I got the very awesome Crimson Pandect from Sine Nomine has some really great new rules on variant magic users. Wanting to get them into my campaign world, I’ve come up with more details on the previously monolithic Mage’s Guild. From this point, I’ll be talking about the specific houses. I can’t list their unique spells from the Pandect, for obvious reasons, but I’m including the cross over spells from ACKS. Today I’m talking about a dark magic that draws it’s origins from Necromancy, but is used to fight the undead.
Necrolators
Necromancy is a dark art that warps the minds and bodies of those who use it too frequently. It is a justifiably feared school of magic, outlawed in almost all civilized nations, even many Chaotic ones. But sometimes you must fight fire with fire. The Necrolators were originally tryshallan who had found ways to use some necromantic energy safely thanks to their race’s greater connection to ‘Life’ or ‘Green’ energy…the opposite force of necromancy. By taking potent oaths and sacrificing most of their magical potential, they gained the ability to mimic, recreate, and most importantly, destroy the forces of unlife.
Called ‘Mourners’ among their own people, they were the protectors of the dead, seeking to put to rest those contaminated by undead or violated by necromancers. They would lead the funerals and death rites of their people, or any people should they travel among other races, and make certain that the dead rested. Should they find a necromancer who wantonly abused the dead…they would hunt them to the ends of the earth.
Necrolators are misunderstood by most, unable to differentiate them from their enemies. Necrolators bare this prejudice as well as they can. They do what they do for the dead first and the living second, so if bigots cannot understand their mission, they cannot help them.
Their magic is almost exclusively focused on life and death. Spells of a more fanciful or elemental nature are forever barred to them. Also, though they are steeped in necromantic energies, they cannot use them to animate the dead. However, this connection to undeath gives them extra powers that help their cause. Unintelligent undead often do not recognize them as living unless they draw their attention. Necrolators neither sleep nor dream…common enough for tryshallan but a strange sacrifice for humans who practice their magic. As they grow in power they become immune to the negative consequences of undead attacks, such as disease or level drain, and eventually they can intuitively recognize all undead for what they are and whether they are created by spell, curse, or infection.
Necrolators are one of the few Arcane Houses that readily has access (albeit at higher levels) to healing magic and even a spell that mimics Restore Life and Limb.
Sense Evil and Undead Slayer are added to their proficiency list but they lose Elementalism and Transmogrification. They cannot take Black Lore, but instead they learn Grey Lore (as a Voudoun Witch)
In addition to the spells listed on their spell list, they gain the following spells from ACKS:
Level 1-Choking Grip, Remove Fear*
Level 2-Necromantic Potence
Level 3-Enervate, Infravision
Level 4-Fear
Level 5-Mass Infravision
Level 6-Death Spell, Oblivion
M Blackburn: A Writer's Journey 