool. does Mass Suggestion work on undead? (other then the mummy lord)
I did a quick scan through the Beyond Bestiary and around half of the undead creatures I've looked at are immune to being charmed, so you'll have limited success. the Zombie and the Skeleton are not immune to being charmed so at the very least you can affect them.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
l was re watching the story of The Gray Necromancer 'Astoshan' (one of my insprations for this idea) and he had something called a soul bound black sapphire. what are they,and can they work like black soul gems from skyrim?
l was re watching the story of the grey necromancer (one of my insprations for this idea) and he had something called a soul bound black sapphire. what are they,and can they work like black soul gems from skyrim?
I have no idea what those are. They arent in the 5e rules.
l was re watching the story of The Gray Necromancer 'Astoshan' (one of my insprations for this idea) and he had something called a soul bound black sapphire. what are they,and can they work like black soul gems from skyrim?
I'm pretty certain that Astoshan was a 3.5 or Pathfinder character. I know that Gray Necromancers are at least a thing in Pathfinder. Saw a link to it before I found this thread.
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l am coming up with ideas for characters and one of them is a necromancer and l decided to make this to ask for ideas/feedback of my ideas (ie if its possible with rules as written or lf me and the dm would have to use homebrew/"rule of cool" )
my idea for the late game (le lv 17-20) is to be able to have a massive army of reanimated corpses (RC's) (zombies,skeletons ect) and have them go out (without me) and kill/reanimate anything they come across. that way l can have a ever growing horde and take over the continent from the comfort of my own home (crypt). is there a spell or stalf or something that would allow me to have a huge army of RC to do my bidding? like the items from this skyrim mod. also would my RC be able to do complex things like be given a "staff of worms" (again from this mod) and go kill every humanoid,but spare the weak/children,(or make cake) or would they be mindless beasts that can only be pointed in a drection and kill anything it sees?
is there a way to bring a soul back to the body but have it still be fully under your control? the reason to do this would be for info/maybe be a general in the army/send them to be diplomatic/buy stuff/ able to do complex things if normal RC cant. (though at this point why would you buy stuff lol)
also obviously this kind of thing would be better for the BBEG to do,but you can have the BBEG do whatever you want,but being the player in charge makes it more fun. (and maybe be able to make the PC the next campaings BBEG)
also l want to keep the use of the wish spell to a minimum. l know l could probably do a good chunk of this with that spell but l want to try to do it with out it.
on a side note,in D&D,are soul gems a thing? like gems that can store souls,like in skyrim? lf so, maybe l could use them ln a ritual to make that souled undead like l talked about before.
EDIT this would likely only be used in a oneshot (maybe a prequel to the main campaign following the BBEG's rise to power)
I think all of this should be discussed with your DM beforehand. Some DMs might not like the idea of a PC being at the head of an army of undead. Some DMs might be okay with it, but you will certainly have to deal with consequences of your clearly evil acts ("have them go out (without me) and kill/reanimate anything they come across"), which might even get your character kicked out of the party by the other characters (unless they're clearly evil as well).
As for bringing a soul back to the body while keeping control, outside of a Geas on a living target, I can't really see a way. Maybe you could simply cast True Polymorph on one of your minion to make it look normal ?
Soul gems aren't really a thing AFAIK, but again, you should consult with your DM. Anything involving soul gems will probably be considered extremely evil as well though.
The main issue I see is integrating this character in a campaign, because of 1) their evilness and 2) they seem to want to be able to do everything alone, and break the power balance. You would need to have other players which are ok with both these things.
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thanks for the feedback. l would 100% talk to the dm ahead of time for the ok and planing. true polymorph is a great idea. the planing would be interesting,but maybe the other players are collaborators that also want the world ruined/enslaved?
"AFAIK as I know" why did you add the extra "as l know" ? AFAIK stands for "as far as l know" so the extra "as l know" is unneeded.
Just to warn you, if you do that some DMs May force you to retire the Character and then use it as the Villain for the next campaign. I would anyway.
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Because I start to type something, stop to think, and then resume without reading where I stopped ;)
Thanks for the heads-up, i corrected it.
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hehe, hate it when that happens.
l would WANT/ASK my dm to use it as the next BBEG. thats the idea. its like playing with blocks as a kid: you have fun building the tower but you also have fun destroying it.
True Resurrection should do it I think.
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maybe,but its a cleric/druid only spell,also l want a army of slave corpses,that is just bringing someone back to life. though lt would make them have a mind and be able to do tasks, l doubt it would follow my every order and be my servant. though maybe adding Mass Suggestion might help. casting it at lv 9 to make it last a year and a day,tell it its orders,one of which is to return to me b4 the year&day are up so l can re cast the spell,that might be possible. can Mass Suggestion work on reanimated corpses? cause if so................
The issue might be when that character gets retired. It might be hard to sustain the credibility of his presence in a group while he's building an undead army. And it would be frustrating to see your character get turned into an NPC just as he starts to succeed doing what he wanted.
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like l said,me and the dm would work something out ahead of time.
A necromancy wizard can use its command undead feature to try and control a creature that can create more undead under their control like a mummy lord or wight.
cool. does Mass Suggestion work on undead? (other then the mummy lord)
I did a quick scan through the Beyond Bestiary and around half of the undead creatures I've looked at are immune to being charmed, so you'll have limited success. the Zombie and the Skeleton are not immune to being charmed so at the very least you can affect them.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
ah,thanks.
l was re watching the story of The Gray Necromancer 'Astoshan' (one of my insprations for this idea) and he had something called a soul bound black sapphire. what are they,and can they work like black soul gems from skyrim?
I have no idea what those are. They arent in the 5e rules.
oh? thats weird. maybe they were homebrew?
I think sould bonding was a 3(.5)e or 4e mechanic, so maybe just old.
I'm pretty certain that Astoshan was a 3.5 or Pathfinder character. I know that Gray Necromancers are at least a thing in Pathfinder. Saw a link to it before I found this thread.