Necromancer new player guide
This is a page for the Necromancer specific page for the Newbie Help Guide. Whenever possible, overlap with the general guide should be minimized.
Note: This guide is subject to all the standard rules involving Necromancers, including restrictions on naming secret NPCs, locations and entry methods for any guild, and generally anything spoiler. See Necromancer Policy for more details.
For details, rules, and the other pages involved, see Category:Newbie Guide Contest.
Start
First Things First
Before we get started, something needs to be emphasized. The Necromancer guild is an advanced option. It is quite possible that you will die a lot, due to circumstances outside your control. It is possible that in the process of these deaths occurring you will lose all of your gear, and be barred from using basic town services like depositing your coin, selling your loot, or getting gear from storage. This is truthfully, honestly, part of the package. It is highly recommended that you not play a Necromancer as your first character in Dragonrealms. Maybe not even your second. This guide assumes you've read the Newbie Guide, and indeed, the guild itself presumes a certain level of understanding of the mechanics of the game and the layout of the land. This isn't meant to dissuade you, but it is meant to warn you.
Necromancers can only be set to PvP Guarded, which means under the majority of circumstances, you cannot hope for GM intervention in a conflict.
Introduction
Congratulations, you've decided you want to be part of the Elanthia's most unforgiving guild! Maybe you're a glutton for punishment, maybe you harbor delusions of grandeur, maybe you just never grew out of Hot Topic. Whatever your reasons for joining the guild, the first order of business is getting you squared away with the lore behind it, as while it would be adorable to have a bunch of fledgling Necromancers running around the Crossing, cackling behind broken teeth, in flowing black capes, while twisting their oiled mustachios, perhaps while trying to tie some hapless victim to carriage tracks or telling Mr. Bond that they simply expect him to die, the guild does not condone such childish foolishness, and you will be at best simply offered to the Hounds of Rutilor to be made an example of. That hapless victim will probably kill you first though, so wise up.
The guild has loftier ambitions. To be brief, the guild is interested in liberating mortals from the yoke of mortality, an inequality held by the Immortals. To this end, Necromancers study the recently living (but now dead) to train Thanatology, which is a general method for The Great Work of Transcendence, of Immortality. However, the road is fraught with peril, naturally. Necromancers are, to put it mildly, wrong. The goal of seeking the Transcendence via hacking up the dead, via pursuing Arcane magic, it's all a doomed enterprise.
Roleplaying your Necromancer
As with all things RP, this is mostly up to the player, but it's also important to recognize that there is an extant body of lore that exists within the framework of the game, and you are not actually free to do anything you want. Necromancers are possibly the most disputed guild in the realms, so you should at a minimum, pay attention to the speeches the guild leaders provide when you join and read the information presented in the Necromancer section of this wiki.
One thing to remember is that while your character may think they are going to save the world, it's important to recognize that they effectively on the wrong side of history. There are no 'good' Necromancers; indeed, the entire guilds MO is an exercise in compromising your characters morality. Think about the sort of psychopathies required to believe that torturing innocents so long as it benefits you, or benefits others, is justified. Think about how that sort of individual would blend in, or perhaps, how they wouldn't. Think about what could motivate that sort of person to arrive at a point where their own goals are more important than the lives of others. To use a bit of pop culture; remember, what made Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates so terrifying was not that they were capable of unspeakably monstrous acts, but that they could hide in plain sight and no one would be the wiser.
In short, the character you are playing is not a pristine shining example of someone who you'd probably want to spend much time with. Many people undertake the 'hiding in plain sight' strategy, while others embrace the chaotic, twisted magics and stir trouble wherever they go. At the very least, your character should have a chip on their shoulder.
I also feel it is important to mention that your Necromancer is not an atheist. The guild, as much as even Clerics, has had direct interaction with the Immortals, and is keenly aware of their existence. All Necromancers are at least a little crazy, but no Necromancers should deny the existence of the Immortals.
Getting Started
Joining the Guild is a secret, so you may have to ask around. This is one reason the guild is considered an advanced option.
Survival Skills
Necromancers are survivalists and, as a survival prime, much of your training will be centered around these skills, though you will by no means want to neglect weapons, armor, magic or lore. Ultimately you will need to train seven survival skills in order to advance in the guild. Since there are nine survival skills that can meet this requirement, you will only be able to avoid training two of those skills. Stealth and Evasion are both essential to and will likely be your bread and butter and Skinning and First Aid are easily trained in combat when you use rituals. The latter is important in your ability to tend bleeding wounds although its' utility does drop off at moderate skill levels. Perception is easily trained in combat using the hunt command but can be trained by collecting piles, which will also train outdoorsmanship and enhance your ability to collect raw materials for many crafts. Athletics will assist your mobility and it is probably best not to neglect this skill. You may want to train Locksmithing, though this will tie you creatures that drop boxes. Thievery is probably a poor choice, as you will generally want to avoid towns and being caught stealing will increase your Social Outrage.
Magic Skills
Being Magic secondary, your spells will be a greater asset to you than your weapons and armor. Necromancer spells are potent, though often come with limitations or draw backs. It is important to know which spells will out you as a Necromancer and which spells can be cast in town.
Any Transcendental spell if cast in town will alert the authorities. Additionally, they will all change your appearance, so anyone looking at you will know you are a Necromancer. Calcified Hide and Worm's Mist will even alert anyone in the room, so they won't even have to look at you. Any offensive spell, TM or Debilitation, will also alert the authorities.
Spells you can cast in town are Rite of Contrition, Obfuscation, Researcher's Insight (though it will be obvious to other players that you are casting it), and Eyes of the Blind.
Transcendental Magic
Spells from this spellbook are somewhat unique as far as most of the games spells are concerned. They represent the direct application of the Great Work to your body in the form of surges of Arcane magic, and physically alter you. They are fairly potent buffs, that last a fair while, though unlike most spells, you cannot RELEASE them. Instead, Rite of Contrition will check for Transcendental spells every time it pulses, and if it finds any, it will remove them. This is an important note, for ALL Transcendental magics are highly visible, and all are signature spells. All Transcendental spells cause some Divine Outrage, though there is a grace period timer of about 5 minutes to allow you to cast multiple spells in quick succession.
Do not use Transcendental spells to train your magic skills, as this will cause your Divine Outrage to skyrocket, and probably result in your death!
Animation Magic
Spells from this spellbook are aimed at creating or aiding summoned creatures. They all cause Divine Outrage, Call from Beyond generates the most Divine Outrage. One thing to note about these spells is that there is nothing about the Mudman created by Quicken the Earth, and nothing about the zombie created from Call from Beyond that indicates you are the caster, though if your pets kill a PC, the PC will have consent on you, and may hunt you down and kill you. Make sure you read up on the rules of conflict before making any assumptions about what you can or cannot do with your pets.
Also, these spells are not meant to be used as magic skill trainers, so do not repeatedly cast them!
Lore Skills
Being Lore secondary, you'll want to use combat Tactics to your advantage. Appraisal can be quite useful in both assessing foes and recognizing the value and attributes of items. You'll also probably want to pick up a craft. Alchemy is a good choice, both because it'll give you access to healing remedies, as well as poisons once they're released. Furthermore, we have a spell to buff our ability in Alchemy, Researcher's Insight. Outfitting will allow you to craft your own cloth armor, leather armor and containers in addition to repairing such armors, while engineering will enable you to create bone armor and improvised weapons. Forging will enable you to both forge and repair metal weapons and tools. As a pariah the ability to be independent of other adventurers is a great advantage, especially if you need to replace lost equipment.
Weapons and Armor Skills
You will need to train, at the very minimum, small Edged weapons in order to advance in the Necromancer Guild. You will do well to train at least one ranged weapon. Many will choose an aimable weapon like a bow or crossbow and a light thrown weapon. The latter is a very useful skill as many Light Thrown weapons will double as small Edged weapons. After that training a small blunt, large blunt or large edged weapon will expand your repetoire. As Necromancers are heavily dependant on Stealth and Evasion, most choose to focus on Light Armors as these tend to penalize their survival skills less that heavier armours. Some will swap out a few pieces of chain armor, brigandine armor or even plate armor when they are not focusing on stealthy activities.
Divine and Social Outrage
TheImmortals enjoy their monopoly on Immortality and Life Creation so much that a Necromancers attempts at imitation cause Outrage. This Divine Outrage builds as a Necromancer casts Transcendental or Animation spells. If it reaches a sufficiently high level, the Immortals will take action and smite down the Necromancer. Additionally, as a Necromancer circles, the base minimum of their Divine Outrage will increase. At a certain level of Divine Outrage, the Necromancer will be unable to be resurrected by a Cleric, or healed by an Empath. Additionally, if a Moon Mage perceives them, the Necromancers affiliation with Necromantic Mana will be apparent. Some other guilds can also accrue Divine Outrage, though it takes a bit more effort. As your Divine Outrage accumulates, you will eventually become an evil being, capable of being severely negatively impacted by Holy Magic. Harm Evil is an example of a Holy spell that is specifically tailored to combat evil or undead beings.
Social Outragee is a measure of how uneasy the local towns folk and authorities are. It tends to be somewhat binary; either the townsfolk don't care about you, or you're on the most wanted list. When you've been arrested, any interactions with shops, banks, gemshops, tanneries, or gear repair may result in the proprietor calling the authorities and having you rearrested, adding further to your Social Outragee. This is known as a Social Outrage Spiral, and can sometimes require multiple weeks to a month of passively letting your Social Outragee to drain. One tool to mitigate Social Outragee is the spell Rite of Contrition. There is another tool that is a secret.
States of Being
As the Necromancer progresses, they will undergo a few stages of advancement. The first stage is Forsaken. The first time you cast either Spiteful Rebirth or Call from Beyond will be a strike against you by the Immortals. The second time you cast either of those spells will be all the reason they need to forever turn their backs on you, and you they will show their indifference and disappointment in you by smiting you dead. You will also lose all the favors you have accumulated. But fear not, for now you are one step closer to pursuing the Great Work! While in OOC terms, the Necromancer character is not in danger of being lost forever if they die, not having favors makes death potentially more detrimental, as dying with no favors imparts the greatest Deaths Sting. Around this time, you may also find yourself unable to be healed by Empaths due to the Arcane corruption you've built. Becoming Forsaken will also result in the loss of all favors. While the Necromancer can mostly choose when this occurs, after a certain circle, the first action that causes Divine Outrage will result in a strike towards being Forsaken.
The next stages of 'advancement' are choices. They are Redeemed, the Philosophers, and the Perverse. Only Philosophers are currently implemented into the game.
The Redeemed are those who have realized the error of their ways, and turned their backs on Transcendental Magic and pursuit of the Great Work. They are effectively recovered Necromancers, though the call of their previous lives is never far from their minds. Society may or may not recognize their decision to become Redeemed.
The Philosophers represent the Necromancers everyone joins in the beginning. They are scholars who believe they are pursuing the Great Work, for the good of all mortals. A few mortals will have to die in the process, naturally, but what is the cost of a few innocents in the face of greatness?
The Perverse are those who have grabbed the full scope of power Necromancy entails, at great cost to their souls. Their power has grown immensely, though they may not be in control of it anymore. All Liches are Perverse.
Avoiding Justice
All Necromancers are shunned by society, and should be keenly aware of the prevalence of the law wherever they are, via the JUSTICE command. If you are somewhere the law keeps an eye on, using most Necromancer spells will be spotted by a wary populace, and guards will be dispatched to deal with you. Additionally, anytime you are within the borders of a town, any adventurer can ACCUSE you of Necromancy, which subjects you to a check against how long you've been in town (the longer the worse), how Charismatic you and your accuser are, and if you foolishly have any Necromancer buffs visible (this would be most unwise). If you fail this check, you will be arrested or killed on the spot. Towns are not for Necromancers; this is a mostly lonely existence, remember that. If you pass the check, your accuser may not accuse you again for a while, but your chances of being accused successfully by someone else are increased.
While you are in justice zones, a hidden timer will start. As this timer increases, the probability of someone successfully accusing you goes up. The timer can be drained, at a slower rate than it accumulates, by spending time outside of justice zones. Having Rite of Contrition up will prevent the timer from increasing, though you may still be successfully accused.
Avoiding Detection
It's also worth mentioning that evading detection from PCs may be an important task for Necromancers, particularly younger Necromancers. Know which spells will alert a PC to you being a Necromancer (see above), and what actions can out you. Additionally, Necromancers receive the Alternate Preparation Feat at second level and are able to learn to use an Elemental, Life or Lunar default spell preparation instead of their default necromancer spell preparation (strangely one can learn to use at first level before the feat is learned). The exact alternate mana type is chosen randomly and can never be changed. This ability will affect many other spells, such as Lay Ward, which will appear to be cast as if you use the same mana type as your alternate preparation. A clever Necromancer can use this to masquerade as another guild; those using an elemental preparation can masquerade as a Warrior Mage or Bard, those who use a life preparation can disguise themselves as a Ranger or Empath and those who learn a lunar magic can appear to be a Moon Mage or, after trader magic is released, a Trader
There are limitations to this ability, however. Most Necromancer spells have effects that reveal their nature to all who see you cast them. Transcendental spells alter your appearance so that those who look at you can tell you are under the influence of a necromantic spell. It is advisable that you know which spells are safe and which are not. Moon Mages and anyone who has learned the Basic Preparation Recognition feat will be able to recognize many spells as you cast them, so it is advisable that you exercise caution when casting an necromantic spell. Even worse, Moon Mages have the ability to detect magic and identify spells already cast so even being in their presence with a Necromantic spell active can reveal you. Some Necromancers choose to learn Analogous Patterns spells such as Ease Burden, Lay Ward or Gauge Flow to allow them to safely train in public. It might be worthwhile picking up a few sorcery spells from the guild you are pretending you are. It's one thing to claim to be a Ranger, it's another entirely to cast Compost. Unfortunately there is always the risk of a sorcerous backlash that you will be forced to explain (and will likely reveal that you are not what you say you are). To that end, many Necromancers choose to learn spells from guilds other than the one their are pretending to be to avoid this problem.
Unfortunately as your Divine Outrage increases your will lose the ability to mask your use of Necromantic Mana. This means you will only be able to use your default necromancer spell preparation, Moon Mages will see arcane magic clinging to you and spells that normally take on the appearance of your alternate mana will clearly reveal your use of Necromantic Mana. Empaths can detect Necromantic taint on you. although this can be avoided by setting your DEMEANOR to reserved to Empaths to prevent them from touching you. Once you have become Forsaken, Clerics can detect that you don't have any favors, and again, Rite of Contrition will make it appear as though you have a few. As you will be unaware of how many favors you appear to have it is strongly advised that you avoid discussions of this topic Casting Rite of Contrition will rehide your mana type and (at least to a point) and hide your corruption from Empaths and Clerics. It's important to note that Rite of Contrition may fool a Cleric, Empath or Moon Mage into thinking you aren't a Necromancer, but it is not in any way shape or form actual protection. If a Cleric casts Harm Evil on you when are susceptible to it, Rite of Contrition will not change the outcome!
There are a few others ways that your guild, or at least the fact that you are not the in the guild you are pretending to be in, can be revealed. If you are collecting piles, which is a common way to train Outdoorsmanship and Perception, the appearance of the pile will indicate the guild the collector belongs to. This is meant to be a fluff bit of cuteness, with no real game impact, though eventually it will reveal that you are a Necromancer. Some guilds have guild specific styles that may be used against you. Rangers have a secret handshake, so if a Ranger shakes your hand and you are pretending to be a Ranger your deception will be exposed. Perhaps the most subtle and most often overlooked way of being exposed is merely appearing suspicious. Make sure you know at least the basics of your pretend guild. If you are masquerading as a Warrior Mage be prepared to explain why you won't or can't send your familiar to complete a task. If you appear to be a Moon Mage, consider perhaps you could occasionally peruse your Celestial Chart or gaze through a telescope. If you want others to think you are a ranger consider learning to use a bow and become adept at tailoring. Carefully consider your appearance; wearing clothes embossed with lightning bolts or stars and moons is probably far more subtle than choosing those embossed with skulls and demonic symbols. In fact, consider the sort of play experience you are signing yourself up for if you do cover yourself in corpse bones and black eyeliner.
Signature Guild Abilities
First amongst the tools available to us include the ability to heal our own wounds by magically consuming the bodies of their recent victims. This is done with the spell Consume Flesh and later, with Devour. Additionally, a Necromancer can self-resurrect, forcing their beaten body to mend to the point of sustaining life with Spiteful Rebirth. The latter, it should be mentioned, is one of the spells that will start garnering the attention of the Immortals and leading the Necromancer to become Forsaken.
The other ability is commanding up to two creatures to fight by your side, a zombie which is created with the spell Call From Beyond, and a Construct (sometimes called a Mudman) created from the spell Quicken the Earth. Call from Beyond will resurrect a recently slain creature as a zombie, and these zombies can be immensely powerful, able to equip weapons and armor to make them even more potent in combat. The strength of a construct or zombie is determined by your skill in TM, and both will train your TM as they fight for you.
Additionally, Necromancers have access to the games only 'fire from hiding' TM spell, Vivisection. When cast from hiding, this spell will allow the Necromancer to remain hidden, and will receive a bonus to hit based on the Necromancers Thanatology and Stealth. This can be an extremely potent weapon against a foe that has lower Perception than your Stealth, and since Necromancers are Survival Primary, that should be everyone but Thieves and Rangers. Incidentally, only Thieves and Rangers have a 'fire from hiding' ability similar to Vivisection.
The ability to self heal and self resurrect make a Necromancer very independent, and they have to be; once they reach a certain point, they cannot be healed by Empaths, and cannot be resurrected by Clerics. Additionally, Necromancers are the only guild that are capable of having two pets out at once, which are the most powerful player created pets.
Training Thanatology
When you first start, the only ritual you know is PERFORM PRESERVE. This will train Thanatology and First Aid, albeit slowly. It will only train if the creature presents a challenge. PERFORM HARVEST, which you will learn which at second circle, will teach Thanatology, First Aid and Skinning and provides slightly more experience. Using it, however, prevents you from Skinning the corpse, but it can be used even on creatures that are not normally skinnable. These two rituals Rituals train Thanatology slowly but steadily. PERFORM ARISE is available at 20th circle and, aside from being required to create a Zombie, is an excellent Thanatology trainer. Like PERFORM HARVEST you will be unable to skin creatures after performing this ritual. If you choose to learn Butcher's Eye, which will boost Skinning and Thanatology, you will be able to train on more difficult creatures, assuming you can kill them.
Be aware that PRESERVE and ARISE do not appear suspicious to observers, but HARVEST will produce a chunk of material, which will immediately alert anyone to the fact that you are a Necromancer doing horrible things to a corpse.
More information on rituals can be found at Necromantic Rituals.
Getting Started
You may have already looked at the Necromancer skill placement, and noticed that they are Survival Prime, Lore and Magic Secondary, and Weapon and Armor Tertiary. To this end, you will forever have a difficult time moving weapons and armors, while Evasion and Stealth will most likely be your most potent allies in combat. The strength of your zombies and constructs are determined by your skill in Targeted Magic, so always keep the skill moving. Against a like circled opponent, you will lose in a contest of weapons. Weapons and armor are good to train, but will not be your strongest tool.
Once you've joined the guild, you need a belt knife, which will allow you to PERFORM various rituals, as well as skin your enemies.
Starting Spell Choices
You will likely already know whether you are going to stick with the hide in plain sight" strategy of the Philosopher's or if you will select the "burn everything" strategy of the Perverse fairly early (the former is probably the most common choice). This decision can have an impact on your spell choices. Those who choose to try and remain hidden are far more likely to learn Analogous Patterns* spells than those who do not. Several of the skills you will need to learn require either entry into combat or listening classes. Both of these choices have hazards for the Necromancer. You will also want to obtain spells that allow you to learn all five magic skills Augmentation, Debilitation, Targeted Magic, Utility and Warding.
Acid Splash is a good choice for your first Targeted Magic spell and will continue to be the backbone of your arsenal for many circles. You may want to consider Strange Arrow as it will not directly reveal that you are a Necromancer to observers (although the fact that you are choosing to use it rather than a guild specific spell may raise suspicion) and it can be cast in justice areas without causing you to be arrested. Both Heighten Pain and Petrifying Visions are excellent Debilitation spells. Heighten Pain, unfortunately, will leave visible evidence on it's victim which will reveal that you are using Necromancy. Petrifying Visions is much safer, but will require that you learn Obfuscation first. All of these spells are entry level spells that will allow you to progress further in their respective spell books and are therefore also good long term choices.
You will likely recall that casting Transcendental Necromancy and Animation spells will increase your Divine Outrage and therefore you will want to select spells outside of these schools in order to be able to train all your magics without needing classes. Obfuscation should be an early choice both for it's ability to facilitate your use of Stealth in combat and the fact that it is a prerequisite for other important spells. The only Necromancer spell that can be used to train Utility early is Eyes of the Blind. Unfortunately until you can cast the spell with enough mana to reverse it you cannot cast this spell repeatedly. Consequently you may want to consider Gauge Flow, an Analogous Patterns spell. This spell, in addition to training directly through casting, will also allow you to complete Magical Research projects that can help you train without casting. Unfortunately you will need about 50 ranks of Arcana before you will be able to learn it. There are no Necromancer spells that are suitable to train Warding and therefore your best options are Manifest Force or Lay Ward, both of which are solid combat spells. Most people favour Manifest Force but I am partial to Lay Ward since, if your magic skill outclasses your oponent enough, it can render you virtually immune to opponents magic for it's duration.
It is often best to choose, at least initially, a goal in order to guide your spell choices. A perfectly valid spell progression may be Heighten Pain (Debilitation), Acid Splash (Targeted), Obfuscation (Augmentation), and then pick up Gauge Flow (Utility) and Manifest Force (Warding). These five spells will allow you to train all your magics. Another valid spell progression would be picking a set of goals, for example, having Consume Flesh at 15th, to allow self healing or to get Rite of Contrition around the time you get 80 utility in order to mitigate the risk of being successfully accused in a justice area. Many people rush to get Spiteful Rebirth as soon as possible (at 30th circle) but I recommend against this strategy. Until you are Forsaken you can get and use Favors which are, pragmatically, a better way of dealing with death and also contribute to the illusion that you are not a Necromancer (anyone having no Favors will raise the suspicion of any Cleric who Perceives them). You will not become Forsaken until you cast Call From Beyond and/or Spiteful Rebirth twice, reach 100th circle or completely fail to manage your Divine Outrage (which is very difficult to do). Therefore you can delay learning this spell until you learn Call From Beyond in most cases.
Note: Analogous Patterns spells are not taught by guild masters. You will instead need to purchase a scroll from Herilo's_Artifacts and and invoke it in order to permanently learn them. You can also temporarily memorize a single scroll by studying it if you wish, but you will lose it if you die and need to purchase a new scroll.
Stat Training
A good first goal is setting a good base by getting every statistic to a reasonable minimum, often 30 is advocated. As a survival prime, you will probably want to keep Agility, Discipline and Reflex high. Reflex will increase your change to dodge enemies, which will let you stay in combat longer. Agility assists with many survival skills such as Locksmithing, Skinning, Stealth and Athletics and, furthermore, improves your chance of hitting a foe or parrying in combat. Discipline will improve your ability to hide and your ability to target spells, as well as help in your Debilitation contests. Intelligence and Wisdom will increase spell damage, improve your learning rate and are also very useful in your your Debilitation contests. Stamina and Strength are perhaps less important for many Necromancers but should not be neglected. Finally, Charisma is often overlooked but it is used in Spirit debilitation contests, which specifically applies to Heighten Pain, and reduces the chance of you being successfully accused of Forbidden Practices in a justice zone. Don't let any stat fall too far behind at first, until you have a better understanding of what they all do.
Starting Gear
What weapons and armor you train is up to you, with the exception of Small Edged which is our only specific requirement, but initially sticking to lighter choices would be optimal. [[Small Edged], Small Blunt, Light Thrown and Bows all make good choices. The obvious choice for stealth and low hindrance armor is Cloth or Leather, though you can swap Chain Armor or even Brigandine Armor if you're not training stealth at the moment.
You’ll want to find some starting magical items to train with, preferably a small cambrinth, like a shard or a ring or a runestone. Runestones will also teachsorcery when you focus on it, although, unlike cambrinth, it will stop teaching you around 50-80 ranks.
You'll want to buy a belt knife from the guildhall. These are required for performing rituals.
Now What?
The first order of business now is getting out of town! All of the spells within the Necromancer spellbook may be recognized by more experienced magic users, which would out you as a Necromancer. Be smart, keep your wits about you, and stay under the radar. Do not cast your Necromancer spells in town. Do not train your magics by casting Necromantic spells in front of people. When in doubt, type JUSTICE to ascertain if you are in a justice zone.
(more to come)