in one of the books i am working on the main character is what i like to call a true born necromancer, meaning he is born with an innate understanding and power over death and those things that are attributed to it, but i am doing necromancy a little differently then how its usually portrayed.
in my world there are two types of necromancers and necromancy. the more common type is the one that every one hears about and use their power like you see in most games and other fantasy genre's. they raise the dead to be their unholy slaves, the mutilate and torture, call up dark forces for stuff, and are just plain nasty. more than likely falling into my worlds pure evil bastard grouping.
the other type are the true born, who behave differently. they are extremely rare, to the point where most never even heard of them and just assume that all necromancers are the fore mentioned type. they like all magic users manipulate primal energies, but they can only manipulate the energy of life and its progression to death. which means they can only destroy things not create them. this gives them great power but vastly limits them as well. they are capable of all the same things the stereotypical necromancers are but in general don't, because they rarely have the need, and there are severe consequences on the karmic level. so it's generally a last resort sort of thing. my original idea cam from when i looked up the meaning of necromancy and one of them was a form of deviation through spirit communication or corpse reading. so most of the powers i have thought up are based around that idea.
now what i need help with is that i am trying to find some ways for my character to use his powers over death to help people and not be to over powered. i have some ideas but i am always open for more.
there are some things to keep in mind
he can not commune with or touch another beings soul, everyone that has ever tried has died horribly, no exceptions.
there are no natural undead in my world, there are creatures that do not meet our sciences definition of life and are infused with the energy of death (vampires and other creatures that are considered undead), and while he can control and manipulate that energy and thus them he has to pit his will against theirs which is rarely a good idea.
he can manipulate dead tissue if there is enough of it, but this takes a lot of effort of will and you need dead flesh, which is hard to get.(this is where zombies and such come from)
anything that are strongly tied to death by belief, such as disease, fear, and decay as some examples, he can also manipulate.
if you have any questions or need some clarification just ask.
