A 'Good' Necromancer

[MijRai]

I am thinking of making a 'good' necromancer character. No name yet, just some simple backstory and the refresh.
My thought was that this person was a small time necromancer, messing around with life and death. He went to Chicago a few years back, and started seeing horrible things like Kemmler's Disciples torturing people and ghosts. At the end her saw a different form of necromancy. A man riding a giant dinosaur into battle against the baddies. He renounces messing with humans, and only works with animals. He studies paleontology, etc. and works on messing with prehistoric animals. His strength limits him to going back to the last Ice Age (for now).

His refresh would be...
Supernatural Sense [Death] -1 (Optional)
Channeling [Spirit] -2
Thaumaturgy ['Wild' Necromancy] -3
Lawbreaker Stunt [Fifth Law] -1
Sight -1 (Optional)
Refinement x# -1x# (Optional)

He'd have a Trouble involving Necromancy and the bad juju it is often associated with, and the High Concept is pretty obvious as well. His Lawbreaker involves past dealings, but he is reformed.
Any other suggestions?

[Lurline]

Why would he be limited to going back to the Ice Age... the book explained that the older the corpse the more magic was in it so presumably it's easier to resurrect an older creature then a new one.


Other then that it's a cool idea though remember that Sue was still an abomination... and the Wardens will be after this guy if they find out about him.

[MijRai]

Why would he be limited to going back to the Ice Age... the book explained that the older the corpse the more magic was in it so presumably it's easier to resurrect an older creature then a new one.


Other then that it's a cool idea though remember that Sue was still an abomination... and the Wardens will be after this guy if they find out about him.

It takes more energy to raise something older (but said older things are more powerful and are easier to control). Harry said that getting Sue was like lifting an engine block, and that was on Hallowe'en, the day the barriers between life and death are thinnest. If Sue is an engine block, then I'd say a mammoth or saber-tooth of some kind would be like a motorcycle engine. My necromancer just isn't strong enough to do it yet. I stress the yet. Him at his strongest will be putting allosaurs and hordes of velociraptors on the table, while riding a brontosaurus (putting him in a different zone completely, seeing how tall they are ). For now he can deal with riding wooly rhinoes and mammoths while guiding his saber-toothed cats and acroncantheriums (the 'Big-Pig').

Besides, the whole 'I'm a necromancer, but I'm not breaking the Laws' thing is part of his schtick. He'll have to deal with Wardens, and it'll suck, but he can use loopholes and such to get him out of the guillotine.

[CMEast]

I think you're breaking the fifth law with necromancy, whether you're raising animals, dinosaurs or insects. It's not as bad as humans sure, but it's still bringing something back from the dead.

Also, necromancy by it's very nature twists people (hence lawbreaker). The more you use necromancy, the more you see yourself as being above the petty laws that effect others; after all, you are the master of death itself!

Still, it's not impossible that someone could redeem themselves. Saving lives, restoring the balance of life and death, combating necromancers by unravelling their spells and so forth.

[MijRai]

I think you're breaking the fifth law with necromancy, whether you're raising animals, dinosaurs or insects. It's not as bad as humans sure, but it's still bringing something back from the dead.

Also, necromancy by it's very nature twists people (hence lawbreaker). The more you use necromancy, the more you see yourself as being above the petty laws that effect others; after all, you are the master of death itself!

Still, it's not impossible that someone could redeem themselves. Saving lives, restoring the balance of life and death, combating necromancers by unravelling their spells and so forth.

Well, Harry wasn't breaking the Law, so I think sticking with animals gives enough lee-way. The character's Lawbreaker was for his first experiments with Kemmlerian necromancy, but he jumped ship.

[Mindflayer94]

I don't think animals would be a lawbreaker YS 233

(click to show/hide)

"The laws are generally understood to apply only to humans"

[also in the side text Harry states that

(click to show/hide)

Sue the dinosaur wasn't a violation due to the humans only clause]

(seeing as these are direct from the book or at least paraphrased I spoilered them, better safe then sorry)

[Chlorofiend]

It takes more energy to raise something older (but said older things are more powerful and are easier to control). Harry said that getting Sue was like lifting an engine block, and that was on Hallowe'en, the day the barriers between life and death are thinnest. If Sue is an engine block, then I'd say a mammoth or saber-tooth of some kind would be like a motorcycle engine.

At best--according to Luccio in Small Favor, there's a ley line running under the Field Museum that no doubt helped Harry gather enough mojo to animate Sue.

[Slife]

I don't think Harry has lawbreaker for necromancy in the rpg

[CMEast]

Hmm, true I'd forgotten that it only applies to free-willed individuals. Oh well, some of what I  said is still relevant... just not much of it

[Da_Gut]

Well, in Dead Beat, Luccio did call Sue an abomination.

(click to show/hide)

I think the main reason that the Wardens let Sue slide is that she was required to get close enough to the vortex to let Harry stop it. (Since it required a powerful necromantic shield to even get close).

So, while I can see you pulling it off, you better cultivate your contacts in the White Council. And, you very well might not get away with it for long. Its a really dark grey area. And the rule books say the wardens are a lot more about the spirit of the laws of magic, not the letter. (In direct opposition to the Accords, which are the opposite).

[Doc Nova]

Of course, how your game runs it is how your game runs it.  If you are looking for outside perspectives, I would have to go with the notion that you're still breaking the Law.  Harry got

(click to show/hide)

to slide past it, from the Wardens' perspective, due to circumstances and necessity,

as was mentioned.  Raising animals, while not quite the same as raising humans, is the start of a very slippery slope --

(click to show/hide)

and that is something the Wardens have killed because of in the past

.  In your game, the GM may decide you're treading on gray areas and let it slide.  In my game, you'd become hunted by the Wardens in short order.

[blackheart]

One of the campaign ideas I was hashing out with my group was a "kitchen sink" setting where different magic traditions had all had a massive pow-wow long ago and let everyone live in (relative) peace with each other. One of those groups was an "Animator" style a'la Anita Blake from the early novels. You would be a focused caster for necromancy (communicating and controling the dead) but nothing else. And the animators police themselves, so if you abuse your power for terrorising mortals, someone else more powerful steps in...

[Morgan]

Since you're already thinking of including Lawbreaker 5th law for your powers I'd say that the idea is pretty viable just watch out for the Wardens and keep your animal raising on the down low. Also I hope the character has either the access or the cash to get close enough to relatively intact Ice Age megafauna skeletons, those are usually pretty pricey and when they are sold or found museums usually get the first crack at them.

But all this talk does make me think of the potential of a Necromantic Taxidermist as a villain or maybe just a quirky minor powered character in the city. The stitched together necromantic Frankensteined chimera ideas, "I made my very own undead Jackalope!" Or the Stuffed Squirrel Army of the Janitor from Scrubs, suddenly brought to life with necromancy, the idea has some great humorous and horrific scene possibilities.

[ballplayer72]

I am thinking of making a 'good' necromancer character. No name yet, just some simple backstory and the refresh.
My thought was that this person was a small time necromancer, messing around with life and death. He went to Chicago a few years back, and started seeing horrible things like Kemmler's Disciples torturing people and ghosts. At the end her saw a different form of necromancy. A man riding a giant dinosaur into battle against the baddies. He renounces messing with humans, and only works with animals. He studies paleontology, etc. and works on messing with prehistoric animals. His strength limits him to going back to the last Ice Age (for now).

His refresh would be...
Supernatural Sense [Death] -1 (Optional)
Channeling [Spirit] -2
Thaumaturgy ['Wild' Necromancy] -3
Lawbreaker Stunt [Fifth Law] -1
Sight -1 (Optional)
Refinement x# -1x# (Optional)

He'd have a Trouble involving Necromancy and the bad juju it is often associated with, and the High Concept is pretty obvious as well. His Lawbreaker involves past dealings, but he is reformed.
Any other suggestions?

If he didn't futz with mortals you don't need the lawbreaker stunt    I like this idea!

[Keryth]

At best--according to Luccio in Small Favor, there's a ley line running under the Field Museum that no doubt helped Harry gather enough mojo to animate Sue.

Actually, form what we learn, in the books, Harry raising Sue is where that ley line comes form. His necromantic act created the ley line.