Students of this school delve into forbidden lore and dark secrets
in their quest to understand and control the forces of life and
death. A character must be extraordinarily strong of will and
magical power to succeed at these studies — a wizard must have
an Ego of 16 or higher in order to choose necromancy as his specialty.
Necromancy is opposed by illusion/phantasm and enchantment/charm.
Necromancers gain the standard benefits for being specialist wizards.
At 8th-level, his saving throw bonus versus necromancy spells
increases to a total of +2.
At 11th-level, the necromancer gains a special speak with dead spell-like ability that requires no verbal or material components.
The wizard need only point at the deceased person and concentrate
for one round. This spell functions like the 3rd-level priest
spell speak with dead, except that the necromancer may converse for up to one turn
and ask four questions of the spirit.
At 14th-level, the necromancer gains a partial resistance to the
special effects of undead attacks. Although he still suffers the
normal damage of any such attack, he gains a +2 bonus to saving
throws against strength drain, paralyzation, and other effects.
He may attempt a saving throw vs. death magic with a –4 penalty
to avoid the effects of any attack that normally does not allow
a save, such as a wight's or wraith’s energy drain.
The necromancer commands a variety of powerful spells, but these
are not generally as useful on the battlefield as the invoker’s
powers. The necromancer’s best strategy is to concentrate on one
important enemy at a time, using the nefarious spells of this
school to disable the enemy’s leaders and champions. Necromancers
can also be very useful in dealing with undead of all sorts.
