Master Necromancer Class Feature
Seeing as it’s Undead Week this week, I thought it was about time to give a little necromantic love (er… not in that sort of way…) to the Fourth Edition fans. Sure, technically there’s a ritual in Open Grave that lets you have a single non-combatant undead servitor, so this won’t really be the first thing that lets you play a necromancer in 4e, but I think we both know that’s a technicality. So grab your robe and necromancer’s hat (what, you don’t know what a necromancer’s hat looks like?) and let’s get cooking!
The following is a new class feature for the wizard class presented in the Player’s Handbook. The Master Necromancer class feature is available to any wizard who wishes to delve into the dark art of necromancy. Wizards who select this feature do not gain the Implement Mastery class feature.
Master Necromancer
You gain an undead minion, chosen from one of these categories: ghost, skeleton, vampire or zombie. These categories are not designed to indicate specific monsters, but rather indicate a style or category of undead. You decide the minion’s relevant details, including its original species, its weapon (if any) and even whether or not it remains self-aware. For example, a skeleton could be a skeletal warrior who fights with a sword and bitterly resents his servitude, or a skeletal wolf who mindlessly obeys your every command, undead teeth ripping apart the throats of your foes. A zombie might actually be a zombie, or it may be a ghoul or even a mummy. As long as both you and your DM are happy with the specifics of your minion, the sky’s the limit.
Even if the minion is intelligent and self-aware, the nature of the magic that animates it prohibits it from making hostile actions without your active control. In order for your minion to act in combat, you must expend your own actions at an equal rate (so, for example, in order for your minion to take a move action you must expend a move action, and in order for it to take a standard action you must expend a standard action).
Your minion is considered a creature with the undead keyword, and is always considered an ally. It can be affected by powers. Despite sharing actions, you and your minion are considered separate creatures. You can have only one minion at a time. You can dismiss your minion at any time, causing its spirit to depart and its body to fall lifeless. If you later change your mind, you can always reanimate the companion using the same ritual you used to create it (see below). This ritual can also be used to bring your minion back if it is destroyed in combat, or to raise a different minion if you tire of your existing one and decide to bind something else to your will.
Your necromantic magic does not prevent the minion from being resurrected. If someone has enough of the minion’s corpse to perform the raise dead ritual on them (or if they somehow have means to resurrect the minion without the body part) the minion may choose to return to life, in which case the raise dead ritual works normally and your minion is instantly destroyed, its body turning to black sludge. As long as the minion remains alive they cannot be raised as an undead creature again, though you can create a different minion once you procure a suitable corpse.
Undead Minion Statistics
An undead minion’s category determines most of its game statistics, but all undead minions share a few statistics.
Level: Your undead minion’s level is always equal to yours. Its defenses, hit points, and attacks improve as it increases in levels.
Ability Scores: Your undead minion’s category determines its ability scores, which go up with level. Whenever you increase your ability scores due to gaining a new level, your undead minion gains a similar increase to its own ability scores (for example, at 4th level Raxen Dale adds 1 point to his Intelligence and Wisdom scores, and he adds 1 point to his skeletal minion’s Strength and Dexterity scores). If you change minions, the new minion immediately gains any ability score bonuses for levels lower than your current level (for example, Raxen later replaces his skeletal minion with a vampire minion at 12th level. The vampire minion immediately gains the ability points it would have gained at 4th, 8th, and 11th levels).
Healing Surges: Your undead minion has two healing surges. Its healing surge value is ¼ its maximum hit points, as normal.
Vision: Your undead minion has darkvision.
Undead Minion Categories
Choose one of the following categories for your undead minion. Once you choose a category, you can determine other details of your minion, such as its race, background, mental state, weapon, etc.
Ghost
Ghosts, specters, shadows, spirits, and other incorporeal undead fit into this category. They tend to have less offensive power than most undead minions, but have the potent advantage of being insubstantial.
Ghost Statistics
Ability Scores: Strength 10, Constitution 10, Dexterity 16, Intelligence 10, Wisdom 12, Charisma 6
Size: Medium
Speed: fly 6 (hover); phasing
Defenses: AC 13 + level, Fortitude 10 + level, Reflex 14 + level, Will 11 + level, insubstantial
Hit Points: 10 + 6 per level
Attack Bonus: Level + 3
Damage: 1d6
Melee Basic Attack: Ghostly touch or ghost weapon; Level + 3 vs AC; 1d6 + Wisdom modifier damage
Trained Skill: Stealth
Skeleton
Skeletons, death-knights, and any undead minion who wields a manufactured weapon belong in this category. Fearsome warriors, these minions are the most versatile in that they can be equipped with weapons, and need not rely on claw or bite attacks.
Skeleton Statistics
Ability Scores: Strength 14, Constitution 10, Dexterity 16, Intelligence 10, Wisdom 12, Charisma 6
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Defenses: AC 14 + level, Fortitude 10 + level, Reflex 12 + level, Will 12 + level
Hit Points: 12 + 6 per level
Attack Bonus: Level +5
Damage: 1d4 or weapon
Melee Basic Attack: Claw; Level +5 vs AC; 1d4 + Strength modifier damage. Alternatively, the skeleton may use a simple or military weapon. It never gains a proficiency bonus when wielding a weapon.
Trained Skill: Acrobatics, Athletics
Vampire
Any kind of vampire, as well as any undead who fights primarily with a bite attack, can go in this category. Vampiric minions can drain the blood of opponents who grant combat advantage, healing as they deal damage.
Vampire Statistics:
Ability Scores: Strength 16, Constitution 12, Dexterity 12, Intelligence 10, Wisdom 10, Charisma 6
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Defenses: AC 13 + level, Fortitude 13 + level, Reflex 12 + level, Will 10 + level
Hit Points: 14 + 8 per level
Attack Bonus: Level + 5
Damage: 1d6
Melee Basic Attack: Bite; Level + 5 vs AC; 1d6 + Strength modifier damage
Combat Advantage: Whenever a vampire deals damage to an opponent it has combat advantage against, the vampire heals 2 hit points.
Trained Skill: Athletics, Stealth
Zombie
Zombies, mummies, ghasts and ghouls all belong to this category of undead. Zombie minions are exceptionally tough and durable, though they are not very swift.
Zombie Statistics:
Ability Scores: Strength 16, Constitution 16, Dexterity 12, Intelligence 10, Wisdom 12, Charisma 6
Size: Medium
Speed: 4 squares
Defenses: AC 14 + level, Fortitude 14 + level, Reflex 10 + level, Will 12 + level
Hit Points: 16 + 10 per level
Attack Bonus: Level + 4
Damage: 1d8
Melee Basic Attack: Slam; Level + 4 vs AC; 1d8 + Strength modifier damage
Healing Surges: A zombie has four healing surges, instead of the normal two.
Animate Undead Minion
Using forbidden black magic, you reach into the great beyond and pluck back the soul of one of the deceased, binding it to your will in a wicked parody of life.
Level: 1 Component Cost: 50gp*
Category: Binding Market Price: None
Time: 4 hours Key Skill: Religion (no check)
Duration: Instantaneous
This ritual allows you to impose a state of undeath on a corpse in your possession. You choose whether the resulting undead minion is mindless or self-aware (this choice is cosmetic only, and will have no effect on them mechanically: self-aware minions cannot take actions in combat on their own, nor can they betray you) when you perform the ritual, as well as choosing what kind of undead the target rises as. Other than causing the target to rise as an undead slave, this ritual functions similarly to the Raise Dead ritual, with the following exceptions:
- You suffer the death penalty, not your minion
- Although you need a corpse to perform the ritual, it need not be in fact. In fact, the corpse will be magically augmented as part of the ritual, meaning that you can use skeletal remains to raise a vampire or zombie.
- This ritual functions only for characters with the Master Necromancer class feature.
- A paragon tier undead minion costs 500 gp to raise, and an epic tier undead minion costs 5,000 gp to raise. Raising a minion of the ghost category costs twice as much.
And that’s it for today. I wanted to make some feats and powers to go along with these, but there isn’t enough room left in this article for that to really be feasible. So, if you’d like to see some more support for the Master Necromancer class feature, let me know. If I get a strong enough response I’ll be sure to come back to it soon.