“Oh, you miserable bags of bones! Pick yourselves up and sally fo… Sally for….. Sally forth.”
Hello everyone, and welcome to the seventh in a series of 9 articles covering the basics of each of the various school of spells for a Sorcerer, Wizard or other Arcane caster in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, focusing on the spells available in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook (and possibly any that stand out from elsewhere). The goal for each of these is to provide you with a quick overview of useful spells at each level as well as the people who use these spells.
That said, welcome to this week’s article on the arcane school of Necromancy.
As usual, let us start with defining what a Necromancer actually is and does. If we look at the description for the Necromancer specialization from the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, we find that a Necromancer “commands undead and uses the foul power of unlife against his enemies.” – Seeing as part of the main description includes the word foul, I think we can safely assume that in most cases, the Necromancer will not be a force for good. (Though there are exceptions).
Interestingly, if we go back to the root of the word Necromancy, we find that it comes from two greek words νεκρός and μαντεία which roughly translates as “Divination of the dead body.” And there is in fact a spell that does just that. 🙂
If we look at the description for the school itself, it say that “Necromancy spells manipulate the power of death, unlife, and the life force. Spells involving undead creatures make up a large part of this school.” – I’d unfortunately have to say that saying that there aren’t actually that many spells directly involving the undead. However there are a number of them that would affect undead differently, due to accessing negative energy.
Finally it is worth noting that many Necromancy spells have the [death] or [evil] spell descriptors, the use of which can affect a character’s religious standing or their alignment.
So let’s get into it, shall we?
Bleed
First on the list of spells is Bleed, a 0-level spell that in many ways is overlooked. The reason is that it doesn’t do any damage on its own, but merely causes the person upon whom it’s cast to resume dying. Now dying in Pathfinder is designated as a condition, from which you can stabilize (requiring a DC 10 + the negative hit point Constitution check) so with a good Constitution score, you have at least a reasonable chance of making it.
That means that usually it’ll only be the villains using the spell, as often GMs avoid using the “dying” condition for NPCs. I’d strongly suggest leaving that in as an option (especially as it allows for NPCs to be taken alive, since the “dying” condition also means that they are unconscious). This will allow unscrupulous PCs to use Bleed, rather than rendering it solely as a tool for NPCs.
Disrupt Undead
The spell only affects the undead, and not living creatures, in spite of using positive energy. As such, unlike many positive energy effects, it does not heal nor cause damage to the living. This spell can therefore safely be used, even when a living creature has engaged the undead target, as there is no risk of damaging your living compatriot.
Touch of Fatigue
Touch of Fatigue is a deceptively powerful spell, in that it gives the “fatigued” condition on a failed save. The fatigued condition means that a character can neither run nor charge and takes a –2 penalty to Strength and Dexterity, i.e. a -1 to any to hit roll and a -1 to damage in melee (and a possibility that they cannot use their ranged weapon if it is set up for a high strength).
Cause Fear
Similar to touch of Fatigue, in that it forces a condition upon you, in this case, the “frightened” condition. A frightened creature flees from the source of its fear as best it can. If unable to flee, it may fight. A frightened creature takes a –2 penalty on all attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. A frightened creature can use special abilities, including spells, to flee; indeed, the creature must use such means if they are the only way to escape. – As such, not only do they take a penalty on attacks, but they must try to escape the caster. PCs and NPCs can use this to clear out a low level boss, to deal with his minions or to remove a single henchman from a low level fight, like sending away the healer, who would otherwise be keeping the villain alive and functional.
Chill Touch
Chill Touch affects both the living and the undead, doing damage and Strength damage to the living (bearing in mind that this is a rare touch attack spell that you can use multiple times, once per level, unlike others that are one offs). It’s worth noting that undead become panicked instead of taking damage, giving an effect similar to, but more powerful than, Cause Fear. “Panicked” means that a creature must drop anything it holds and flee at top speed from the source of its fear, as well as any other dangers it encounters, along a random path. It can’t take any other actions. – This, more or less, takes the creature completely out of the picture for the duration.
Blindness/Deafness
This spell does the rather obvious and provides a target with either the blinded or deafened condition so which one to go for?
Well, Blindness is probably the one to go for in most cases, as it provides the following: The creature cannot see. It takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class, loses its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), and takes a –4 penalty on most Strength– and Dexterity-based skill checks and on opposed Perception skill checks. All checks and activities that rely on vision (such as reading and Perception checks based on sight) automatically fail. All opponents are considered to have total concealment (50% miss chance) against the blinded character. Blind creatures must make a DC 10 Acrobatics skill check to move faster than half speed. Creatures that fail this check fall prone.
However – there is a case for using the deafened condition, specifically on spellcasters and creatures that rely on sound rather than sight, because Deafness does the following: A deafened character cannot hear. He takes a –4 penalty on initiative checks, automatically fails Perception checks based on sound, takes a –4 penalty on opposed Perception checks, and has a 20% chance of spell failure when casting spells with verbal components.- A Game Master might safely rule that a creature that is already blind, who is then affected by deafness would get both sets of penalties.
Command Undead
Command Undead is an iconic spell for the Necromancer, part and parcel of what makes him able to control undead (along with the Command Undead feat), with only intelligent undead even getting a saving throw, in spite of normally being immune to mind-affecting spells (which, critically, this spell is not classed as being). There is also no limit to the amount of times he can cast the spell, and since it has a duration of 1/day per level, a necromancer could build up a horde of directly controlled undead, provided he renews the spells every so often. (As this is a 2nd level spell, when he first gets it, he’d need to renew it every 3rd day). It allows the Necromancer to control undead who’d normally be outside what he could control with the Command Undead feat, or the spell he gains later on, Animate Dead. As such, it is his first real undead control spell.
Ghoul Touch
Again, another spell that gives a condition, this time it gives paralyzed. A paralyzed character is frozen in place and unable to move or act. A paralyzed character has effective Dexterity and Strength scores of 0 and is helpless, but can take purely mental actions. A winged creature flying in the air at the time that it becomes paralyzed cannot flap its wings and falls. A paralyzed swimmer can’t swim and may drown.
That means that not only can they not move, but things like a coup de grace become options. And with a duration of a minimum of 3 rounds, it’s definitely worth looking into.
Better yet, it also potentially affect anyone AROUND the subject, giving them the sickened condition (crucially though, it does NOT affect the caster). Specifically, “sickened” characters take a –2 penalty on all attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. Meaning that you can seriously stifle anyone using a simple spell such as this.
Spectral Hand
In many ways it annoys me that this spell is not called Mage Hand, as it is THAT useful. It allows you to deliver low level touch spells at a distance, increasing the range of the spells from touch to medium (100 ft +10/level). That means that you can now deliver things like Ghoul Touch without exposing yourself to harm (beyond the possible loss of up to 4 hit points, which all things considered is a small consideration). It also means that you can cast things like buff spells on your friends, who may be in melee (or in trouble) without exposing yourself, so for things like a cleric/wizard multi-classed character, this becomes a very viable option for healing. And as Spectral Hand lasts 1 minute per level, you have the ability to use it for multiple different spells, and if high level, even over several combats, at least potentially.
Gentle Repose
Usually used only by adventurers when they wish to preserve a comrade for the use of a Raise Dead spell or similar magic, Gentle Repose also has a much less creepy/sinister/disgusting use. Keeping meat fresh, after a normal kill. It would allow you to bring a valuable dead creature to a customer, where you could sell it as fresh meat (such as a fresh dragon corpse), that they could then harvest for organs or whatever they wished to do.
Halt Undead
Stopping unintelligent undead in their tracks (or intelligent ones that fail a saving throw), this spell can be a lifesaver, as it is, in effect, a Hold Person spell for the undead, enabling you to get away while they’re stopped. It’s not possible to do damage to them while they’re stopped however, as that breaks the spell.
Ray of Exhaustion
Similar to Touch of Fatigue, this spell does not require touch and hits them with a higher grade of condition, in this case exhaustion, which causes a character to move at half speed, they cannot run or charge, and take- a –6 penalty to Strength and Dexterity. All for a ranged touch attack and a saving throw (that even if successful still leaves them fatigued).
Vampiric Touch
Not quite a healing spell, but the closest that most wizards and sorcerers will get to one. It transfers hit points from one creature and transfers it to the caster. The hit points transferred are temporary only though, so it is not a true healing method, as the hit points do not last, but they do the job better than anyone else that the wizard can get his hands on regularly, especially when combined with Spectral Hand.
Animate Dead
Here comes the bread and butter of the Necromancy school, the spell we’ve all been waiting for. The ability to raise the dead. Now, importantly there are some limitations to this spell, so it is best to keep a few things in mind. First, there’s a limit to the amount of undead that you can CONTROL at any time using this spell, regardless of how many times you cast it which is equal to 4 times your level, so if you’ve just gained access to the spell at level 7, then you can control 28 HD worth of undead. If you’re not worried about control then you can raise as many as you want. Be aware also that these undead do NOT count against your Command Undead feat, so you can unload some of the living dead onto the feat, keeping control of even more undead. Using our 7th level Necromancer from before, stacking his Command Undead and Animate Dead now gives him access to controlling 31 HD worth of undead. That means that one 7th level Necromancer can control the equivalent of 4 adventuring partners, through the use of just this spell, making him a formidable foe, under the right circumstances.
Now, there ARE some limitations to the spell, namely that it can only raise skeletons and zombies. But even here there are a few options to choose from. Your bog-standard skeleton/zombie can be raised with multiple hit dice (provided you can find a suitable corpse), and you can apply a template to it (my favorite is the Bloody template, as it gives your skeleton the fast healing ability, making it quite difficult to kill – Applying a template DOES cost more from your Hit Dice bucket though, in the case of Bloody, it doubles the HD cost, but then – unkillable (well nearly) skeletons! (also a +4 bonus to Charisma for the skeleton is worth it, as it increases the bonus hit points).
Bestow Curse
A bit of an interesting debuff spell, because it gives you multiple choices for what to do, and only has a few specific spells that can remove it. So let’s look at these options.
Option 1: -6 decrease to an ability score (minimum 1). – This is a nasty one. At the level where you gain access to it (7th), you can potentially reduce a spellcaster to a point where he can no longer cast his spells. Cast it on a spellcaster with a 16 in his spellcasting stat, and he’s reduced to whatever weapons he has. Even if not and he’s maxed his stat out, at say 20? Then you reduce him to level 4 spells and below, which is not really an issue for a 7th level caster, but for a 10th or 12th level caster, it’s a bit issue. For a physical character, you can severely reduce their damage output by both lowering their to hit and damage rolls (for using Strength of example). However, that is probably not the best use for it, as most PCs (and many NPCs) will have their primary stat being the one their character class revolves around. Instead, target a secondary stat, and reduce their Hit Points or their saving throws. Take the same caster, he’s likely to have a high spellcasting stat, possibly bloating up his Will save. Now target his Dexterity or Constitution, thereby lowering his other saves, his armor class and/or hit points. And suddenly you have a much softer and easier target.
Option 2: -4 penalty on attack rolls, saves, ability checks, and skill checks. – This is a better option in general. It doesn’t have a double-whammy effect, but it does have a stronger effect on what it actually hits. Depending on the target, the best choice is probably to go for the saving throws, making the target easier to take down.
Option 3: Each turn, the target has a 50% chance to act normally; otherwise, it takes no action. – Right, not a fan of this option if you’re using it as a GM, for the same reason that I do not recommend using Confusion against PCs, as it takes away player agency. (If you want a more in-depth explanation of why, have a look at the article focusing on Enchantment spells).
Contagion
A nasty spell, since it gives a target a severe disease, without the onset period (which normally takes a few days), so choose the right disease or the moment, so here’s a quick run down of them as well:
Blinding sickness – 1d4 Str damage, if more than 2 Str damage, target must make an additional Fort save or be permanently blinded – So this is a good option against a melee focused character, especially since it both lowers his strength and a chance for blindness (you can see the effects of that in the discussion on blindness/deafness above).
Bubonic plague – 1d4 Con damage and 1 Cha damage and target is fatigued – Another good option against melee characters, since it limits their movements, but the Con loss can be debilitating to anyone.
Cackle fever – 1d6 Wis damage – While this has no special effects beyond the Wisdom loss, that can still debilitate a cleric or other caster, or even simply lower Will saves, softening up targets.
Filth fever – 1d3 Dex damage and 1d3 Con damage – Again, no special effects, but it can debilitate a rogue or ranged character to lose some of their Dexterity bonus, as well as some of their hit points/Fortitude saves.
Leprosy – 1d2 Cha damage – Probably the least effective disease on this list, it does have one thing to recommend it. A high DC to recover from the disease, making it difficult to shake.
Mindfire – 1d4 Int damage – No special effect, but like Cackle fever, it can debilitate a caster that relies on Intelligence, or even just remove the ability to speak (if progressed far enough) or to use skills.
Red ache – 1d6 Str damage – As before, no special effects, but the Strength loss can severely hamper a melee style character, reducing their damage potential. More importantly, especially if playing with the encumbrance rules, it can leave a character unable to move their gear, meaning they’d have discard various pieces of equipment or suffer penalties on movement.
Shakes – 1d8 Dex damage – Once more, no special effect, but this one is probably my favorite. It hampers ranged characters of all kinds, lowers armor class and reflex saves and generally makes the person affected a much easier target than before.
Slimy doom – 1d4 Con damage, target must make a second Fort save or 1 point of the damage is drain instead – The important part of this is the ability drain of this, as ability drain cannot be healed naturally unlike the normal ability damage. That means that it is more or less permanent, and a great way to permanently damage someone. (Albeit that is most useful for villains).
Enervation
Enervation causes you to gain 1d4 negative levels for a number of hours, though never for long enough for it to become permanent, but in order for us to see how effective the spell is, we need to look at what a negative level does: For each negative level a creature has, it takes a cumulative –1 penalty on all ability checks, attack rolls, combat maneuver checks, Combat Maneuver Defense, saving throws, and skill checks. In addition, the creature reduces its current and total hit points by 5 for each negative level it possesses. The creature is also treated as one level lower for the purpose of level-dependent variables (such as spellcasting) for each negative level possessed. Spellcasters do not lose any prepared spells or slots as a result of negative levels. If a creature’s negative levels equal or exceed its total Hit Dice, it dies.
In this case that means that a creature takes up to -4 on pretty much everything except damage rolls, as well as losing up to 20 hit points. Not bad, especially if you consider that there IS NO SAVING THROW on the spell, only a ranged touch attack.
Fear
Simply looking at the name of the spell would understandably cause most people to think it’s an upgraded version of Cause Fear, and in many ways that is correct. However, unlike Cause Fear, it’s not limited to a single target, and instead of gaining the “frightened” condition, those who fail the save are instead affected by the “panicked” condition similar to how undead would react to Chill Touch. Even if they make the saving throw, they are still affected by the “shaken” condition, which gives the character a –2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks.
Blight
Affecting only plant life, this is an effective spell against creatures such as treants, kelpies and fungus men. Plants that are not creatures (i.e. those classified as hazards and traps) do not receive a save but instantly die.
Magic Jar
Quite a spell, as it is the equivalent of what we’d deem possession (and is even used as such by various outsiders). You gain control of a target’s body, possessing it with your mind for an hour per level, and if it dies (provided you’re in range), then you’re safely returned to your body, while the target only dies. The range for that is relatively short, but enterprising characters might infiltrate an enemy stronghold, take possession of someone in the area, and use their body to scout out the lay of the land. They (or smart GMs) might even use this possessed body as an assassin, knowing that even if the body fails, trying to tie it back to the possessor is almost impossible.
Symbol of Pain
All Symbol spells automatically trigger when a creature interacts with it (looks at the rune; reads the rune; touches the rune; passes over the rune; or passes through a portal bearing the rune), and while various symbols have different effect, they all have that in common. That makes their usability for a PC somewhat limited, as they, by their very nature, make for trap spells. They’re also very hard to detect since ONLY rogues can find them. While that is the literal wording from the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, there are now more classes available, so I would extend that to include all classes that have the Trapfinding class ability. That still makes the spell incredibly hard to detect, but it allows for more heroic moments on the behalf of certain player characters.
As it triggers upon those certain conditions, it pays off to be devious about it. Place it on the upper edge of a doorframe and have fun as people walk through. 😉
Circle of Death
This is an excellent spell for clearing away minions of the villain (as it is somewhat unlikely to kill the villain himself at this level, as it can only affect creatures of 8 HD or below). However, for what it does, it is excellent. At the level where you get it, you will be able to kill 11d4 worth of Hit Dice, provided they fail their saving throw. And with a minimum save DC of 19 (10+6 for the spell’s level and another +3 for your minimum stat to cast 6 level spells) you stand a good chance of clearing away at least SOME of the opposition. Just don’t rely on it exclusively – My personal favorite use of this though is for instant reinforcements. Cast this spell and follow it up with an animate dead, and then you have your own little private army ready, and however tough your opponents are, seeing their friends die and then rise up to kill them, must be harrowing.
Create Undead
Create Undead is a double edged sword. The reason for this is that the undead you create are free-willed, so unless you have some other means of controlling them (Command Undead feat or Control Undead spell) then you run a certain risk using it. Further, and this is a personal thing admittedly, I do not think the spell is powerful enough. That is because the undead that it creates are not as powerful as those of the Conjuration spell of the same level. Allow me to show you what I mean:
| Caster Level | Undead Created | Challenge Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 11th or lower | Ghoul | 1 |
| 12th – 14th | Ghast | 2 |
| 15th – 17th | Mummy | 5 |
| 18th or higher | Mohrg | 8 |
For the same 6th level spell slot you ALWAYS gain a monster of Challenge Rating 7-8 – unfortunately that does mean that unless you have some way of bolstering the undead created (like the Charnel Soldiers feat for example), then it will pretty much always be inferior to Summon Monster VI.
Eyebite
Another really powerful condition spell, this can apply up to multiple conditions: comatose, panicked and sickened. At this level I’d be surprised if you saw many other effects than sickened though, due to the strength of your opponents. It can however, be used in conjunction with spells that give negative energy levels, as they then become more vulnerable to this spell, giving you an opportunity to capture your opponent alive and weakened, since they do not take direct damage from this spell.
Control Undead
Probably one of the spells that could be of the most use to a necromancer, this allows you to gain control of undead creatures for a short amount of time, letting you use them as long as you can make yourself understood to the creature. Be warned though: If the undead is intelligent, they will remember, and may take vengeance. (And GMs, make a note of it 😉 ).
Finger of Death
I wish this was still its old version of save or die, but we can’t have everything. 🙂 Instead we get an extremely reliable damage dealer (always dealing 10 damage /level or 3d8+level on a successful save), and there’s not even an attack roll. 🙂 It’s one of the most reliable damage dealers available to the necromancer (and possibly spellcasters in general), and is a sure-fire pick up for a character that reaches this level of ability.
Waves of Exhaustion
This is Ray of Exhaustion writ very large indeed, as it can affect everyone in a 60 foot cone, causing them to be exhausted, with NO saving throw, which as mentioned before, causes a character to move at half speed, they cannot run or charge, and take- a –6 penalty to Strength and Dexterity. That can potentially cripple a line of melee damage dealers, for no real effort on your behalf. Potentially a game changer when used against a large group of melee focused enemies.
Clone
A magical recreation of yourself, albeit one that’s 2 levels lower than you. If you combine it with Stasis and Magic Jar, you’ve basically got immortality on your hands. However, you could also clone yourself in order to gain a reliable henchman, one who knows exactly how you think.
My personal favorite potential use for it though, is for the GM. This is your chance to create a recurring villain who the players can kill. In effect, the clone gets cloned, who then gets cloned, all the way from the top Campaign End boss, all the way down to the very first boss that the PCs encounter. The first encounter will likely go like normal, the second one a “huh, a twin,” the third “this guy again?”, the fourth “what the heck is going on?” and so on. And the NPC villain would likely die for the cause. The possibilities for a villain look-alike are just endless.
Create Greater Undead
This has the same issues as Create Undead in that it is not competitive with Summon Monster VIII which summons a CR 11 monster each time. Here is the listing as before:
| Caster Level | Undead Created | Challenge Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 15th or lower | Shadow | 3 |
| 16th – 17th | Wraith | 5 |
| 18th – 19th | Spectre | 7 |
| 20th or higher | Devourer | 11 |
Horrid Wilting
This spell dries up all the moisture in your body, doing large amounts of damage (minimum for 15d6), but the real strength of the spell is the range. 400 ft. + 40 ft./level meaning that at minimum, it has a range of 1,000 ft. And it can affect as many creatures as you can get within 60 ft. of each other (as no 2 creatures can be further apart that 60 ft.). Because of the range (almost out of the range of most ranged weapons), it makes for an excellent combat opener, and the amount of potential targets should not be underestimated.
Astral Projection
The ability to travel the planes, using the old theme of the silver lifeline. However, as you get transported back if you’re slain on the other planes, it has an automatic escape clause. Though this costs you two permanent negative levels, the ability to flee if you’re killed is a very good way to retreat if you run into something that you cannot handle. In effect, it lets you (relatively) safely explore places that you would not normally dare to go.
Energy Drain
Similar to Enervation, this spells drains your levels. However, this drains more level (2d4) AND they have the potential to be permanent. This allows you to remove an enemy completely from the picture, without killing them. For GMs it is also a way to “reset” their campaign. What I mean by this is that some GMs find that PCs become so powerful that they’re hard to deal with, but the characters are well loved, and they want to be played more. This spell provides you with an opportunity to remove a lot of the powers that the PCs have gained, without killing them, allowing for you to continue the campaign (though you may want to consider what to do about their gear).
Wail of the Banshee
And here is the “save or die” spell. The closest creature to you dies if they fail their save, and even if they make it, they take a minimum of 170 points of damage. (10 points of damage per level, and minimum level 17 to cast). Incredibly powerful spell, and should you make it to this level of spellcasting ability, I suggest you pick it up.
And this concludes our look into the school of Necromancy. Know of any good tricks to use, or have any stories where Necromancy saved the day? Let us know in the comments below.
Next time, we take a look at Transmutation.
Kim Frandsen
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