The Necromancer - a new class for Labyrinth Lord

It's been brewing for some time, but is finally finished: my take on the necromancer class. It's a class that's seen many, many interpretations over the years, in all different versions of D&D, so making my own version was really just for fun. And fun it was.

The class is designed explicitly for Labyrinth Lord, though of course that means it's trivially compatible with any other form of pre-d20 D&D or clones. It's worked as an equal to the standard magic-user, having the same XP and spell progression, all the way up to 9th level spells.

You can download the PDF here. Over 50 new spells can be found within (including a couple of re-writes of spells of yore).

One of the players in my on-going LL games is playing a necromancer at present, and the class is playing out pretty well so far, and seems well balanced in comparison to the standard magic-user. The PC is only 2nd level though, so we've not had a chance to test out the higher level spells yet! As usual, if anyone ends up using this class or any of the spells, I'd be delighted to hear how they worked out. And any feedback of any kind (well, ideally constructive ;) is also most welcome.

Fun with body parts

A fun little 4th level necromancer spell for your entertainment...

The rest of this post is designated Open Gaming Content according to the Open Gaming License.

Detach / Graft
Level: 4
Duration: See below
Range: Touch

Casting this spell and touching a body part causes it to detach from its owner, who can then control the part as an independent entity. Thus hands may crawl around, legs may hop, and even heads can be detached and rolled. The detached body part can be controlled for up to 1 turn per level of the caster, after which it must be retrieved and reattached to the body (which happens automatically). If the body part is not reattached during the spell's duration it dies.

Using the reverse version, graft, body parts lost in any way may be replaced either by reattaching the missing part or by grafting on replacement parts cut from another living or recently dead creature. The graft is permanent, but the recipient (which may be the caster himself) must make a transformative shock roll. If the roll fails the graft does not take, and will wither and fall off in 1d6 weeks.

Necromancer spell list & holiday

The work on my necromancer class for Labyrinth Lord is progressing well, and it feels like the spell list is nearing completion. As a little teaser I thought I'd post the list as it currently stands. I'll probably flesh out the mid to high levels a bit more, but you should be able to get an idea of the kind of things the class is capable of. By the way, I think I didn't mention it before, but all the new spells, classes, monsters, etc in the book are going to be open gaming content.

(Also, I'll be on holiday for the next 2 weeks, from tomorrow, so no posts will manifest during that time.)

(C) denotes cleric spells, (MU) denotes magic-user spells and (I) denotes illusionist spells, all from the Advanced Edition Companion.

1st level

1. Cause light wounds (C)
2. Command dead
3. Command undead
4. Darkness globe (MU)
5. Detect disease
6. Detect undead
7. Dying words
8. Exterminate
9. Haunting
10. Locate remains
11. Pass undead
12. Preserve dead
13. Ray of enfeeblement (MU)
14. Read magic
15. Scare (MU)
16. Shadow touch
17. Skeletal servitor
18. Summon familiar (MU)
19. Unseen servant (MU)

2nd level

1. Choke
2. Corpse visage
3. Death recall
4. Drag from death's door
5. Feign death (MU)
6. Ghoul touch
7. Lend strength or fortitude
8. Ray of pain
9. Resist turning
10. Seal tomb
11. Speak with dead (C)
12. Spectral hand
13. Summon swarm
14. Zombie servitor

3rd level

1. Animate dead (MU)
2. Cause disease (C)
3. Fear (MU)
4. Hold person (MU)
5. Skull sight
6. Skull speech
7. Summon undead I
8. Unhallow
9. Walking dead
10. Zone of sinister stillness

4th level

1. Cause serious wounds (C)
2. Charm undead
3. Curse (MU – reverse of remove curse)
4. Graft
5. Mummy touch
6. Summon undead II
7. Swarm transformation

5th level

1. Cause critical wounds (C)
2. Death spell (MU)
3. Defy death
4. Gaseous form
5. Magic jar (MU)
6. Summon shadow (I)
7. Summon undead III
8. Zone of creeping terror

6th level

1. Contact spirit
2. Curse of undeath
3. Harm (C – reverse of heal)
4. Knowledge of life
5. Organ transference, lesser
6. Spiritwrath (MU)
7. Summon undead IV

7th level

1. Death geas
2. Destruction (C – reverse of resurrection)
3. Drain energy (C – reverse of restoration)
4. Necrosis (C – reverse of regenerate)
5. Summon demon (MU)
6. Summon undead V
7. Undead regeneration
8. Zone of weakness

8th level

1. Clone (MU)
2. Organ transference, greater
3. Power word blind (MU)
4. Skeletal army
5. Summon undead VI
6. Symbol (MU)

9th level

1. Power word kill (MU)
2. Raise dead (C)
3. Reinstate spirit
4. Steal life force
5. Summon undead VII
6. Zone of death

A few new necromancer spells

I just felt like sharing a few of the new spells I've come up with in the process of creating the necromancer class which will feature in my book of magic (the only working title I have so far!). Of course necromancers have been rehashed endlessly in various editions of D&D, so some of the spells in the class' list are fairly familiar, but I'm also making an effort to come up with some original stuff to give it a bit of different twist. Here's a few of the new ones which are (as far as I know!) original.

(Note that while corpse visage was a spell in AD&D 2e, the version below shares only the name -- the effect is quite different.)

(Note 2: command dead is intended to be quite powerful for a 1st level spell -- the equivalent of the magic-user's sleep or charm person.)

The rest of this post is designated Open Gaming Content according to the Open Gaming License.

Command DeadLevel: 1
Duration: 1 turn
Range: 60'

This spell allows the caster to control up to 2d8 HD of recently deceased creatures, reanimating them as undead for a short time. The reanimated dead are mindless and are fully under the caster's control. They fight using their normal stats, having 1d8 hit points, and can be turned as zombies. When the duration expires the deceased fall immediately back into the grip of death.

Corpse Visage
Level: 2
Duration: 1 day per level
Range: Touch

This spell allows the caster to take on the facial appearance of the corpse of someone recently dead (within one week). The caster's face reflects the exact state of the corpse, and will decay as it decays. Nonetheless the spell is often enough to achieve the desired deception.

Walking Dead
Level: 3
Duration: Special
Range: Touch

When cast upon a character killed in combat this spell causes them to rise again and continue fighting. The affected character must have died within the last 5 rounds. The risen combatant is not considered undead, and is not controlled by the caster, maintaining their own goals and personality. They will attack to the best of their ability, being immune to fear and possessing an eerie strength, granting +1 to melee attacks and damage.

The spell lasts either until fighting stops or the affected character reaches -20 hit points. At this point the character drops to the ground, truly dead. Characters reanimated by this spell suffer a -10% adjustment to their chance of surviving resurrection.

Embarking on a self-publishing venture!

For some time I've been thinking about the possibility of making a book compiling all the new spells and magic-using classes I've been coming up with. So the other day I cut and pasted it all together into a single document, just out of interest to see how much content I have already. And, to my surprise, it came to almost 40 pages! This has galvanised me to complete the project.

After a bit of preliminary organisational work, I've decided that I'm going to compile a book with the following content:

• The elementalist class (available here). Possibly expanded with some additional spells.
• The necromancer class (which I've been working on for a while "behind the scenes", and which already has about 50 new spells).
• The fey class (available here). Also possibly expanded with some additional spells.
• The expansion of the illusionist class which I've been working on.
• Edit: Just maybe the hypothesised nature mage, if I feel really inspired. I think it'd be a very cool class, but I'd only include it if I thought I'd be able to do it justice.
• A selection of magical tomes (each containing a bunch of new spells around a specific theme -- including, for example, the tome of the spider mage).
• Any other random bits & pieces relating to arcane magic which I feel like throwing in!

Everything will be specifically compatible with Labyrinth Lord, but of course that means it's equally usable with Swords & Wizardry, B/X D&D, AD&D, etc.

Primarily I'm doing this for my own pleasure. I think it'd be totally cool to have an actual properly printed book of my own classes and spells to use in my games! But of course, once I've gone to the effort of writing, compiling and laying everything out, and then publishing it on Lulu, then it'll certainly be available to other people as well.

I don't have a name for the book yet, and no idea what to do about artwork! As it's purely a hobbyist thing, I don't really imagine investing any money in this venture (i.e. to pay artists), but it would of course be nice to have at least a good-looking cover (I'm imagining old-school style black & white illustration to go along with the LL books). If any artists reading this are up for drawing some stuff, please let me know -- I could probably offer you a print copy of the book if all goes well!

Any thoughts or suggestions most welcome!