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.

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