School of Necromancy

Necromancers explore the mysteries of death and the spirit planes which house deceased souls.

Necromancers are usually considered to be the foulest of people, dabbling in things which should be left well alone. Creating an Undead creature banishes the soul which originally inhabited the body to the Plane of Tortured Souls (one of the Planes of Death), where it is held prisoner and kept in perpetual torment. Thus Necromancers commit a crime worse than murder. Nearly all civilised peoples will kill a Necromancer on sight.

The raising and control of Undead involves summoning and binding souls of the dead. These are usually taken from one of the Planes of Death, or related Paths, as the controllers of these realms actively encourage souls being returned and used to cause more suffering and death.

The main goal in life for Necromancers is to discover the very high level ritual Living Death, which will transform the caster into an intelligent Undead with 1 level for every 5 Ranks he had.

Low Level
Level 0	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
Detect Undead 1		Detect Undead 2		Detect Undead 3
		Steal Wounds 4	Steal Wounds 8	Steal Wounds 12

		Steal Life 4	Steal Life 8	Steal Life 12

	Fear 1		Fear 2

				Freeze with Fear 1
		Paralysis 1		Paralysis 2

		Bind the Soul 1
Animate Dead 2	Animate Dead 4	Animate Dead 8	Animate Dead 16
				Mass Animate Undead 2
	Control Undead 1		Control Undead 2

Flesh Rot



High Level
Level 5	Level 6	Level 7	Level 8	Level 9	Level 10

Steal Wounds 16	Steal Wounds 20	Steal Wounds 24	Steal Wounds 28	Steal Wounds 32	Steal Wounds 36
		Mass Steal Wounds 4	Mass Steal Wounds 8	Mass Steal Wounds 12	Mass Steal Wounds 16
Steal Life 16	Steal Life 20	Steal Life 24	Steal Life 28	Steal Life 32	Steal Life 36
		Mass Steal Life 4	Mass Steal Life 8	Mass Steal Life 12	Mass Steal Life 16
Fear 3		Fear 4		Fear 5
Mass Fear 1		Mass Fear 2		Mass Fear 3
	Freeze with Fear 2		Freeze with Fear 3		Freeze with Fear 4
	Paralysis 3		Paralysis 4		Paralysis 5
		Mass Paralysis 1		Mass Paralysis 2
Bind the Soul 2			Bind the Soul 3
Animate Dead 32		Animate Dead 64		Animate Dead 128
Mass Animate Dead 4	Mass Animate Dead 8	Mass Animate Dead 16		Mass Animate Dead 32
Control Undead 3		Control Undead 4		Control Undead 5
Mass Control Undead 1		Mass Control Undead 2		Mass Control Undead 3

Mass Flesh Rot
			Immunity to Normal Damage

Detect Undead

Range: Self
Duration: 15 minutes
Type: Informational
Target: Person
Effect:

For Detect Undead 1:

The caster will be made aware of all Undead within 10’, even those that cannot be seen by normal eyesight. You can also determine whether an Undead will regenerate after being ‘killed’.
This is a passive spell, it will not automatically warn you of undead in the area. In order to detect undead, you must Concentrate and call “Detect Undead”.

For Detect Undead 2:

All effects from Detect Undead 1.
Additionally the caster will be made aware of the type of any Undead that they can see (this is analogous to the caster having Recognise Creature Mastery for Undead only) by calling “Recognise Undead Mastery”.

For Detect Undead 3:

All effects from Detect Undead 2.
Additionally the caster will be made aware of the type of any Undead that they can see (this is analogous to the caster having Recognise Creature Legendary Mastery for Undead only) by calling “Recognise Undead Legendary Mastery”.
OPTIONALLY if specified by the GM additional information about the Undead (this is not stats information, but could be age, how created etc.)

Example: Lexi casts Detect Undead 2, before encountering 2 Skeletons and a Death Knight. She calls “Recognise Undead Mastery”. The monsters reply Skeleton and Death Knight appropriately.

Later once they have been killed, while standing within 10’ of the Death Knight she calls “Detect Undead”. The Death Knight responds “Yes” as he will regenerate.

Steal Wounds <n>

Range: Touch
Duration: Instantaneous
Type: Offensive
Target: Person
Effect:
Steals <n> Body Points from the location of a character the caster is touching, giving them to the most injured location of the caster. This cannot take the caster above his maximum Body and cannot take the touched characters location below -10, as there’s effectively no location beyond that point.

Normal/Power Armour does not protect against Steal Wounds.

If some/all a Steal Wounds is absorbed by Endurance, the caster still gets the full amount of Body Points.

Steal Wounds does not work on Undead creatures.

Mass Steal Wounds <n>: Range: 20’
Duration: Instantaneous
Type: Offensive
Target: Area (10’ Radius)
Prerequisite: Steal Wounds <n>
Effect:
The caster nominates a point (which may be a person, object or anything else equally obvious) and everyone within 10’ is targeted by a Steal Wound <n> (the damage going to their least injured location).

Steal Life <n>

Range: Touch
Duration: Instantaneous
Type: Offensive
Target: Person
Effect:
Steals <n> Life Points from a character the caster is touching, giving them to the caster. This cannot take the caster above his maximum Life and cannot take the touched character below his Death Threshold, as there’s no more life to steal beyond that point. Though if taken below 0 Life, they will still bleed to death as normal.

Normal/Power Armour does not protect against Steal Life.

If some/all a Steal Life is absorbed by Endurance, the caster still gets the full amount of Life Points.

Steal Life does not work on Undead creatures.

Mass Steal Life <n>: Range: 20’
Duration: Instantaneous
Type: Offensive
Target: Area (10’ Radius)
Prerequisite: Steal Life <n>
Effect:
The caster nominates a point (which may be a person, object or anything else equally obvious) and everyone within 10’ is targeted by a Steal Life <n>.

Fear <n>

Range: 20’
Duration: 15 minutes
Type: Offensive, Mental
Target: Person
Resisted by: Willpower
Effect:
A target character who fails to resist must flee the caster immediately (even if he hasn’t seen the caster) until he is out of sight. The effect lasts for 15 minutes (or until the caster is dead), during which time the effected character flees whenever he sees the caster.

Note the target character is afraid of the caster, even if the caster has disguised himself or become invisible (in which case he is afraid of the general area of the caster, he is unaware of the exact position of the caster).

Mass Fear <n>: Range: 20’
Duration: 15 minutes
Type: Offensive, Mental
Target: Area (10’ Radius)
Resisted by: Willpower
Prerequisite: Fear <n>
Effect:
The caster nominates a point (which may be a person, object or anything else equally obvious) and everyone within 10’ is targeted by a Fear <n>.

Freeze with Fear <n>

Range: 20’
Duration: 15 minutes
Type: Offensive, Mental
Target: Person
Resisted by: Willpower
Prerequisite: Fear <n>
Effect:
A target character who fails to resist is frozen with fear. The effect lasts for 15 minutes (or until the caster is dead). Remove Fear or any other effect that removes Mental effects will release the character. If the character is attacked (by anyone) he becomes unfrozen, but the Fear effect remains. Similarly, a Remove Slow or similar effect will unfreeze the character, but the Fear effect remains.

You cannot break the freeze with strength like the water spell.

Paralysis <n>: Range: Touch
Duration: 15 minutes
Type: Offensive
Target: Person
Resisted By: Toughness
Effect:
A target character touched by the caster and with Toughness less than <n> is Paralysed for 15 minutes.

Example: G’Mord, with 2 Toughness, is attacked by a small Ghoul doing Paralysis 2. As his Toughness equals the Paralysis effect, he ignores it and pounds the Ghoul into the floor.

Mass Paralysis <n>: Range: 20’
Duration: 15 minutes
Type: Offensive
Target: Area (10’ Radius)
Resisted By: Toughness
Prerequisite: Paralysis <n>
Effect:
The caster nominates a point (which may be a person, object or anything else equally obvious) and everyone within 10’ is targeted by a Paralysis <n>.

Bind the Soul <n>

Range: Self
Duration: Permanent
Type: —
Target: Person
Effect:
Necromancers learn how to summon, bind and control the souls of the dead, and this knowledge can be extended to their own soul. In order to cast Bind the Soul, the Necromancer must sacrifice another, intelligent being who is not a follower of Death. The victim is offered up to the Lords of the Planes of Death in place of the Necromancer, which is why it cannot already be a follower as presumably his soul is
already bound to them.

If the Necromancer dies, his body will be healed with an amount equal to his sacrifice’s maximum Life Points (up to his original maximum Life Points) and his soul recalled and bound back into his body.

Severing the Necromancer’s head stops this spell working.

A Necromancer can only have <n> Bind the Soul spells active. Thus, a Necromancer can only cast Bind the Soul 1 once (and thus return from the dead only once).

Example: Scarp the Human Necromancer has 30 Life Points and has sacrificed a peasant (also with 30 Life Points) while casting Bind the Soul. Later, he is ambushed and is reduced below -10 Life Points, thus dying.
Immediately, his body is healed for 30 Life Points putting him on 20 Life Points, and 13 Body Points on the Chest and 6 Body Points on all other locations.
If his sacrifice had more than 50 Life Points, he would have been fully healed to 30 Life Points and the excess lost.

Bind the Soul cannot be cast on Undead.

Bind the Soul 2 and Bind the Soul 3 allow the Necromancer to sacrifice additional victims, so he can return from the dead more than once. The Life Points are regained when the Necromancer is returned from the dead in the same order in which the victims were sacrificed.

Alternatively, the higher level spells can be cast down and allow the Necromancer to return if his head is severed as a Ghost for a limited amount of time. If cast down one level, the Necromancer is allowed to stay for 7 days and if cast down two levels, he is allowed to stay for 49 days. At the end of this time, if he has not found a body to inhabit, he is dragged back to the Plane of Death.

As a Ghost, the Necromancer cannot manipulate physical objects in any way. However, he is immune to Normal damage and can cast spells and miracles.

In order to inhabit a new body, he must

find a living member of his own race,
personally kill the victim using Steal Life,
within 24 hours of the victim’s death, cast Bind the Soul (of any level) on the body.

When a Necromancer uses Bind the Soul and rises from the ‘dead’ any spells/miracles that were cast on him before he ‘died’ remain in effect.

Flesh Rot: Range: Touch
Duration: Instant
Type: —
Target: Person (Dead)
Effect:
Flesh Rot is used on a dead body to remove all its flesh prior to animating it as a Skeleton.

Mass Flesh Rot: Range: 20’
Duration: Instant
Type: —
Target: Area (10’ Radius)
Prerequisite: Flesh Rot
Effect:
The caster nominates a point (which may be a person, object or anything else equally obvious) and every dead body within 10’ is targeted by a Flesh Rot.

Animate Dead <n>

Range: 20’
Duration: Instantaneous
Type: —
Target: Person (Dead)
Effect:
Animate Dead 1 creates a basic Undead which can be either a Skeleton or a Zombie. In order to create a Skeleton, Flesh Rot must have first been cast on the body. Once animated, the Undead will continue to function until is is destroyed.

Each increase in the level of the spell increases the Undead’s rank, thus giving the initial creature more Character Points to spend on skills from the relevant table or on the Undead powers found in the Creatures section.

The animated Undead is not controlled in any way. If the Necromancer wishes to issue orders, he must cast Control Undead. Alternatively, if the Undead is intelligent, the Necromancer may be able to negotiate with it, as most of them will be grateful for the chance to leave the Plane of Tortured Souls and cause more death. (Note that Animate Dead and Control Undead can be combined using Multicast skill in the normal way.)

Animate Dead 4 and above can be used to create a Shadow instead of a Skeleton or Zombie. Animate Dead 8 and above can be used to create a Ghoul instead of a Skeleton or Zombie.

Note that Animate Dead cannot be dispelled because it is not a permanent effect (this is analogous to not being able to dispel Heal Wounds to undo any curing).

The level of the spell determines the maximum Rank of undead that can be made with the spell. Lower ranking undead are possible depending on the body and tortured souls available.

Mass Animate Dead <n>: Range: 20’
Duration: Instantaneous
Type: —
Target: Area (10’ Radius)
Prerequisite: Animate Dead <n>
Effect:
The caster nominates a point (which may be a person, object or anything else equally obvious) and every dead body within 10’ is targeted by a Animate Dead <n>.

Control Undead <n>

Range: 20’
Duration: 15 minutes
Type: Offensive
Target: Undead
Resisted By: Willpower
Effect:
The targeted Undead creature must obey the commands of the caster if it fails to resist. Control is immediately broken if:

the caster ever attacks the Undead,
the Undead is killed (the Control Undead will not still be functioning if the Undead regenerates),
another character casts a Control Undead of the required level or higher.

Unintelligent Undead are willing to attack even if they face certain destruction. However, if the Caster orders an intelligent Undead into a situation where it will obviously be destroyed, his control will be broken.

After the duration of the spell, control reverts back to a previously cast Control Undead (if its duration has not expired). Otherwise, the Undead becomes free willed.

Mass Control Undead <n>: Range: 20’
Duration: 15 minutes
Type: Offensive
Target: Area (10’ Radius)
Resisted By: Willpower
Prerequisite: Control Undead <n>
Effect:
The caster nominates a point (which may be a person, object or anything else equally obvious) and every undead within 10’ is targeted by a Control Undead <n>.

Immunity to Normal Damage

Range: Self
Duration: 15 minutes
Type: DR10[Normal]
Target: Person
Effect:
Immunity to Normal Damage provides DR10 [Normal] i.e. against Normal damage inflicted by any weapon/fist/claw and spell/miracle.

Power damage still harms the recipient of the spell as usual.

Necromantic Rituals

As with any other school, Necromancy is capable of rituals of power far beyond can be contained in an instant cast spell. Two of the more reliable rituals are listed below. These rituals require to be modified for their particular target. Traditionalist Necromancers favour using the target as a ritual sacrifice, killing them with the ritual that defiles their soul but other, darker methods have also been rumoured to be effective.

Soul Rip <n>: Level: 8 and every 3 levels thereafter (11, 14 etc.)
Range: Touch
Duration: Instant
Type: Offensive
Target: Person
Effect:
Soul Rip weakens the hold that the victim’s soul has on his body. This effectively lowers the touched victims Death Threshold by <n>. This ritual cannot lower a target’s Death Threshold below 0 (thus it cannot kill its victim).

Soul Steal <n>: Level: 12 and every 3 levels thereafter (15, 18 etc.)
Range: Touch
Duration: Instant
Type: Offensive
Target: Person
Effect:
Soul Steal is similar to Soul Rip, except that the caster gains a part of the target’s soul. The target loses <n> from his Death Threshold and the caster gains <n>, though his Death Threshold cannot be raised above the maximum value for his race.