Talk:Necromancer, 7th Variant (5e Class)

Introduction

Hi! This is a class that I built after seeing Kydo's Necromancer class. It kinda bothered me that the class didn't start with the ability to raise dead, and instead focused on life steal. After DMing a session with someone using his class, it came across as a glass cannon that can tend to lack the cannon. Rather than try and change his class, I figured I'd build a Necromancer class from the ground up, using his class as a vague basis but ultimately basing the concepts off of Elia from True Villains. Some details had to be improvised as they aren't discussed in the webcomic (i.e., the bone powder, which is mentioned but its contents and creation aren't discussed, and my assumption has been that "bone powder" is not just crushed up bones in the comic. This has not been playtested, though I may very well try and playtest it in a campaign.

Also, fair warning, I have no idea how to state that this class is a work based on existing fiction, but it is and I am aware that it needs to be there.--SenixPrime (talk) 20:10, 15 February 2019 (MST)

I also just want to mention something real quick: I am not opposed to edits of this page, seeing as it's on a public wiki where anyone can edit it. I am by no means an experienced homebrewer, and I understand if due to balance reasons, or just logical reasons, you may feel as if a change should be done. As long as you give a reason for doing so, and it's not just "so I can make the class more powerful in the campaign I'm playing as this class in," don't. Mostly, I'm referring to the sudden anonymous changes to Bone Powder and the CR specifications in Undead Champion (which were reverted by the person who made them.). Bone Powder is by no means supposed to be easy to create. It takes 4 hours for a reason: You really can't spend more than 4 hours of downtime in a session aside from a long rest. So you can't just make a bag of holding stuffed with bone powder to resurrect as many undead as you want and heal them as quickly as you want. The other reason for 4 hours? If you trance, instead of sleep, you now have what is essentially a free allotted time to make bone powder. If the preparation takes 1 hour, suddenly this class is only played by elves because you can make 4 bone powder every long rest. Personally, I don't think that seems very balanced/fair. I don't want to seem like I'm like, guarding this page from edits entirely, because I realize that's how it seems. I'm just trying to avoid people anon-changing this page without any reason to make the class easier to play when they decide to play as it. I hope that comes across well, and that I don't seem like a self-righteous prick about it. --SenixPrime (talk) 03:01, 4 April 2019 (MDT)

Spells

Your spells don't match up with your spell slots. you ether need to make it a full spell list or lower the spell count starting with 0 at first level. --Catmanaz (talk) 11:51, 11 March 2019 (MDT)

Yeah I somehow didn't manage to notice that at all, thank you for mentioning that. --SenixPrime (talk) 20:58, 14 March 2019 (MDT)

A Few Questionable Features

A lot of this class is pretty fine, honestly. I'm not certain on the balance(mostly in the "too weak" sorta way, which is honestly the most surprising thing about this page), but generally it seems fine. Few qualms, though.

A few features in this class(specifically Cold Storage and Undead Transport) just sound like the flavor text for an unfinished feature. Like, how do I store the undead? How fast is the transportation? Can I just use the transportation anywhere? It's fairly confusing. Minor offenders seem to be Skin Transfer and Barrows Brethren, as the former never lists specifically where the skin goes, the latter supposedly not needing any dead.

Undead Martyr feels a bit weedy for a capstone. Sure, the explosions can do a crazy amount of damage, and having an undead beholder might be nice, but something about it feels lackluster. I'm not exactly saying it should be stronger, more that it should probably be swapped for something else, if possible. At least something that feels more important than forced death throes.

Subclasses are pretty fine, except for a few potential issues. Commander gives you the potential to control an amount of undead one order of magnitude above anyone else, 50 over 5, Unholy Legion is just a timesaving feature, and Marrow Transfer bumps your armor bonus, which should be on medium armor to +7, which is way too much given already relatively high base AC and other magical bonuses. In the other direction, Bone Warrior is really reliant on you using melee weapons without at least giving you extra attack, which is especially weird since Soul Reap does the same stuff and deals more damage/heals more in the process.

Other than that, it's just a few chunks of weird terminology and one pointless spell list. I'd say the class is almost certainly playable, but it's still a bit rough around the edges. --SwankyPants (talk) 07:28, 7 January 2021 (MST)