I'd like to share a few things I've discovered in regards to Necromancers, and purpose a twist on a controversial build. I've tried them all again, except the last one as of recent (v3.4f).
The True Necromancer:
Strat posted a build order some years ago now (its here somewhere), it was pretty solid for a prc that had debatable self-gimp entry requirements. When I first played it way back then, I had a real hard time because of its natural weaknesses. (ie split caster divine and arcane). It was alright once you got into the TN prc, but before that, it was hellish.
Thats all changed now because of several things. Later PRC versions added the Undeath Domain, and then corpsecrafter feats. Also at some point the PRC introduced pnp_animate_dead. Now a Cleric can get animate dead at clevel 3, if I recall correctly. He can have a few tyrantfog zombies, combined with a few corpsecrafter feats and he has some serious undead bodyguards. One can not underestimate their strength at early levels. Animate dead will serve you well as a TN until you get your create undead abilities.
The Dread Necromancer:
Very cool class. I found him to be the squishiest Necromancer though. All those wicked touch attacks, begs for getting into melee. Well that got me killed more than once. Maybe if we had the Tomb Tainted feat, he would be as suggested in pnp, much stronger. Great undead powers such as Undead Mastery at 8th, and he of course gets the best of necromancy spells from both sides of magic. At 20 he gets lich transformation, and now he's the toughest Necromancer. Ironic.
Pale Master:
I always cursed Bioware for gimping this flavorful prc. At first I thought it was Wotc's fault. Starting off a description to a prc by basically stating, "necromancy is a poor choice for arcane casters, roll a cleric you noob". But I soon discovered it was indeed Bioware. Essentially the PM trades arcane power for melee presence in the form of mostly added defense, with necromantic added goodies. Its a fair trade I think, as I always seen necromancers as tougher than your average casters.
But whatever version you look at (Libris Mortis, Tome and Blood, etc), they didn't implement all his abilities. They went to town with the RDD, but came up short for the PM. Why? +4 strength enhancement with undead graft, undead cohort, animate dead should use caster level, etc. All of the missing stuff they could have implemented, but didn't. I hope someday to see the PRC give the PM justice. But even still you can make a solid necromancer with this prc. You get the good fort and will saves, added AC, immunities and much more hps than your average caster. Plus all the good defensive spells of a wizard, if your able to get scrolls. This guy can get into melee, but his touch attacks are arguably not as good as the DN's.
Master of Shrouds:
With no intention of dis'ing anyones favorite, this guy is still the master in my book. You only need to choose one of the domains for entry, your other will likely be Undeath as a cleric of course. Like the TN build, you will be getting animate dead early, and enhanced HD for a higher undead control limit. Throw in some corpsecrafter feats, and you got an army in the making. Unlike the TN early levels though, your animate undead gets better faster as your full caster progression. You can get in there for melee as you'll be getting high BAB, full plate/shield combined with cleric spell buffs. You'll quickly have an army of skeleton Chieftons that is useful even in high levels. If the enemy manages to scrap that (you failed to finger of death that mage casting a empowered fireball?), you got your pissed at the living, incorporeal summons for back up. All the way up till L20 you got lots of assorted undead choices. You'll have animate dead, create undead, create greater undead, Plague of the Undead, and your MoS incorporeal summons.
As if that wasn't enough, your eligable for epic spell casting when you go epic, something the others are either denied or delayed. Of course you seek out the ancient tomes of Mummy Dust and Unholy Disciple (this vampire is a rock star btw) for epic spells. Now thats allot of undead, combined with full caster level necromancy spells, and the cleric group buff spells for all your minions. The only question left remaining is, what nation will you conquer first? (Flip a boney finger and let Nerull decide)
Warlock:
An old article I read suggests this is not an ideal class for a necromancer. Albeit its aimed at pnp, it does have some points that are perhaps valid here. (
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872726/Revised_Necromancer_Handbook )
I'm not convinced yet though. Dipping into a class to get Rebuke undead allows eligibility for Zone of Animation and Undead Mastery. The Dead Walk invocation can be casted infinitely, so when your army starts to dwindle, you just start spooning more out as needed to fill ranks or occupy foes. Utterdark Blast I believe its called, converts your damage to negative energy, and I'm assuming it will heal undead as any other negative energy attack. Combined with Eldritch Chain, Line, or other blast shapes, you can do both in theory, heal your minions while hurting the enemy. Take a few corpsecrafter feats, and get the right invocations for the mix, why wouldn't this work? And for all other purposes why wouldn't such a Warlock be considered a necromancer?
