Im just about to hop into a campaign where I'm finally allowed to play a necromancer without being skewered instantly, I've just started working on the character and I've begun trying to make him Heroic.
What are some things i can be sure to do that will help my status as a good guy, so that even when i walk into town people won't run from or shun me.
first step, lose the skulls.
Make sure you're only resurrecting the dead bodies of people you've slain in battle, and only those of which who actively tried to kill you. It's only fair like that.
Keep all your zombies outside of cities. No one wants to make friends while a corpse is standing right next to them.
Make sure when you describe what your necromancer knight does, he is treating the bodies with care and respect. This guy needs to respect and venerate the dead in his own way, and not see what he's doing as messing with spare tools, like other necromancers do.
Hide your appearance. Mask your scent. Do not cast magic in town.
I always liked the idea of necromancy being a celebration of the life and death cycle. By resurrecting some people who might have fallen short in their life, you can help them achieve something greater than in their past life.
Idk some positive shit like that, only resurrecting those who want to be or deserve it?
ahh yes, excellent
Look up the priests of Rathma, not quite the celebration of dead sort of deal (i couldnt find any) but these guys were all about the cycle of life and death.
>not quite the celebration of dead sort of deal (i couldnt find any)
Seriously? Don't even need to go to fantasy.
How doors necromancy work in the setting? Do dead retain sentience? Do they have to feed on the living? Are you simply animating flesh? Are gods frowning upon what you're doing? Your approach should be dependent on the mechanics of what you're doing.
hmm.
Do dead retain sentience? it depends on the whim of the GM, some do, most dont.
Do they have to feed on the living? no, they feed off the necromancers mana to stay animated
Are you simply animating flesh? i can sew flesh, raise skeletons and summon ghosts. anything in between.
Are gods frowning upon what you're doing? one is, others dont give a fuck either way.
Play a wow legion/HS Gadgetzan DK.
Namely zombie dredd.
Use necromancy as it's original definition: communication with the deceased for the purpose of divination, so no hord of undead minion but more like a guy who talk to the dead to help people, solve crime or help ghost go into the afterlife and thing like that.
But nobody wants to play necromancer in the original sense of the word. Everybody wants to do this instead
>I want to commit crimes against natural order, but be GOOD
Ghost Cop! fuck yea.
using kill undead spell is against natural order, unless you wear a fancy nametag that says cleric, then its totally fine.
>not playing a necromancer who exclusively hunts undead abominations
Play a Death domain cleric who worships a good god that's okay with undead.
Osiris in the Forgotten Realms, for example, is a good-aligned god who sees undead guards as not only fine, but even moral.
If you run into any Kelemvor worshippers, just tell them "but it's part of my culture!"
legit question here, is there a problem with wanting to play a vey beneficial set of skills and powers that suit your playstyle (Minions and life gain i assume) but you also dont want to be a child murdering rapist?
A lot of GMs are opposed to players using necromancy unless the character is evil, but the fire mage is allowed to choose wether hes good OR evil even if it causes more harm.
i personally love evil characters, but some people dont want to be evil.
Jonah Hex?
For sentient undead, employing them in necromancy could be offering them a chance to find peace in service after death ala pic related
For nonsentient undead, a more pragmatic perception could be taken of utilizing what are essentially empty vessels to protect those still living. It could be an honor, and/or no different than making bone tools.
The need for the caster's man's could be painted as a positive sacrifice, honoring the dead by willingly giving your own life force. Or it could simply be no different than normal casting.
All of this could be incorporated depending precisely on the manner of undead used.
And that one god could just be a dick.
They are opposed because it is blatantly evil in many settings (read: DND). Just making them offends half the pantheon and creates an abomination that has to be constantly monitored or it will try to eat brains.
First of all, D&D zombies don't eat brains. That's a ghoul thing. Second, just make undead out of animals, and you're good.
>First of all, D&D zombies don't eat brains.
You get the idea. It literally says in the spells description they will break free and kill people if you don't refresh it
Then have faith in your party member to have the discipline to do it. The mithal of Silverymoon must be maintained by the Spellguard, and you don't see anyone fretting over that. You got to learn to trust your team.
It does make it very easy to argue there is inherent evil in the act. Especially when half the good gods have beef with undead
Ancestor worship. Draw strength and wisdom from the souls of your predecessors. That's pretty much the only almost-guaranteed good form of necromancy.
>>I want to commit crimes against natural order, but be GOOD
Like...summoning thunderclouds during a clear day, or making plants move, or pulling a flaming ball from empty air, or making non-flying things fly, or moving instantly from one place to another without traversing the distance between...
As many others are saying I'd try to make him someone who grants closure for the dead. Make him go around communicating with the dead for the sake of their families and to let them have a chance at redemption/revenge. Other thralls might be people that have comitted sin who you are punishing for not respecting life or death.
You need some rules to follow I think.
You're responding to the wrong post. Also, it depends on the setting.
This is what corpsefuckers ACTUALLY believe.
I can see those things being an issue in Asian settings based on the concept of harmony with nature. I can also see any and all death-related magic, including resurrection, to be highly offensive to the ancestor worship scenario mentioned above. You wouldn't want the Yen Wang Yeh on your ass for reviving someone who was supposed to stay dead, right? The point is, different settings have different concerns for different magics.
>Heroic Necromancer
Do we all have to shitpost about Orcus, Negative energy corruption and Evil as a force in D&D again?
Alright, at best, he's a Martial class that focuses primarily on Necromancy as a specialist in the area of snuffing out lifesforce, but tries to avoid [evil] descriptor spells that OBLITERATE a person's soul, or leaves behind undead in any shape or some.
So negative energy canon sword dude.
At best, you're looking at a TN, NE, or LE
If NE the dude is in it for himself, but recognizes the profits that heroics provides, and he simply resorts to making himself as presentable as possible to the public, keeping his appearances up whilst the pubic cannot make decent enough spellcraft checks to notice the questionable spells he employs in combat.
If LE, he's fond of Ironic Justice, fate, survival of the fittest and decent applications of negative energy and is partial to the undead in cases of punishment, or in need of extra muscle, he does not like Liches in the slightest or many Undead paragons due to the bad impact that have on a cosmic and local scale, and believes a person's right to a soul and afterlife is a blessing and privilege, and those who do not conform to his code of conduct are forfeiting that right by rule of engagement.
If TN, he's strictly using it to empower himself and his martial prowess, limiting his potential and ability actimg as a strict "Grim Reaper" like force as it were.
gas the dragons
police action now
>Do we all have to shitpost about Orcus, Negative energy corruption and Evil as a force in D&D again?
Yes. We need to make a screencap and repost this again, and again every time "BUT MUH SKELETON UTOPIA" retards open their mouths.
Additionally, for sake of control, the powers employed may be divine under Deific Domain, I.E Wee Jas, or the PC is servant to that one potential Demon Lord who can cast aligned spells without consequence because his layer used to be a part of the upper planes, basically making him the Anti-Alignment system Demon lord.
Who in the hell actually plays D&D let alone defends it this autistically?
What are you? Yes people still play the world's MOST PLAYED rpg. Do you believe the memes?
OP here, I love the answers so far thanks. I should really clarify because apparently this changes some of the answers. I'm not playing D&D/pathfinder. The game doesn't have good/evil it only has holy/unholy. Undead aren't unholy unless created using the necronomicon , demons are innately unholy.
>Ten billion flies can't be wrong!
That's just a shaman then
This this this. I hate using that word but it's been a while since I've seen it used so spot on.
The question wasn't about their taste, it was the fact that there are ten billion of them and this guy thinks "lol tg hates d&d so everyone stopped playing it right?"
>when dragons breach the scourge code tm and you have to murder them all since they resist arrest
>ten billion
There are more dnd players than there are humans on earth?
You fucking fuck, you answered your own question!
Enlighten me, how?
Yep a while ten billion, I'm counting all the neckbeards hiding in basements like you
But what about the martial part? We've covered making a necromancer, how does one throw him being a knight into the equation?
Curious for personal reasons
Just once I want to see someone trying to play a good aligned Necromancer while not doing the actual act of summoning undead.
Speak with them, sure, but I feel like it'd be cooler to use all those necromancy spells that are designed to destroy, disable, or overwhelm undead and be a specialized hunter. Much cooler to hijack control of somebody else's skeletons and have them destroy eachother. But it feels like every time somebody wants to do a good-aligned Necromancer it's the same thing where they want to use a horde of zombies for manual labor.
Being a Knight flavorwise is usually just a matter of wearing a bit of shiny armor. That can range from a simple breastplate to full plate and a shield.
Could be tricky if the system doesnt allow casting while in armor, though even in that case you could probably get away with wearing robes that look like a tabard with heraldry and then simply carry a shield of your order slung across your back. Then just use a sword in any case where you actually get into melee, or a particularly large dagger if you also cant use a sword.
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My idea earlier of ghost cop
bump
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what's wrong with undead manual labor?
they never get tired, don't need to eat (depending on the setting), and obey commands without hesitation
Take Brianna's philosophy from Dungeon Life Quest.
I was thinking of something like this earlier. The way I would do it is have the character treat death and killing in the same way as Native American tribes. You dont necessarily need to make him share the culture as a whole but just that aspect. When you kill something you should use it's whole body, don't let it go to waste. On the same hand the character shouldn't be obsessed with death or revel in the act of killing. It should be an unfortunate necessity for the most part. Of course whenever possible use their powers to help the bereaved or greaving. If a village nearby was attacked they should be one of the first there to handle the dead or their loved ones. Basically respect death, don't worship or obsess over it.
Is this a standalone?
Do ya'll even Dungeon?
>Native American tribes.
>The people who love death so much they started a cult under Christian doctrine, AND BECAME ACCEPTED.
But now I want to see Native American Necromancers in a Mourning-War.
>Fellow tribesman falls in battle.
>Capture a slave, cook, and eat his flesh to nourish the tribe. Leaving only their bones.
>Necromancer-Medicine man raises the slave as an obedient skeleton, who becomes a beloved family member as replacement for the one lost in battle.
Iroquois were hard core man.
Yeah I suppose I should have said the stereotypical belief. But also that would be awesome
You're free to do whatever you want with your own character, of course, but here's my idea.
You are part of an order of knights who practice necromancy. All of the undead you raise are former knights of your order who have died, either in battle, or some other way. One of the tenets of your order is that, when you inevitably die, you will give your body over to the order to be raised by your successors and used to continue the fight against evil.
Everyone always spazzes out at the mention of good Necromancers, but really it's a relatively new stigma against the concept. I mean, before modern Abrahamic and (some) major Eastern religions became prominent, ancestor worship was most likely one of the largest common beliefs across paleolithic beliefs. It can actually be argued hat all major religions today stem from some sort of ancestor worship, either through a deified savior figure or just stemming from the common childhood milestone question of "Where did Grandma go when she died?" So I've always seen the common critique of "No one would be able to handle the trauma of seeing Grandma's skeleton walking around." sort of short sighted and ego centric.
It's not outside the realm of fantasy to imagine a culture of people who would really enjoy having their ancestors walking among them, even as skeletons. So, to answer the OP's original question, having a knight from a culture of ancestor worshipers who view the dead as sacred, rather than shunned, it not only possible, probable in a world of magic, but also just a cool concept to play around with. As much as people like to say the trope is over used, I've only ever seen the concept actually done in practice from stories on Veeky Forums.
Why won't they make a sequel...
You can also make a redemptionist religion that reanimates the bodies of their enemies so they may serve a penance for their sins. Even the worst heathens may receive absolution if their skeleton performs holy work on their behalf.
I prefer reanimating the bodies of your predecessors.
looks like tumblr trash
Dont fuck around w souls. Anything really beyond 'animate object - corpse'. There's nothing inherently evil about puppeting corpses. Going all Frankenstein build a body would be pushing it a bit, but so long as you aren't dragging souls back and stuffing them into bodies, or dragging people back from the afterlife in anyway, you'll probably be fine.
Shit art
but great concept