New HeroClass: Necromancer

[Tott]

This is my version of the ever popular Necromancer:

Necromancer
You are a necromancer. A student of dark and forbidden arts! You may summon the souls of the dead to your aid, raise the corpses of the fallen and twist the very laws of nature to your own bidding. What price will you pay for such power I wonder?

Attack = 1 Dice
Defence = 2 Dice
Move = 2 Dice

Body =6
Mind = 4

Spells:
The Necromancer draws cards from the top of the spell deck into his hand; his hand size is equal to his total mind pool. At the start of a quest all spell cards are returned to the deck and shuffled. The Necromancer draws a new hand equal to his total mind points at the start of the quest. As spells are used they are returned to the bottom of the deck (or discarded) and a new card is drawn from the top of the deck. The Necromancers hand size is always equal to his total mind points. The deck is always shuffled between quests. The spell deck is always kept face down.

• Shadow Bolt – You may fire these magical bolts at any target within your line of sight. You may then attack the target with two skulls and he must defend with as many dice as he has Mind points. Return to the bottom of the deck after use. 4 copies

• Summon Skeletons – The Necromancer may summon up to 3 skeletons that appear in squares next to him. The skeletons are under the necromancer’s control. Roll one combat die: on the roll of a skull 1 skeleton is summoned, on a white shield 2 skeletons are summoned; on the roll of a black shield 3 skeletons are summoned. Costs 1 body point per skeleton summoned. Return to the bottom of the deck after use. 4 copies

• Raise Zombie – Whenever an opponent of the necromancer is killed, you may resurrect them as a zombie under the necromancer’s control. May only be cast if the opponent has died since the necromancers last turn. Costs 1 body point. Return to the bottom of the deck after use. 4 copies

• Soul Restore – Resurrect a fallen ally and restore all lost body & mind points. However, that allies total mind and body points are reduced by 1 until the end of the current quest. Costs 1 body point. Return to the bottom of the deck after use. 4 copies

• Steal Life - This spell may be cast on any one monster. Roll a number of combat dice equal to the casters total mind points. It will inflict damage to the victims’ health for each skull rolled. The victim may roll 1 combat dice for each of their total mind points and reduce the damage they receive by 1 for each shield rolled. The casters health is healed for every point of damage that is not blocked. Cannot be cast on undead. Return to the bottom of the deck after use. 4 copies

• Sacrifice – Sacrifice an undead ally. Returning lost body points up to the allies total body points and increasing the Necromancers total body points by one until the end of the current quest. Do not return to the deck after use. 3 copies

• Create Abomination – Merge all existing undead allies into one, giant undead travesty. The more undead allies are merged the stronger the abomination will become. Costs 1 body point per undead ally merged. Do not return to the deck after use. 1 copy


The Abomination
The Necromancer may create an Abomination by merging together X undead allies. A minimum of 2 undead allies may be merged. The abominations stats depend on how many allies are merged.

Attack = X dice Body = X + 1
Defence = X dice Mind = X - 1
Move = 3 + X Spaces

All of the Necromancers summoned allies are lost at the end of each quest.
The Necromancer has the same armour restrictions as the Wizard, but may use daggers.

[sadkitchen]

Very cool. I keep looking for a Necromancer hero type that will work with the original feel of the game. I would recommend against being able to draw more spells just because the Necromancer cast one. Maybe he could draw a spell every time a living enemy was killed, or something like that. Or you could do the tried and true pick your spells at the beginning of each quest. Also for the shadow bolt, is it roll 2 attack dice or a flat 2 damage before the defense is rolled?

-SadKitchen

[ken]

Very cool. I keep looking for a Necromancer hero type that will work with the original feel of the game. I would recommend against being able to draw more spells just because the Necromancer cast one. Maybe he could draw a spell every time a living enemy was killed, or something like that. Or you could do the tried and true pick your spells at the beginning of each quest. Also for the shadow bolt, is it roll 2 attack dice or a flat 2 damage before the defense is rolled?

-SadKitchen

Welcome, Sadkitchen, no need to be Sad in the Kitchen Join El-Flesh & I in a bowl of Beernuts' Jumbalaya.

[sadkitchen]

It's just a name I picked up back in my Unreal Tornament 2000 days. It was mildly funny to hear the confusion of my friends when "You have been killed by The Sad Kitchen" appears across the top of their screen. But I'm alwas up for some Jumbalaya.

-SadKitchen

[ken]

It's just a name I picked up back in my Unreal Tornament 2000 days. It was mildly funny to hear the confusion of my friends when "You have been killed by The Sad Kitchen" appears across the top of their screen. But I'm alwas up for some Jumbalaya.

-SadKitchen

Good Man You're welcome here, with a sense of humour. Check out El_Flesh Saturday Night Dungeon for a close-up of the Veritable Jumbalaya

[Tott]

Very cool. I keep looking for a Necromancer hero type that will work with the original feel of the game. I would recommend against being able to draw more spells just because the Necromancer cast one. Maybe he could draw a spell every time a living enemy was killed, or something like that. Or you could do the tried and true pick your spells at the beginning of each quest. Also for the shadow bolt, is it roll 2 attack dice or a flat 2 damage before the defense is rolled?

-SadKitchen

hello and welcome to ye olde inn! thanks for the feedback. the reason for the spells is that i (and im sure im not alone) find the tried and true magic system to be too weak with no scalability, so my magic system attempts to address that. at base the necromancer has 4 spells in his hand but with items such as talisman of lore that could increase. the spells are made in such a way that you cant just keep spamming the strongest ones (the necromancer would die if he did) so its a way of having a spellcaster able to use spells throughout the quest, having access to a range of spells - some stronger than others but still restricting his use of those spells for reasons of balance, the very strongest spells (sacrifice and abomination) can only be cast once each AND cost body points, the mid range spells (skeletons, zombie and the resurrection) all cost body points but can be reused and the weaker spells (shadow bolt and the heal) are all free and reusable plus you have a simple luck of the drawer as to when or even if you will get those spells into your hand, anyone playing the necromancer would have to strategically balance which spells are cast and when just to survive let alone succeed.
the shadow bolt is roll 2 attack dice, its meant as a fairly weak 'jab' equivalent to the other characters basic melee attacks.

[sadkitchen]

I see your point.

Since my group constantly is changing the advancement rules depending on who is EW and if it worked the last time or if it just made the game unplayable (which isn't as un-fun as alot of people make it seem ) I always try to make my new heroes balance with the others, but since you were not trying to do that, then your spell structure works well on its own.

I ran one quest last night including your necro hero as is (instead of a Wizard) and the only suggestion I had is to possibly add a stronger attack spell. Something like:

Shadow Blast – You may fire this magical explosion at any target within your line of sight. Pay one body point and attack the target with 4 combat dice, the target rolls a number of combat dice in defence as it has mind points. 1 copy per deck.

This is because though making skeletons and zombies was fun, Mr. Necro just didn't seem to dish out much damage (minions included). This might also be because we never drew the abomination card, but he was a much different feal than the Wizard or the Elf. which is always fun.

One of my group also suggested getting spells back in a different way. He suggested drawing one card at the beginning of your turn, then discarding spells if you have more than your mind points, or keeping them all if you had cast a spell the previous turn. This was prompted as Mr. Necro spent may turns with the same "not useful right now" spells in his had. I don't know if I agree with this because my Elf usualy only casts a spell once every other quest due to that same reason, but I figured I would pass his suggestion along.

- SadKitchen

[Tott]

wow! you played him! thanks that great! i suppose you could draw a new spell every turn and then discard until you reach your mind point - but- if you had the wand of recall you could cast two spells every turn and still draw only one. the obvious solution to this is that with any effect that lets you cast more than one spell per turn also lets you draw more than one spell per turn, based on your feedback that might be a stronger option. i'll rework the rules later. i will also look at shadow blast and buff that too.

thanks again!

[Tott]

ok slightly tweeked the rules based on feedback - and added a mulligan rule as belt and braces. also buffed shadow bolt, increasing the damage and allowing it to scale with mind points. (yay, talisman of lore!) updated necromancy.pdf in the original post to inculde the new shadow bolt.


The Necromancer draws cards from the top of the spell deck into his hand; his hand size is equal to his total mind pool. At the end of a quest all spell cards are returned to the deck and shuffled. The Necromancer draws a new hand equal to his total mind points at the start of the quest. As spells are used they are returned to the bottom of the deck (or discarded). At the start of his turn the necromancer draws a card from the top of his deck. If the necromancers hand is larger than his total mind points at the end of his turn, the necromancer must discard until his card size matches his mind points. any item or effect that allows the necromancer to cast more than one spell per turn (e.g. the wand of recall) also allows him to draw the same number of cards at the start of his turn.
The Necromancers hand size must always equal his total mind points at the end of his turn. The deck is always shuffled between quests. The spell deck is always kept face down.

Mulligan
The necromancer can mulligan at any time. All cards in the necromancers hand are returned to the bottom of the deck and a new hand equal to the necromancers total mind points is drawn. The first mulligan is free but each subsequent mulligan costs the necromancer 1 health point each time.

[Ethica]

Tott - Description texts on HQ cards are always centre justified. (Sorry, I'm really pedantic about such things).