Hello again everyone, i was hoping you guys could help give me tips on how to play a necromancer without being called edgy.
its a running joke that one our players is pure edge, he is so annoying with it and sees nothing wrong with it, he actually created a character without parents un-ironically. so we constantly mock him for his edgy characters.
I don't want to risk any kind of edge in my character, seeing as how everyone here refers to them as Edgy-mancers, so what can i do to prevent this?
for starters doom, gloom, and brood are off the table. I'm going to play either a charismatic type i think because its what I'm good at, the party "Face" if you will. But i also want to command an army of the living dead at my command.
thanks in advance
>>47534965
>>47534965
"I prefer the term Lichcraft"
>>47534965
its just a type of fucking magic, don't make it edgy
Additionally, advice on playing a necromancer in 5e. or Advice having maintaining an army without exposing I'm a necromancer to the whole town (don't care if party finds out)
>>47534965
Pretty sure you already have the concept down already. As for the charisma-based necromancer, I'm pretty sure most game systems use intelligence when it comes to anything involving the undead. Not sure what system you're using though, so that's sort of an unknown factor.
As for making the character a necromancer without the edge, they could take the mindset of a person who sees the potential in a corpse or soul trapped to the realm, like Gravedust from Guilded Age. Calls himself a shaman, but he offers contracts to the souls of people killed before their time to slay evils or cast magics. Also has brought himself and others back from the dead through manipulating the borders between the realms of the dead and the realms of the living.
Could also just have the necromancer be a summoner 100% who treats the undead as the people they use to be? Could treat the undead as pets, or that they're a caretaker to them. In essence, take anything involving a character who uses other npc's as their means of contributing to events, combat, or social interactions and replace it with undead. Most of them won't be edgelords so long as you keep away from the doom, gloom, and brooding bs, which you're already aiming to avoid.
>>47534965
Just be an asshole.
>>47535034
great advice thank you
>>47534965
Just use it, no need to base your entire life around one of your (major) skills.
Here are some ideas.
Only raises people who he gains full consent from, and will probably compensate their families for their sacrifice.
Raises evil aligned creatures in order to have them do good deeds.
Treats his raised creatures with dignity. (Will at least keep them in simple clothing)
Properly buries his undead if they die.
Make a necromancer who only brings back undead who felt like they weren't able to rest easy with some unfinished tasks. Said necromancer decides to bring some back and help them out. Not sure how much info you get from the dead you bring back but perhaps it could be used as plot hooks and stuff. Like a cool spirit talker guy
An idea, depending how the afterlife/necromancy work, just make deals with scum and be like,
"Yo don't want to go to hell, I can resurrect you and you can be my skeleton butler"
Have a wheelchair bound old lady with a couple of zombie butlers.
Basically have act like an overly friendly grandma, have her bake cookies for the group, etc
>>47534965
>he actually created a character without parents un-ironically. so we constantly mock him for his edgy characters.
what
>>47535122
This actually sounds like a cool concept. 5e has a 3rd level spell "Speak with Dead" that lets you ask the dead some questions, so you could ask them "Is there anything you would like to come back to life to do" and "would you like me to raise you from the dead"
>>47535010
This.
>>47535295
Yea it gets even edgier, hear me out.
So this guy decides he wants to worship the god of destruction and decides he wants to be born of the gods of destructions blood, when the god was struck in battle his blood fell to earth and birthed a mortal form of himself with silver hair and red eyes, the blood was a collection of all his hate and rage he felt for being struck in battle, his destiny (get a load of this) was to bring about the destruction of the world, and it was his burden alone to bear.
i don't know, is that first part not as edgy as i thought? it seemed pretty edgy to me.
>>47534965
ITS ALIIIIIVE!!!
>Obligatory "summons the spirits and bodies of warlike ancestors to aid their descendants in battle" necromancer.
>>47534965
He constantly cracks shitty puns about his undead minions.
>I got a bone to pick with you
>>47535460
I demand more undead puns!
>>47534965
Be non edgy about it. Undead are a form of robots: they can do labor (including combat) while being neither paid nor enslaved, so they can be a force of good with the correct guidance. Also, using your spirit-speaking abilities, you can help people say goodbye to their lost ones, or help dead people deliver last messages to the ones they left behind.
>>47535431
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd9OhYroLN0
my character started out as a druid, but long story short, he gained the ability to cast animate dead, and put three levels into warlock.
his motivation, to make this change organic, is that he has a personal philosophy that magic, demons, undead, etc are not really unnatural but part of a natural order thats greater than the perception of mortals on the material plane.
most of the few undead i have in tow have been resurrected for the purpose of study and research into the nature of undeath, and the warlock levels are mainly a means of learning more about the nature of demonic magic. In short, maybe consider necromancy a purely academic pursuit to avoid edgy bullshit
>>47534965
Charisma based spon-casting necromancer.
And then be amazingly apologetic about it, think gay-raised-catholic style attitude, where you've come to terms with what you are and you're not sorry for it, but you still feel a touch guilty and defensive.
And then use pic related as your attitude towards the undead, the undead aren't evil, or at least they shouldn't be.
Because they're us, they're people who have suffered and who terrible things have happened to, they're damaged and they lash out see if you can work out with the GM a way to turn hungry, evil undead into lost, damages souls (Ala deathless subtype)
I have seen the lost and they are many, I have seen the damned and they are us. Reach out to 'em.
>>47534965
Read Sabriel
Now imagine a character who uses the bells to make the Dead walk for good ends instead of evil.
First thing first: ask your dm to have the Lost Tradition feat. Its an expansion feat that allows you to use the stat of your choice as the spellcasting stat. Alternatively just ask him to be able to cast spells with charisma. The reason you want your charisma as your main stat is that this way you become the "face" of the party, as your character gets more screentime other characters get less, including mr Edgy. No dialogue lines=no opportunity to be edgy about it for him. Next change the tone of the game, never take danger too seriously and try to get some cartoon physics going on. Fun is poison to the edge. But you might wanna check with your dm if thats an option. Also check out the movie Princess and the Frog for its necromancer and see if its something youd like to play.
>>47534965
he could come from a culture where undeath was a ceremonial way of honoring the dead which also had pragmatic benefits and be a traditional member of that caste.
>>47534965
Do the mtg orzhov thing.
Be a necromancer money lender. If people die before they pay you back you raise their corpses and let them keep working off the debt.
But don't be all maniacal laughter about it, be firm but fair and be anal about the contract.
>Really now, contracts are what separates us from the barbarians.
Like Malin Keshar from "Battle for Wesnoth", or Gauldroth Half-Dead from HoMM4, or, if he's from some wilderness, be a druido-barbario spirit-talker who treats necromancy like summoning beasts, talking with nature spirits, thinks of undeath like of another form of life.
>>47534965
Could go the Diablo route and have necromancers actually be stewards to the dead and the afterlife rather than fucking it the fuck up for personal gain.
The necromancers of Sanctuary are, in actuality, priests of the death-god Rathma, who strives for balance and harmony between the realms of the living and the dead. The dead are called to serve and do so willingly, knowing that the necromancer's charge is a sacred one.
>Venture with me, and let us right past wrongs so others may rest.
>>47534965
Only raise animals.
>>47534965
"My character is a university professor. specifically the department chair of post-mortem communications."
>>47536849
Oh, all the advantages of a druid's animal companions, with the bonus of undead immunities and d12 hit dice.
>>47536849
I have the perfect image for this.
>"When I asked to be the shepherd of the damned, this isn't quite what I had in mind."
>>47535010
First post best post.
>>47534965
>Hello again everyone, i was hoping you guys could help give me tips on how to play a necromancer without being called edgy.
I always thought Necromancy lands itself well to either extreme pragmatism, or the sort of gallows humor mortician type.
Generally, I go with pragmatic necromancers, it's a pet trope of mine. A character who does not particularly enjoy the dark craft, in fact he might even find it somewhat unpleasant to rely on it - but he also understands that in given context, it is sometimes the most efficient way of going around solving problems.
Such a character does not relish his ability - he does not wear dark robes and surround himself with skulls, macabre items, dark insignia and undead minions unless necessary (should he have an undead servant, he is at least going to take good care cleaning the bones of any soft or decaying tissue before summoning it, dress it up and provide with things like masks etc...).
Such character also does need to have hobies, interests or fancies that do not directly relate to his necromantic practices: maybe a bit vain in clothing, or fancy good wines or perhaps classical theatre.
When practicing necromancy, such character prefers to do alone and with discretion.
I used an archetype of a rich boy, a bit of an obnoxious snob, though a fair guy with a good heart when things get heated, as a my necromantic character in a story I had been creating for a friend, an illustrator and a comic book artist. His main characteristics were a conflict between the arrogant snobbism and elitism (further exaggerated by the fact that the family has been somewhat ostracized for the rumors of their necromantic practices) of his cold father, whose approval he always craved, and generosity and kindness that his mother taught him.
It wasn't a fantastic character, but he worked as a "fun" necromantic decently enough as necromancy was really just "something he did" because most of his family has been doing.
I had a player who was basically trying to cure cancer with their necromatic powers. Their somewhat edgy past had a sylvan spirit curse their village with a barkskin disease where they ended up naturally forming patches of hard calcified skin.
We ruled that for every five levels she'd get a +1 to her nat armor and -10 to her movement speed. Had to find a cure by level 15 or she was effectively entombed in her own skin. Scratch that, that's super edgy.
Anyways, she ended up being a great character as she'd actively seek out wounded or dying people to practice healing them and that ended up making the party go to some pretty interesting places. Ever see a PC use Gentle Repose on a living Body? For every hour she worked on a body I gave her +1d6 to the next time a healing spell was used, and she spent hundreds of gold on healing potions as our campaign progressed.
She ended up catching a Grave Lynx to be a faux animal companion which looked like a large sized lynx with the front of it's face ripped off down to the bones. Had to carry potions of remove curse to stop it from passing grave rot to people it attacked.
>>47534965
Make him incredibly boring as a person.
Being edgy at it's core the belief that being dark and hardcore automatically makes you somehow more interesting, and thus making a Necromancer who's a boring, milquetoast sort of fellow would obviously run contrary to that.
Like, when someone asks why he meddles with the dead he answers with shit like
>"I figured it was kinda interesting and I want to use it to help people."
and that's it, nothing else.
Literally just being a halfway decent person operating on "seemed like a good idea at the time". No grand origin, not even a complex personality to speak of, just have him be as simple as hell to the point if people question if he's really a magic user because he's just so aggravatingly mundane a person.
