Editing Necromancer (section)

====Complete Book of Necromancers====
Despite the moral panic being levied against D&D in the 80s, or perhaps ''because'' of it, necromancers gained a fair bit of cult following amongst D&D fans. So, in 1995, amidst the growing popularity for [[Dark Fantasy]] and general [[grimdark]], [[TSR]] expanded the [[Complete Book Series]] with the Complete Book of Necromancers. Officially intended for [[Dungeon Master]]s, of course players were very interested in getting their hands on it too... in fact, it was considered one of the top 20 most popular game supplements for its release month. Whilst pretty tame compared to contemporary [[splatbook]]s from the [[World of Darkness]] and [[Call of Cthulhu]] lines, it was decently well-written in terms of a general overarching viewpoint for necromancy from a social and philosophical level, albeit with TSR's usual biases.

But you don't care about that shit! If you did, you'd be reading the wikipedia article on the damn book. You're here because you want to know what the [[kits]] were like!

The '''Archetypal Necromancer''' is the bog-standard evil necromancy of [[Sword & Sorcery]] and [[Dark Fantasy]]. Outside of recommending the character gain 1d3 Dark Gifts and an equal number of curses, diseases or madnesses to "balance it out", this is just a vanilla Necromancer from the [[Player's Handbook]] with an Evil [[alignment]].

'''Anatomists''' study the bodies of the dead to learn how they work, which also gives them an incidental familiarity with how necromantic magic interacts with corpses. They vary from serious scholars of the healing arts to mad scientists eager to create abominations of flesh and bone to sadistic torturers.
::Base Requirements: As Necromancer
::Extra Requirements: None
::Weapon Proficiencies: An anatomist is automatically Proficient with the Knife, and becomes Specialized in the Knife at 6th level. Once this is done, the anatomist can become proficient in the Dagger, Dart, Cutlass and Shortsword.
::Nonweapon Proficiencies: 
:::Required: Healing (only takes 2 slots) and Anatomy
:::Recommended: Animal Handling, Animal Training, Artistic Ability, Brewing, Animal Lore, Hunting, Set Snares, Disguise, Forogery, Local History, Herbalism, Reading/Writing, Spellcraft, Venom Handling
::Special Benefits:
:::Improved Healing: An anatomist gains a +2 bonus to Healing checks and can care for up to 12 people at a time with their superior doctoring abilities. Those under an anatomist's care recover 3 hit points per day (4 HP/day if the anatomist has Herbalism) and can make a second save against a poison or disease with a +4 bonus to throw it off. Strenuous activity still lowers the recovery rate.
:::Autopsy: By spending (1d6 turns -1 round/level) performing an autoposy on a corpse, an anatomist is allowed to make a d100 check. They have a (60+2/level, maximum 90%) chance to identify the specific cause and approximate time of death for their subject.
::Special Hindrances: An anatomist must keep their anatomical skills sharp by dissecting and analyzing one humanoid corpse per month, a process that takes a full day to perform. If they fail to do so, they lose their special benefits and become standard necromancers until they polish up their skills by performing 2 dissections for each monthly dissection missed - if it's been two months since they last dissected a body, they need to perform 4 dissections, for example.

'''Deathslayers''' are antiheroic [[wizard]]s who study the dark arts of necromancy to enhance their ability to battle and destroy the [[undead]].
::Base Requirements: As Necromancer
::Extra Requirements: Strenggth 13+
::Weapon Proficiencies: As per Wizard
::Nonweapon Proficiencies: 
:::Required: Necrology
:::Recommended: Hunting, Set Snares, Tracking, Ancient History, Astrology, Herbalism, Ancient Languages, Netherworld Knowledge, Reading/Writing, Religioon, Spellcraft, Spirit Lore
:::Forbidden: All Rogue NWPs.
::Special Benefits: A Deathslayer must choose a kind of "Greater Undead" ([[ghost]]s, [[vampire]]s, [[lich]]es, [[mummy|mummies]], etc) as their preferred opponent of choice. When fighting against that kind of undead, and '''only''' against that kind of undead, the Deathslayer gains the following bonuses. Yes, this is basically the [[Ranger]] Favorite Enemy class feature, except Deathslayers only get one type of targeted undead and can ''never'' change it.
:::Mental Fortitude: +2 bonus to saves vs. mental attacks caused by the chosen undead, including against Charm and Fear effects.
:::Battle Prowess: +2 bonus to melee weapon attacks, touch-delivered spell attacks and undead-specific special attacks (staking a vampire, smashing a phylactery, etc) against the chosen undead.
:::Spell Prowess: The chosen undead suffers a -2 penalty to saves against the Deathslayer's spells - this ''stacks'' with the -1 penalty for saves vs. the Deathslayer's Necromancy spells.
::Special Hindrances: Deathslayers '''must''' hunt down and slay the undead as if under the effects of a [[Geas]], although they are free to target all undead and not just their chosen enemy type, and will always prioritize undead targets in combat.

'''Philosophers''' are scholars of the forbidden and sages of the profane, representing those who turn to the dark secrets of magic out of a hunger for knowledge. To these necromancers, "these are things man was not meant to know" deserves only contempt.
::Base Requirements: As Necromancer
::Extra Requirements: Alignment Restriction (Any Neutral, Neutral Evil), Intelligence 14+
::Weapon Proficiencies: Dagger, Dart, Knife
::Nonweapon Proficiencies: 
:::Required: Netherworld Knowledge, Reading/Writing
:::Recommended: Artistic Ability, Etiquette, Heraldry, Modern languages, Local History, Ancient History, Astrology, Herbalism, ANcient Languages, Necrology, Religion, Spellcraft, Spirit Lore
:::Forbidden: All Warrior and Rogue NWPs
::Special Benefits:
:::Font of Unholy Lore: A Philosopher has the knowledge basis of a Sage in the fields of Necromancy, Necromantic Magical Items, and the Netherworld (the [[Outer Plane]]s, especially the [[Lower Plane]]s). They have a 5% per level chance of knowing the answer to a question on these topics, as per a Legend Lore spell. If they don't know the answer, they are constrained by the typical rules for a sage.
:::Master of the Mind: If using [[Psionics]], a Philosopher will automatically have at least 1 Wild Talent.
:::Devoted Student: A Philosopher has a +15% chance to succeed when attempting to learn a Necromancy spell; this ''stacks'' with the bonus for being a Necromancer, giving them a +30% bonus in total.
::Special Hindrances:
:::Fragile Sanity: At the DM's discretion, a Philosopher may be required to begin play with a irreversible Madness, and may even suffer penalties to gaining further Madnesses through gameplay.
:::Hyper-Focus:''' A Philosopher has a -15% penalty to their chance to succed when attempting to learn a non-Necromancy spell; this ''stacks'' with the penalty for being a Necromancer, giving them a -30% penalty in total. Though, given their lore states that they favor divination and conjuration magic alongside necromancy, at the DM's discretion, this penalty may not apply to those schools.

'''Undead Masters''' are a pulpy combination of Necromancer, [[Enchanter]] and [[Conjurer]]. These [[wizard]]s study [[magic]] for the power to control, commanding the living, the dead and the otherworldly to obey. If you want to be a minion-master wizard, you ''can't'' do better than this kit in 2e! 
::Base Requirements: As Necromancer
::Extra Requirements: Alignment Restriction (Non-Good)
::Weapon Proficiencies: As Necromancer.
::Nonweapon Proficiencies: 
:::Required: Necrology, Netherworld Knowledge
:::Recommended: Etiquette, Heraldry, Ancient History, Astrology, Ancient Languages, Reading/Writing, Religion, Spellcraft, Spirit Lore
:::Forbidden: All Priest, Rogue and Warrior NWPS
::Special Benefits:
:::Command the Living: Enchantment/Charm is '''not''' an Opposition School for Undead Masters the way it is for standard necromancers.
:::Command the Dead: An Undead Master can [[Turn Undead]] as if they were a [[Cleric]] of the same level. They can also use Turn Undead to control [[fiend]]s and extraplanar creatures as if they were [[undead]] of the same hit dice (ignoring any hit point modifiers).
::Special Hindrances:
:::Restricted Fields of Study: An Undead Master's Opposition Schools are Illusion, Transmutation and Divination (Major).
:::Brains over Brawn: An undead master may only have '''ONE''' Weapon Proficiency point. All subsequent WP points must be spent on Nonweapon Proficiencies instead.
:::Megalomania: This is a roleplaying disadvantage; remember that Undead Masters tend strongly towards being megalomaniacs, control freaks and subject to OCD in general.