Basic Fantasy Necromancer

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Basic, Dark Arts, Dungeons & Dragons, Fantasy, House Rules, Labyrinth Lord, Necromancy

Magical Theorems & Dark Arts

Of the Dark Arts, the one most common to all races is necromancy, even though it is often more reviled than demonology, it brings with it many less risks.

Necromancers straddle the line between magic-users and priests, working with the spirits and bodies of the dead and bringing them together with clerical magics and the dark scientific formulae of wizardry.

This is an excerpt from the upcoming Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts book to be released by DLGames later this Summer. Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts is a supplemental magical resource for Labyrinth Lord that specifically does not increase the number of spells available to Magic Users in order to maintain the style and simplicity of the game. Instead, this volume introduces several variant spellcasters to the game as NPC or PC classes.

(Sorry about the formatting, table formatting doesn’t carry over well from Open Office to WordPress.)

Necromancer Experience Progression
XP	Level	HD (d4)	Special
0	1	1	Bolster Undead
2,251	2	2	Spellcasting
4,501	3	3
9,001	4	4
18,001	5	5
36,001	6	6
72,001	7	7
144,001	8	8
300,001	9	9
460,001	10	+1 hp*
620,001	11	+2 hp*
780,001	12	+3 hp*	Magic Research
940,001	13	+4 hp*
1,100,001	14	+5 hp*
1,260,001	15	+6 hp*	Stronghold
1,420,001	16	+7 hp*
1,580,001	17	+8 hp*
1,740,001	18	+9 hp*
1,900,001	19	+10 hp*
2,060,001	20	+11 hp*
*Hit point modifiers from Constitution are ignored

The prime requisites for necromancers are Intelligence and Wisdom. Necromancers with both at 13 or higher gain a 5% bonus on earned experience, while necromancers with one of the two at 16 and the other at 13 or higher gain 10%.

Necromancer Spell Progression
Class Level	Spell Level
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	2	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	2	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
8	3	2	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	3	3	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	3	3	3	2	1	-	-	-	-	-
11	3	3	3	3	2	-	-	-	-	-
12	4	3	3	3	2	1	-	-	-	-
13	4	4	3	3	3	2	-	-	-	-
14	4	4	4	3	3	2	1	-	-	-
15	4	4	4	4	3	3	2	-	-	-
16	5	4	4	4	4	3	2	1	-	-
17	5	5	4	4	4	4	3	2	-	-
18	5	5	5	4	4	4	4	3	1	-
19	5	5	5	5	4	4	4	4	2	-
20	6	5	5	5	5	4	4	4	3	1

Necromancers, like their wizardly kin, are limited in their choice of weapons, as they are only able to use daggers. They are unable to use shields or wear any kind of armor.

Although much of their magical energy is granted by gods of undeath, necromancers must carry spell books, which hold the formulae for spells written on their pages. A necromancer can have any number of spells in a spell book, but can only memorize a certain number of spells that he can know off hand to cast at any time. This number increases as a necromancer increases in class level. A starting necromancer begins with two level one spells in his spellbook, and automatically also has the spell “read magic” in addition to these two spells.

Bolstering Undead: Necromancers have the ability to channel dark energies into the undead. Any attempts to turn undead that are within 20′ per level of the necromancer are performed at one step worse than normal. “D” results become “T” results, “T” results become a “3”, “3” becomes “5”, 5” becomes “7”, “7” becomes “9”, “9” becomes “11” and results of “11” become unturnable.

When a necromancer reaches the 12th level, he is able to create spells and magic items as per the Magic Research rules.

Necromancer Saving Throws

Level	Breath Attacks	Poison or Death	Petrify or Paralyze	Wands	Spells or Devices
1-5	16	12	13	14	14
6-10	14	10	11	12	12
11-15	12	7	8	10	8
16-18	10	5	5	7	6
19+	8	3	3	5	4

A necromancer may build a stronghold, typically a dark temple or dungeon, when he reaches level 15. He will then attract necromantic apprentices (1d6), who will range from level 1-3, as well as one or more free-willed undead seeking his protection and/or company. To determine the kind of undead, roll 2d6 on the following table, applying the necromancer’s reaction adjustment to the roll:

Roll	Undead
3 or less	2d8 Ghouls
4-5	1d8 Wights
6-9	1d4 Wraiths
10-11	1d2 Spectres
12+	1 Vampire

Necromancer Spell Lists

	Level 1 Spells	Level 2 Spells
1	Animate Skeleton*	Animate Zombie*
2	Detect Magic	Arcane Lock
3	Detect Evil	Continual Light^
4	Light^	Hold Person
5	Protection from Evil	Invisibility
6	Read Languages	Knock
7	Read Magic	Locate Object
8	Sleep	Web

	Level 3 Spells	Level 4 Spells
1	Animate Dead	Arcane Eye
2	Dark Omen*	Bone Arrow*
3	Dispel Magic	Confusion
4	Eyes of the Dead*	Cure Disease^
5	Necromantic Healing*	Dispel Evil
6	Pain*	Neutralize Poison
7	Protection from Evil 10′ radius	Remove Curse
8	Speak with the Dead*	Strangling Mists*

	Level 5 Spells	Level 6 Spells
1	Cloudkill	Anti-Magic Shell
2	Contact Other Plane	Death Spell
3	Feeblemind	Disintegrate
4	Hold Monster	Invisible Stalker
5	Insect Plague	Move Earth
6	Magic Jar	Raise Dead
7	Wall of Stone	Stone to Flesh
8	Terror*	Power Word Stun

	Level 7 Spells	Level 8 Spells
1	Animating Aura*	Antipathy / Sympathy
2	Mass Invisibility	Clone
3	Plague	Mind Blank
4	Power Word Kill	Symbol
5	Simulacrum	Trap the Soul
6	Summon Undead*

	Level 9 Spells	Level 10 Spells
1	Blessing of Undeath*	Necropolis*
2	Crushing Hand	Energy Drain
3	Imprisonment	Eternal Slumber*
4	Resurrection	Gate
5	Temporal Stasis	Great Curse*
6	Trap The Soul	Time Stop

Spells marked with a “*” are new to this volume.

Spells marked with a “^” are only available to the necromancer in the reversed format. For example, “Continual Light^” is on the level 2 necromancer spell list – this means that a necromancer can cast the reversed version of Continual Light (Continual Darkness), but not the normal version.

Full descriptions of all necromatic spells are found in chapter 3, page 120.

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