The Taskmaster Necromancer

The tall, pale figure of Eladrin Vars glided from body to body in the sepulcher. Each had been laid out in the armor it had been buried with, the sword it wielded in life clasped in its hands. The eyes had long since rotted away to nothing, and she placed an onyx gem in the left socket of every skill. Then, under the slimy remains of their tongues, a platinum coin.

"The wages of your work, my warriors," she said, gently closing the jaw of the last corpse before intoning the final verse of her spell. The limbs seized and spasmed, the stones crumbling to powder as dull, silver flames lit in the empty sockets. The undead rose, turning to their new commander. She smiled at them; a thin, grisly expression. "Let it not be said I did not compensate you for your service."

Ain't a lot of blackrobes out there who will pay you a dying wage.

Quid Pro Quo

While there are dozens of spells that fall under the school of necromancy, from incantations that sap a target's strength, to charms that grant you phantom resilience, these spellcasters are best known for filling the bodies of the dead with profane energies, and using them as pawns to serve their own needs. And whether a necromancer is using these undead servants to protect innocent townsfolk, or to care for the fields to avoid famine, there's still something inherently unsettling about the method behind these spells.

In short, it violates the person's bodily autonomy.

Not to worry, friends, we had an arrangement.

While The Veterinarian Necromancer gets around this sticky point by focusing their energies on beasts who do not have the same awareness as sentient beings, the Taskmaster instead allays this concern by making it clear that the person whose body is being used is being compensated in some way. In some cases it might be leaving an appropriate offering on the body, or in the grave, which balances the act in the eyes of certain death gods. In other circumstances the necromancer might have a standing agreement with a living person that they will be given a payment or a service now, so that their body may be used once they die. Or, if there was no time, then the surviving members of a person's family may be offered compensation for the use of their loved one by the necromancer.

But under no circumstances does this spellcaster simply take the bodies. There has to be some agreement in place, or if there was nothing given up-front, then the compensation must be rendered afterward along with a penance to appease the person's spirit, and the gods who watch over the cycle.

Why Do They Do This?

The individual beliefs and habits of necromancers can vary wildly, and why one might adopt this peculiar behavior is unique to that person. As mentioned, it might be a religious conceit of a necromancer who hopes to wash away the perceived sin of taking someone's body without their permission. It might simply be a quirk of that spellcaster's nation, where necromancers must abide by the laws and codes of their profession in order to remain in good standing. It might be something they personally do to assuage their conscience, or it could be considered good luck. It might even be a way to mark you out from other practitioners, similar to how a smith would stamp the blades made by their forges (particularly if the coins used in your rituals must be of a certain type).

Whatever the reason, it should be central to how they conduct themselves and their spells. Because you have to have standards and rules, otherwise there's nothing to separate you from the others.

Need to have standards.

While keeping these standards doesn't stop you from picking up a capital E in your alignment, thanks to the nature of these spells, it might allow you to hang onto that L. Because unless your powers come from a divine source, then the only person whose rules you have to follow is you.

Would You Like To See More In-Depth Tips For Wizards?

While I wrote my 5 Tips For Playing Better Wizards a while back, and you can find it along with a lot of my other class guides in the 5 Tips archive on this blog, I have been thinking about how each school of magic presents different and unique challenges, styles, and flavors. So I thought I'd ask my readers out there... would you like to see 5 Tips guides for each of the types of caster (necromancer, conjurer, diviner, etc.)?

If so, reach out to me on my Facebook page, or leave a comment below!

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That's all for this installment of Unusual Character Concepts. Hopefully this one gave you something to chew over, whether you're a player, or a game master.

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