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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: MijRai on July 24, 2010, 07:51:11 PM

Title: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: MijRai on July 24, 2010, 07:51:11 PM
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?
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: Lurline on July 24, 2010, 08:02:50 PM
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.
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: MijRai on July 24, 2010, 08:15:47 PM
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.
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: CMEast on July 25, 2010, 12:05:55 AM
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.
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: MijRai on July 25, 2010, 01:19:23 AM
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.
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: Mindflayer94 on July 25, 2010, 01:22:09 AM
I don't think animals would be a lawbreaker YS 233
(click to show/hide)
[also in the side text Harry states that
(click to show/hide)
(seeing as these are direct from the book or at least paraphrased I spoilered them, better safe then sorry)
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: Chlorofiend on July 25, 2010, 02:51:19 AM
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.
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: Slife on July 25, 2010, 03:25:24 AM
I don't think Harry has lawbreaker for necromancy in the rpg
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: CMEast on July 25, 2010, 11:06:09 AM
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 :P
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: Da_Gut on July 25, 2010, 11:36:35 AM
Well, in Dead Beat, Luccio did call Sue an abomination.

(click to show/hide)

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).
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: Doc Nova on July 25, 2010, 01:30:08 PM
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)
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)
.  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.
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: blackheart on July 25, 2010, 02:09:17 PM
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...
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: Morgan on July 25, 2010, 09:40:58 PM
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.
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: ballplayer72 on July 26, 2010, 02:30:58 PM
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!
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: Keryth on July 26, 2010, 08:46:21 PM
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.
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: ballplayer72 on July 26, 2010, 09:28:13 PM
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.

ummmm i don't remember that.  Got a cite for it? 
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: Keryth on July 27, 2010, 06:18:06 PM
Well, it 'hinted' when Luccio and Harry and Molly are looking at the Ley Line map. Re-read the character interplay and Harry's comments there and oyu'll see what I mean. Not outright stated but its there, between the lines
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: Crion on July 27, 2010, 06:37:47 PM
Well, it 'hinted' when Luccio and Harry and Molly are looking at the Ley Line map. Re-read the character interplay and Harry's comments there and oyu'll see what I mean. Not outright stated but its there, between the lines

Actually, Luccio states in Small Favor that one runs directly under the Field Museum; it didn't pool there at all. Harry was able to use the energy of the Ley Line to reanimate Sue, and that was is the middle of a huge ongoing ritual (i.e. the Darkhallow) and on Halloween night; I don't think he could have done it otherwise.
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: ballplayer72 on July 27, 2010, 07:30:07 PM
Actually, Luccio states in Small Favor that one runs directly under the Field Museum; it didn't pool there at all. Harry was able to use the energy of the Ley Line to reanimate Sue, and that was is the middle of a huge ongoing ritual (i.e. the Darkhallow) and on Halloween night; I don't think he could have done it otherwise.

Harry even says so himself.     It took a guy of harry's level of mojo, plus the darkhallow, plus the ley line, plus a tutoring session in kemmlerian necromancy from a fallen angel and a nearly complete skeleton (only missing the skull cause it was busted) to pull off.

As harry says "it wasn't complicated...  Lifting an engine block isn't complicated. "  It just took ALOT of juice.


Dinosaurs might be a stretch without the ley line and the darkhallow breaking the barrier.  Fossilized wolves or sabretooth tigers though?    Game on with some uber prep  8)
Title: Re: A 'Good' Necromancer
Post by: Ophidimancer on July 27, 2010, 08:57:32 PM
Hmm ... plant necromancy?