TSR2151 - Introduction
Introduction
The ruins of Ysawis were cloaked by the jungle when I rediscovered the broken city walls with my first husband, Sumulael. That was in the early years of our marriage, when my devotion to the Forbidden Arts ran strong with the careless impetuousness of youth. We had been led to the city by disgruntled spirits, in search of a legendary talisman. Even with our ghostly guides, the ruins of the vine-choked city were extensive, and the exact location of our prize eluded us.
At first, when my husband and I beheld the bones of the city’s former citizens, we amused ourselves by raising the moldering remains to attend us as ghastly servants, skeletal porters, and shadowy messengers. When the quest for the talisman yielded nothing immediately, we animated more of the city’s dead to expand the search. Before long, our new slaves uncovered royal cemeteries where the kings and queens of Ysawis had been buried for centuries before the city’s disastrous end. I remember quite vividly my delight at this discovery. With a wave of my hand, I cracked open the tombs’ monolithic stone doors, while Sumulael, cackling with wicked glee, called forth the city’s ancient royalty, commanding even the oldest of padishahs to stumble forth, wrapped in their worm-eaten shrouds or burial robes, from the corrupted depths of the crypts and into our eternal slavery. And while the dead gave up their age-corrupted treasures, none carried my coveted talisman.
Thus Sumulael and I raised up the inhabitants of Ysawis from their crypts and tombs to serve us. We lived there like exiled royalty for many years, until my husband’s insanity and revolting habits grew intolerable. I ended up killing the monster, eventually, with the help of adventurers who had discovered my secluded city in the wilderness. That is how I met my second husband, Talib. He was one of the explorers who assisted me in destroying Sumulael and helped me find my long-sought talisman.
I soon came to love Talib, after a fashion. I taught him all of my hidden secrets. We were happy together in Ysawis, rebuilding the city to its former glory. But in the end, that marriage also failed, for I found that you cannot practice the Art when you are happy, nor advance in its study if you are content. So I left behind my beloved, to write this book in solitude and focus my mind on the difficult road ahead. Come join me on this path of knowledge and self-discovery. Let us explore the Art of Necromancy together. —Foreword to Kazerabet’s Art of Necromancy
Death is the final arbiter. It claims everyone, regardless of class or station, fame or notoriety, gentleness or depravity. In some cultures, death is regarded as the threshold to an elevated spiritual existence or as the doorway leading to another mortal life in a never-ending cycle of reincarnations. In other societies, death is believed to be the ultimate ending of awareness, marking complete annihilation and utter oblivion.
Since ancient times, scholars and priests have devoted their entire lives to studying, explaining, and revering the final chapter in human life. For some individuals, however, death has become an obsession, a source of magical power, or even an object of religious adoration. These beings are necromancers, and they are universally feared and loathed as the purveyors of unremitting evil.
According to popular myth, the necromancer practices vile and forbidden arts. He is the macabre sorcerer who roots about in graveyards, searching out moldering components for his obscene spells. She is the evil priestess who calls upon restless, tormented spirits of the long-deceased, seeking their immortal arcana. In their dark and secluded lairs, the mute undead, the monstrous familiar, and the ravening fiend serve the necromancers in their ghoulish endeavours. In the literature of fantasy and horror, the necromancer is usually portrayed as the consummate villain.
Yet there is another side to the necromancer and the death priest. Consider the compassionate ghost-hunter who lays tormented undead to rest, or the dutiful priest of the Dead who helps guide spirits on their eternal voyage to the netherworld. Necromancers can also have a constructive and positive role in the campaign.
This book is devoted to exploring both aspects of necromancers and death priests. We explore their varied roles as not only villains, but also as healers, mentors, and patrons. These spellcasters are among the most complex, versatile, and powerful characters available in the ADVANCED DUNGEON & DRAGONS® game. This tome reveals all of their secrets and powers so that you—as the Dungeon Master (DM)—can bring these master wizards and priests to life for the players under your care.
How to Use this Book
The Complete Book of Necromancers has been designed for DMs who wish to create complex and memorable spellcasting foes for their unique campaigns. The book is divided into three main sections, each of which the DM may read separately, in any order. The chapters within each individual section should be taken in sequence. They contain introductory material (such as Kazerabet’s foreword) which may be read to players, serve as inspiration for adventure hooks, or used in any other way which helps add a further dimension of realism to the campaign.
The first four chapters are devoted to the necromancer nonplayer character (NPC). Chapter One discusses the rules for creating a basic wizard necromancer as a separate and independent sub-class, starting from the basics outlined in the Player’s Handbook. It explores five new kits—the Archetype, Anatomist, Deathslayer, Philosopher, and Undead Master—each with a different role for the campaign. Chapter Two extends the powers of a necromancer by adding dual classes, psionic Wild Talents, and special powers from the patronage of dark gods. We also discuss some undead or monstrous variants of the necromancer to challenge the most powerful (or foolhardy) groups of adventurers. Chapter Three discusses some of the harsh sacrifices that necromancers must make if they wish to pursue the Forbidden Arts. In Chapter Four, we greatly expand the school of Necromancy, discussing both the beneficial and harmful aspects of the Art.
The next section is devoted to the death priest: the clerical equivalent of the necromancer, who has been given far too little attention in the past. Unlike the wizard, who studies death, the death priest fervently worships it. These clerics belong to distinct priesthoods, each with unique roles, granted powers, spells, and goals for the campaign. Chapter Five explores five of these necromantic priesthoods who serve the Gods of the Dead, Murder, Pestilence, Suffering, and Undead. Chapter Six expands the necromantic priest sphere, providing many more spells for the distinctive necromantic priesthoods.
The final section of the book builds the necromancer and death priest into leaders and active participants in the campaign. Chapter Seven fleshes out a necromancer’s entourage with students, henchmen, familiars, and undead minions. Chapter Eight discusses their primary tools, including deadly poisons, necromantic magical items, and books of forbidden lore. Chapter Nine details the Isle of the Necromancer Kings, providing the DM with adventure hooks and introductory scenarios for a campaign. This chapter also includes the descriptions of seven detailed NPCs who can be used as examples and easily dropped into an existing campaign. Finally, the Appendices contain tables, indexes, and a reference list to help the DM gather necromantic material together from other sources.
Necromancy and the PC
In general, the material presented in this tome is for the Dungeon Master’s eyes only. The necromancer put forward herein is a maverick—he or she operates by a set of nasty rules that are completely beyond the realm of most “normal” player characters. These rules must be kept strictly hidden from the players, even if they are adamant about portraying a necromancer.
The most obvious hindrance for a PC necromancer is alignment. While some practitioners of the Art have a scrupulous code of ethics, the number of benevolent necromancers is deplorably rare. At the very least, the majority of necromancers should be considered rigidly neutral. The large remainder of necromantic practitioners are profoundly evil.
Necromancer PCs will face moral challenges from the onset of their career, starting probably with their mentor. Consider Talib, an example of a good and heroic necromancer (highlighted in a number of the chapter introductions and presented in detail in Chapter Nine). Before poor Talib the Apprentice was permitted to advance to 1st level, his Master forced him through a brutal initiation by drugging his food, tying him down to a cold stone altar, and sacrificing him to the Goddess of Murder. Using a ring of spell storing from an allied death priest, the Master then raised Talib back from the dead (no hard feelings!) to see if his potential pupil had the requisite strength of body and mind to practice necromancy. Since he survived the ordeal, Talib only lost a point of Constitution, the first small price for the privilege of practicing the Art.
Obviously, the young Talib fled his Master at the earliest opportunity. However, whenever he needed to train after gaining levels or to learn new spells, the necromancers he sought out were sometimes more black-hearted than his original Master, and they always demanded a terrible price (moral, physical, or financial) for his continuing education. Since Talib retained his initially lofty ideals, he was usually forced to train himself, requiring much greater expense and time than his other adventuring compatriots. As the DM, you should make certain that a necromancer PC will confront as many difficult obstacles as possible during his or her own career.
A necromancer PC that reaches 9th level becomes a potential threat to game balance once he or she gains the ability to cast animate dead. Scary enough in the hands of NPCs, this spell can be a monumental inconvenience to the DM in the hands of a crafty player character. On the way out to a dungeon outside a village, for instance, a necromancer PC might raid the local cemetery for a few nights, raising a few “kamikaze” hirelings. The other PCs in the group, if they are smart, will wait patiently while the necromancer completes these preparations.
Afterward, half of the adventure will be reduced to the necromancer sending minions into the dungeon. “Zombie, open that door! Zombie, open that chest! Zombie, walk into that room! Zombie, walk across that checkered and suspicious floor!” Though this scenario can be somewhat morbidly amusing for an evening or two, over an entire series of adventures, it can completely ruin a campaign’s carefully cultivated atmosphere of danger, mystery, and suspense. The animated zombies can also put the party thief out of business because of their unfailing ability to detect and harmlessly disarm traps. So what if a zombie takes a ballista bolt in its chest while opening a treasure-filled coffer? The industrious necromancer PC will have plenty of zombies on hand to thwart the array of traps in a dungeon.
Necromancer PCs are already powerful enough (especially at high level) given the basics from the Player’s Handbook. They have no need of the additional powers and abilities described in this book. Since a properly played necromancer PC can significantly unbalance a campaign, only experienced DMs should consider allowing them the abilities outlined in Chapter Two. At the same time, necromancer PCs are completely subject to the dangers of the Art. Feel free to impose any of the penalties in Chapter Three to keep a necromancer PC from monopolizing every gaming session.
Keep in mind that you—as DM—must choose an appropriate power and penalties for the character, taking into account game balance and role-playing potential before making a final decision. In general, the DM should try to keep as much of this information from the players as possible (especially necromancers’ players). If anything, the general aura of mystery, the anticipation of future power, and the dread of the next personal price of increased ability will add a more exciting ambiance to the campaign.
Provided necromancer PCs can be kept in check by an alert DM, they unquestionably add an interesting element of moral tension to the role-playing. Because of their troubling background, questionable practices, and ofttimes dubious sanity, necromancer PCs can be considered to be the roguish equivalent of the common wizard. Since his or her Art will be considered either repugnant (at the very least) or criminal (more likely) by the general populace, the necromancer has the “black sheep” appeal of the outcast or outlaw. Despite this quasi-romantic allure, however, the necromancer deals in cold death, pure and simple. The DM should delight in reminding the player of this rather unglamorous fact whenever necessary.
What You Will Need
This handbook is a supplement for the AD&D® role-playing game, and it assumes that the DM has the DUNGEON MASTER® Guide (DMG), the Player’s Handbook (PHB), and the either the first two MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM® appendices (MC) or the hardcover Monstrous Manual tome (MM).
Given the limited space and the tremendous breadth of the topic involved, it has not been possible to include every single necromantic kit, priesthood, spell, and magical item ever printed by TSR in this product. It would be convenient if the DM had access to the Tome of Magic (TOM), Complete Sha’ir’s Handbook (SH), Complete Wizard’s Handbook (WH), Complete Priest’s Handbook (CPrH), Arabian Adventures (AA), and the FORGOTTEN REALMS® Adventures (FOR) hardcover, but these resources should not prove strictly necessary. In this book, necromantic spells and magical items from these sources will be designated by the appropriate abbreviation. If the DM does not have access to these resources, feel free to substitute another item or spell.