Vile Pacts and Dark Gifts

Sooner or later, wizards who employ black necromancy with some regularity are noticed by the dark and mysterious deities that patronize such evil sorceries. In some locales, such as RAVENLOFT, the fabled Realm of Terror, any wizard who employs the Art—whether for good or ill purpose—runs the risk of attracting the sinister attention of malign entities known only as the Dark Powers. Like all patrons of forbidden and evil magic, these fiendish gods seek to subvert mortal spellcasters, turning them into often unwitting instruments of the gods’ will. To further corrupt and entice mortals into their service, the Dark Powers often grant strange and fabulous abilities to living wizards, thereby encouraging their continued practice of black necromancy.

Awesome supernatural powers are rarely gained without some terrible, personal cost to the individual involved. As we shall see in the following chapter, each beneficial Dark Gift (and even the practice of the Black Arts by itself) exacts a baneful and unavoidable price on the necromancer. Indeed, the price often outweighs the merit of the Dark Gift itself. But to the wicked and the ambitious, the price is of little consequence. Such characters are concerned only with attaining power and dominion over others, regardless of the actual cost.

The RAVENLOFT rules system (see Chapter Four in the Realm of Terror booklet in the new RAVENLOFT boxed set) already includes detailed provisions for gaining salient abilities which are expressly granted by the Dark Powers that rule the demi-plane. In that campaign setting, each time a character employs a necromantic spell (whether a wizard or priest), there is a flat 1% chance that this act will be noticed by the demi-plane’s fiendish rulers. The RAVENLOFT rules system does not distinguish between white or black necromancy—any spells which draw upon a being’s life force may attract their attention, regardless of the caster’s intent. However, there is enough latitude in the “powers check” that the DM can increase the chance of attracting unwanted divine attention, from 1–10%, depending upon the specific nature of an evil act. Outside of the RAVENLOFT campaign setting, the DM may wish to retain the concept of the powers check, though it may apply only when a character willingly practices the Black Arts or employs gray necromancy for an evil purpose.

Keep in mind that the concept of a powers check only applies to player characters dabbling in evil affairs beyond their puny mortal understanding. Such restrictions need not apply to NPCs generated by the DM. Certainly the villainous and wicked archnemesis of the campaign will have no compunction about willingly allying him- or herself with the dark and terrible powers from the Lower Planes. Even if the NPC does not explicitly enter into a specific contract with such evil powers, however, the necromancer may unknowingly serve their will in the mortal world, simply by employing the darker aspects of necromancy.

Salient abilities represent a third way in which the DM can bolster an evil NPC’s repertoire of powers. To preserve game balance, these Dark Gifts should only be bestowed on rare wizard NPCs who play a pivotal role in the campaign. In general, the DM should rarely assign more than a few (1–3) special powers to a single NPC (a good rule of thumb is one salient ability for every four experience levels of the character). Each special power also incurs a baneful punishment. Thus a wizard with three salient abilities has three special punishments (see Chapter Three for details). In most cases, only one or two special powers should be sufficient to create a unique and memorable NPC villain for the campaign. Keep in mind that these salient abilities are intended to provide an increased challenge (or a nasty surprise) for an experienced party of adventurers. They are definitely not intended for player characters.

Not just necromancers can benefit from the salient abilities outlined in this chapter. Death priests (introduced in Chapter Five) are also candidates for such powers and, because of their allied affiliation, they are unlikely to suffer from as many punishments as a wizard. This is especially true when the fact that the powers of a wizard often intrude upon those bestowed upon a priest by his or her deity is considered.

Because of their strong alliance with the gods that grant such powers, evil death priests, once they reach at least 9th level in experience, are much more likely candidates for salient abilities than wizards. For simplicity, in the power descriptions that follow, references to necromancers should be taken to mean “necromancers and death priests,” except when stated specifically otherwise.

When creating an NPC with salient abilities, the DM may choose from the following list or determine the (1–3) powers randomly by rolling 1d20 and consulting Table 5. Unless stated otherwise, the following abilities can be invoked at will by the necromancer. While some powers are similar to spells, none of the powers require any verbal or somatic components. The DM is encouraged to tailor the following powers to suit the flavor of the campaign.

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