A History of Magic: Necromancy Subschools and Selected Spells (D&D)

Contents
Previously: The History of Necromancy

The Subschools of Necromancy: Animation, Destruction, Healing, Spiritualism.

                Animation: Called the blood path among many practitioners of necromancy, this subschool is what most modern sensibilities associate most clearly with the entire tradition; the raising of corpses and manipulation of the undead state. While it does little to settle most people’s sensibilities on the subject, it is worth noting that the vast majority of animation spells do not manipulate spirits or souls in any way, restricting itself to the application of energy to tissue in order to achieve its effects.

                Destruction: Sometimes referred to as necromantic battle magic, necromancers refer to schools in this subschool as the blood path. It represents the direct application of negative, and very rarely positive, energy to a subject to achieve a direct effect. The results are such spells as Disrupt Undead, Chilling Touch, Vampiric Touch, Finger of Death, Power Word Kill.

Healing: The use of positive energy, generally to heal creatures or even bring them back to life. These include any spell with the word heal or healing, cure spells, False Life, Regenerate, and Resurrection.

                Spiritualism: Referred to as the ash path or ectomancy, these spells manipulate the spirit or soul through the application of necromantic energy. Some of the most representative spells are those such as Soul Jar and Reincarnate, though a number of the more horrifying ways to raise the dead arise from this subschool.

Selected Spells:

Exterminate

Necromancy cantrip (destruction)

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 10 ft

Components: V, S, M (a pinch of lavender and dried garlic)

Duration: Instantaneous

In the hands of a novice spellcaster, this spell instantaneously snuffs out the life forces of such normal pests as flies, mice, beetles, rats, spiders, and the like. This effect deals 2 necrotic damage to all creatures in a 5’ cube. Against a swarm of tiny creatures it is far more devastating, dealing 2d8 necrotic damage. A successful intelligence save halves this damage.

The spell’s damage increases by 2 (to single creatures) or 2d8 (to swarms) when you reach 5th level (4 or 4d8), 11th level (6 or 6d8), and 17th level (8 or 8d8).

Primary Animation

Necromancy cantrip (animation)

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 10 ft

Components: V, S, M (a drop of blood)

Duration: 1 minute

You suffer 1 hp of necrotic damage as the spell imbues the bones or corpse of a tiny beast with a bit of your own life force, animating it as a skeleton (from bones) or zombie (from a corpse). The DM will provide the creature's game statistics.

You can command this creature as if it were created with the Animate Dead spell.

At the end of this spell the animation fails and the creature reverts to its lifeless state.

Animate Creature

1st level necromancy (animation)

Casting Time: 1 minute

Range: 10 ft

Components: V, S, M (a drop of blood)

Duration: Instantaneous

Your spell imbues the bones or corpse of a tiny beast with a foul mimicry of life, raising it as a skeleton (from bones) or zombie (from a corpse). The DM will provide the creature's game statistics.

You can command this creature as if it were created with the Animate Dead spell.

The creature remains under your control for 24 hours, after which it stops obeying any commands you've given it. To maintain control of the creature for another 24 hours you must cast this spell on the creature again before the current 24-hour period ends. This use of the spell reasserts your control over up to four creatures you have animated with this spell, rather than animating a new one.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, you animate or reassert control over two additional undead creatures for each slot level above 1st. Each of the creatures must come from a different corpse or piles of bones.

Skulltrap

1st level necromancy (destruction)

Casting time: 10 minutes (ritual)

Range: Touch

Components: V, S, M (a pinch of dust from the physical remains of a free-willed undead being)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

This ward may be placed on any non-living skull, including the skull of an undead skeleton. The spell remains dormant until the skull is touched by living matter or is struck and damaged by non-living matter. Gloves or any other thin materials used to cover the flesh of a living being are not enough to prevent the trap from being discharged, while being struck by a weapon in combat or falling to the floor will also discharge it. This simple warding does not discriminate; it can just as easily be triggered by the wizard who cast the spell as by a curious rat brushing up against it.

When the spell discharges the skull violently explodes in a blast of energy drawn from the negative energy plane.

The burst does 2d6 necrotic damage to all living creatures within 10' of the skull, though a Constitution save will negate this damage.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher the damage increases by 2d6 for each slot level above 1st.

Corpse Link

2nd level Necromancy (animation)

Casting time: 1 Action

Range: 60 feet

Components: V, S, M (the appropriate sensory organ of an animal or monster noted for its keen senses, such as the eyes of a hawk, ear of a rabbit, snout of a pig, etc)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

With this spell, you establish a sensory link between yourself and a corpse or freshly animated zombie of a humanoid within range. This link allows the caster to gather sensory information from the vicinity of the cadaver or undead being.  The spell conveniently masks unpleasant sensations emanating from the cadaver itself (such as the putrefying stench of the cadaver or taste of rotting flesh) so that subtle variations can easily be detected.

If the subject is dismembered this spell remains active for the bulk of the creature or whatever part remains attached to the head and/or heart. Regardless, it does not retain connection with all parts. However, this can be used on separated body parts. For example, a necromancer harvests the eye from a fresh cadaver and places it on a high ledge, with a strategic view of a front door.

While the spell is in effect, the wizard retains normal use of their own senses.

Next: The History of Evocation

~~*~~

Irony seems thick that I tell a story in which necromancy features heavily, make a huge deal about the positive energy necromancer, paint the corpse animating scion of evil as the latecomer-aberration… then the example spells read like the traditional necromancer's primer.

However, the first spell I made for this set, Primary Animation, was chosen and created very carefully. While, on the face, it clearly ticks off all the pieces of the traditional "dark necromancy" language (necrotic damage, raising dead), a look at the way these are put together can change the sense of what this actually is; sacrificing bits of ones own life to give a semblance of it to another creature. While this is clearly a precursor to the animate dead spell it can just as easily be the precursor to lifegiving spells among a practice that, as described, wouldn't gain access to the boundless power of the inner planes for generations. Beyond a few tweaks like that, I really didn’t feel the need to beat the positive energy drum further because that’s not the purpose of this set of articles.

Meanwhile, I rounded out with updates of a few of my favorite things from the old AD&D Complete Necromancer, which was a fantastic book. I mean, it is definitely part of its era with all the duct tape and hand waving that held AD&D together, but I cannot count the number of times I’ve managed to pull inspiration and ideas out of it.