Necromancer: Students of this school delve into forbidden lore and dark secrets in their
quest to understand and control the forces of life and death. A character must be
extraordinarily strong of will in order to succeed at these studies—a wizard
must have a Wisdom (Wisdom/Willpower) of 16 or higher in order to choose
necromancy as his specialty. Necromancy is opposed by illusion and enchantment/charm.
Necromancers gain the standard benefits for being specialist wizards. At 8th
level, his saving throw bonus versus necromancy spells increases to a total of
+2. At 11th level, the necromancer gains a special speak with dead spell-like ability that requires no verbal or material components; the wizard
need only point at the deceased person and concentrate for one round. This
spell functions like the 3rd-level priest spell speak with dead, except that the necromancer may converse for up to one turn and ask four
questions of the spirit. At 14th level, the necromancer gains a partial resistance
to the special effects of undead attacks; although he still suffers the normal
damage of any such attack, he gains a +2 to saving throws against strength
drain, paralyzation, and other effects. He may attempt a saving throw vs. death
magic with a –4 penalty to avoid the effects of any attack that normally does not
allow a save, such as a wight or wraith’s energy drain.
The necromancer commands a variety of powerful spells, but these are not
generally as useful on the battlefield as the invoker’s powers. The necromancer’s
best strategy is to concentrate on one important enemy at a time, using the
nefarious spells of this school to disable the enemy’s leaders and champions.
Necromancers can also be very useful in dealing with undead of all sorts.
Table of Contents