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mandatory

philosopher
priest/monk
scientist
all three could study life and death without looking like an edgy retard
but really youre just trolling or a troptard

A dead body is nothing more than a tool. You don't have to get all emo and edgy by making a bull pull a plow. Just treat raising the dead as you would someone harnessing a bull for work. It's a chore, sure, but it makes the rest of the work easier.

Have a motivation other than MY PARENTS ARE DEAD AND NOW I WANT TO DESTROY THE WORLD WITH AN ARMY OF THE UNDEEEEEEEEEAD

It's not hard, OP. Necromancers can be all sorts of shit.

>>31346570
You're making the wrong assumptions about necromancers man. The evil ones give the rest a bad name. The god of death is true nuetral bro. Nothing is black or white. Where some people work magic focused on life, you've chosen something just as important in the scheme of creation in which to work your art.

>>31346604
crying about how evil, prejudiced heroes just don't understand you is the opposite of what the OP wants

>>31346668
All of this.
You can be treating souls to the after life while realizing that they're mortal vessel can still be useful

Play him as a dude who's not particularly happy about it.
He loves magic, and he wants to study magic and practice magic, but necromancy is the only school of magic he has any affinity in.
He'd so much rather be a druid or a pyromancer or anything.
But no, he's stuck with necromancy, and he's not terribly happy about it, but he'll take what he can get.

>>31346686
Psychopomps who are into recycling?

>"You're going at this the wrong way, chappy - not that I don't understand, obviously - but what I do isn't grim and grotesque at all! I mean if you think about it - er, that is a rather large pitchfork isn't it? - but how I think about it is with hope. I mean I couldn't reanimate your loved one's empty husk if it weren't empty, right? And - so many torches, my word - and that at the minimum means something has left the body, right? So if you think, I mean really think, you'll realize that my work is confirmation that your loved one has moved on to something better! I'm not saying you should THANK me - would you mind not swinging that chain quite so close? - but perhaps some gratitude wouldn't be unwelcome or unwarranted."
>"GET HIM!"
>"I was just trying to heeeeeeelp!"

Only raise the dead for a good cause."Oh no gramma died!" Raise they're grandma and let he keep on keeping on. Hell, she might be better at plowing the fields than horses.

>>31346640
>>31346736
More along the lines that bodies of any sort, empty of soul or life force, are simply tools for the necromancer without it being evil or inherently wrong.

>>31346721
Why would someone be stuck with Necromancy?

>>31346570
Just animate monster corpses.

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>>31346760
Or maybe old grams is good for another sort of plowing.

>>31346640

No. Do the opposite of this. Treating a dead body like its just a tool is the edgiest thing possible. That used to be a person and it deserves some respect. You make sure all your undead are clothed to preserve their dignity. Put masks or hoods on them to lessen the impact at looking at a human face. Refuse to touch your own undead. Refuse to sleep in the same room as them. Refuse to bring them into people's homes uninvited. Keep them away from animals. Always book end your instructions to them with pleases and thank yous.

This trend of "pragmatic" necromancy is the edgiest shit there is.

Childish happiness.

You might need to get a little physical, but you are good at convincing people to join your side. Your parties tend to be full of people who've had really rough times.

>>31346775
he just explained that

>>31346754

This sounds like a good misunderstood villain. He doesn't MEAN to upset people, and sometimes his creations do a great deal of harm, but he's just trying to help!

>>31346570
One thing that bugs me about necromancy is there is always the assumption that the dead are being forced into service.

Who's to say that your skeletal minions are not animated by the spirits of dead adventurers who are up for another scrap, or are lost and are asking that you help them to the beyond in return for assistance?

>>31346805
Pragmatic Necromancy is the least edgy if you consider that a necromancer could be primarily be concerned for the souls of those fallen.

Suppose a paladin falls, and his soul rises, but in his dying wishes he asked that he eternally fight evil through his animated corpse?

>>31346762

Yeah, the body is now rapidly cooling meat. The soul has gone to wherever it's God has taken it. Now it's just a pile of rotting matter that could be used for more useful purposes. Building a barn, walking into potential death traps, bludgeoning kobolds to death with cold dead limbs, ect.

>>31346869
>>31346894
Thank the gods for you two. Hivemind strikes upon reason again.

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>>31346604
Am I the only one that thinks that this 60 year-old man is a sissy? People are stupid - it's a fucking axiom. If he really wanted to help people in the long run he could transform into a lich and see that they didn't fuck his achievments up. No need for an undead army to control the world - subtle manipulation from the shadow is enough.

>>31346869

He comes from a big family and tries to only use family members- either their remains or their spirits.

"Grandpa Wipple, would you mind taking care of that Ogre for me?"
>YOU NEVER WEAR THE SWEATER YOUR GRANDMOTHER MADE YOU
"This isn't the time, afterwards perhaps?"
>SHE WORKED VERY HARD ON IT YOUNG MAN
"I'll wear the sweater, dammit, just please kill that Ogre!"
>YOU DON'T HAVE TO IF YOU DON'T WANT TO IT WOULD JUST BE NICE IF YOU DID

>>31346775
He just can't cast a fireball well or something.
Like, everyone has the thing that they're good at.
And for some people they just can't get better through practice. Maybe they practice poorly or they just don't learn particularly well.
Either way, there is some mental or physical aspect of himself that he just CAN'T cast the fireball.

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>>31346796

>>31346936
I would be tempted to kill them again. But that would make for a hilarious game.

>>31346906
What this dude said. Putting a corpse to work is no more evil than a vulture coming along and eating it. Waste not, want not.

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>>31346796
>>31346954

>>31346805
>Treating a dead body like its just a tool is the edgiest thing possible

Not really. A lot of religions consider the soul sacrosanct and indestructible but the body to be rubbbish after death. People tell stories of Buddhists up in tibet that dismember corpses of the dead for "sky burial" as in feeding them to the birds because the ground isn't suited to digging a big pit, that will often laugh and joke while doing it because they know the body isn't the dead person. It's just flesh. The soul has moved on to the next stage. Edgy would be taking the body, dressing it as it was in life and making it mimic the life it had. That's edgy. And stupid.

>>31346570

I could suggest reading the Sabriel series; it deals with Necromancers as its primary protagonists.

Moreover, you're simply someone who has the ability to speak for the dead, like the child in the Sixth Sense. In return for their help, you guide them to their final peace, and if necessary, help with them finding justice.

>>31346906
>>31346894
I second (third?) that. If you want to be a good or neutral necromancer than consider the will of those who died. A farmer on his deathbed would want for his family to survive through winter - he asks you to reanimate his body to help his children with the harvest. A soldier wants to protect his country even in death - same thing. Long story short - use only the bodies of those who agree to a reanimation.

>>31346958
I think the main issue isn't that they're animating bodies, but rather what they're animating bodies with.

>>31346936

>CAN WE GO TO THE PUBLIC GARDEN AFTER THIS?
Not yet, Aunt Milly, not yet.
>IT WOULD BE A NICE DAY FOR IT
I haven't had you embalmed yet, you'll scare people.
>PEOPLE WON'T PAY ME MIND, THE ROSES ARE COMING IN THIS TIME OF YEAR
When I have the coin to embalm you, I will.
>WELL YOU COULD AFFORD THOSE BRITCHES OF ELEMENTARY PROTECTION, I NOTICED
Elemental protection, Aunt Mil.
>YOU ALWAYS ACT LIKE I'M A BOTHER, IS WHAT I'M SAYING

>>31346980
Sabriel a shit. Not even Tim Curry's reading voice could save that shit.

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>>31346869
depends on the setting. in D&D undead are just like negative energy golems, which is boring but there you go.

in real life, the undead were generally viewed as "restless dead". think about it as being like a person who wants to go to sleep but suffers from insomnia. people don't generally want to put themselves into that situation, and if they do (maybe so they can stay up to complete an essay) they will desperately want to go back to sleep at some stage. it's kind of an unnatural, tormented existence. hence a lot of religions put a heavy focus on the proper rites for keeping the dead happy at rest, and someone who disturbs the dead (by exhuming their corpse, desecrating their grave, or whatever) would be regarded very poorly.

>>31346894

Its not the Paladin's place to say that he wants to eternally fight evil through his animated corpse. They are ordained holy warriors. They bow to the will of their God. The only reason that would be okay is if it was a direct act of God.

>>31346869

It isn't the assumption that the undead are being conscripted. It is the assumption that the bodies are empty and being put to use by someone other than the original inhabitant. Even if it isn't evil, it unsanitary. It attracts vermin. Vermin spread disease, eat crops and spoil stores of food. Not to mention the psychological trauma of the people forced to witness the shambling corpse. There in an inherent revulsion of dead people for a damn good reason.

>>31347033

I'm just saying that Sabriel is one way of portraying Necromancers.

>>31347034
Yeah, though there's no background of necromancers creating minions "in real life" traditions. Even zombies were horrifying because you're taking away from the living, not adding to the dead.

>>31346995
Negative energy is not evil; it is an integral part of the cosmology. The only people who maintain that negative energy is evil are good-aligned control freaks and their dupes.

>>31346570
Garth Nix's Sabriel

The dead reanimate, and that's a perrversion of The Natural Order. It's your soulsworn duty to lay them to rest.

You CAN make minions our of skeletons or bind ghosts (Knowing how to do that can be useful in taking down an undead Beastie), but feckless reanimation goes against everything you believe in.

>>31347053
So boil their flesh and animate skeletons while the previous inhabitant souls are busy partying it up in heaven.

>>31346570
Smile.

>>31346997

>WHAT'S DA DOING?
Your father is dueling a golem, little cousin.
>WILL I GET TO DUEL A GOLEM?
No, child, I don't want to endanger your anima.
>I WANT TO BE WITH DA AGAIN.
You shall, cousin, when we finish your body.
>WILL IT BE ALL BLACK AND SHINY LIKE DA'S?
Obsidian, yes. Your father will show you how to animate it.
>WHY ISN'T MAMA WITH HIM?
She asked to sleep, dear cuz, and so we let her go.
>I DON'T WANT TO SLEEP BUT I MISS MAMA
Do not fret. You've the whole family to keep you company.

>>31347053
There's a spell in pathfinder that aloows you to destroy all flesh on the corpse.
1. Shave the meat off.
2. Clean the skeleton with prestidigitation.
3. Animate your sanitary-friendly skeleton.
4. ...
5. PROFIT!

>>31346936
>>31346997
God damn this is gold

>>31347124
And suddenly it's sad. Good but sad. I guess it is important to remember we're talking about dead people.
Imaginary dead people sure but still dead people.

In any case, that would be a great way to play a necromancer but you'd have to have a great GM to go along with it.

>>31347171

I'm seriously considering writefagging this. It'll be my next character, perfect for DW.

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Have him be a cheerful and kind old man who always has time for a drink and a friendly word with friends. Has a big butterfly tattoo across his back. Very colourful.

"Consider the humble caterpillar. As it enters the final stage of its life all it knows is that it is dying. And it is at peace with this. The butterfly is a beautiful creature born from that little death. It has no memory of not being what it is and it is at peace with that fact".

He first got into necromancy because he wanted to have a jolly good chin wag with the big thinkers from history. It wasn't until he was some way into his studies that he learned the difficulties involved. Distance from the person you want to talk to, time, miles, neural compatibility and sheer bloody chance, always proved a problem. Met a lot of interesting people instead.

Visits the local temple/church/big ominous standing stone/whatever every weekend if he is able. People find that odd. He has no idea why. Most if not all of the saints are dead, the dead keep good company, he keeps good company so there is no problem.

You can raise bodies back to life. You can put their soul back in them. You refuse to do it to an unwilling soul. Forcing the departed back into the world of the living is a violation right up there with rape as far as you care. Raising a body, with the permission of the family to which it once belonged, and temporarily installing a portion of your own soul to puppet it around is less of a problem. Always carry lavender oil and formaldehyde around when you do this.

Once, when he was younger, he made some Sinister Dark and Intimidating robes. He wore them once to a fancy dress party. Now he just dresses in wooly jumpers two sizes too big for him and other nice warm things.

Just act like necromancy is a normal type of wizardry.
Or summon skeletons instead of corpses/zombs.

You could easily play a "resolver of unfinished business" medium. One whom makes contracts with the departed, and helps network them or provide passage into the physical plane of existence to help them finish their final tasks.

Whether it's something as simple as ensuring a last will doesn't get manipulated to end up in the wrong hands, or ensuring that a now-orphaned son/daughter can grow up to be a healthy responsible adult, this necromancer is one whom can discern truth and use it to help the departed fulfill their last wishes.

Or does this not really count?

>>31346570
You could literally play any type of character who just thinks undead are cool

>>31347124

>YOU COULDN'T MAKE ME AN OBSIDIAN HOST LIKE DAREN'S COULD YOU?
We tried that already, do you remember what happened?
>IT WAS TOO BIG
It's supposed to be too big, uncle, that's the point.
>BUT IT WAS TOO BIG AND THE DOORWAY WAS TOO SMALL
You were reckless in life, I don't know what I expected.
>I WAS A GREAT HERO ONCE, YOUNG MAN
You were. But you're flatly bad at this.
>I SHALL DO BETTER.
And even now the carpenter's are fixing the hole in my wall. Life goes on.
>THAT'S RATHER CRASS
You know what I meant.

>>31346570
"I was originally training as a surgeon, when I discovered just how much necromancy and modern medicinal practices overlapped I became fascinated with the art."
That took me like five seconds to come up with, what's stopping you from thinking slightly outside the "I want to take over the world cause I'm so edgy!" box?

Have him be a Cleric with the Deathless domain. That way he can create "undead" that aren't really undead. Instead, they are Positive Energy creatures that practically make flowers spring up behind them from the sheer force of how pleasant and life-givingly good they are.

>>31347251

>AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH
Please stop it.
>AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH
It's rather loud is my point.
>I FEEL LIKE I'M FALLING AAAAAAAAGGGGHH
You aren't falling, you're floating-
>AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH
-and you can't feel anyway you're dead.
>AAAAAA- WAIT WHAT?
Dead. You've joined the family, now.
>BUGGER
I'm sorry.
>WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN?
Last night, going by the morbidity.
>WAS IT THE FISH? THE FISH TASTED OFF.
You were well past ninety, pop-pop, there doesn't need to be a reason.
>BUT THE FISH TASTED OFF IS MY POINT

>>31347251
This is kind of reminding me of the ectomancer in Dresden Files.
He never helped them manifest but he was friends with all the ghosts on his property and had a pretty good standing all around town with the shades of the dead. This is the kind of banter he'd get up to.

>>31347312

I remember that. He was a really neat character, and most of the ghosts were too. There's something really neat about the idea that a necromancer is keeping, if nothing else, the memory of these people alive. They're dead, but they aren't GONE. And if you're careful, you can make sure that isn't as horrifying as it sounds.

To quote a previous thread.

>A crowning moment of awesome could be, if he reaches high level, fending off an entire army from a major city. He sticks his walking stick in the ground of the armies cemetery and gets the cities highest ranking military officer to shout 'Attention'. Regiments of fists punch out of the grassy earth in unison.

Cross class with bard, have a skeleton xylophone, drums, mariacas, etc. Summon skeletons to do dances and give them all silly names. Play like pyro from tf2, but bones instead of fire.

>>31347306
>>31347251
>>31347124
>>31346997
>>31346936
Combine this
>>31347192
with this.

Maybe the cheerful old man started the tradition, and the whole lineage has kept it going.

>>31346805
I don't know man I don't give a fuck about bodies after someone dies. Your thing sounds mare edgy anyway.

>>31347433
Does that mean the cheerful old man is still amongst their number?

>>31347433
>Each necromancer in the line is aided in his studies by those who came before him.

This is getting dangerously cool.

Though there's some funny potential there too
>WHAT'S THAT YOUR READING?
It's a treatise on leyline theory.
>LEYLINES? BAH, HOGWASH
There's a lot of evidence for it sir--
>EVIDENCE? MORE LIKE HOGWASH. I SWEAR EVER SINCE BIGBY CAME AROUND MAGICAL THEORY HAS GONE TO HELL.
Sir might you consider that in the past 150 years--
>IN MY DAY YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO FEEL AROUND FOR ONE OF THESE SO CALLED "LEYLINES" FOR WEEKS BEFORE YOU COULD DO SOME SUMMONING. YOU JUST PULLED THE MAGIC OUT OF YOUR SOUL LIKE YOU WERE MEANT TO.

>>31346570
This thread and that metal thread gives me an idea... What about a bard/necromancer who raises undead and plays metal and wants to take over the world with his army because "It would be the most metal thing I could possibly do"
I adventure to buy the hundreds of enchanted lutes, and the mats necessary to make corpse buddies. And raise skeletons. Because zombies are overdone. Oh, and later ghouls. Because they're nasty.

>>31346570
Step 1: be rob zombie
Step 2: be rob zombie

>>31346570

The motives behind my Necromancer were simple: anyone with a bit of talent or the blessing of a deity can make undead; the trick was to make the PERFECT undead. He ran a mortuary as a main business and practiced raising the dead and altering them, attempting to perfect the ultimate in corpsecrafting. There wasn't a reason WHY, just the desire to accomplish it.

>>31347593
Great great grandpa sure liked his hogwash didn't he?

My young wizard lost everyone she knew when she was a child and has abandonment issues thanks to that and her irresponsible mentor. One possible path that she's interested in is learning necromancy to ensure that she doesn't lose anyone she loves anymore. She's been told off for considering necromancy by her party mates, but the thought is still there.
My character for if she dies is a Dread Necromancer who's a total daddy's girl for her father, an important figure in a major magical guild. She doesn't see it as a matter of right or wrong, just as something she can do that can help her father and easily create powerful servants to help her to this end.

The magics are just incidental to the characters that I create.

>>31347312
Dude most of those ghosts were murderous nut jobs that he was keeping in line.

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>>31347653
>lost everyone she knew as a child
>decides to become a necromancer
>not edgy as fuck.

>>31346570
Please search up "My Immortal" the infamous 'Harry Potter Fanfic."
It is pretty much a step by step guide to create a mary sue emo satanist vampire necromancer edgelord.

>Ebony Dark'Ness Dementia Raven Way is the main character's name.

>>31347678
I remember that at least a few were but I thought that for the most part they were just people who hadn't moved on for whatever reason.

Like yeah, his regiment of ghost soldiers were different. Except for that awesome one who helped Dresden learn how to ghost properly.

>>31347691
She's not a necromancer though, not yet. It would be less out of "THESE WOUNDS THEY WILL NOT HEAL" and more out of an irrrational fear of losing the people she cares about.

>>31346570
Here's a thought. Make a Day of the Dead necromancer. Have them wear colorful outfits and skull face paint and be really loud and boisterous and cheery and have them cook meals for their undead homies and play the maracas.

>>31347746
The cool guy ghost was the only one of them that was in his right mind. Then there was the protector ghosts that looked after the place. All the rest of the ghosts turn into horrible monsters that the big bad wanted to eat to get their insanity.

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>>31347518
my bet is that most people would prefer if their loved ones bodies were buried respectfully rather than being thrown onto a landfill, even though the latter is more practical than wasting space on burials. you might feel differently, but my instinct is that most people disagree.

personally, it seems like using the dead as tools is a bit like making weapons out of human bone. it's something you can do, and it's not useless, but it does seem a bit edgy when you can have a good steel weapon instead. in this case we have to wonder why people don't make their golems out of better material, unless we come up with some contrived reason why they can animate corpses but can't animate golems just as well, even though the corpses are apparently "just tools" and functionally identical to any other lifeless matter. in which case, like the bone weapon, they are crummy tools and people should have focused on making better ones.

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>>31347804
Still edgy as all fuck. But that special snowflake kind of pretentious edgy that tries to make people think its deep and sorrowful, when in truth its just cliche and edgy.

>>31347731
OP asked how NOT to.

>>31347838
Probably harder to gather together the material for golems. Bodies come preprepared. Or maybe its just a different school of magic to animate golems? What the fuck are golems animated by anyway?

>>31346923
But then he eventually becomes the evil they were so afraid of as his mind ossifies over the centuries. Perfectly nice people become absolute unyielding dicks when they get old.

>>31347838
Bodies are designed for movement, rocks generally aren't. Unless Necrodude is a mason as well, the golem could be cost prohibitive, and if he is, then it would take too much time?

>>31347894
teach by example. show him the extremes of wrong.

>>31347932
Elementals, if I remember rightly

>>31347550
I'd imagine so.

"Ancestor of mine, I require your arcane understanding. I need to unlock the secrets of these Shadowrunes-"
>SHADOWWHATSIT?
"-Shadowrunes, venerated ancestor. I'm reaching the nadir of my power and-"
>DO YOU KNOW IF THAT OLD WILLOW IS STILL ALIVE?
"-I'm sorry, which willow? A tree?"
>DOWN NEAR THOSE STANDING STONES. WASN'T THERE A BROOK NEARBY?
"Well. Yes. I think so. Brook dried up, though. Can we get to the Shadowrunes-"
>YOUR MOTHER TELLS ME YOU MET A GIRL SOME WEEKS AGO.
"I'd really rather talk about the Shadowrunes- she was a distraction on my path to pow-"
>GO GET SOME LUNCH. UNCLE ARCHY PACKED YOU SOME SANDWICHES. ENOUGH FOR TWO.
"Is this strictly necessary to my research?"
>I SHOULD THINK NOT BUT IT IS ESSENTIAL YOU TAKE THIS YOUNG LADY OUT.
"I will sire an offspring, I promise you. The line won't end with me."
>WELL THERE IS THAT, TOO. YOU'RE LOOKING PALE, AND YOU MUSTN'T FORGET TO DO SOME LIVING OF YOUR OWN.
"My research-"
>WILL WAIT. GO ON. AFTERWARDS YOU CAN TELL US ALL ABOUT YOUR DATE.
"If you insist, honored elder, I will."
>ALSO UNCLE ARCHY MENTIONED THE WIRES ON HIS FEMUR ARE COMING LOOSE.

>>31347965
Wouldn't that be worse then? Elementals have thoughts and such don't they? Not really a problem with negative energy.

>>31347838
I imagine the difference between a golem and a zombie is the difference between a Thanksgiving meal and a "work lunch" meal. Golems require you make everything from scratch but the result is awesome. There's at least an attempt at craftsmanship involved. Zombies just kind of use whatever material is on hand, "pre-made" in essence. They're not as good as golems, but they're a lot more readily available. Yeah, there are corpsecrafters who can make the best damn zombie you've ever seen out of nothing. You'd probably find them on /ck/.

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>>31347865
Well gosh, you sure showed me. Here I thought I knew all about my character I created, but it turns out I was wrong. Jeepers, who'd have thought I was playing an edgy, pretentious character without actually playing as an edgy, pretentious character? Thanks idiot, now I know my mistake, and will remedy it.

Tell me, oh lord of fools, how would YOU remake my character so that she isn't like every other edgy, pretentious, ill-defined character that's she's exactly like? Just use her backstory and the experiences that she's had during the campaign, as well as the campaign setting (all of which I'm sure you're familiar with), and fix it, please.

>>31347990
Yeah, though I don't think all constructs are made from bound elementals, just golems, which contain earth elementals. That said, it does seem evil as fuck to make them. They sure as hell don't like it, considering how clay/flesh golems can go beserk if the elemental breaks free

>>31347550
>>31347968
Or the cheerful old man is the current head of the family. Family is probably the wrong word at this point.

Given that the first necromancer in this family was about 200 years ago and they have often been blessed with lots of offspring the number of souls in question is possibly approaching 1000 if you take into account in-laws. Also friends of the family coming back for a brief visit.

More of a clan or tribe than anything.

And the living members of the family are still going strong. Only a few of them are necromancers. Most of them haven't even met a necromancer, although they have heard of them.

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>>31348033

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>>31347932
that's the great thing about golems, they come in all shapes and sizes. peasants can't afford clay? make golems out of mud.

>>31347948
I put it to you that making a skeleton move around is no less demanding than making a vaguely humanoid pile of mud do the same.

>>31347990
3.5e says "spirits from the elemental plane of earth". which possibly means elementals, but then again it doesn't make it entirely clear.

but that's just the basic D&D setting, you can branch out from that. how about this: you play a necromancer who is trying to free peasants from their inefficient use of corpses by studying how to use negative energy to animate golems instead. you've already mastered how to use negative energy to bring mud to life and now you're learning statuary so you can branch out into other materials. by the end of the campaign you have a retinue of greek-style marble statues following you around, while you laugh at the corpse-using simpletons for their lack of culture. campaign ends with you bringing to life the colossal statue of a god to do battle with invading monster.

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>>31348033
Jesus Christ.

>>31347968

>ANON! ANON! WHERE ARE YOU?
Auntie Agnes, please stop screaming. What do you want?
>I WAS ON MY WAY TO THE COLD ROOM, AND I SAW YOUR APPRENTICE IN THE KITCHEN, EATING A SANDWICH
Yes, and...?
>IT WAS A NUT PASTE AND JAM SANDWICH
...yes, and...?
>IT WAS MY SPECIAL MANDRAKE JAM HE WAS EATING! THE NERVE OF THESE PEOPLE, DEVOURING SUCH A FINE AND RARE TREAT IN SUCH A CASUAL MANNER
Let it go Auntie, he likes your jam, what's the problem with eating it?
>YOU KNOW I CAN'T COOK ANYMORE BECAUSE OF MY... CONDITION, ANON! WHY DO YOU LET A MERE APPRENTICE EAT SOMETHING THAT PRECIOUS?
Well, to be quite sincere, I never liked mandrake jam, Auntie. I still have all the jars you've sent me over the years stockpiled in a corner of the pantry.
>WHAT?!?!?!
Well, I don't like mandrake, nor know any living person that does. Well, you do, but, again, you have your... condition, as you like to call it.
>I'VE NEVER BEEN MORE INSULTED BY ANYTHING IN MY WHOLE LIFE... UNLIFE... STOP SNIGGERING, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!
Sorry Auntie.
>YOU BETTER BE. THE NERVE OF THESE YOUNGSTERS!
Again, I'm sorry, but-
>WASTING AWAY PERFECTLY GOOD MANDRAKE JAM! YOUR GRANDFATHER WOULD BE FURIOUS AT YOU
>I spoke to him last week, and he told me he couldn't stand it either, he only ate it to make you happy.
>Oh, I never realized, how nice of... ENOUGH! I'M GOING AWAY TO VENT OFF. FIND SOMEONE ELSE YOU HAVEN'T OFFENDED TO HELP YOU WITH YOUR SUMMONING RITUAL OF MORICZ!

>>31348160
>>31348229
The guy actually has a point, the backstory of a character =/= how they're played.

She could have that backstory and still be a walking ball of sunshine and fluffy kittens.

>>31348283
Oh he has a point but he's mad as fucking hell and that's hilarious to me.

>>31348197
Well if you could use negative energy to power golems and they didnt need much prep I would certainly prefer using them. That said if there were just bodies around I would use them as well.

Diablo Necromancers aren't evil or that edgy.

http://www.diablowiki.net/Necromancer

you all do realize that a corpse, even an undamaged one, becomes completely stiff at death. all you get is a solid man-shaped rotting husk of meat that on top of requiring the exact same puppeteering magic as a stone golem (or a pile of sticks) to actually move, will also need additional work cutting and loosening the stiff body into movable parts and some kind of preservation magic to prevent it from being eaten by crows and maggots in 2 days AND additional magic to mask the smell

and thats not even mentioning that other than disease related deaths corpses will either come in damaged form or the even more fragile than usual old age variations

>>31348375
Actually rigor mortis fades 4-8 hours after it sets in. It's not permanent.

>>31348306
I dunno, RAW he's just saying prove me wrong and being a cunt about it. Which I guess feeds back to the original question of avoiding stereotypical necros.

Fuck both of their presentation though. Cunty arguments get nothing done.

>>31348375
Magic probably takes care of the movement, otherwise they wouldn't be able to raise things mid fight. You could say fuck the smell since that is probably going to be the last thing you have to worry about if you have a troop of undead following you, and do you really care about the flesh? Its pretty much just ablative armour at that point.

>>31346570
Have the game take place in an undead-using country and be a zealous patriot. Buy fully into the nation's propaganda. Your countrymen's souls have gone on to wherever they go, and their bodies have returned to the land. Don't think of it as animating the dead. Think of it as the land rising up to defend its people. Think of it as your countrymen being so loyal to their nation and its citizens and they fulfill their oaths of service even beyond death.

>>31348534
Soviet Russia with undead.

I play Mine as a surgeon that has just gone a bit over the edge, unable to deal with the loss of patients he has become totally focused on trying to perfect the art of necromancy, Every monstrous unthinking minion he creates terrifies him but he has to keep going he has to master it has to find a way to stop death.

As a general note: Have a reason to be animating dead corpses as opposed to flesh golems or rotting chimeras or some shit - otherwise, you're just using zombies for the uncanny valley factor to intimidate the enemy, which lends itself to evil and edginess specifically.

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>>31348283
I dunno, he said abandonment issues, which doesn't really scream sunshine to me. At any rate, you're right about backstory. If backstory defined a character, every orphan would play out the same way, which I'm sure anyone who has made an orphan character would testify against.
I liked the idea about the magic being incidental to the character though. Seems like a good way to avoid playing a person in a necromancer costume, at least.

>>31348616
I don't mean to be argumentative but why would it be evil to try to intimidate enemies that way? I can see the edgy for sure but not the evil.

>>31348731
Because /tg/ can't agree on what the definition of edgy is.

>>31348616
>Have a reason to be animating dead corpses as opposed to flesh golems or rotting chimeras or some shit

Besides the fact that its easier to raise a zombie than make a flesh golem. And the fact that a zombie doesn't have chance to go berzerk like a golem does. And that a zombie is humanoid and so is suited to move and act like the controller so having it perform actions that the controller wishes will be a more straight forward command?

>>31348731
>reanimate the corpses of fallen comrades/friends/family/neighbors/regular-ass human beings just to strike fear into your enemy as they are slaughtered and then incorporated into your army of darkness
>not affecting your alignment

You might be able to get away with a Spawn-esque character, but that doesn't really lend itself to LG.

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>>31346570

This is my favorite interpretation of how I Necromancer. I played a Necromancer character whose personality was heavily based on him, and it was pretty damn fun.

>>31347932

They're a different flavor of necromancy.
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=96692.0
Totally not just making up any excuse to post this link

>>31348835
This never made sense to me; why does a flesh golem have enough autonomy to go berserk but a human zombie doesn't?

>>31346570
Few ways. I always like giving them a bunch of child-like wonder about the whole business.

When they make a new discovery, don't have them cackle evilly or plan to use to flay the souls of their enemies. Have them jump up and down while clapping and squealing like a 1964 English school-girl who just got hugged by John Lennon. Stuff like that; just make them an all around happy and well-adjusted person whose main business involves dead bodies.

One thing though; while you specificed D&D, I feel I need to make this clear. Are they Necromancers proper, or are they Necrourgists only? That is, are we talking about a dude who interacts with souls and spirits of formerly living sapients on a daily basis, or does he just move around bones and dead flesh? If they're primarily a Necromancer proper, its easy to have them mostly be a medium, who learned their techniques to talk to the dead so they could help people get closure or solve murders.

>>31346775
Right now I'm playing a mute warlock who got his powers because a demon offered them to him with the bonus of being able to communicate well with others by writing in the air magically. He's slowly becoming a necromancer because that's where his powers lie. He's not evil, he just doesn't have a choice really.
I may still have him start swinging towards the evil end of the spectrum, but in the 'ends justify the means' sort of way, not the murderhobo way

>>31348889

Is it against the L?
And is inherently E?

Heck, at worst it's NN. Fear tactics are as old as old things.

>>31348983

Golem is powered by a elemental spark. It's not undead, can't be hit by turn undead or other undead affecting spells. Basically you use a lot of flesh to make a house for the elemental spark. Other golems might use clay, stone or iron instead. There's one adventure that uses a calzone.

>>31346805
Your way sounds way more edgy than anything else in this thread. I'm not making a selfhating Jew necromancer. I'm not gonna make one that is so autistic he cries about everything. Good god, how many testicles do you have?

Treating a body like a tool is the opposite of edgy. You are apathetic towards it. That means no feelings are involved. That means no edgy. Not the manchild, crybaby affair you are talking about.

>>31347053
Except if undead are animated by negative energy and negative energy is harmful to living things then they're actually cleaner, bacteria and vermin wise, than the paladin they're fighting.
They wouldn't attract vermin, nor would they rot, because the negative energy animating them would be killing the creatures that would rot them or attract vermin.

>>31349100
>Treating the bodies of the dead with dignity makes you a pussy

Keep walking, the Kensai Edgelord thread is over the other way.

>>31349100
I imagine it works the same for a coroner or a dude working a funeral home. If you have to work with dead bodies all day they cease to be disturbing or anything, they are just there.

>>31349100
>Your way sounds way more edgy than anything else in this thread. I'm not making a selfhating Jew necromancer. I'm not gonna make one that is so autistic he cries about everything. Good god, how many testicles do you have?

literally the edgiest post so far in the thread

>>31349237

Give it up dude, you're obviously on some trip about keeping bodies sacrosanct. Maybe you have your mothers corpse embalmed on your couch or something, but seeing a body as a body after the spirit residing within has departed isn't exactly hardcore. It's not like people are talking about making a giant mech out of nothing but skulls or stitching shark heads to the wrists of dead bodies to have some kind of creature that can punch and bite you with one blow, or trying to find ways to make dead babies into living ammunition. There's no needless edgy bullshit here. Just having some dead dude get back up and kick some goblins in the junk.

>>31349335
This. Be honest does anyone really care what happens to the bodies of people you don't even know?

Less bullshit over what edgy is and is not (hint: its fucking meaningless) and more from whoever was doing that idea with the necro-clan.

>>31349373
I care.
But keep them from getting fluids on/scratching up my stuff/family/self/relatives/children, and we're good.

>>31349100

I didn't read anything about crying in that post. Why can't you just admit that its disturbing to be around dead bodies? What is so repellant about acknowledging a basic human emotion? Dead bodies are distressing. Especially if its the same species as you. If the pragmatic necromancer is the trope you want to embrace, fine. So be it. But don't pretend that dead bodies aren't gross.

>>31349335
Don't bother trying to argue with moral absolutists. You can't win.

>>31349423
No one is saying that, what people are saying is that it isn't evil.

>>31349373

I care. Mostly because I am not going to be happy if I see a goddamn shambling corpse going around. Holy shit, that's a goddamn body. Cover that up. I don't need to see that. That's got to be against some kind of decency laws or something.

>>31349482
>laws
Problem located

>>31349482
I could understand that; cover them up because some people don't want to look at it. Fits in with the pragmatism too; guys walking around in boots, black cloaks, masks, and gloves is kind of weird. Skeletons are more so.

>>31349100
>I'm not making a selfhating Jew necromancer. I'm not gonna make one that is so autistic he cries about everything. Good god, how many testicles do you have?

Yeah, nah. That's nothing like what he described. You're obviously an imbecile.

>You are apathetic towards it. That means no feelings are involved. That means no edgy.

Careful you don't cut yourself on that picometer-scale edge, kid.

>>31348137

"Oh, are you Cousin Baelo's boy?"
"Yes ma'am, I am. I've heard that your husband passed recently."
"Yes, he did. Just last week, in fact. Why- I've not even sent out letters yet, who told you?
>I DID, LOVE
"She can't hear you."
"Who can't hear what?"
>I FORGOT. SORRY.
"Nothing. Have you decided what to do with the body, aunt?"
"Well it goes to the family plot, doesn't it?"
>SHE IS STILL SO BEAUTIFUL. ARE YOU SURE I CAN'T STAY?
"That is the tradition. Unless you have other plans, ma'am."
"Well family is family. I'm not one to break tradition."
>EXCEPT WHEN YOU MARRIED THIS SALTY DOG, HA.
"I can attend to the body, then. That's why I was sent."
>PLEASE LAD, I MISS HER DEARLY. MIGHT WE...?
"But before I do that, might we sit awhile and have some tea? I'd like to hear how you first met your husband."
>BLESS YOU LAD.

>>31349482
>cloaks
Boom problem solved. Admittedly a bunch of dudes in cloaks is creepy too but fuck it if you live in fantasy land you have better things to be worried about.

>>31349431
>moral absolutists

it's more a matter of personal preference, really. apparently the average funeral in the UK (not a particularly religious country) costs over £3000. most people care about these things, they wouldn't want to see corpses just thrown in a dump or whatever.

now it's one thing to say that you don't feel the same way, that's a legitimate view. but saying that everyone who cares about the treatment of corpses is "autistic" (???) and a "selfhating Jew" (??????) is legitimately edgy.

>>31349589

The ancient Egyptian culture was totally autistic, apparently.

>>31346570
Easiest way.

STOP CREATING UNDEAD

STOP WEARING BLACK

STOP COVERING EVERYTHING IN SKULLS

>>31349589
>using real-world examples when talking about a fictional setting
You just went full retard.

>>31349589
>>31349620

I think you were being rused by someone who likes to be silly on the internet to provoke argument.

U mad? If u mad then he wins.

>>31346805
Fucking THANK YOU.

A necromancer who animates corpses is not an engineer. Otherwise why couldn't he do the same thing with inanimate mechanisms or mannequins made of wood? If a dead body was just inert matter like anything else then it wouldn't have the unique property of being able to be infused with a semblance of the vitality and intelligence it once had.

Face it, when you use that level one animate dead without a thought you're dragging the dead from their well earned rest to do your dirty work. A fantasy culture that normalizes necromancy is either one that calls on an honoured but condemned caste to sacrifice more than their life, or a decadent and debauched place where the commoners try to make the most of their lives of leisure and to forget the centuries of slavery that wait for them beyond the grave.

>>31349630
WELL WHAT ELSE AM I GOING TO DO WITH MY TIME?

ALL MY CLOTHES GOT DYED BLACK BECAUSE OF A PRANK SOMEONE DID A LONG TIME AGO

I CAN STOP ANYTIME, I SWEAR

>>31349630

>WE SHOULD REALLY TALK, SON.
Not now, father, I've nearly completed this simulcra-focus.
>ABOUT THAT.
What? Did I do something wrong? I was using your notes-
>NO NO IT SHOULD WORK FINE
Then what?
>WELL ITS A SKULL ISN'T IT?
I suppose, yes. I used a gem from the Ur-Gosh Mountains and-
>YES BUT WHY?
Why what?
>WHY A SKULL. I MEAN YOU NEVER GO OUT ANYMORE-
>YOU NEVER GO OUT ANYMORE, SWEETHEART!
Mother, I'm working.
>WE'RE TALKING ABOUT IT DEAR-
>DID YOU TELL HIM TO GO OUTSIDE MORE?
>DEAR WE ARE TALKING
I'm fine!
>EVER SINCE WE DIED YOU'VE PUT SKULLS ON EVERYTHING.
>WE JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE ALRIGHT.
I'm fine! Mom, dad, go away!
>YOUR SIMULCRA CHANNELS NEGATIVE ENERGY, YOUNG MAN, THERE'S NO NEED FOR YOU TOO AS WELL.

>>31349630
But skulls are sexy...

>>31346570
Lawful good physician. Anatomist was the standard goto kit for necromancers in Ravenloft 2e

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>>31349707

Take up the lyre?

>>31349682
Or it could be that the body magically 'remembers' having the ability to move, or something.

But yes, if that is how necromancy works then it's either pretty solidly evil or the afterlife is a tremendous shithole.


Anyway, anyone got any thoughts on the concept of a necromancer who goes around freeing intelligent undead from the control of other, less moralistic necromancers?

Oh, good, I was worried there wouldn't be anymore shitposting in this thread.

Maybe if the necromancer has a lot of disguise skill he could dress up his legion of the undead as a bunch of masked clerics. Pretend they took a vow of silence and fighy evil!

>>31349535
Loving these, please keep going.

Maybe he could be a little bit special and think that he is bringing long lost friends and relatives back to life, when he is actually just raising them as zombies and skeletons

A little tragic when you really think about it

>>31350012

>THERE IS A NEST OF ARACHULARS IN THE NEXT ROOM
Thank you, honored ancestor.
>MIGHT I SUGGEST A DEEP BELLOW AS YOU CHARGE IN?
Pardon?
>A GOOD HEARTY YAWP. WHEN I WAS ALIVE THAT ALWAYS DID WONDERS FOR ME.
I'm an arcanist. I'm afraid I don't have the same skill at arms that you did.
>EASIEST THING IN THE WORLD, LAD, WHERE'S YOUR AX?
I don't have an ax.
>WHERE'S MY AX?
You don't have one either. You're a disembodied spirit on an aetheric leash.
>WELL I'M AT A LOSS M'BOY. NO AX BETWEEN US, THEN?
No, rather not. We've got cousin Gilda instead.
>IS IT TIME FOR ME TO-
Not yet, Gilda.
>STARS AND STONES WHAT IS THAT THING SHE'S ANIMATING?
I think it used to be an owlbear.
>HARDLY SEEMLY, LADY LIKE THAT IN AN OWLBEAR.
She seems to like it.
>I LIKE IT. GOTS PLENTY OF POINTY BITS WHAT FOR I CAN MAKE A MESS.
>IS THIS LADY GILDA, BARONESS OF THE GREENBREAKS?
No, the other Gilda.
>THE FISHMONGER.
That one.
>WELL THAT WOULD EXPLAIN IT.

This thread sure is edgy

>>31350173
More and more, this is sounding like it could be the best way to run a solo campaign ever.

>>31350208

No, >>31346149 that thread is edgy.

Make him mexican with all the skeletons being painted on like its Dio de los Muertos.

>>31350221

I'd play it. I'd play the shit out of it.

>>31347807
>>31350245

>>31350173

>WHAT ARE YOU DOING TODAY DADDY?
I'm doing alchemy, little one.
>WHAT'S ALCHEMY?
It's where I take some bits and things, and mix them up right and proper.
>IS IT MAGIC?
A bit. Certainly not far from it.
>WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH ALCHEMY?
There's a plague, my sweetling, in the town over. A great many people are sick.
>ARE YOU HELPING THEM DADDY?
Yes. Yes I'm helping them. I am uniquely advantaged to do so.
>CAN I HELP YOU?
Of course you can. Do you remember that trick grandpa showed you? Moving things with your anima?
>I'M NOT VERY GOOD AT IT.
Pish tush. You're my little girl, you're good at everything. That bottle, there. Just give it a shake, it'll fall right out of the cabinet and I shall catch it.
>I'M TRYING. IT'S HARD.
You were taken early in your life. You did not have much time to grow- see! There, you did it.
>DID I HELP THOSE SICK PEOPLE?
Of course you did. Stay with me, awhile, keep your father company. Together we'll make sure none of those town's families suffer as did ours.
>I'M NOT SUFFERING DADDY.
I know that, I know that. But- never you mind. Never you mind. Just stay with me, awhile.

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>>31350428

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>>31350428
That wasn't funny.

That wasn't funny at all!

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>>31350428

>>31350428

>ME AND GALE HAVE BEEN THINKING-
No.
>WE WERE THINKING AND WE HAD AN IDEA
>ITS A GOOD IDEA YOU SHOULD LISTEN.
It's never a good idea.
>YOU SHOULD LISTEN-
>NO IDEA WHAT IT IS YET
I've listened before. I made that mistake once. I listened to you two-
>YOU SHOULD LISTEN AGAIN
>THOSE WERE THE DAYS
>GOOD DAYS, THOSE
Do you mind, cousins? I'm in the middle of preparing my spells.
>OOOOH LOOKIT MISTER PREPARING HIS SPELLS OVER HERE
>MISTER TOO GOOD TO LISTEN TO HIS COUSINS' IDEA OVER HERE
>IF YOU WERE DEAD
I'm not dead, you are.
>BUT IF YOU WERE DEAD WE WOULD LISTEN TO YOUR IDEAS.
Really? Really? All of them? The anima-animated marital aid? The haunted ladies' dressing room?
>THAT ONE WAS DALE'S IDEA
>WAS NOT
>OH COME OFF IT
Cousins!
>SORRY
After I'm done preparing my spe-
>DO YOU WANT TO HEAR THE IDEA?
No.
>THE DRESSING ROOM THING WAS JUST FOR A GIGGLE, MATE, HONESTLY
What about possessing the cow, was that just a giggle.
>WE DIDN'T THINK THAT ONE THROUGH.
Just tell me your idea so I can prepare my spells in peace, cousins.
>OK, LISTEN
>YOU'LL LIKE THIS.
>SO YOU LET US POSSESS WIDOW TAHRIA'S CHAMBERPOT-
Out, now.

>>31350664

Can someone screencapp these? I'm on my phone.

The path I took to make my Necromancer less edgy was to develop the culture and society within the City State that he came from.

For starters someone inadvertently triggered a magical doomsday weapon that blew a hole into the void. Releasing a constant stream of Necrotic energy into the region. The proximity to this rift has tainted the people in the region around it and infused them with, while still living, death energy making them death aspected of a sort. In addition, 500 years ago, when this happened, the initial aftershock of the opening of the rift resulted in a massive deadly plague that killed off a great portion of the city and surrounding regions inhabitants. Those that remained had a choce to either flee the area or be stubborn and rebuild their lives. Those that stayed (mostly the educated elite who were working on closing the rift) chose to make use of the now plentiful new energy source, and piles of raw materials to rebuild and continue on.

It's now been 500 years and a culture has grown up that supports Necromancy. When you die your essence moves on to whatever place it goes and your body is put to use serving the city, building, making it stronger doing scutt work. Freeing up living people to pursue a life of study, leisure or doing whatever it is that makes you happy. With the understanding that when you die your body to will be community property to serve the city.

In addition, since Necromancy has become institutionalized and the body demystified. The city is world renowned for it's surgeons and medical advances.It also supports a whole embalming industry where the dead are preserved and maintained (like you would a fleet of work trucks), given clothes and masks to prevent the unsettling occurrence of seeing someone you know walking down the street schlepping someones cargo.

>>31352165

Stealing this

>>31352165
This here, folks, is how you good necromancer.

maybe make him some sort of keeper of the dead. the kind who hunts down necromancers that abuse the dead, and instead uses his powers to turn the undead back on the necromancer and put themselves back to rest.

>>31346684
>crying about how evil, prejudiced heroes
You missed the point, boyo.

>>31352302
You are welcome to. I found that if you made a culture that supported your character concept as not a cackling BBEG it makes playing them and not being taken as an edgelord far easier.

I'm the groups medic. And we get to have the occasional laugh at the groups discomfort with it's proximity to him practicing his craft.

Find that poor shepherd boy who was payed by the unscrupulous people we are following with his throat slit to complete their ritual. "Well, we could carry his body back to his mother. Or, I could animate him. And he could haul our gear around freeing us of our burdens and speeding our pursuit of the enemy." The group: "... well, that seems logical. Can you do something to keep his neck from flapping open like that? It's sorta gross."

>>31351051
i second this, these are brilliant and should be saved.

>>31346570
NWN1, Art of the Thanaturge
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Modules.Detail&id=392

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>>31346570
>>How do I roleplay a Necromancer without being the D&D equivalent to an edgy teenage satanist? I'm really at a loss here

Deal with spirits, ghosts, and incoporeal undead rather than coporeal undead.

Instead of turning grandma's remains into a shambling skeletal slave, appeal to grandma's soul and ask for her experienced advice.

Instead of reviving the mangled corpses of slain soldiers to be slain again, call upon their vengeful spirits to continue the fight anew.

Instead of spending all your time futzing around with rotting flesh, focus your efforts on the nebulous world on the other side.

Instead of pursuing immortality by becoming a shriveled lich, you can attain it by binding your spiritual self to the world as a sagely eidolon.

Because you are dealing directly with the afterlife, and not reanimating formerly dead stuff, it comes across as far less creepy and far more tolerable.

You are also better able to fulfill the proper defintion of "necromancer" which describes someone who collects information (often about the future) by speaking with the dead.

>>31346977
>People tell stories of Buddhists up in tibet that dismember corpses of the dead for "sky burial" as in feeding them to the birds because the ground isn't suited to digging a big pit, that will often laugh and joke while doing it because they know the body isn't the dead person. It's just flesh.

That's not the same as treating the body like anything else.

They don't treat it the same way they treat animal carcasses. They don't treat it the same way they treat lumber, or stone, or textiles.

And even then, that particular practice is NOT the common way people deal with human corpses- which tends to be different than how they deal with other materials.

Let's assume that, to raise an undead, necromancers do indeed force their soul back into the body. For the sake of argument, of course.
This is where the whole "Speak with the dead" thing comes in handy (and a good charisma score); you can get the dead's support for your cause and enlist their aid until they are no longer needed, and then return them to their graves.

I love this thread.

>>31353164
>This is where the whole "Speak with the dead" thing comes in handy (and a good charisma score); you can get the dead's support for your cause and enlist their aid until they are no longer needed, and then return them to their graves.

That'd be pretty okay if I ever saw a necromancer actually do it.

As a DM- and a normal human being- I tend to think of a lotta reasons why a person who has been in the afterlife for some time might not want to be plunged back into their rotting corpse in order to serve as cannon fodder/manual labor for some stranger.

It's not that much fun when you're alive.

>>31349290
This right here. I bet most posters here would say killing your own food, and liking it would be edgy. And they have never stepped foot on a farm. There it's an everyday occurrence, and yes you like it yourself, because fuck me if I'm gonna trust some other muppet not to fuck it up. It's not a big deal once you do it everyday for years. Same thing with dead bodies and coroners. Same thing with necromancers.

>>31349423
It's not. I've opened them up before. They aren't gross. They are just squicky for you people who sit at home all day. I bet you couldn't even kill a lamb to eat it yourself.

>>31346570
Be an efficiency expert, like from Office Space.

>>31349482
So because you are uncomfortable with something, it should be covered up or banned? Are you perhaps male, muslim and living in Saudi Arabia?

>>31346570
Kinda just go at it... If you really got to ask you are already doing it wrong.

>>31349669
>i don't like what someone is saying
>he must be a troll

>>31346570
Be a priest of Baron Samedi.

>>31346570
Easily.

>Mad Scientist
>Priest of a particular god who has the undead under his portfolio
>Chill wizard who believes necromancy can be useful for good purposes

>>31346570
The first serious character I played was a gestalt monk/necromancer. Initially, the idea was to use undead as tools for good.

Her first fight was with a group of gnolls who attacked her party during the night. She took them all down without killing any of them, patched them all up, and then went back to sleep. By the morning they'd all crept off. (Her view on it was that they had never stood a chance, so it was unfair of her to kill them)

She raised undead. My favorite was a troll zombie I named buttercup and sat in the wagon. Once a would-be thief opened up the door on that thing and got the scare of her life.

Ultimately she became an avatar for Wee Jas, who recognized her after she dominated a group of vampires who had been subjugating a small town, and forced them to bury the remains of their victims.

She conducted rites to send the souls of the dead on to the afterlife, ensuring they couldn't be held on by undead.

And she was always accompanied by Pint, a dwarven cleric/rogue of Olidimarra.

I fondly remember the time he defeated a vampire with a shovel. I also fondly remember the time he was cowering behind the wizard, who was confidently holding off 3 zombies with her bare hands.

She was tons of fun to play.

>>31350664

We need to talk, uncle.
>THERE IS NOTHING TO DISCUSS
I beg to differ. And grandma thinks you're being unreasonable.
>I WAS AN ARCHMAGE IN THE SILVER ORDER, OF THE NINTH CIRCLE IN TENEBROUS CITY
That doesn't mean you can try coinhabiting grandmother's corpse.
>SHE WAS MERELY A LIBRARIAN.
She died first.
>HER SKELETON HAS GOLD CAPS ON THE JOINTS.
She paid for it herself, uncle.
>SHE DOESN'T DESERVE IT
She gets paid in copper pushing the grinding stone. Do you want to animate a skeleton pushing a grindstone? Took her two years to save up.
>ITS SUPERFLUOUS.
You were just jealous
>S'MATTER OF PRINCIPLE
You'll get your own skeleton in time, uncle. Once we fish it out of the lake.
>IT JUST ISN'T FAIR.
On the contrary, uncle, death - and what comes after - always is.

Here's how I did my necromancer

>there will always be work that needs doing
>there will always be dead bodies

That's it. Utter pragmatism. No sexual thrill out of doing it, no making the fuckers tapdance on babies' graves. Just pragmatic.

But apparently according to this thread, I am the edgiest 12 year old on the planet.

When did "edgy" become a buzzword for anything that's not Superman levels of Lawful Good?

>big mustache
>far too many skulls
>has permanent skeleton companion who is nothing but incompetent and infuriating
Evil as it was meant to be

A healer is a Necromancer who gives up too early.

Say a man breaks his arm, and goes to a bonesetter. She treats him, he comes back for more consultations, and one day his arm is exactly as strong as it was before the accident, and at that point, they stop. He never goes to see her again, she considers her job is complete.

Why?

They both have, in their heads, an image of what the body is 'supposed' to be like. This strong, and no weaker and no stronger. And it just so happens to overlap with how things are right now.

What's so special, so sacrosanct about the present? We can make bodies better. We can make souls stronger.

How do we do that? We study how they break, what makes them fall apart. And since we don't have a teacher who will hand us a textbook, we do it ourselves.

I have a profound respect for life. But I'm not going to admire it from a distance. I want to know how it works.

Now help me with this shovel.

>>31354144

>honestly confused why everyone thinks he's super evil and grim
"They're just SKULLS. I mean, everyone has them right?"

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>>31353968
I love you

>>31349290
>I imagine it works the same for a coroner or a dude working a funeral home. If you have to work with dead bodies all day they cease to be disturbing or anything, they are just there.

That's why coroners and people at funeral homes do stuff like turn corpses into furniture. It's just raw materials, right?

I had a Necromancer PC once, and he was as far from edgy as possible. He had the mannerisms and appearance of an old timey carnival barker, two levels in bard, and through the roof charisma. He would sign on to adventuring parties to collect corpses, and load them on to a horse drawn carriage (the horse was a skeleton, but he had painted it up in Day of the Dead colors for visual appeal) and travel the backwater farmlands, using song and dance (he played piano and accordion) to sell undead as manual labor, claiming they'd been brought back to life as docile servants through the miraculous power of cocaine. Of course, he made the zombies on the cheap, so they had a tendency to fall apart or start snacking on the living, but he was long gone before any of that happened.

>>31354394

>IT IS NOT AS QUIET AS I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE.
Would you like me to talk to Aribeth?
>NO NO IT ISN'T A PROBLEM. I SUPPOSE I HAD JUST THOUGHT DEATH WAS A QUIET THING.
It can be. Usually it is.
>JUST NOT FOR US.
That is not our lot. Others enjoy the quiet afterlife.
>IT IS PURPOSE, THOUGH. IT IS NOT QUIET BUT IT IS PURPOSE.
Most of it, yes.
>I DO WISH JOCELYN WOULD STOP TALKING ABOUT HER SHREWBERRY PIES THOUGH.
They were quite good in life, you'll admit.
>IT HAS BEEN TWENTY YEARS AND THEY ARE JUST PIES.
I will speak to Jocelyn.
>IT HAS BEEN TWENTY YEARS ABOUT NOTHING BUT PIE

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This is my experience with playing a lawful good necromancer(in pathfinder) without being an edgy cunt. It's also worth noting, I was a dual class Wizard/Druid. Maybe it'll help you out somehow.

He was a simple dwarf that had a fascination with nature and wilderness, instead of stone and ore. To him, material possessions didn't mean wealth, an appreciation of life was true wealth. He split off from his clan of dwarves at a young age and moved out of the mountains into the depths of the forest and began studying the ways of the druid and playing the drums. Early in his life, he came upon a young squirrel that had fallen from a tree and died. He could have accepted the creatures death if it died of old age or being hunted, but he felt it was cheated out of its life. After some time, he was able to resurrect the squirrel. After learning how to bring the fallen back to life, he went through the forest simply bringing back those who he felt had died an unjustified death. He did this for seventy years and created an everliving forest, before finally dying in cruel irony as a massive tree fell on him and crushed him to death.

Just give your character a reasonable, and believable motive for dealing with the dead that fits them. Maybe they have some emotional reason like my character did, or maybe they're more logical and believe they can earn some coin as a mortician. So long as your character doesn't feel edgy and evil, they most likely aren't.

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Fk. Post too long. So yeah, here it is, as an image.

I never have or never will play a PnP game.

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>>31349335
>punch and bite in one blow.
thats FUCKIN AWESOME!!

>>31354123

Its not very edgy but it is edgy. You know those scenes in movies where the mortician shows how jaded they are to corpses by doing something like having a sandwich during an autopsy? Its that exactly.

We know that its a heroic fantasy game so we don't expect the players to act afraid when a Giant is about to smash your guy. The key word there is heroic. There's an acceptable level of suspension of disbelief. What you are doing is being a creep and saying "yeah whatever man, it doesn't bother me. Its just a bunch of meat that will go to waste in the ground." Its like feigned teenaged apathy.

>>31354940
>You know those scenes in movies where the mortician shows how jaded they are to corpses by doing something like having a sandwich during an autopsy? Its that exactly.

How on god's good green earth is that edgy?

>>31352165

I remember you! I took your idea of having the masked hooded figures working around the clock to make improvements/repairs to infrastructure.

>>31354940
>Its like feigned teenaged apathy.
So everyone who doesn't go "ewww gross bodies" now a teenager?

>>31346684
way to miss the point there, hawkeye

ITT: Someone posts neat stories about a necro-family, and some faggots argue about what is and is not edgy.

>>31348033
go go jimmy rustlers

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>>31346570

This.>>31349741
>>Anatomist
You can make something really interesting with this type.

In my setting, necromancers are a kind of animist pest control.

Everything has a spirit. For humans and otherl folk, that spirit is the soul. After death, the soul leaves the body and does whatever it is souls do- this largely depends on the gods the dead person served.

But the body is meant to be a vessel, and once empty, that void actually draws other spirits to it. Sometimes this is fine. If a stone spirit ends up occupying a corpse, no one cares or sometimes even notices, because rocks don't get up to much. You can just bury the corpse as normal.

But if a dangerous or even just rambunctious spirit gets in there, tired of being a river or a stormcloud or whatever, the body offers that spirit a lot of freedom it didn't previously have- freedom to run around causing havoc, whether by accident or maliciously. And a spirit unused to a body can go a little crazy, flooded with sensations it never had before.

Necromancers, then, are people whose powers over spirits allow them to banish unwholesome occupants from corpses and to replace them with more benign ones, or to keep a corpse empty long enough for it to be destroyed- destruction is iffy, though, because some fires will just try to occupy a body, rather than burning it, and sometimes the older, cannier vultures decide they'd like to try walking around as a man for a while.

A lot of corpse management, then, is contract writing. Necromancers will deal with spirits, allowing them a certain term of use in a body in exchange for help destroying it later, or offering them permanent residence in exchange for permanent service, or any other feasible deal. Successful necromancers are often very charismatic, and it isn't uncommon for one to conjure a spirit out of a body only to put it right back in after some negotiating. Spirits, of course, have inhuman perspectives and often make strange demands, but even so.

Powerful, malicious spirits have to be banished, however, and a retinue of corpses can help with that.

>>31346570
Go full Warhammer 40k with it. The honored dead are used in important, respected roles. The not-so-honored dead get more menial positions but are still respected for serving the living. Always keep the corpses covered so as to avoid upsetting people. Probably do some sort of color-coding for various types and positions of dead.

>>31355287

it's kind of difficult to pin down since "edgy" is kind of a vague and subjective term

where the edge is depends a lot on where your center is

>>31355576

don't care, I want more necro-family instead.

>>31355576
>ITT: we define 'edgy'.
Only way I could start is by giving examples. Things like...
>angst,
>apathy,
>being 'the last of a bloodline' or 'the only X',
>searching for revenge for a tragic accident that happened unfairly- i.e., as a kid the edgy couldn't fight back,
>Overpowered weapon or ability or extremely skilled in some trait,
>Looks down on other people, prefers to be a loner,
>lots of ...'s

Anything else?

>>31355717
I never got why apathy was edgy.

>>31346570
whoa I just wanted to stop in because I think my friend illustrated that image.

>>31355729
I assume its because its like...

>"Oh, I'm not motivated to do this at all and I have no interest in anything, but you need MY help because I'm so good so I'm gonna make you beg for my help."

Or maybe

>"You've been trying to do this forever? I don't care about anything, but your failure amuses/bothers me- I guess I can try it- oh, I got it on my first attempt. I'm just that good."

>>31346570
My friend Steve totally illustrated that plague doctor piece. So cool to stumble on it here.

>>31355451
More on this:

If a spirit occupies a body for long enough, that body will start to warp to reflect the spirit. Animated corpses with racks of antlers or fangs or claws aren't uncommon where people die un-missed in the woods, and corpses whose skin cracks to reveal flames or woodgrain or stone are also common. Some of these can grow quite powerful and resilient, and can be intractable to bargain with and hard to put down, and necromancers with teams behind them have a distinct advantage. Often, though, such an ancient, powerful being is left to its own devices if it isn't actively malicious- they can be more trouble than they're worth, and they often prove useful in their own right- the most famous such being is the body of an ancient hunter filled and warped by the spirit of the Stag Lord, who keeps all evil out of his woods, and out of the nearby village, so long as they never hunt deer.

Liches, by contrast, are necromancers who have bargained with powerful spirits to prevent their own souls from departing the material world upon death. Once successfully kept from the afterlife, they re-enter their own bodies and continue their work. Their passage into death changes their souls, however, and they too warp their bodies, growing paler and more emaciated until eventually they resemble withered mummies. Spirits can make themselves visible with much less effort around a lich, and so often follow one, whether eagerly or resentful of the necessity.

Only a necromancer has the power to successfully re-enter the body, however, and other souls prevented from reaching the afterlife by whatever means become ghosts, untethered and drifting, or attach themselves, like nature spirits, to objects- often becoming indistinguishable from the same nature spirits they mimic. Necromancers can help such souls move on as well as fulfilling their other duties.

Unscrupulous necromancers can still go for the whole army-of-corpses thing, but it takes more discussion than usual.

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I got shit done, /tg/

>>31355879
You are my favorite kind of people. Internets for you, my friend.

Play a Necromancer like a tired working stiff.

A favorite variation of mine is a guy who treats it like a blue collar gig. His dad was a Necromancer, so he learned the family trade, and he'd stop being a Necromancing adventurer but shit...he just doesnt really know much else.

Less edgy teenager, more Hellboy.

>>31355879
You've got the "Does that mean the cheerful old man is among their number?" post, but not the post which actually introduced him (>>31347192)

>>31355797
No, I mean in regards to specific things, like dead bodies, eg this >>31354940

>>31346936
>>31346997

>ARE WE THERE YET?
What do you... We've only just breached the keep!
>MUM SAID I COULD HAVE SWEETS WHEN WE REACH THE THRONE ROOM.
Fine by m-... Waitaminute, your teeth fell out two years ago!
>I WANT MY SWEETS!
Fine! You'll get your sweets!
>ARE WE THERE YET?
Last time I raise anyone under the age of sixteen.

>>31355451
>>31355819
'necromancy' of the best sort. Thank you Anon. I bet Ardarvia approves.

>>31355970
In that case, its trying to act tough, unaffected, jaded- feigning experience, and various things of the like.

A moment that should generally have some sort of emotion associated with it, like a marriage, birth, death, etc., should all evoke some sort of emotion, but the apathy (seems to) tries to show they are better than getting caught up in 'something as silly as emotions'... as if they're better than that.

In some cases like a dead wife or lover or something, that character would be apathetic to a dead body because 'nothing else matters but Anonitta so why should I care about John Doe?' Only things about that specific edgy character are important- social humanities and respects like being polite, looking someone in the eye when conversing, not ignoring people, and the like are just wastes of time. That's why edgy characters seem to have a recurring theme of trench coats or lowered hats that seal themselves away from the outside world.

So to more specifically answer your question:
>in regards to specific things, like dead bodies
Apathy toward a dead body would be edgy because everyone who has some sense of humanity would see the corpse, recognize their own mortality in it, and give it some sort of respect. Completely ignoring it or casting it aside is like lying to make one's self stand out and seem better than those that get caught in the emotion.

And keep in mind, I'm just writing what I believe about apathy and edginess- I probably wrote around in circles in that little thing so I apologize..

>>31346570

His forearm looks like a penis.

>>31356208
But my main point is that, like the mentioned coroner, a necromancer would so become used to dead bodies that they would cease to have this reverence and wonder to him. Just like a farmer ceases to go aww at every little lamb and piglet. He just sees more meat to make him more money. How is this sort of apathy edgy?

Cousin Jeb? What's that smell?
>IT'S DAFFODIL.
You're wearing perfume to a stealth job?!
>I DON'T LIKE THE WAY I SMELL ALL THE TIME.
You can't smell. It's physically impossible, nevermind the fact that your nose got burned off along with the rest of your face when you died.
>IT'S THE PRINCIPLE OF THE MATTER. I KNOW I SMELL.
You're a walking stiff! Do you think your smell is the one thing that will put people off?
>IT'S UNSANITARY.
You're DEAD!
>NOBODY CARES ABOUT MY FEELINGS.
I sure don't.

>>31356345
That seems to be the best way to do it; it's how I run my necromancers. Keep in mind that any discussion regarding the limits of 'edgy' as seen by 4chan are largely pointless because it is really subjective.

>>31356392
Dude, don't be a dick to cousin Jeb.

>>31355879

I love it. Except you missed the superfeels one, with the father necro and his little girl.

>>31356392
>Cousing Jeb
>Face burnt off
Oh My God, they're Kerbals.

>>31356345
I understand- apathy by itself does not make a character edgy.

I do want to say, though, that I believe a knight would still respect every sword he's used and destroyed over the countless battles he's fought, or an archer would still appreciate every arrow he has to some sort of small extent. I wouldn't think anyone would become completely apathetic over something- but that's a digression.

Simply using the bodies because a necromancer was desensitized wouldn't be bad nor considered edgy, but if he was doing social taboos to it and discounting it as 'they're just sacks of meat, yo', then I'd say edgy.

Things that clash against societal norms are edgy. If we accept that a necromancer having reanimated beings around is a societal norm, then something against that would be if they all... I dunno, made a person-chariot and carried him around, made his minions worship him, etc. I digressed too far- sorry.

Reeling it back in-
>How is this sort of apathy edgy?
Its all about the motivation behind the actions, I suppose. If a necromancer is making a minion because he's being attacked, then alright, not edgy. If he's making a minion of his dead Ex Girlfriend because he's still bitter about her breaking up with him and he starts beating her up, then that's edgy. And weird. I have no idea where that example came from. Defining edgy is hard.

>>31356392

>I WANT TO GO TO THE BLOODLORD'S TOMB
Well you aren't coming. You're not ready.
>YUH HUH. I CAN MOVE MY SKELLINGTON JUST AS GOOD AS GRANDDA
Granddad is bad at it. Everyone can animate their skeleton better than him.
>YOU NEVER LET ME SWING A SWORD
I don't plan on it anytime soon.
>I'LL TELL MOM
Go ahead, see where that gets you.
>WHY AREN'T YOU BRINGING YOUR LITTLE BROTHER TO THE BLOODLORDS TOMB?
Mother, we've been over this-
>HE HAS BEEN SO EXCITED
The Bloodlord is a restless and dangerous spirit, I don't want to risk anything.
>IS IT BECAUSE HE BROKE YOUR TOY.
It was a priceless mortar and pestle, mother, not a toy.
>HE JUST WANTS TO HELP
I don't want to risk his anima. I can handle the Bloodlord with father and my uncles.
>YOUR FATHER COULD TEACH HIM
Stop undermining my authority, mother! I'm the Caretaker. I make the decisions.
>YOUR BROTHER WILL BUY YOU KNEW MORTER AND PUZZLE TOYS JUST LET HIM COME

>>31356816
>If he's making a minion of his dead Ex Girlfriend because he's still bitter about her breaking up with him and he starts beating her up, then that's edgy.

Son, you need to talk?

>'EY GREAT GRAN' SON. Y'KNOW HOW MY SKIN FELL OFF 'CAUSE YER NUMBNUTS OF A PA FORGOT THAT MAINTENACE?
Yeah, a real shame that was.
>NAW! JUS' LISSEN TO THIS!
...
...
A Xylophone?
>INNIT GREAT? I JUS' NEEDED SUM STICKS AN' M' NAT'RAL MUSICAL TALENT!
And an exposed ribcage.
>'XACTLY

>>31356901
I... it's just too perfect, man. It's the perfect balance between too serious and too silly. Everyone go home, we've found the perfect character

>>31356905
NO DAD JUST LEAVE ME ALONE OKAY!?

>>31357016
It's not your fault, Son.
She wasn't for you.
Why don't you date that nice Beth girl, the one that works at the Library.
She'd be good for you. Oh, and my spines are coming loose. Can you do something about that?

>>31347633
I did this once. I made a pair of necromancers, husband and wife, who hod different goals but worked together out of love. The Wife was a corpsecrafter, who worked on making pieces of art out of her skeletons. She boiled off the flesh, wires the bones together, created a spell to shape bone, created silver embossing (and claws), and had all the corpsecrafter feats. She would spend weeks raising a single skeleton, just for the love of her artwork.

Her husband was a theorist, interested in natural undead and the negative energy plane. He had a condition that would have killed him, but he liched himself with his wife's help. It wasn't a pretty job, and his wife feels some guilt over this. He now wears a golden mask all the time for her benefit, but she wouldn't mind either way.

Every night they have dinner with each other. She loves the mind behind the mask and the skull, and he loves her not with passion, but the certainty of an elderly man who is nothing without his wife.

They were evil as fuck, but I loved the sweetness of them making it work with one foot in the grave.

>>31356938
>>31356987

You know I enjoy your company, right?
>YOU'RE FUN. NOT ALL THE CARETAKERS ARE FUN.
So you know I appreciate you, right?
>WE ARE OF THE SAME BLOOD.
So you won't take this too badly.
>WE ARE ALL FRIENDS HERE, CARETAKER...?
Antolon. Caretaker Antolon.
>RIGHT RIGHT, SYLLA'S BOY. EASY TO FORGET NAMES.
I really don't want to offend you, honored ancester, but...
>YES?
The music.
>WHAT MUSIC?
The band.
>WHAT BAND?
You know what I mean.
>IT IS A XYLOPHONE, THATS WHAT ITS CALLED
You play so often-
>WE DO LIKE TO PLAY
-and you do not sleep.
>YOU LIKE IT?
I need sleep.
>YOU DON'T LIKE IT.
It isn't-
>IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT JUST SAY SO
I don't like it.
>I DON'T CARE.

>>31356905
>>31357016
>>31357095
The fact that this is happening in and around
>>31356901
>>31356938
>>31357210
this is the reason that I love /tg/

>>31356901
>>31357210
You know, with all these new one happening still, I'm just gonna wait till the thread 404s Cap them all, and post it in the next "Epic stuff /tg/ does" thread.

Could someone lend me a hand?
>SURE, HERE YA GO!
Ooh, come on John, that hasn't been funny for the last fifty times! And it's nasty!
>I'D LEND YOU MY EAR, BUT I ALREADY GAVE IT TO YOUR AUNT!
Can you be serious for once?
>SURE, I CAN BE DEAD SERIOUS!
John...
>...THIS IS A GRAVE MATTER?
I can't work like this.
>YOU KNOW WHY GIRLS STILL LIKE ME, EVEN AS A CORPSE? BECAUSE I'M 'RIBBED' FOR HER PLEASURE!

>>31357305
plz post here, I'd like to have these saved to my hard drive for posterity?

>>31357337
Ditto

>>31357210

"What's this?"
"That's my father- or, his ashes. What we keep his ashes in."
"What happened to him?"
"He was unwise. He attempted to tackle a dragon."
"Tackle? A dragon?"
>IT WAS NOT MY WORST CHOICE, THOUGH. SMALL DRAGON.
"Who said that?! Is that your father? Did the dragon not kill him?"
>DIDN'T YOU EXPLAIN IT TO HER, BOY?
"Well, he wasn't precisely alive when it happened."
>NOR THE TIME BEFORE THAT, WITH THE BEHOLDER.
"Mother won't let him have a body, anymore."
>SHE'S TOO CAUTIOUS. WE HAVE THIS TRADITION FOR A REASON.
"Yes, well she married into us. She never asked for it."
>SHE PRETENDS LIKE SHE DOESN'T ENJOY GABBING AWAY WITH YOUR AUNTS ALL DAY LONG.
"I've never heard her complain."
"This is a terrible first date, you know."

>>31357337
>>31357372
I need sleep.
You could always cap for yourselves, but if you don't I'll see you in each of the next few Epic /tg/ threads

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>>31357329

This is actually a character I played with a friend. I was a wizard who dabbled in necromancy to bring back my best adventuring bro. He was skeleton because I couldn't do a true resurrection. He would go around with a disguising mask and hit on all the ladies. Lots of jokes about "boning" them that ended up with his jaw being scattered across the floor of the bar or his room. Consequently our party never stayed in one place too long.

>>31357460
>bring a girl over your place
>your dead father's ghost shows up
>have conversation about necromancy and dragon-tackling right in front of her
>she cracks a joke

Put a ring on that shit right now, necro-anon, she is a keeper.

Little Billy, we need to talk about that pet dog I raised for you.
>YOU SAID I COULD KEEP IT FOREVER!
Under certain conditions, yes.
>HE STOPPED BURYING PEOPLE, LIKE YOU ASKED!
Yeah, we had a hard time finding grandma didn't we? But that's not...
>AND HE STOPPED CHASING HEARSES!
Still wondering why he never chases any other carriages.
>SO, I CAN KEEP HIM, LIKE YOU PROMISED?
Listen, the thing is, he hasn't entirely kicked that habit of burying his bones.
>I'M STILL WORKING ON THAT ALRIGHT?
Ok, so here's a shovel. If you can't find him before tomorrow we're leaving without him
>NOT FAIR!

>>31355287
Semantic satiation for "edgy" was reached about three posts in, and yet they continued.

Necro-family is perfect, though.

Play him as just a total bro and a really cool guy who has mostly ghosts as friends just because.

Some kind fella archived this so you fine sirs and lady's should head on over and upvote

>>31346982
So it's basically like organ donation but with your whole body and it's magic.

>>31350428
Would you look at dem onions

>>31357750

>I AM NOT READY
You do not believe you are ready, there's a difference.
>BUT I AM NOT, I AM NOT READY
No one is forcing you-
>THAT ISN'T HOW IT FEELS
I'm sorry. I had thought you discussed it with Risa.
>RISA?
Yes. Risa. My great great great grandmother.
>YOU ARE THE CARETAKER?
Yes. Risa is your wife.
>I FORGOT
I know you did. It has been a long time.
>I FORGET SOMETIMES
That happens. The anima which keeps you in this world is not forever. Even in our family, things must end.
>I CAN'T GET THE FOG TO CLEAR.
Do not let it worry you, honored ancestor. Do you remember talking with Risa?
>SHE WAS TIRED
Yes she was.
>SHE WANTS TO SLEEP
Yes she does. But she will not leave me behind.
>SHE IS SO KIND. SHE IS THE KINDEST.
Risa is a wonderful woman.
>THAT IS WHY I MARRIED HER. HER NAME IS RISA, SHE IS MY WIFE.
Yes, she is. Do you remember your conversation with her?
>I WILL NOT LET HER SLEEP ALONE.
You are faithful.
>TO THE END. I AM AFRAID BUT SHE WILL NOT SLEEP ALONE.

One character concept i always wanted to try was a necromancer who devoted himself to giving both the living and the dead the closure they may not have gotten in life.
>helping the innocent dead avenge themselves
>putting the dead abused by necromancers to rest
>helping the living have one last word with lost ones
>asking permission for the dead to help you defend their descendants
He'd travel the land bringing peace to others, knowing that while he has power over the dead, those that he personally has lost are still gone forever, as keeping a corpse alive too long is a hollow, meaningless experience

>>31362748

"The walls will hold, Lord Marshall, and the foul beasts will break against it like waves against the rocks."
"That's all well and good today, but what about tomorrow? These are no orc rabble. These are hobgoblins. They'll eat your heart out of your chest, just like any other greenskin-"
"I really don't see-"
"-but they will WAIT a week to do it. They are patient. They will burn us out or starve us out."
"What do you suggest, then?"
"A sally. Gather who we have. Break them on the field, send them from our walls. Might that we can evacuate thereafter."
"It would take numbers we simply don't have."
"My Lord Marshall, if I might-"
"Who in blazes are you?"
"I am the Caretaker. And I think I can be of assistance."
"Lord Marshall, I don't know who this man thinks-"
"Silence. Let him speak. I've heard of you and yours."
"We are known. And we can help."
>YES WE CAN
>I WAS AT TOR HALAR'S FALL, PLENTY OF BLOODY GOOD FUN.
>WHICH LORD MARSHAL IS THIS THEN?
>GIVE ME A DOZEN MEN AND I'LL BREAD THEM!
>OI DON'T ROIGHTLY KNOW WHAT'S WHAT, BUT WHAT TH'CARETAKER SAYS I DOES
>I FINALLY GOT A HOST
>NO ONE CARES SALLY
>MY HOST IS BETTER THAN YOUR HOST, MY HOST IS BE-
>DID WE ALL MAKE IT? I THINK UNCLE ERNEST FELL BEHIND
>OFF SCARING THE CHILLUNS
>AS THOUGH THE HOBGOBS WASN'T SCARIN' THEM ARREADY?
"...Lord Marshal?"
"I don't know what they'll do to our enemy, but they scare the hell out of me."
>OH PISH TUSH, LORD MARSHAL WHATSIT, WE'S ONLY FAMILY.

Somene screenshot these,

>>31354703
>>IT HAS BEEN TWENTY YEARS ABOUT NOTHING BUT PIE
Oh God, this is too good.

>>31362883

"How do you feel, Caretaker?"
"Weak. Drowsy."
"Shall you sleep, then?"
"Soon. Soon you will be the Caretaker."
"I am ready."
"It is an important thing to be, my son. You husband, you shephard. You guide."
"You taught me."
"Most you ensure find the sleeping death."
"There is the other, though."
"The waking death, yes. Our family is blessed that we might experience it, should we choose."
"You taught me the importance of that choice."
"Not all of our blood will choose the waking death."
"I know."
"But that is why there is always - must always - be a Caretaker. To give purpose to the waking death. To give it meaning."
"How do you feel, Caretaker?"
"I am not the Caretaker anymore, you are. Please do not call me that."
"As you wish, father."
"Thank you."
"Shall you choose the sleeping death? You have earned your rest, father. The family will understand- you have earned your peace."
"Perhaps. Is it getting dark?"
"No, father."
"Ah. The time. Is close."
"What will you choose? Shall you sleep?"
"I... do not know. I do not-"
>THINK SO. DO NOT CRY, DEAR BOY.
"I'm sorry-"
>DO NOT CRY. WE HAVE WORK TO DO.

>>31364563
If there is any reason to stop, it's not cause they're feelsy, it's because that makes a spectacular final entry in the story.

>>31364580

...somehow I accidentally deleted my post. Weird.

Yeah. I think I might rip these and format them into a proper writefagging. I dunno.

>>31364612
In any case, If you're done now, I can go about Capping this in it's current format.

>>31364563
The feels should never stop. Keep posting Anon. This is gold.

>>31364701

Anon who has been writing most of these, here.

I could honestly keep going, but that does seem a nice ending for it. So cap away.

Be professional about it. Use necromancy as a tool and not as a way of life. Just because you raise the dead to do you bidding does not mean you have to wear black clothes with skulls on them and hang out on the graveyard in your spare time.

>Necromancer
>Satanist

I don't see the co-relation.

Necromancers needs souls to create powerful undead abominations and to cause despair throughout.

Devils and Demons eat souls and shit other devils and demons.

YOu can be a necromancer and worship one of the four horsemen and not be an... 'edgey teenage satanist'

You just have to take it seriously, know what youre doing, and dont laugh unless absolutely necessary.

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>>31364742
You're a credit to /tg/.

>>31354458
They are used to dead bodies.

They are not psycopaths or sociopaths. (usually)

>>31346754
this thread is great. thanks for the ideas guys.

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Capped for your appreciation.

>>31364881
Amen to that

>>31349719
you are a god.

>>31350428

and now i'm all wet eyed.

Anon who has been writing the necromancer stories and dialogues : A great big thank you.
I am laughing and crying at the same time.
Your dialogues have been immortalised.

>>31365583

I've been pretty awed by the response. I'm flattered that ya'll like them so much.

>>31365412
This is gorgeous! Thanks anon.

>>31365645
Your dialogue reads like Discworld. Of course we like them!

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>>31365645
Good job Anon

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>>31346570

I like the thought of being an adventurer/archaeologist.

Necromancy does wonders to facilitate communication with long-dead civilizations.