Ultimate Necromancer
Necromancer is an arcane adept of forces of life and death. He learns and commands negative energy and, to lesser extend, the positive energy of the multiverse. From this power all his unnatural abilities arise, such as power to create and command undead, extend his life, or even escape the grip of death altogether.
Adventures: Necromancers adventure to broaden their knowledge about death, to better understand it and ultimately conquer it. They will gladly join any party that's bent on uncovering ancient tombs or plundering a wizard's library. Because necromancers have many enemies (most of which they never even met), they readily do anything to amass resources to be able to defend themselves should the need arise.
Characteristics: Necromancers are arcane spellcasters that specialize in spells that create undead, deal negative energy damage, drain or damage abilities, or otherwise weaken the opposition. They are slightly tougher than other mages, but some of their trademark abilities require them to sacrifice their hit points in order to work. In any case, necromancers feel safest when guarded by their departed minions and afflicting enemies with their magic from afar.
Alignment: Necromancers can be of any alignment. While dealing with matters of life and death can be easily abusable and corrupting, there are necromancers who are not evil and use their powers and knowledge (such as healing spells or anatomical knowledge) to help the others. Some use their skill to fight other necromancers, for reasons ranging from defending townsfolk to seizing enemy resources. Others are irredeemably evil, drawing pleasure from suffering of others.
Religion: Because of necromancers' strong relationship to matters of afterlife, most of them have either hate or love relationship with religious organisations. Many necromancers are not religious at all, since they believe they can achieve life eternal on their own, thus not needing to revere a deity to be safe after death. Those who are religious are found allied primarily with religious orders of gods of death and undeath, or perhaps fate and time. Necromancers who follow the paths of evil are painstakingly hunted by paladins and clerics of life-oriented faiths.
Background: Necromancers are generally avoided, or even hated, in most communities and many religions deem them abominations. That makes them somewhat paranoid and very careful of whom they speak with. It also makes them loners unless they go to great lengths to hide their occupation.
Races: Humans, with their short life spans are most drawn toward the rewards the necromantic art offers. Elves and dwarves, on the other hand, find that avenue of magic disgusting and abominable and rarely follow it. Other races of at least average intellect sprout necromancers on occasion, but those mages are still less common than other arcane specialists.
Other Classes: Necromancers are usually enemies or rivals of the clerics (for creating an alternative to their religion) and druids (for upsetting the natural order of things), but if their goals and beliefs are similar, even friendship is possible. Black mages with vile urges are also sworn enemies of paladins, and not really allies of scourges. Even if a necromancer proves his good intentions at every step, a wise paladin will always keep an eye on him. Necromancer's attitude toward other spellcasters is usually neutral, but struggle for power and wealth does happen in least expected moments. On the other hand, necromancers are quite popular among martial allies since their magic often weakens the enemy instead of killing them outright, which allows fighters and barbarian to finish the job. They are also popular because of the healing magic they possess.
Starting Age: Complex (same as cleric, druid, monk, and others).
Starting Gold: 3d4 x 10 (average 75 gp)
Game Rule Information
Necromancers have the following game statistics.
- Abilities: Intelligence is by far the most important ability for every necromancer, since it affects his spellcasting prowess. A good Constitution score is also useful for any necromancer who doesn't plan on becoming an undead. As always, solid Dexterity will allow a necromancer to live longer while good Wisdom will make them more resistant to mind attacks.
- Alignment: Any.
- Hit Points per Level: 1d4 + Con modifier.
- Hit points are maximized at 1st character level.
- Skill Points per Level: 4 + Int modifier.
- Skill points are multiplied by 4 at 1st character level.
Class Skills: The necromancer’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Decipher Script (Int), Disguise (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all skills, taken separately) (Int), Profession (embalmer) (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Class Table
Base Fort Ref Will
Level Attack Bonus Save Save Save Special .
1st +0 +0 +0 +2 Death lore, life sap,
scribe scroll, spellcasting
2nd +1 +0 +0 +3 Power of unlife
3rd +1 +1 +1 +3 -
4th +2 +1 +1 +4 Death pact (1st step)
5th +2 +1 +1 +4 -
6th +3 +2 +2 +5 Power of unlife
7th +3 +2 +2 +5 -
8th +4 +2 +2 +6 Death pact (2nd step)
9th +4 +3 +3 +6 -
10th +5 +3 +3 +7 Power of unlife
11th +5 +3 +3 +7 -
12th +6/+1 +4 +4 +8 Death pact (3rd step)
13th +6/+1 +4 +4 +8 -
14th +7/+2 +4 +4 +9 Power of unlife
15th +7/+2 +5 +5 +9 -
16th +8/+3 +5 +5 +10 Death pact (4th step)
17th +8/+3 +5 +5 +10 -
18th +9/+4 +6 +6 +11 Power of unlife
19th +9/+4 +6 +6 +11 -
20th +10/+5 +6 +6 +12 Death pact (5th step)
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the necromancer.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A necromancer is proficient with 5 simple weapons of his choice, but with no armor or shields.
Death Lore (Ex): A necromancer is well versed in all knowledge pertaining to the unliving. He can use Knowledge (Arcana) in place of Knowledge (Religion) for all checks related to undead.
Life Sap (Su): A 1st level necromancer can sustain spells with his own life force when in need. By reducing his total hit points by 1, he can cast a known 0-level class spell as an invocation (even if the spell is not on an invocation list). He can also reduce his total hit points by 2 to cast a 1st level class spell in the same manner. Reduced hit points are not damage and cannot be healed in any way. A necromancer cannot reduce his total hit points below 1 per Hit Die he has. Total hit points return to normal after good night’s sleep.
Scribe Scroll: At 1st level, a necromancer gains Scribe Scroll as a bonus feat.
Spellcasting: A necromancer casts arcane spells which are drawn from two spell lists: the necromancer's list and the wizard’s list. See "class and cross class spells", below, for details. To learn or cast a spell, a necromancer must have a Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell's level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a necromancer's spell is 10 + half the necromancer's level + the necromancer’s Intelligence modifier. Like other spellcasters, a necromancer can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day (excluding invocations, see below). The necromancer doesn't receives bonus spells per day for having high Intelligence score. Like cleric or sorcerer, a necromancer may know a number of spells from each spell level equal to 3 + his Intelligence modifier. It is possible for him to learn spells above that limit, but the costs are high. Necromancer's spell slots regenerate after good night's sleep. If he did not have such a luxury, he cannot fill emptied slots until he rests. A necromancer need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his spells per day for that level. He does not have to decide ahead of time which spells he’ll cast. Necromancer's caster level is equal to his class level.
Spells per day
Spells per day Invocations Level 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 C.L. known 1st 3 1 - - - - - - 1 1 2nd 3 2 - - - - - - 1 2 3rd 4 3 - - - - - - 2 2 4th 4 3 1 - - - - - 2 2 5th 4 3 2 - - - - - 3 3 6th 4 4 3 - - - - - 3 3 7th 4 4 3 1 - - - - 4 3 8th 4 4 3 2 - - - - 4 4 9th 4 4 4 3 - - - - 5 4 10th 4 4 4 3 1 - - - 5 4 11th 4 4 4 3 2 - - - 6 5 12th 4 4 4 4 3 - - - 6 5 13th 4 4 4 4 3 1 - - 7 5 14th 4 4 4 4 3 2 - - 7 6 15th 4 4 4 4 4 3 - - 8 6 16th 4 4 4 4 4 3 1 - 8 6 17th 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 - 9 7 18th 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 - 9 7 19th 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 1 10 7 20th 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 2 10 8
Learning New Spells: Learning New Spells: A necromancer can learn new spells from his Spell List, but doing so is very expensive and time consuming. Learning a spell requires expenditure of gold equal to the spell's level squared x 50 (or 25 gp in case of 0-level spells) for special rare materials (and, as many such materials are illegal, bribes). In addition, the necromancer must either have a teacher (another arcane spellcaster who knows the spell - that person need not to be a necromancer though), a scroll with the spell (which is destroyed in the process of learning it), or spend a number of days equal to the spell's level squared on developing the spell from scratch (6 hours for a 0-level spell). If a necromancer attempts to learn a spell and he already reached his limit of spells known for that level, multiply gold cost by 10. A newly created 1st level necromancer knows a number of 1st level spells equal to his Int bonus and the same number of 0-level spells.
Class and Cross-Class Spells: Spells from the necromancer list are class spells for him, while spells from the wizard list that are not found on the necromancer list are cross-class spells. A necromancer has a hard time casting cross-class spells because he is not trained to manipulate the energies those spells are made of. As a result, a necromancer suffers -2 penalty on Concentration and Spellcraft checks related to cross-class spells and has 20% arcane spell failure when casting them (if he also wears armor without a proper ability, add percentiles together). None of the cross-class spells are on the invocation list.
Spellbooks: Spells are difficult to contain in memory. Every day a necromancer must study his spellbook for 1 hour (this can be done at any time of day, but a necromancer must not be fatigued or otherwise tired). Studying spells written in the book allows the necromancer to refresh his memory and keep his spellcasting abilities at peak efficiency. For each day the necromancer does not study his spellbook, his caster level is cumulatively reduced by 1 when determining effects of spells, unless he studies his spellbook for an hour.
Invocations: A necromancer can cast some spells as invocations. That means that he doesn't need to spend a slot of an appropriate level to cast that spell. Any spell cast as invocation uses reduced caster level, as shown on table: spells per day. A necromancer can cast invocations even if he has no slots left. At 1st level, a necromancer learns how to cast one 0-level spell from the list below as invocation (provided he knows that spell). At 2nd level and every 3 levels thereafter, a necromancer learns how to cast another spell from the list below as invocation. A necromancer can choose a spell he doesn't yet know, but he is unable to cast it until he learns it. He cannot, however, choose a spell he can't yet cast because his class level is too low to access that level of spells. List of spells a necromancer can cast as invocations:
- 0-level - Disrupt Undead, Read Magic, Touch of Fatigue
- 1st level - Bane, Cause Fear, Chill Touch, Doom, Hide from Undead, Ray of Enfeeblement
- 2nd level - Death Knell, Scare
- 3rd level - Bestow Curse, Dispel Magic, Gentle Repose, Halt Undead, Ray of Exhaustion, Vampiric Touch
- 4th level - Contagion, Fear, Poison
- 5th level - Blight, Disrupting Weapon, Waves of Fatigue.
Power of Unlife: At 2nd level and every 4 levels thereafter (6th, 10th, and so on), necromancer’s morbid interest in death pays off and he learns an ability related to his field.
- Augment Undead (Su): All undead created or summoned by the necromancer gain +1 hit points per Hit Die, +1 turn resistance, +1 deflection bonus to AC, and +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls.
- Bonus Feat: A necromancer gains a feat from the list below.
- Player's Handbook: Spell Focus (necromancy).
- Tome of Necromancy: A Feast Unknown, Body Assemblage, Feed the Dark Gods, The Path of Blood, Wrappings of the Ages, Whispers of the Otherworld.
- New Feats: Crippling Spell, Soul Capacity, Tainted Soul Bolt.
- Deadsense (Su): A necromancer is under constant effects of detect undead spell. This ability also affects creatures that have cast a necromancy spell within 12 hours or used an ability based on such a spell as if they were undead.
- Death's Blade (Ex): Deathblade is a scythe made of bones and a metal blade. It hovers quietly near its master at all times, following him just like floating disk does. The blade is a semi-intelligent construct that is completely obedient to its creator. It has the following statistics: Str 10, Dex 10, Con -, Int 1, Wis 10, Cha 10, necromancer's base saves, necromancer's Base Attack Bonus, hovering speed equal to necromancer's fastest speed, AC equal to 25 (10 + 2 size + 13 deflection), no skills or feats. It has a number of HD and HP equal to the necromancer, and those Hit Dice do not affect its level-dependant features. It also has +1 enhancement bonus per 4 necromancer levels that applies both to attack and damage rolls as well as to AC. Creating a death's blade takes one day and requires bones and a blade, as well as magical substances worth 100 gp. If the blade is destroyed, a necromancer can simply create a new one.
- Flame Skull (Ex): A flame skull is a ordinary skull turned into a flying magical repository of knowledge. It has fully fledged intellect and is primarily used to help its master in topics he is not knowledgeable about. The skull is a semi-intelligent undead that is generally obedient to its creator, but it often makes spiteful comments about its master and living creatures around. It has the following statistics: Str 2, Dex 14, Con -, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10, necromancer's base saves, necromancer's Base Attack Bonus, flying speed equal to necromancer's fastest speed, AC equal to 16 (10 + 4 size + 2 Dex), no feats. Skull has a number of ranks in every Knowledge skill equal to the necromancer's level. It has a number of HD and HP equal to the necromancer, and those Hit Dice do not affect its level-dependant features. Creating a flame skull takes one day and requires an ordinary skull and magical substances worth 100 gp. If a skull is destroyed, a necromancer can simply create a new one.
- Grim Harvest (Ex): A necromancer can reuse gems he used as material components with undead-creating spells before. If such a gem is taken out from an active undead, the creature is destroyed.
- Legacy of Abi-Dhalzim (Ex): A necromancer can learn horrid wilting as a 7th level class spell and control water as 4th level class spell. In addition, all class damage-dealing spells deal +1 point of damage per caster level to creatures with water subtype.
- Liege of Eternity (Ex): A necromancer can easily communicate with the dead. He gains +4 bonus on all Charisma-related checks with undead and can cast speak with dead spell without components other then verbal.
- Lord of the Dead (Ex): All undead created by the necromancer fall automatically under his control, unless that would make him control more undead than he can. He also controls undead as if he had 2 more necromancer levels.
- Mastery of Animation (Ex): A necromancer is a powerful animator of the dead. Animate dead cast by the necromancer has close range instead of touch (any component that would require wizard to get closer to undead is instead teleported into designed location) and he only needs half the usual material components for the spell.
- Necromancy Mastery (Su): Once per day, a necromancer may cast an necromancy spell that is not on her list of spells known, in addition to the spell being cast, she must give up a first level spell. This ability can be chosen more than once, each time is it choses it can be used one more time per day.
- Necronomicon (Su): A necromancer's spellbook gains ability to float near its master and follow him (similarily to floating disk). It looks like it has around 100-200 pages, but in fact has one thousand of them. As long as it has at least 1 hit point, the spellbook restores 1 hit point per round. If a spellbook is at least 1 mile away from the necromancer, or on another plane, it has 50% of teleporting or gating itself to its master every day. A necromancer can only have one necronomicon.
- Risen (Ex): Risen is a simple humanoid cadaver that is used by necromancers as perfect slave for menial tasks and as temporary defender. The risen is a large semi-intelligent undead that is completely obedient to its creator. It has the following statistics: Str 20, Dex 8, Con -, Int 1, Wis 10, Cha 10, necromancer's base saves, zero Base Attack Bonus, ground speed equal to necromancer's fastest speed, AC equal to 9 (-1 Dex), no skills or feats. It has a number of HD and HP equal to the necromancer, and those Hit Dice do not affect its level-dependant features. It also has +1 inherent bonus to Strength per 4 necromancer levels. Risen has a special ability to protect the necromancer: whenever its master is dealt damage, 20% of the damage (1 point for every 5 points of damage taken) may be redirected to the risen as a free action. This is a supernatural ability. Creating a risen takes one day and requires an ordinary skeleton and magical substances worth 100 gp. If a risen is destroyed, a necromancer can simply create a new one.
- Shroud (Ex): Shroud is an incorporeal undead bound to the necromancer and used as a scout and spy. The shroud is a spectre-like medium undead that is completely obedient to its creator. It has the following statistics: Str -, Dex 10, Con -, Int 10, Wis 20, Cha 10, necromancer's base saves, zero Base Attack Bonus, flying speed equal to necromancer's fastest speed, AC 11 (+1 deflection), incorporeal traits, no feats. Shroud has a number of ranks in Hide, Listen, and Spot skills equal to the necromancer's level. It has a number of HD and HP equal to the necromancer, and those Hit Dice do not affect its level-dependant features. Unlike other incorporeal creatures, shroud is unable to affect anything in the material world and cannot be made corporeal by any means (any such attempt destroys it). Creating a shroud takes one day and requires an ordinary shroud taken from a buried corpse, as well as magical substances worth 100 gp. If a shroud is destroyed, a necromancer can simply create a new one.
- Skeletal Horse (Ex): Skeletal horses serve their necromantic masters as means of tireless transport. Their large ribcages are also useful as holding space. The skeletal horse is a large semi-intelligent undead that is completely obedient to its creator. It has the following statistics: Str 14, Dex 10, Con -, Int 1, Wis 10, Cha 6, necromancer's base saves, zero Base Attack Bonus, ground speed equal to necromancer's fastest speed +20 ft., AC 9 (-1 size), no skills or feats. It has a number of HD and HP equal to the necromancer, and those Hit Dice do not affect its level-dependant features. It also has +10 inherent bonus to ground speed per 4 necromancer levels. In addition, skeletal horse and his rider can become ethereal for total number of rounds per day equal to the necromancer's level. This is supernatural ability, activate and ending ability is free action, useable only during necromancer's turn and only at night. Creating a skeletal horse one day and requires skeleton of an ordinary horse or other similar creature (such as pegasus), as well as magical substances worth 100 gp. If skeletal horse is destroyed, a necromancer can simply create a new one.
Paths to Power
Death Pact: At 4th level, a necromancer stops being generalist and adopts one of the paths to great power. He must choose one pact from the list below and gains its abilities every 4 levels, up to 20th level. The available pacts are: blood king, grafter, hexer, legion, netherlord, and phantomancer.
- Blood King: Blood kings are being obsessed with blood and its life-giving qualities. They experiment with it, drink it, and harness its power. It is whispered that experiments of ancient blood kings gave birth to the first vampires.
- Brew Blood Elixir (Su): At 4th level, a blood king can brew special sort of potion called blood elixir. Brewing one elixir requires raw materials worth 10 gp, 1 pint of blood (which can be harvested from living creatures as well as from corpses that are up to 10 minutes old) and takes 10 minutes. Draining that much of blood from a creature deals it 1d6 points of Constitution damage and causes fatigue. Elixir grants the following benefits to the drinker: it improves drinker's Constitution score by 2 points and grants darkvision for 10 minutes, and stops aging for one week.
- Blood Spell (Ex): At 8th level, a blood king can let some of his blood to cast a spell. If he cuts himself in a certain way as a part of casting class spell, he suffers Constitution damage equal to the spell's level, but does not lose slot the spell occupied.
- Red Vision (Su): At 12th level, a blood king can sense blood of others. He gains blindsense ability that works only against creatures with blood within 30 ft.
- Juice of Life (Ex): At 16th level, a blood king's blood becomes one with his body and others' blood acts like revitalizing nectar. This grants a number of abilities:The blood king becomes immune to bleeding and automatically stabilizes at negative hit points. Whenever he loses hit points from slashing or piercing attacks, his blood spills only to be absorbed back moments later, which grants him damage reduction 5 against such attacks. In addition, whenever another creature loses hit points from slashing or piercing attacks within 5 feet from the blood king, he instantly heals 1d6 points of damage (he cannot heal more than 1d6 points of damage per creature per round).
- Awaken Blood (Su): At 20th level, a blood king can let his own blood and let is form into a blood necromental as a full-round action. Blood necromental's statistics are identical to water elemental, but it's made of blood and doesn't have water mastery and whirlpool abilities. Letting one Constitution point awakens small necromental; 2 points awake medium one, 3 points awaken large one, 4 points awaken huge one, 5 points awaken greater one, and taking 6 points of Constitution damage awakens elder necromental. Blood necromental is completely obedient to the necromancer and exists for 10 minutes per necromancer level. Blood king can have only one blood necromental at a time.
- Grafter: Grafter is an explorer of the flesh. He studies how it works, and from that knowledge stems his ability to alter the body of his subjects so they are better suited for various tasks. Whatever his intentions are, the art of grafting is far from perfect, or safe, and the process of grafting could be described as mutilation more often than not.
- Grafts (Ex): At 4th level, a necromancer learns the art of grafting. He can perform grafting on any corporeal creature of aberration, animal, dragon, fey, giant, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, outsider, and vermin types. Applying a graft takes 8 hours and requires Heal check (DC 20). If the necromancer succeeds, the graft is functional and the subject permanently loses 1 point of Constitution score. If the check is failed, the graft doesn't work at all (see damage to body parts in DMG, treat graft as damaged body part) but Constitution is still lost. Regenerate or any similar magic can make the failed graft functional, but will not restore original body part as long as the graft is in place. In addition to the Heal check, the subject must make a Fortitude save (at -4 penalty if it remains conscious during the operation, further -2 penalty if the donor is of a different creature type) against DC 15. Failure means that the subject takes 2d6 points of Constitution damage but doesn't affect the procedure (unless the creature dies, of course). Abilities that the grafts can provide are dependant on which body parts are being replaces and where the grafted part comes from. Donor of the graft must be of the same size as the subject of the procedure. See appendix: grafts for details. A necromancer may wish to keep the donor alive while amputating its body parts. See new uses for Heal skill for details. In addition, a necromancer gains Craft Construct feat that is limited to flesh golems and half-flesh golems only.
- Anatomic Link (Su): At 8th level, a grafter can concentrate on any creature he added a graft to that is on the same plane to sense what the creature can sense with any of its grafts. That includes sense of touch of all grafts with skin, sight if the creature has eye grafts, smell if it has grafted nose, and so on. In addition, a grafter can shut down any and all grafts he added to target creature for any period of time as a standard action. Inactive grafts act like as if they were unsuccessfully grafted.
- Surgical Spell (Ex): At 12th level, all class spells cast by the necromancer have threat range 18-20/x2, or their original range, at the necromancer's choice.
- Body Puzzle (Ex): At 16th level, a necromancer's grafts change their owners in more subtler ways than normal. For each graft a creature has, it has 5% chance to turn a critical hit it suffers into normal hit and gains +1 racial bonus against necromancy effects. In addition, if a creature has 3 or more grafts, it is considered either its original type or an aberration for purpose of spells and abilities, whatever is more beneficial for it.
- Riddles of Flesh (Ex): At 20th level, a necromancer can implant more effective grafts. From now on, any graft with a numerical bonus added by the necromancer has double effects on its owner.
- Legion: A legion is probably most typical necromancer and the first one to exist in ages past. He specializes in creating and controlling as many undead as possible, and making them stronger via strange necromantic abilities. Legions dabble strongly in worldly affairs, and so they have a strong need for powerful soldiers and slaves. (special thanks to Azreil Nightshade)
- Restless Dead (Ex): At 4th level, all undead created or summoned by the legion gain turn resistance equal to necromancer's class level. In addition, all such skeletons gain +2 dodge bonus to AC and all such zombies lose Single Actions Only quality.
- Bones of Magic (Ex): At 8th level, any undead under the legion's command can now hold a single 2nd level or lower class spell. This can be either touch attack spell or an area spell. Touch attack spell is activated with the first successful melee attack the makes against a spell's valid target, while area spell is unleashed when the undead is destroyed.
- Flashbacks (Ex): At 12th level, all undead created by the legion have first level of any class they had in life (if they didn't, this ability has no effect on them). Undead do not gain starting gold, nor do they get maximum hit points or quadruple skill points. Mindless undead don't gain bonus skill points at all. At the DM's will, undead may, or may not, gain spells, spell-like, or supernatural abilities that are granted by dieties or other beings.
- Army of the Dead (Su): At 16th level, as long as the legion is concentrating, he can control ten times the number of undead he otherwise could.
- Agonizing Memories (Ex): At 20th level, all undead created by the legion have 2 levels of any class (or any combination of 2 levels of different classes) they had in life. Any creature that had only one level still has only one level. Otherwise same as flashbacks ability.
- Hexer: A hexer sees life and death as cause and effect, and the perfect order of things. He values justice (not necessarily law) above all else and specializes in branch of magic that makes sure every wrong deed does not goes unpunished - curses.
- Weaken Resolve (Ex): At 4th level, whenever a hexer is dealt damage or fails saving throw against a spell or ability of a creature on the same plane, that creature is immediately affected by ray of fatigue as if cast by the necromancer.
- Eye for an Eye (Su): At 8th level, whenever a hexer is dealt damage, or fails saving throw against a spell or ability of a creature on the same plane, that creature is immediately affected by bestow curse as if cast by the necromancer (effect - randomly determined ability score is reduced by 6).
- Haunting Spell (Ex): At 12th level, all spells that reduce or drain levels or ability scores cast by the necromancer can only be removed by spells of 6th or higher level.
- Greater Hex (Ex): At 16th level, a hexer can cast greater bestow curse as a 7th level spell. In addition, whenever a creature is affected by hexer's ray of fatigue, she is exhausted instead.
- Nemesis (Su): At 20th level, a necromancer's curses, if not treated, gradually destroy their hosts. At the beginning of their turns, every creature bestowed with hexer's curse suffers 1 point of damage.
- Netherlord: Netherlords are masters of incorporeal undead and departed souls. They see this state of being as most important and most desired form of afterlife. In their search for immortality they learn to control incorporeal creatures, afect resurrecting magic, and finally become a spectral being themselves.
- Touch of the Netherworld (Ex): A fledging nethermancer learns few tricks related to incorporeal undead. At 4th level, his attacks can affect incorporeal creatures as if they were force effects. In addition, incorporeal undead do not attack the necromancer unless provoked.
- Father of the Departed (Su): At 8th level, a necromancer can seize control of nearby incorporeal undead. As a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity and is considered as an attack, the necromancer attempt to gain a total control of any incorporeal undead within 30 ft. Target must make Will save (DC 10 + half the necromancer's caster level + necromancer's Int modifier) or it becomes totally obedient to its new master (as per dominate monster spell, but this ability is not mind-affecting and has permanent duration). Using this ability reduces necromancer's total hit points by 5. HP remain reduces for as long as the undead is controlled. For example, if a netherlord has 4 incorporeal undead under his control, his total Hit Points are lower by 20. A netherlord can free controlled undead as a free action.
- Wraithspawn Spell (Su): At 12th level, whenever a necromancer kills a living creature with 7 or more HD with a class spell, that creature turns into a wraith in 4 rounds. The undead is not under the netherlord's control.
- Nether Minions (Ex): At 16th level, a necromancer can create undead of a more ghostly nature. Any skeleton or zombie he creates with the animate dead spell can have the incorporeal subtype applied to it.
- Taste of the Other Side (Su): At 20th level, a necromancer's body shifts slightly to the other side. Attacks against the necromancer suffer miss chance as if he was incorporeal.
- Phantomancer: A phantomancer is a sort of necromancer who gains power from holding souls of beings other than his own. He can steal and store spirits of deceased creatures and later set them free to power his arcane abilities. While most phantomancers are evil, souls affected by them aren't actually hurt or damaged, and good phantomancers are known to exist.
- Absorb Soul (Su): At 4th level, the phantomancer can absorb the soul of dying creature. If the phantomancer touches a corpse of a creature (other than construct, elemental, ooze, undead, vermin, or an outsider that can't be raised from the dead) that died one or two rounds ago, he absorbs that creature’s soul into himself. At any time, a phantomancer can hold a number of souls up to his necromancer level, and as long as any soul is held, the creature it belonged to cannot be resurrected. A phantomancer gains morale bonus equal to half the number of souls absorbed to all saving throws against fear effects, ability damage and drain, level drain, death effects and spells and effects from necromancy school. He can also release a soul as a standard action to cure himself of 1d6 points of damage.
- Soul Spell (Ex): At 8th level, a phantomancer can release a soul to make his class spell stronger. If he releases one soul as he casts a spell, he increasea that spell’s DC and caster level by +1.
- Primordial Amplification (Su): At 12th level, a phantomancer can release a soul as a swift action to gain +4 enhancement bonus to all ability scores for 1 round.
- Shield of Souls (Su): At 16th level, whenever a phantomancer takes damage, she can release any number of souls. Each soul released reduces the damage taken by 4 points.
- Soul Bolt (Su): At 20th level, a phantomancer can release a soul by forming it into bolt of negative energy and fire on any living or undead creature as a standard action. The bolt has medium range, requires ranged touch attack, and deals 5d6 points of damage, +1d6 points of damage per 2 necromancer levels. (Since it's made of negative energy, it cures undead instead of harming them).
Epic Necromancer
Epic necromancer is true master of life and death, commanding energies of unlife like a peasant commands his hands. Epic necromancers are rightfully dreaded for their ability to shrivel even the most hardy opponent and for their ability to wait virtually any amount of time before any evil doing can be repaid.
Hit Points per Level: 1d4 + Con modifier.
Skill Points per Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Necromancer Level Special . 21st - 22nd Power of unlife 23rd - 24th Bonus feat 25th - 26th Power of unlife 27th - 28th Bonus feat 29th - 30th Power of unlife
Power of unlife: An epic necromancer continues to gain special abilities at 22nd level, and every 4 levels thereafter (26th, 30th, 34rd, and so on).
Bonus Feat: An epic necromancer gains one of the following bonus epic feats at 24th level and every 4 levels thereafter (28th, 32nd, 36th, and so on): Augmented Alchemy, Automatic Quicken Spell, Automatic Silent Spell, Automatic Still Spell, Combat Casting, Enhance Spell, Epic Spell Focus, Epic Spell Penetration, Epic Spellcasting, Ignore Material Components, Improved Combat Casting, Improved Heighten Spell, Improved Spell Capacity, Intensify Spell, Multispell, Permanent Emanation, Scribe Epic Scroll, Spell Focus, Spell Knowledge, Spell Mastery, Spell Penetration, Spell Stowaway, Spell Opportunity, Spontaneous Spell, Tenacious Magic.