Necromancer (OUTDATED)

Robes billowing around him, a human stands atop a hill watching legions of undead march towards a city in the dead of night. As the front lines reach the gates an alarm goes off within the city, but it is already too late. The city is surrounded, and there’s no help coming. With her scythe cutting through the last stalk of wheat, an elf wipes the sweat from her brow and takes a moment to observe the fifty or so skeletons in front of her, all with scythes cutting wheat themselves. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices a ghoul shambling over a nearby hill. With a quick glare from the elf, the ghoul stops and turns around, reporting to her that there is an army following it. The elf takes off running with what wheat she has and the skeletons follow her. A halfling kneels behind a column at the body of his best friend, a dwarf. Crying, he reaches out to the body and mutters disdainfully. He asks out loud if his friend would lend him his strength so that one of them might be able to live. After a few seconds, the now undead dwarf stands up and charges a nearby goblin, buying the halfling just enough time to get away. He runs back to town just in time to warn them of the coming goblin horde. Necromancers channel the power of life and death. They may be weak themselves, but they make up for it by surrounding themselves with undead minions that they control as if they were an extension of the necromancer’s own body. Necromancy is not something people undertake lightly, as a false step in the wrong company may cause one to lose their head.

Undead Minions

Necromancers exert control over undead creatures as if they were part of the same creature. Unlike hordes of wild undead, the undead controlled by a necromancer act as one unit, often running (or shambling) to each other’s aid when a member of the horde is injured or destroyed.

A Life of Consequences

Necromancers don’t have the best history with people. Though the large majority of necromancers merely want to help people, whether it be in communicating with dead family members or overthrowing tyrannical kings, evil necromancers are by far more well known for the occasional invasion of a peaceful city, which people don’t tend to take kindly to. A necromancer must always be careful of his company, because while many people will seek to understand his intentions, just as many will ignore them altogether in the assumption he is evil.

Creating a Necromancer

The most important thing to consider when creating a necromancer are the reasons you became a necromancer. Were you driven to the edge when someone you love was killed or did an oppressive government lead to your seeking rebellion? Either way, a necromancer is often misunderstood by those around them. Necromancers must usually hide their abilities to avoid persecution.

Quick Build

You can make a Necromancer quickly by following these suggestions. First, make Charisma your highest ability score, followed by Constitution, and Strength or Dexterity after that if you plan on taking the Reaper Archetype. Second, choose the Sage background.

Class Features

As a Necromancer, you gain the following class features

Hit Points

---

• Hit Dice: 1d6 per Necromancer level
• Hit Points at 1st Level: 6 + your Constitution modifier
• Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d6 (or 4) + your Constitution modifier per Necromancer level after 1st

Proficiencies

---

• Armor: No armor
• Weapons: Simple weapons
• Tools: Embalming tools

---

• Saving Throws: Constitution, Charisma
• Skills: Choose two from Arcana, Deception, History, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Persuasion, and Religion

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) Darkened robes and two daggers or (b) a light crossbow, simple clothes and 20 bolts
• (a) An arcane focus and embalming tools
• (a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) a scholar’s pack

Spell Slots

The Necromancer class table shows how many Spell Slots you have. The table also shows what the level of those slots is; all of your Spell Slots are the same level. To cast one of your Necromancer Spells of 1st level or higher, you must expend a spell slot. You regain all expended Spell Slots when you finish a short or Long Rest.

Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher

At 1st level, you know two 1st-level Spells of your choice from the Necromancer spell list.

You learn a new Necromancer spell every time you gain a level from 3 through 9, as well as at level 19. A spell you choose must be of a level no higher than what's shown in the table's Slot Level column for your level. When you reach 6th level, for example, you learn a new Necromancer spell, which can be 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level.

Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the Necromancer Spells you know and replace it with another spell from the Necromancer spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have Spell Slots.

Spellcasting Ability

Charisma is your spellcasting ability for your Necromancer Spells, so you use your Charisma whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Charisma modifier when Setting the saving throw DC for a Necromancer spell you cast and when Making an Attack roll with one.

Spell save DC = 8 + Proficiency bonus + Charisma modifier
Spell Attack modifier = Proficiency bonus + Charisma modifier

Control Undead

At 1st level, you gain the ability to bring wild undead under your control by force. As an action, target an uncontrolled undead with an Intelligence lower than 8 within 30 feet of you. The undead makes a Charisma save DC against your Spell save DC, and if it fails it is brought under your control indefinitely, but if it succeeds you cannot use this feature on it again for 24 hours.

You may only control undead in this way that do not have a CR greater than half of necromancer level. When you take over undead in this way, they are considered animated by you, and if you do not already control the undead you take damage and your maximum Hit Points is reduced by an equal amount. Amount of Damage and Health Reduction is showed in Life Sacrifice Table below.

You may control a maximum number of Undead equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1) plus your Necromancer level. You may control any undead you control as an action on your turn. You innately know the general direction and distance of all your controlled undead.

At 9th level, this changes to a bonus action. If you are not actively controlling your undead, they will attempt to execute your last orders to the best of their ability. You only maintain control of your undead as long as they are within 1 mile of you. If they leave a 1 mile radius, they leave your control and act as normal undead.

Arise

Starting at 1st level, you may use your own life force to animate recently dead corpses. Using your action, you may touch a creature that died in the last minute and raise it as an undead under your control indefinitely. You must spend an hour raising a creature if it has been dead for longer than a minute.

Whenever you use this class feature, you take damage and your maximum Hit Points is reduced by an equal amount, as showed in Life Sacrifice table below. You may only raise undead in this way that do not have a CR greater than half of your necromancer level, and you are limited to undead with an intelligence lower that 8.

At 9th level, you gain the ability to create undead with an intelligence score of 8 or higher, but it must be less than 13. At 18th level, you no longer have restrictions on the kinds of undead you can create based on intelligence score.

Notes For DMs and Players about Necromancer's Balance

Unfortunatly, controlling minions in 5th edition of D&D can be unbalanced. Even though i have tried to balance it as much as i could without ruining fun of playing with more than 2-3 minions, this class is easy for powergaming.

IMPORTANT !!!
By choosing this class it is strongly recommended for DM to forbid multiclassing for Player for a balance-wise reasons.

Also, as Player, you are not restricted only just zombies or skeletons to rise as your undead minions, but DM is allowed to provide some restrictions whom you can rise or control, because some of the undead creatures (or other types of a creatures) can be incredibly strong and dangerous both for DM's campaign and for the Party (For example - Banshee and her Banshee's Scream ability).

Last, but not least - both DM and a Player should talk about how would arising dead creature will change that creature not only visually, but also mechanically - Would it lose its multiattack, because of a slow rotten body, that isn't that fast to attack so many times, or perhaps the creature would receive some typical undead feats, for example poison immunity. It is up to DM to say a final word, but
collaboration of a DM and a Player is the key for a balanced and fun game!

Lifetap

At 2nd level, you learn to freely manipulate your own life energy. As an action, you may touch any undead you have animated and deal any amount of damage to it up to it’s current health, healing any other undead you can touch that you have animated for an amount equal to the damage dealt.

Alternatively, you can use an action to touch any creature and channel your own life force into it. This damages you for any amount up to half your maximum hit points or your current hit points, whichever is lower, that you choose and then heals the target for an equal amount.

Necromantic Aspiration

At 3rd level choose a Necromantic Aspiration: Overlord, Reaper, or Lich. All detailed information is at the end of the class description. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level, and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th level.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Speech of the Damned

At 5th level, you gain the ability to feel if undead creature is under of someone's or somethings control.

Also, you gain advantage on Charisma Checks when you are interacting with undead. If they are under someone's control, You can also try to undestand their simple tasks or goals, given to them, by making Charisma Check versus DC equal to 10 + half of undead's CR, rounded down(minimum of 0).

Adictionally, as an action you can try to calm down emotions of agressive undead creature that is not under someone's control, by making Charisma check against Wisdom or Charisma check of that creature, that DM decides, based by which reason the undead creature became agressive - Emotions, Ego, or it is natural instinct, if it is a ghost of a wolf, for example.

Aura of Undeath

Starting at 5th level, you gain an aura of undeath. You may use a bonus action to activate one of auras you know and you may turn any of them off at any time for free on your turn. You choose one of the following auras when you gain this feature, and again at 11th and 17th levels. When your Aura of Undeath is turned on, you maintain any auras you choose until you dismiss the effect.

You may use a bonus action on future turns to activate additional Aura effects, but may dismiss them for free. Your Aura of Undeath has a radius of 30 ft, and affects all undead you control within it.

Aura effects require you to take damage at the beginning of each of your turns to maintain them. This cost is noted on each Aura effect. If a Aura of Undeath and a Holy Aura overlap, creatures in the overlapping areas get none of the benefits of either (so Aura of Undeath and a Paladin’s Devotion Aura would cancel out).

Aura of Ferocity

Costs 2 hit points/round. Affected creatures may add your Charisma modifier to their damage rolls with weapon attacks.

Aura of Resilience

Costs 2 hit points/round. Affected creatures may add your Charisma modifier to any saving throws they make.

Aura of Retaliation

Costs 2 hit points/round. Affected creatures may make an attack of opportunity against any creature that attacks them with a melee weapon or melee spell attack.

Aura of Tenacity

Costs 2 hit points/round. Affected creatures take less damage from non magical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage equal to your Charisma Modifier.

Aura of Terror

Costs 2 hp/round. Affected creatures become more menacing. Any enemy creature that starts its turn or moves within 5 feet of an affected creature must make a Wisdom saving throw against Spell save DC or become frightened for 1 minute. They may repeat this save at the end of each of their turns. If they succeed on their save, they become immune to this effect for 24 hours. Any creatures that are frightened when this aura ends stop being frightened.

Dark Nova

At 7th level, you gain the ability to channel your life force to damage nearby enemies. As an action, you release Dark energy in a 10 ft. radius sphere with yourself as the point of origin. Creatures hit by this burst of dark energy make a Constitution saving throw against your Spell save DC. On a failure they take 4d8 necrotic damage and are pushed 10 feet away from you. On a successful save, they take half damage and are not pushed. This damage increases to 6d8 at 11th level, and to 8d8 at 17th level. You may use this ability a number of times equal to your Charisma Modifier per long rest.

Undead Martyr

Starting at 10th level, you gain the ability to sacrifice your controlled undead to restore your life when you would be knocked unconscious.

As a reaction when you take damage that would reduce you to 0 hit points, you may magically transfer that damage to undead that is under your control within 60ft of you. Transfered damage can not be reduced by any means. You may use this feature once per short or a long rest.

Dominate Undead

At 13th level, the abilities of your Control undead feature extend to intelligent undead and undead controlled by other necromancers. Intelligent undead are harder to control in this way. If the target has an Intelligence of 8 or higher, it has advantage on the saving throw. If it fails the saving throw and has an Intelligence of 12 or higher, it can repeat the saving throw at the end of every hour until it succeeds and breaks free.

If an undead you are trying to control is controlled by someone else, you may instead use your action to initiate a contest against said creature. Both of you roll 1d20 and add your Proficiency bonus and Charisma modifiers. If you win the contest, the undead is brought under your control, but in the event of a tie or if you lose, nothing happens. Once an undead has been contested like this, it cannot be contested again for 1 hour. If the undead has an Intelligence of 8 or higher, it may grant advantage in this contest to either necromancer.

Ethereal Mind

Starting at 15th level, your knowledge of necromancy allows you to understand concepts of spirituality foreign to normal people.

Once per day, you may use your action to see 60 feet into the ethereal plane for 1 hour. Additionally, once per day, when touching a dead body, you may begin a 1 hour ritual, during which you may converse freely with the soul that previously inhabited it, provided the soul is willing. If you have a possession of the spirit you are trying to contact, you may also use that to contact them.

Unholy General

At 20th level, you gain the ability to choose a single controlled undead as your Unholy General. This undead can be chosen from any undead you control and gains a number of additional benefits. Creating a Unholy General requires performing an 8 hour ritual every day for a week and total of 5,000 gp worth of materials

• Your General’s Hit Points cost to control is increased by 20 HP.
• Your General’s Hit Points equals to their normal Hit Points or increases to 100, whichever is higher.
• Your General’s Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma are replaced with your own, and they add your weapon and armor proficiencies to their own.
• Your general has a control radius equal to your own and you may control undead within that radius.
• Your General can be controlled as long as you exist on the same plane of existence, and he will act to reach you if you are separated in such a way.
• When you manifest your Aura of Undeath, Control Undead, or Dark Nova class features, you may do so from your General’s location, but they do not manifest from your own location if you do this.
• You may use an action to begin seeing through your General’s senses. This lasts until you end it and causes you to become blind and deaf to anything around your own body.
• You innately know the general direction and distance of any undead within the General’s control radius, and if an undead is within both yours and your Generals radius you know it’s exact location.
• Any time you would die for any reason. Your General dies instead, and your body is teleported to a safe place chosen by your DM on the same plane of existence, unconscious but stable. Any undead you control leave your influence and become wild.

Alternatively

you may choose to become the Unholy General yourself. Becoming a Unholy General requires performing an 8 hour ritual every day for a week, and total of 8,000 gold cost for very rare and almost unique resorces for the ritual. When you complete the ritual, you gain the following features.

• Your Maximum HP is increased by 40, but these hit points can not be used to control undead.
• You gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws.
• The ranges of your Dark Nova and Aura of Undeath are doubled.
• Your undead control radius is doubled.

Necromantic Aspirations

Necromancers share their affinity with undead, but how they treat their undead often varies. A Necromancer that minds their undead carefully is very different from a Necromancer that sits back while his army wages war, and both of these are very different from a Necromancer that fights on the front line with their undead as their leader.

Overlord

You have aspiration leads you to care for your Undead, as if there where your child or servant. Show the world who is the true Lord by creating most devarstating armies of undead, that world have never seen before.

Unrelenting Servants

At 3rd level, Your undead minions gains your proficientcy bonus to their attack rolls.

Adittionally, whenever you use Lifetap ability targeting yourself, you can now heal your undead minions on amount of twice of health taken.

Endless Army

Starting at 6th level, you now can now create potral that will summon undead minions that will be under your control to a space within 10 feet of you directly from another plane such as the Shadowfell or the Negative Energy plane. This process takes 1 hour, concentrating on a ritual to create a portal.

You can summon any amount of undead. You can not summon undead with CR more than 1 with this feature. All summoned minions counts, as if they are under your Control Undead feature.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

Lord's Reach

Starting at 10th level, you gain the ability to control your undead from up to 10 miles away. This increases to 20 miles at 20th level.

Unholy Siegemaster

At 14th level, you gain the ability to create undead siege engines made of bones and rotten flesh. These siege creatures function exactly as if they were normal siege equipment, but are considered as controlled undead with a CR of 1 per 10 HP they have. For example a Mangonel with 100 hp would be considered CR 10. Each siege engine (DMG p.255) takes 1 hour per CR to create and such engines does not requires a crew to operate.

Reaper

Your aspiration leads you to crush the enemy by your own dark powers, tearing them apart by your Scythe, imbued by necrotic energy, Such necromancers often leads the army of undead, armored in heavy plates, like messiahs of pure Undeath.

Bonus Proficiencies

At 3rd level, you gain proficiency in Light, Medium and Heavy Armor and one Martial melee Weapon of your choise.

Dark Strike

Starting at 3rd level, your melee weapon attacks deal bonus necrotic damage equal to your charisma modifier (minimum 1) once per turn. When you deal damage with this feature, you are healed for an amount equal to half your bonus damage rounded up (minimum 1). At 10th level, your Dark Strike deals an additional 1d8 necrotic damage. This increases to 2d8 at 14th level.

Extra Attack

Starting at 6th level, you may make an additional attack when you take the attack action.

Unholy Might

At 10th level you gain the ability to infuse yourself with unholy strength.

Whenever you take an attack action, you can use your bonus action to empower your vitality with unholy strength - choose amount of your undead mimions, equal to your Charisma Modifier, that is no more than 30ft away from you. Those minions crumbles into pile of bones or rotten flesh, transfering you part of their life force.

For the next minute, you gain advantage on Strength checks and saving throws an Constitution saving throws, and you recieve temporary health equal to 10 times number of undead destroyed this way.

You regain ability to use this feature after completing a a long rest.

Soul Reaper

Starting at 14th level, whenever you kill a creature, you may use your Arise Class Feature on the creature you killed as a bonus action. You can ignore health cost, but such creature will live and serve you only for 1 minute. Once undead was risen with no cost, you cant use this feature until you will finish a long rest.

Lich

The lich is one of the most powerful magical creatures in all of the realms. It has a masterful knowledge over spells, and it can utilise the innate magic within to overcome its foes, and a lot of necromancers searching for such powers.

Dark Lore

Due to your extensive learning of Necromancic knowledge, you gain advantage on any Religion or Arcana checks related with Necromancy spells, rituals or creatures. Furthermore, your knowledge of Undying beings has given you insight on how to emulate some of their power. You age only 1 year for every 10 years that pass, and you can't be aged magically.

Unholy Resistance

At 6th level, the time you've spent wielding necrotic energy has made itself a part of you. You gain resistance to necrotic damage and your hit point maximum cannot be reduced, exept only by your Necromancer Class Features.

Soul Сycle

Beginning at 10th level, when a creature within 30ft is reduced to zero hit points, you can use reaction to capture a part of the creature’s escaping soul. This fragment of life-force that the creature once had can be used to empower your own powers. You recieve 1 Soul Fragment per 2 Hit Dices of a died creature. You may store a number of soul fragments equal to your your necromancer level. As an action on your turn, you may transform your stored soul fragments into life force for all of your allies and undead within 15ft of you, healing them on the amount of soul fragments spent.

Alternatively, whenever you stored at least 10 of Soul Fragments, you can use them to infuse your Aura of Undeath. If you do so, your Aura does not cost any health to maintain it, but you can have only 1 active Aura at a time, and also you must concentrate on that aura, as if you where concentrating on a Spell. this Aura exists for 1 hour or until your concenctration ends.

You cant use this feature again until you will finish a long rest.

Lich Form

At 14th level, you have almost undergone the necessary rituals to transcend from your mortal shell into a lich.

To do so, You must complete a 24 hour ritual, concentarting on it as if you where concentrated on a spell. For this ritual you will need to create Phylactery that is needed for your further existence. As a ending part of a ritual, you can cleanse yourself of the flesh, that will be transformed into a life force infuse your Phylactery.

When you are done the ritual, your type changes to undead. All spells and effects that would apply to undead creatures apply to you. As an undead, you do not need to breathe or sleep, you cannot suffocate, and you do not age. You gain immunity to poison damage. You are also immune to diseases, and the poisoned condition. You have advantage on all saving throws against any effect that turns undead. Additionally, you gain darkvision to 60 feet, or if you already have darkvision, its range increases by 30 feet.

If you infused your Phylactery with your own flesh, you can cast on yourself disguise self spell at will and without concentration, but you make yourself look only exactly you looked like before the ritual. You cant cast this spell, if your Phylactery was destroyed.

Phylactery

Your phylactery is a special object which holds and safeguards a lich’s soul. In order to craft this wondrous item, you must spend 1d10+2 days and 6,000 gp. This cost covers the gems, precious metals, incense, and alchemical reagents needed in crafting the phylactery and brewing the Potion of Transformation.

Your phylactery can be a small jewel-encrusted box, a gemstone with pulsating runes, one of the other items mentioned above, or any other treasure a lich can dream up for their eternal existence.

After creating it, you may not travel to the outer planes as your soul is tethered by your phylactery.

Should you be reduced to zero hit points and die, your lich body crumbles to dust and, in 1d10 days, it reforms within 10 feet of your phylactery. Your phylactery must be intact in order for you to return. If your phylactery has been destroyed, you do not reform and you cannot be brought back by normal means, such as by the resurrection or revivify spells.

Similarly, a phylactery caught in an area of antimagic, such as one created by the antimagic field spell, cannot reform its lich. That lich is trapped inside their phylactery until it is removed or the field dissipates. Your phylactery is tiny, has 40 hit points, it is immune to poison and psychic damage, and it has resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from non-magical attacks

Whenever the Phylactery is destroyed, you can survive for 1d10+10 days, before your lich body will be turned to ashes. In such way, you can only be ressurected by a Wish spell

Lich Form and Phylactery

Changing creature type of a PC can be greatly unbalanced in some Campaigns. Speak with DM, will there be any problems with changing the type? Also, your DM can make couple of quests to achive required ingridients for the Ritual, instead of a gold price.

DM NOTE - You can ignore or change the effect, that restricts Lich Player travelling through other planes, if it is necessary for you campaign

Credits

This class is mostly a remake of the JamesMusicus's Necromancer Class v 0.4.1
All the pictures where found within the internet. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o-vPpqIl0Uzr_Vj8nD72FdWDuVSuCxicIygaDx-XwfE/edit# - JamesMusicus's Necromancer Class v 0.4.1

Necromancer Spell List