Editing Dread Necromancer (section)

==Basics==

On the surface, a dread necro is an Cha-based arcane caster with shitty BAB, good Will saves, hit points like a bard, and poor amounts of skill points.  They get light armor and can cast in it, and they get all simple weapons plus a martial weapon of choice (greatsword if you're going full optimization, flail or scimitar for style+optimization, and scythe if you want to look cool but be absolute shit in combat).  They look a lot like a kind of sorcerer, but there's two differences that make them superior.

The first difference is that a dread necro gets a Goddamn fuckhuge list of class abilities.  As in, they get some shit '''every fucking level'''.  This is one of the few classes in all of 3.5 that doesn't have empty levels, and it's not even like the abilities they get are shit.  No, dread necro gets good stuff every level.  Okay, Fear Aura isn't stellar, but it's better than nothing, and you even get it at a level that makes it pretty effective (i.e. chases off little mooks, leaving BBEGs ripe for the taking).

I mean, Jesus, look at the 1st-level ability Charnel Touch.  Christ, it's negative energy touch damage on command.  Sure, your BAB kind of sucks... but touch attacks bypass about 50% of the shit you'd have to worry with on AC, and there's delicious ways to boost your attack roll (which we'll cover later).  Oh, wait, negative energy also heals all undead.  And your class is meant to make undead minions to aid you in combat.  So... unlimited healing of undead? Unlimited healing that can include yourself with Tomb Tainted Soul or somehow becoming undead? Yes, please!

But it just gets better.  You get Rebuke Undead, which is fucking stupid for you.  Not only can you just steal other necros' undead from them and they can't do much of shit about it (unless they also have Rebuke), but you now get access to Divine Metamagic bullshit that is usually reserved for [[CoDzilla]]s.  Never mind that Libris Mortis and a few other tasty supplements give you ways to bolster your undead even more with your Rebuke.

This is all at 1st level, guys.  Level fucking 1.

After that, it just keeps getting better.  You slowly start to turn into a lich yourself, gaining DR and fortification (i.e. protection from crits), until you cap off as an actual, factual lich at 20.  (Note that this isn't always optimal, but we'll cover that later.)  You also start getting enhancements to your Charnel Touch, adding disease and eventually negative levels (not permanent, but still).  Negative energy burst to hurt the living and heal your undead; advanced learning to add any cleric or wizard necromancy spell you don't already have to your own list; a familiar which is automatically an improved version over the usual shit (and can deliver your Charnel Touch for you); you even get to control more undead based on your Cha bonus, so you can have more (bigger) minions.

Second to your class abilities is your spell list.  You don't get any 0-level stuff (boo), but you get as many spontaneous spell slots as a sorcerer (yay).  You don't get to pick your spells (boo), but you automatically know EVERY SPELL of a given level you can cast (lolwut?), and they are a mix of some of the more ridiculous necromancy spells from both arcane and divine sources.  You also get access to a few new things from Heroes of Horror like the summon undead variants, allowing you to temporarily shore up your more permanent minions with some cheap, disposable mooks.  Oh, also, you get several good touch spells, and you can use ''spectral hand'' to deliver Charnel Touch at range.

And just like that, you are a Goddamn supervillain.