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Necromancer
Symbol:
Abbreviation:	NEC
Allowed Races:	Thestran Vulmane Dark Elf Gnome Kurashasa Qaliathari Goblin Kojani
Gear:	Staff Dagger Light armor Focus items
Talents:	Necromancy undead pets
Adventuring Classes List
Offensive Fighters	Bard - Berserker - Monk - Ranger - Rogue
Protective Fighters	Dread Knight - Inquisitor - Paladin - Warrior
Healers	Blood Mage - Cleric - Disciple - Shaman
Arcane Casters	Druid - Necromancer - Psionicist - Sorcerer

The Necromancer is an arcane caster class in Vanguard and the sole confirmed pet-dependent class. Necromancers use dark magic to create (undead) "abominations." They can also summon minions or animate the fallen. It's not known if they can resurrect party members, though.

The necromancer is able to wield one handed piercing weapons like daggers and 2-handed blunt weapons like staffs.

1 The Undead Forms
2 The Abomination
3 Corpse Magic
- 3.1 The Minions
- 3.2 The Animated Dead
4 Plagues & Curses
5 Necromancer Spells & Abilities
6 Other Info

[edit] The Undead Forms

At level 30, the Necromancer may shift into an undead guise. These are like any other classes' forms, and come in corporeal (Skeleton, Lich, Demi-Lich) and incorporeal (Wraith, Specter, and Ghost) flavors. Like Shaman totems, the plan is to have Necromancers complete their own sort of "vision quest" for these forms.

Undead form will also affect what type of minion may be summoned. Switching forms will temporarily weaken the Necromancer, so you shouldn't do that in a dangerous place.

According to recent information the Necromancer may choose between the corporeal, skeletal looking Lich Form and the non-corporeal, ghostlike Wraith Form.

Lich Form

The Necromancer gains more armor class and does a bit more damage with Bone and Poison spells. He can breath underwater, but in turn the form lowers fire resistance. Also, in Lich Form raised minions take on a zombie look.

Wraith Form

Minions are ghosts.

[edit] The Abomination

The hallmark of Vanguard's Necromancer is the abomination, a persistant pet that can be "upgraded" using grafts. It will fight for you and obey your orders. These creatures are like a flesh golem, made from various body parts. Grafts can be upgraded and swapped out like conventional equipment.

To get new grafts, one must utilize the gruesome "Necropsy" ability. Grafts for the most part are otherwise like loot, and as such there are some elusive grafts one might seek out.

[edit] Corpse Magic

Necromancers can cast certain spells on corpses for special purposes. Only one can be used per corpse, though looting & harvesting grafts can still be done after the body is "claimed."

[edit] The Minions

One use of corpse magic is summoning a minion. These pets are short duration and have more limited instructions than abominations. They can come in three flavors:

Guardian: High hit points but low damage output
Slayer: Medium
Caster: Low hit points but high damage output

The type of the minion depends on what form the Necromancer is in. Necromancers have a certain limit to the amount of minions they can have active at once, and upon exceeding the limit the oldest is discarded first. The minion cap will increase over time as you gain levels.

[edit] The Animated Dead

In addition to bringing out minions, a Necromancer can reanimate a corpse. The corpse will be fully obedient but will not be as powerful as it was when it was alive. Animations count to your minion limit. The Spell to perform this is called Mockery of Life.

[edit] Plagues & Curses

Necromancers' arsenal of arcane magic includes plagues and curses. Plagues are like conventional DoTs and debuffs, except they have a curse counter. After a certain time, the curse counter adds up and triggers any curses.

Curses are special abilities that must be gained via a quest. They don't do anything by themselves; they must be seperately triggered by a plague.

[edit] Necromancer Spells & Abilities

Necromancer Spells & Abilities
Level 1	Bone Spike I Power of the Grave I	Level 2	Torment I
Level 4	Awaken Abomination I Blood Rite I Crippling Blight I	Level 6	Fear I Bone Spike II Plague of Infestation I
Level 8	Drain Life I Vile Ritual I	Level 10	Necropsy Annul Magic I Torment II Sealed Fate I Blood Rite II Underworld Journey Power of the Grave II
Level 12	Crippling Blight II Bone Spike III	Level 14	Hollow Breath Devouring Shadows I Plague of Infestation II Death Incarnate I Ritual Animatus I Enshroud
Level 16	Drain Life II Vile Ritual II	Level 18	Transmogrify Soul Trap I Torment III Bone Spike IV Dark Rebuke I Detonate Corpse I Sealed Fate II Spectre's Touch I
Level 20	Crippling Blight III Plague of Infestation III Blood Rite III Vile Ritual III Power of the Grave III Rest of the Dead I	Level 22	Grasp of the Grave I Shadow Feast I Devour Curse I Ritual of the Guardian Devouring Shadows II
Level 24	Bone Spike V Drain Life III	Level 26	Bonemail I Death Shroud I Ritual of Necropotence I Soul Blight I Plague of Infestation IV Torment IV Dark Rebuke II Sealed Fate III Spectre's Touch II Vile Ritual IV Ritual of the Slayer
Level 28	Crippling Blight IV Detonate Corpse II	Level 30	Grasp of the Grave II Poison Burst I Bone Spear I Shadow Feast II Awaken Abomination II Power of the Grave IV Devouring Shadows III
Level 32	Plague of Infestation V Death Incarnate II Vile Ritual V	Level 34	Wail of the Banshee I Soul Blight II Torment V Dark Rebuke III Sealed Fate IV Spectre's Touch III Mend Flesh I Devour Curse II Corruption I
Level 36	Bone Mail II Ritual of Necropotence II Crippling Blight V Bone Spear II Drain Life IV	Level 38	Death Shroud II Bloodfeast Despoiling Blight I Fear II Grasp of the Grave III Devouring Shadows IV Detonate Corpse III Life Draught I Shadow Feast III Vile Ritual VI
Level 40	Soul Trap II Poison Burst II Blood Rite IV Power of the Grave V Rest of the Dead II	Level 42	Font of Depravity I Torment VI Bone Spear III Dark Rebuke IV Sealed Fate V Spectre's Touch IV Mend Flesh II Ritual Animatus II Deadman's Bargain I
Level 44	Crippling Blight VI Soul Blight III Vile Ritual VII	Level 46	Bonemail III Grasp of the Grave IV Devouring Shadows V Plague of Infestation VI Shadow Feast IV Rite of the Master I Devour Curse III
Level 48	Well of Corruption I Death Shroud III Despoiling Blight II Poison Burst III Bone Spear IV Detonate Corpse IV Life Draught II Corruption II	Level 50	Deathwalk Font of Depravity II Torment VII Dark Rebuke V Death Touch I Sealed Fate VI Spectre's Touch V Shadowmaster's Pact Death Incarnate III Vile Ritual VIII Mend Flesh III Awaken Abomination III Blood Rite V Power of the Grave VI

[edit] Level 1

Bone Spike I

37 Energy
Physical Conjuration
Range: 25
Cast Time: 2.0 Seconds

Summons a deadly hail of bone shards which are magicly hurled at your enemy (sort of a "magic missle" hah hah) dealing physical damage. The amount of damage is based on the Necromancer's level and particular combination of attributes. It is also possible to achieve "critical" or "epic" hits from time to time that can do massive ammounts of damage. (Epic hits are currently disabled. - 1/15/2007) Also, the effect of this looks more like a spray of bone darts rather than a bone spear.)

Power of the Grave I

18 Energy
Alteration
Range: 25
Cast Time: Instant

Grants the Necromancer's ally unnatural vigor and intellect, increasing both constitution and intelligence by 9. This effect lasts one hour. Although the casting time for this spell is instant, the caster will need to wait a very short duration before casting the spell agian.

[edit] Level 2

Torment I

25 Energy
Spiritual Evocation
Range: 25
Cast Time: Instant

Tormenting spirits attack the soul of your opponent, slowing movement by 50% and inflicting 139 to 151 damage over 32 seconds. (Sort of like the Darkeness line from EQ1. This is a snare coulpled with a DoT.)

[edit] Level 4

Awaken Abomination I

0 Energy
Conjuration
Range: 5
Cast Time: 10 seconds

Awakens an abomination to serve the Necromancer's needs. The abomination is the Necromancer's most baisc and loyal minion. It will fight for the Necromancer, even unto it's own...death... Summoning an abomination takes only time... No power is required. Therefor trying to summon an abomination while in battle is only to be attempted as a last resort. The abomination resembles a sinister and agressive flesh golem with a mouth full of needle sharp teeth and powerful limbs tipped with razor sharp claws.

Blood Rite I

12HP, 32 Energy
Alteration
Range: 25
Cast Time: 2.0 seconds

Transfers a portion of the Necromancer's life to their abomination. In essence the Necromancer is able to heal the abomination by sacrificing his own life. This all sounds rather selfless, the master making a sacrifice for his servant, ...oh but there is more... just wait until you learn about "Drain Life"...but that is a spell for a different level... (The in-game description says "heals for 130" though in practice I've only seen it heal for 104.)

Crippling Blight I

27 Energy
Alteration
Range: 25
Cast Time: Instant

Cripples a Necromancer's opponent, lowering their damage output by 18. Most of the weakness will fade within 20 seconds, but the blight lingers for two excruciatingly long minutes.

[edit] Level 6

Instill Fear: The Fear spell is something to use with great care. Use it in a dungeon and you're bound to draw a lot of attention as the foe runs about telling all his friends about you and what you did to him. However, this can be a quick get-out-of-jail card if you find yourself in a sticky situation in some open areas.
Bone Spear of Nathrac: Bone Spear is a real direct damage spell. It does serious damage, so be prepared to have your enemy turn it's head from your minion and begin running right for you. This is a kill-quick combo if your Slayer is hacking away at your enemy while he has been DoT'ed with the Plague of the Flesh Eaters and you drop in this Bone Spear at around 1/2 health.

[edit] Level 8

Plague of Horrid Decay: Advanced DoT. This one does more than just damaging your enemy; it lowers their movement speed, lowers their attack damage by 10% as well as doing damage to them, but not as much as Plague of the Flesh Eaters.
Raise Guardian: He's a tank. Very low damage output, but he can really make an enemy mad at him and hold agro for the duration of a fight. The Guardian stays on the target you've first attacked and will not change targets even if you begin attacking something else, unlike the Slayer that attacks whatever you are attacking.

[edit] Level 10

Necropsy: Spell to harvest usable parts for the Abomination from slain foes.
Toxic Burst: Area effect damage spell.
Mend Flesh: Healing spell that is used to heal the Abomination.
Zombify: Mesmerizing spell that binds an enemy for about 45 seconds.
Summon Abomination: Does exactly that: summoning the Abomination.

[edit] Other Info

Necromancers are deeply embedded in High Fantasy, often as an evil and insidious character who raises the dead to do his bidding—often for dark purposes. While Vanguard might not be sticking entirely to standard high fantasy, the class does show many abilities that are core to the concept—and many other neat abilities on top of that.

The Necromancer was pretty popular this year at E3. It seemed to be a class that many people were excited to hear about and see in action. In fact, a good bit of the gameplay game-play demonstrations was with Necromancers.

So, why is it that this class was getting so much attention? Well, people just seem to love the idea of the Necromancer; the mage who raises the dead to do his bidding. It has an insidiousness about it that could appeal to many. However, let us take a closer look at this class with what was learned at E3 this year, thanks to a few developers at Sigil—largely David Forrest.

Necromancers are most notable for their loyal, undead servants, and they are usually implemented into games as a pet-based class. Vanguard is not straying far from that. However, Sigil is throwing in a few new ideas with their pets. That is, the player can loot parts of creatures and attach them to the necromancer to let it grow stronger and obtain new abilities. For example, you may obtain a rare ‘part’, such as an Ice Claw, which, when attached to your pet, enables it to use snares and roots. Like weapons and armor in the game, there will be rare drops for these parts as well.

The Necromancer also has numerous other abilities that can aid them in battles. They will have a Feign Death, four DOT lines, DD/Snares, DOT/snares, Curses, Auras, a ‘Wail’ line, which acts as an AoE fear spell that also deals damage, as well as a single-target fear. The Necromancer should have a powerful arsenal at their disposal as far as spells go.

Curses sound particularly interesting. They are related to the different DOT lines, which are named after various types of plagues, such as the Plague of Infestation, which causes scarabs to burst from the skin of the target. The curses are attacks that do not happen immediately, but instead take a bit of time to go off with fantastic effects, and do cost mana to cast. Once the curse is cast, it is activated once the DOT on the target has progressed far enough—or if multiple people are DOTing the mob.

To give an example of one of the curses, there is a DOT that drains the mana of the target (potentially a mana-tap), which the Curse of the Thought Worm—a level one curse—is related too. When the curse goes off, it deals extra damage, damages the mana of the target, and silences them for a duration when it goes off.

The Necromancer also has some crowd control abilities—although not as much as some of the other classes. One way in which the Necromancer can do this is with their Mummify ability, which essentially turns an enemy into a mummy that can not fight effectively. The Necromancer has several different Auras that they can use. One example of this would be a Chill Aura, which sends cold effects out from your position, snaring enemies as they get close to you, with a chance to root them for a short duration as the character rises in level.

This also gives the added benefit with AoE spells, such as Poison Blast and Corpse Explosion. With the enemies grouped around you, moving slow, you can gain hits on more targets.

Many people have fond memories of EverQuest and what Necromancer’s had to deal with concerning the faction system. That is, that they were not well liked by good races. It sounds as if Sigil is considered having this class (and possibly others) impact the faction system in Vanguard as well. Yet, it is not clear how this will work, or if it will end up being implemented at all. It was mentioned that High Elves would likely not consider Necromancers as evil, as they view the use of magic, not the magic itself, as good or evil.

Necromancers have quite a few abilities that they can put to use in Vanguard and they should be an exciting class to play for those interested in pet-based classes, or someone interested in a solid arcane-based class. One way or the other, considering the attention that it was given at E3, the Necromancer will likely be a popular class—and quite likely for good reason.

-Arrakiv's E3 Writeup On Necros Sip N Stroll Camo Insulted Cup Holder Safety 1st Prograde View of Two Mirror Under The Nile Flat Cat Medela Ice Pack For Breastmilk Storage

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