Can Necromancers be good (or at least neutral) ?
Rigel
Member Posts: 256
I wonder if from a RPing point of view, Gorion's ward could be a Necromancer, and since I think that he should be of Good alignment (or max Neutral), would that make sense ?
We tend to associate Necromancers with Evil, and in the game, characters like Tarnesh or Xzar do indeed confirm this prejudice. But could they be from Good alignment ? Just people so deeply immersed in their research about life and death that they would become a bit disconnected from the reality... but still could be good-orientated people. A bit like Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's book.
We tend to associate Necromancers with Evil, and in the game, characters like Tarnesh or Xzar do indeed confirm this prejudice. But could they be from Good alignment ? Just people so deeply immersed in their research about life and death that they would become a bit disconnected from the reality... but still could be good-orientated people. A bit like Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's book.
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The Complete Book of Necromancers even bring two kits that need to be of good alignment - one of them (Undead Slayer) I've reproduced for the Infinity Engine inside the I Hate Undead kitpack.
I have found the Complete Book of Necromancers on the Net. But I will try to buy it anyway, I prefer real books ... (perhaps due to my age...).
And your mod looks very interesting. I will install it.
Some people argue that the "Animate Dead" spell should only be used by evil aligned characters, since you're desecrating a corpse to create an evil form of unlife. I've never known anybody playing the game to be a stickler for that though.
Necromancers have a whole spellbook outside of the animate dead spell though, so even if that was your view good aligned necromancers are fair game.
It's a little bit frustrating though that all the healing magic, while still considered necromancy, can't be used by a necromancer. For some reason that particular application of necromancy only comes to god freaks. So Necromancers are put into the position of being studied in the many ways one can manipulate the body and soul, but conspicuously ignorant on how to do any kind of body/soul repair. The one application of those kinds of studies that would typically mark one as a force of objective good, if such a thing could be said to exist.
I would wait a little before installing IHU. I'm updating it ATM; it was my first mod, so a lot of things there are poorly coded or very unbalanced.
I'll put a notice on that mod's thread noticing when I'm ready.
Cheers!
I mean, one of those two kits is basically a surgeon.
I don't cast Animate Dead for that reason. For example, the thought of Aerie, a Good elf Cleric, raising undead is something I just can't wrap my head around. Viconia, sure, but she's not Good.
Necromancers have a minimum wisdom score of 16, which makes the dual really easy, especially if you plan on using the wisdom tomes.
Alternatively it means they've pretty much got guaranteed good times with the Wish spells when they reach that level.
So, yes, I believe a necromancer can be good aligned.
They don't reanmimate bad habits or anything.
"Slay Bad Habit" is like seven degrees of separation away from any necromancy your necromancer will be performing in this campaign.
Oh well, I'll shut up now. My apologies.
That applies only to FR, of course. In other franchises things can look differently. Diablo necromancers are, for example, true neutral due to their training, philosophy and duties.
@Rigel I Hate Undead is uploaded. Hope you enjoy it.
Healing spells, however, cannot be accessed by necromancers. It's stupid.
As a rule of thumb, not even by evil priests connected to necromancy. lol
I'm going to write that one down for further use. Against surgeons, obviously. ?
Also, spells that drain lifeforce are considered evil because they play with one's God(s) given gift : an energy that is given to you at birth and only vanishes when u die, thus "borrowing" it from someone may also be considered a sacrilege. I wont mention healing spells because they are , by DnD terms, origin of divine magic so the caster isn't necessarily playing with forbidden knowledge.
Now, if you consider Necromancy simply a school like any other that reproduces magical effects , be it creepy or not, then a vampiric touch is no more harmful than a fireball.
Now, personally I prefer to see it a something that deals with forbidden knowledge . Its not necessarily evil but it does deal with forces that mortals shouldn't flirt with all the time
In my tabletop games, the reason I give for why the creation of undead is an abomination is because doing so pulls the soul (or at least a portion of it) of the dead person back from the afterlife and traps them in their moldering corpse. It is a horrific existence, and you do so without their consent, making it an undeniably evil act. Other Necromantic spells such as Trap the Soul or Finger of Death (which destroys the soul utterly) are likewise evil for being needlessly cruel and/or destructive, but other Necromancy spells such as Horrid Wilting, while gruesome to witness, are no more evil than incinerating foes with a Fireball. As such, Necromancers don't HAVE to be evil, but due to the temptations of their powers many do wind up slipping into Evil alignments as time goes by.