Necromancer

Necromancers are most commonly seen as graverobbers and dabblers in dark powers, but how they are perceived means nothing to these scholars of death. Necromancers master the energies of undeath and the secrets of the dead, but along the way they also uncover many of the secrets of life, learning to blur the line between the two. The most powerful necromancers wield shadows and negative energy as easily and skillfully as the most talented warriors wield a blade.

Role: Necromancers use a combination of crippling curses, chilling cold, and subtle shadows to weaken and diminish their foes. Heartier than most wizards thanks to their necromantic skills, necromancers have potent spells that can be used in melee as they support and fight alongside their undead minions, who absorb the brunt of an opponent’s wrath until the foolish creature has been sufficiently weakened by the necromancer’s spells for a killing blow.

Alignment: Any

Hit die: d8

Class Skills

The necromancer’s class skills are Craft (Int), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), and Use Magic Device (Cha).

Skill Ranks Per Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Table: The Necromancer

Class Level	BAB	Fort Save	Reflex Save	Will Save	Special
1	+0	+2	+0	+2	Cantrips, necromancy specialization, corpse companion
2	+1	+3	+0	+3	Corpse-stitch augments (2 points)
3	+2	+3	+1	+3	Channel negative energy
4	+3	+4	+1	+4	—
5	+3	+4	+1	+4	Corpse-stitch augments (4 points)
6	+4	+5	+2	+5	—
7	+5	+5	+2	+5	Corpse-stitch augments (6 points)
8	+6/+1	+6	+2	+6	—
9	+6/+1	+6	+3	+6	Corpse-stitch augments (8 points)
10	+7/+2	+7	+3	+7	—
11	+8/+3	+7	+3	+7	Corpse-stitch augments (10 points)
12	+9/+4	+8	+4	+8	—
13	+9/+4	+8	+4	+8	Corpse-stitch augments (12 points)
14	+10/+5	+9	+4	+9	—
15	+11/+6/+1	+9	+5	+9	Corpse-stitch augments (14 points)
16	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	—
17	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Corpse-stitch augments (16 points)
18	+13/+8/+3	+11	+6	+11	—
19	+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+11	Corpse-stitch augments (18 points)
20	+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+12	—

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies

Necromancers are proficient with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, scimitar, scythe, sickle, quarterstaff, and light armor. Necromancers can cast wizard spells while wearing light or medium armor made from leather, cloth, or hide without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. Like any other arcane spellcaster, a necromancer wearing armor made primarily from metal or any heavy armor, or shields incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component.

Spellcasting

A necromancer casts arcane spells drawn from the sorcerer/wizard spell list which must be from the illusion, necromancy, transmutation, or universal schools.

Spells from other schools are not considered to be on the necromancer’s spell list. A necromancer must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time.

To learn, prepare, or cast a spell, the necromancer must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a necromancer’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the necromancer’s Intelligence modifier.

A necromancer can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: Specialist Spells Per Day. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Intelligence score.

A necromancer may know any number of spells. He must choose and prepare his spells ahead of time by getting 8 hours of sleep and spending 1 hour studying his spellbook. While studying, the necromancer decides which spells to prepare.

Cantrips: Necromancers can prepare a number of cantrips, or 0-level spells, each day, as noted on Table: Specialist Spells Per Day. These spells are cast like any other spell, but they are not expended when cast and may be used again. An necromancer can learn and prepare a cantrip from any school, but cantrips not of the illusion, necromancy, transmutation, or universal schools use up two of his available slots.

Corpse Companion (Ex)

You create your own personal undead minion. A necromancer may begin play with any of the creatures listed in Corpse Choices. This undead is an obedient servant that follows the necromancer on his adventures. Unlike normal undead, a corpse companion’s Hit Dice, abilities, skills, and feats advance as the necromancer advances in level. If a character receives a corpse companion from more than one source, his effective necromancer levels stack for the purposes of determining the statistics and abilities of the companion.

If a necromancer “releases his servant from service”, it immediately becomes inert and the necromancer may craft a new one by performing a ceremony requiring 24 uninterrupted hours magically augmenting a corpse or array of body parts. This ceremony can also replace a corpse companion that has been destroyed.

Necromancy Specialization

The necromancer gains one bonus spell slot for each level of wizard spell he can cast, from 1st on up. The necromancer can only prepare a spell from the necromancy school in that slot. This spell must be in the necromancer’s spellbook. A necromancer can select a spell modified by a metamagic feat to prepare in this slot, but it uses up a higher-level spell slot.

Corpse-stitch Augmentation

At 2nd level, 5th level, and every two levels thereafter, the necromancer gains 2 corpse points that he may use to augment his corpse companion. These work like an eidolon’s evolutions and the necromancer may select any evolution that a summoner of his class level could select for their eidolon as a corpse-stitch augmentation (so long as the corpse companion has the appropriate limbs or other required features). Each time the necromancer gains a new instance of this ability, he may reassign any corpse points he had previously spent to choose a new array of corpse-stitch augmentations. The necromancer may also reassign these points whenever he creates a new corpsestitch companion.

Channel Negative Energy (Su)

Starting at 3rd level, the necromancer gains the ability to channel energy as a cleric of his class level. This functions in all ways as the cleric’s channel energy (including calculating saving throw DCs, amount of damage dealt or healed, and uses per day) except that the necromancer channels negative energy regardless of his alignment.

Corpse Companions

A corpse companion’s abilities are determined by the necromancer’s level and its undead racial traits. Table: Corpse Companion Base Statistics determines many of the base statistics of the corpse companion. They remain creatures of the undead type for purposes of determining which spells can affect them.

Corpse Choices

Canid Corpse

STARTING STATISTICS

Size Small; Speed 40 ft.; AC +2 natural armor; Attack bite (1d4); Ability Scores Str 13, Dex 17, Con -, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 15; Special Qualities darkvision, scent, undead traits.

4TH-LEVEL ADVANCEMENT

Size Medium; Attack bite (1d6); Ability Scores Str +4, Dex –2, Cha +2.

Table: Corpse Companion Base Statistics

Class level/HD	BAB	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Skills	Feats	Natural armor bonus	Str/Dex Bonus	Special
1	+1	+0	+0	+3	4	1	+0	+0	—
2	+2	+1	+1	+3	6	2	+0	+0	Corpse-stitch Augment
3	+2	+1	+1	+3	6	2	+2	+1	—
4	+3	+1	+1	+4	8	2	+2	+1	Ability Score Increase
5	+3	+1	+1	+5	10	3	+4	+2	Corpse-stitch Augment
6	+4	+2	+2	+5	12	3	+4	+2	—
7	+5	+2	+2	+5	14	4	+4	+2	Corpse-stitch Augment
8	+6/+1	+2	+2	+6	16	4	+6	+3	Ability Score Increase
9	+6/+1	+3	+3	+6	18	5	+6	+3	Corpse-stitch Augment
10	+7/+2	+3	+3	+7	20	5	+6	+4	—
11	+8/+3	+3	+3	+7	22	6	+8	+4	Corpse-stitch Augment
12	+9/+4	+4	+4	+8	24	6	+8	+4	Ability Score Increase
13	+9/+4	+4	+4	+8	26	7	+8	+5	Corpse-stitch Augment
14	+10/+5	+4	+4	+9	28	7	+10	+5	—
15	+11/+6/+1	+5	+5	+9	30	8	+10	+6	Corpse-stitch Augment
16	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10	32	8	+10	+6	Ability Score Increase
17	+12/+7/+2	+5	+5	+10	34	9	+12	+6	Corpse-stitch Augment
18	+13/+8/+3	+6	+6	+11	36	9	+12	+7	—
19	+14/+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	38	10	+12	+7	Corpse-stitch Augment
20	+15/+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	40	10	+14	+8	Ability Score Increase

Medium Humanoid Corpse

STARTING STATISTICS

Size Medium; Speed: 30 ft.; Attack 2 slams(1d6); AC +2 natural armor; Ability Scores Str 15, Dex 12, Con -, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 12; Special Qualities darkvision 60 feet, undead traits.

7TH-LEVEL ADVANCEMENT

Size Large; Attack 2 slams(1d8); Ability Scores Str+4, Dex -2, Cha +2.

Small Humanoid Corpse

STARTING STATISTICS

Size Small; Speed: 30 ft.; Attack bite (1d4), 2 claws (1d4); Ability Scores Str 12, Dex 15, Con -, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 10; Special Qualities darkvision 60 feet, undead traits.

4TH-LEVEL ADVANCEMENT

Speed 40 ft., climb 20 ft.; Attack bite (1d6), 2 claws (1d4); Ability Scores Dex +2, Cha +2.

Necromancer Favored Class Bonuses

The following favored class options are available to all characters of the listed race who have necromancer as their favored class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time you select the favored class reward.

Favored class bonuses that grant a bonus spell always grant a spell of 1 level lower than the highest level spell you can cast (minimum 1st).

• Dwarf: Your corpse companion gains 2 additional hit points.
• Elf: Your corpse companion’s speed increases by +1 feet (this only changes your effective speed in units of 5).
• Gnome: Your corpse companion gains channel resistance 1 or increases its existing channel resistance by 1.
• Halfling: Your corpse-stitch companion gains a +1/5 luck bonus to AC.
• Human: Gain +1/4 corpse-stitch augmentation points to spend on your corpse companion.
• Orc: Your corpse companion deals +1/4 points of damage with its natural attacks.