The Scholastic Order of the Black Cross

The necromancers of the Order of the Black Cross are the magical arm of the Order of the Last Breath.

Hit Die: d6

Prime Ability: Intelligence

Alignment: Any nongood

Weapons: Clubs, daggers, darts, knives, khopeshes, scimitars, sickles, slings, and staves

Weapon Proficiencies: 1 + 1 per four levels

Nonproficiency Penalty: -5

Armor: None

Nonweapon Proficiencies: 4 + 1 per two levels

Ability Requirements: Constitution 13, Intelligence 15, Wisdom 15

Prime Requisites: Intelligence, Wisdom

Nonweapon Proficiency Groups: General, Mage, and Priest

Death Beam

At 1st level a necromancer can unleash a beam of crackling green energy from their hand as an action. The necromancer makes a normal ranged attack (the bolt’s range is 30/60/120 yards). The damage is 1d10. The necromancer can choose to deal either force or necrotic damage. The beam cannot affect creatures only affected by magic, but it can affect inanimate objects and ethereal creatures.

The necromancer creates two beams at level 5, three beams at level 10, and four beams at level 15. The necromancer can direct the beams at the same target or at different ones, making a separate attack roll for each beam.

This ability replaces the mage's arcane bolt.

Necromancy

Necromancers do not learn spells like wizards, nor do they keep spellbooks. Instead, a necromancer begins knowing 6 1st-level spells. When a necromancer gains a level, they automatically know three new spells of any level they can cast. Necromancers can only select spells from the schools of Abjuration, Conjuration/Summoning, Divination, and Necromancy, and the priest spheres of Astral, Divination, Necromantic, Protection, Summoning, and Wards.

Necrotic Infusion

Starting at 1st level, a necromancer gains 1 additional hp per level. They have resistance to necrotic damage, taking only half damage from such attacks.

Due to constant exposure to negative energy, necromancers have reduced biological needs: they can hold their breath for up to their Constitution score in turns, only require 1/3 the normal amount of food and water, only require four hours of sleep per night, and reduce piercing and slashing damage by 1.

Manipulations

At 2nd level, necromancers are able to manipulate raw magical energies. While cruder than spells, the abilities this grants are very versatile and quite powerful.

In order to manipulate the powerful energies of the Negative Material Plane, the necromancer must first learn the various types of manipulations that can be performed. These are similar to the various schools that are used by other wizards. They are:

• Attack manipulations. These are used to damage items or creatures. This type of manipulation can form an actual physical attack or can be the unleashing of a purely magical attack. Either option can be chosen at the discretion of the necromancer, who must state which form the attack will take at the moment of its release.
• Defense manipulations. These form magical barriers that stop physical or magical attacks, decided upon by the necromancer when the manipulation occurs.
• Informative manipulations. These allow the necromancer to seek out knowledge that is otherwise unattainable. Through the use of this manipulation, the necromancer can discover secret doors, reveal the secrets of the ages, foresee the future, or divine the location of lost or hidden objects. Other uses are also possible at the discretion of the DM.
• Movement manipulations. These allow the necromancer to move through the use of magical energies. Using this, characters may fly, teleport or even pass through to other dimensions.

Each of these manipulations must be learned as a separate nonweapon proficiency, requiring one slot for each manipulation. Necromancers may start with as many as two separate manipulations at their disposal. Each manipulation taken counts as a nonweapon proficiency slot, though these manipulations are not available to individuals who are not necromancers.

The manipulations are not overly difficult to use, but they do require the expenditure of the necromancer's life force. This is represented by the temporary loss of a number of hit points equal to the level of the manipulation currently being used. This may be offset by a process known as leaching: the necromancer can draw life from nearby creatures or the surrounding area, but must provide at least half the cost from their own hit points.

• Creatures touching the necromancer can have up to half of the required hit points leached from them. Unwilling targets receive a saving throw to negate the hit point leech.
• Area leaching is only used as a last resort. All vegetation within a radius of 10 yards per manipulation level turns to ash, leaving behind a lifeless, bleached, circular scar, completely devoid of life or life-giving elements. Nothing will grow in the area for at least one year. This reduces the hit point cost of the manipulation by 1/2 (rounded down).

When a necromancer prepares to use a manipulation, they must concentrate for a full round (approximately one minute). At the end of that round, the player of the necromancer must state what manipulation will be used, the level of that manipulation, and the effect desired from the use of that manipulation.

Deciding which manipulation to use is easy. The effect desired often decides the manipulation used. Is the necromancer intent upon hurting someone? Then the obvious choice is to use the attack manipulation. Likewise, if he would like to fly over a chasm, the movement manipulation would be his choice.

Deciding on the level manipulation requires a bit of cooperation between the DM and the players. The level is best determined by taking a look at the effect that is desired and comparing it to a spell that has a similar effect. If the manipulation is essentially the same as a known spell, then the level of that spell is the level of manipulation that must be used.

Some manipulations will have significantly different effects than the spells listed in the PHB and TOM. Some spells may have a shorter range or do greater damage. At this point, it is necessary for the DM to make a judgment call.

In cases where range is concerned, the difference in the range of the manipulation and that of a known spell needs to be at least 50 percent to warrant an increase or decrease in level. That is, if the level of the spell is 6 and it has a range of 100 feet, the manipulation compared to that spell would need to have a range of 50 feet or a 150 feet before a change in level would be warranted. In the first case, the level would be lowered by one, and the latter the level would be raised by one.

Damage is a little more strict. Increases in damage should be rated as a number of dice, depending on the spell to which the manipulation is compared. If, for example, the spell that the manipulation is similar to uses six-sided dice to determine damage, then it would take an increase or decrease of 1d6 to raise or lower the manipulation's level.

Some manipulations may be compared to spells which do a different amount of damage depending on the level of the caster. In these cases, use the level of the necromancer to determine damage.

Protective manipulations are among the easiest to determine levels for because they will most often correspond on a one-to-one level with existing spells. The PHB and TOM have a considerable number of protective spells within them, which address almost all cases in this regard.

It is important to remember that necromancers utilize the void-stuff of the Negative Material Plane to power their spells. This energy has great destructive potential but has little in the way of healing or restorative power. The negative energy can be used to good effect to attack or defend, but it cannot heal or create anything as its very nature prohibits this. This must be remembered when using manipulations lest the characters use the negative energy in a way that is not in keeping with its true power.

Command Undead

At 3rd level, the necromancer can use their necromantic power to command undead, as a cleric of two levels lower.

At 6th level, the necromancer can command undead as a cleric of equal level.

At 9th level, the necromancer can influence the negative energy within undead with disastrous results, allowing them to turn undead as a cleric three levels lower. At 12th level, their destructive ability is as a cleric of equal level.

Necrotic Counterspell

At 5th level, a necromancer is proficient in using negative energy to tear apart another mage’s spells. When a mage within the necromancer's line of sight is casting a spell, the necromancer can cast a necrotic counterspell, negating the spell by sacrificing hit points equal to the spell level being countered. A successful Intelligence check allows the necromancer to determine the spell's level, otherwise they must guess.

A necromancer can counterspell once per round.

Bypass Resistance

At 10th level, the necromancer's attunement with Negative Energy allows them to ignore a target's resistance to Negative Energy and necrotic damage. Creature's immune to Negative Energy and necrotic damage still suffer half-damage from the necromancer's spells.

Necrotic Saturation

At 15th level, the channeling of Negative Energy has a lasting effect on the necromancer's physical body. They become immune to necrotic damage, poison, non-magical diseases, and life-draining effects. They no longer need to breathe, eat, or drink, and reduce piercing and slashing damage by 2 points.

Special Hindrances

Necromancers utilize Negative Energy to manipulate and shape raw magic. This gives their magic an eerie look and feel.

When a necromancer casts a spell there is always an accompanying effect that indicates that this is not a normal spell. Following is a list of possible effects that may occur:

• Whispering: Anyone within 20 feet of the caster hears a low whispering that seems to emanate from the air around the caster. While the whispers are not discernible as actual speech, there is something menacing to their tone.
• Moaning: Similar to whispering, but the sound is of several people in great pain, moaning out their last breaths.
• Dark light: A halo of sickly green light can be seen to emanate from the necromancer. The light seems to come from their bones, making their flesh transparent and lending them a cadaverous appearance.
• Tears of blood: The strain of shaping negative energy causes tiny tears of blood to appear in the caster's eyes. This causes no damage nor does it obscure the caster's vision, but it can be very disconcerting to witness.
• Flickering: Lights around the caster dim and brighten unpredictably as he casts the spell. This has no real effect on visibility in the area.

There are a wide number of special effects that can be used, but all have two things in common. First, they have no positive or negative effect on the caster or those around him. They are simply for show and cannot cause damage or otherwise affect the real world in a tangible manner. Second, the special effects of a necromancer' spell casting are strange and unnerving to those that witness them. Special effects are always creepy. Players are encouraged to come up with strange special effects for their necromancer characters.

Necromancers also suffer interpersonal problems. Raised in an ascetic environment, trained from youth to survive unnatural forces and serve Death, necromancers do not have the best "people skills." Reduce the beginning Charisma of all necromancers by two (but no lower than 3). In addition, beginning necromancers can pick from or roll on the list below for quirks, or develop their own.

Negative energy can also have quite unexpected effects if it interacts with standard magic when not counterspelling. Any time the area of effect of a necromancer's manipulations or necromantic spells overlap that of a standard spell, the results can be explosive. The same is true if a single target is affected by a necromancer's magic and that of a standard mage in the same round.

If this ever occurs, the two energies react in a violent manner, attempting to eradicate one another. The total levels of spells and manipulations should be added together. The total is the number of four-sided dice that are rolled to determine damage. Damage is caused to anyone in the area where the two spells overlap. If the area of effect is a single target, the damage done is determined by rolling six-sided dice, as the magic energies are more tightly compressed and have fewer outlets than they would have if spread over an area.