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Argent Dawn
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Necronomicon: guide to necromancer RP by Vredd

“All too soon, my choice was made. Too late did I realize that such power does not come… without a price.” - Archlich Kel’Thuzad

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Capabilities
  3. Races
  4. Classes
  5. Appearance
  6. Raising the dead
  7. Minions
  8. Personality
  9. Conclusion

Introduction

As described in “The Schools of Arcane Magic – Necromancy”:

Necromancy is the study of magic involving the dead. It is highly illegal and should be avoided at all costs. I discuss necromancy here only because it is our obligation to have a basic understanding of the magic employed by our enemies - and make no mistake, any practitioner of necromancy is your enemy. Necromancers and their followers are the enemies of all living things. Their influence must be avoided at all costs.

Necromantic magic has many functions beyond simply raising the dead. Masters of this tainted field of magic can conjure festering diseases, harness the shadows into bolts of incendiary energy, and chill the living with the power of death. Necromancy can also be used to reconstruct the flesh of undead creatures, allowing them to function again even after the foul monsters have been destroyed.

Capabilities

As we can see from “The Schools of Arcane Magic – Necromancy” as well as other sources, necromancers do have a number of capabilities beyond raising the dead, though this does remain the bread and butter of the class.

I’ll list some of the capabilities the necromancer will or may have based off of what we have seen in-game:

Raising the dead - this is a no brainer; simply put, a necromancer isn’t a necromancer if they don’t have this ability.

“Conjure festering diseases” - we can only assume that this refers to abilities similar to the ones death knights use i.e. Blood Plague and Frost Fever. Also this has been seen before since necromancers are often responsible for the spreading of plagues, such as the one spread across Lordaeron.

“Harness the shadows into bolts of incendiary energy” - this most likely refers to Shadow Bolt which, though used by warlocks, is in fact also a necromancer ability. This can be seen from mobs such as the Anub’ar Necromancers in Azjol-Nerub and the Dark Necromancers in Stratholme. However, necromancers appear to harness the shadows in a number of other ways too, such as the Auchenai Necromancers who use Drain Soul (also used by warlocks) and an ability called Shadow Mend.

“Chill the living with the power of death” - since most necromancers are former mages, it wouldn’t be too far a stretch to assume that necromancers use darker and far deadlier forms of frost magic. Death knights use these sorts of abilities, even having an entire specialization dedicated to them.

Cripple - in Warcraft 3, this ability was used by the necromancer unit to slow a target’s movement and attack speed, as well as reduce the target’s damage dealt. Besides this however, many necromancer mobs throughout the game use it too, including the Death’s Head Necromancers in Razorfen Downs, and the Shadowy Necromancers in the Battle for Mount Hyjal.

Corpse Explosion - this rather fun ability has been used by necromancers. The Scholomance Necromancer mobs use this ability as well as the Acherus Necromancers who use a variation called Ghoulplosion. Also, death knights used to possess a minor glyph which allowed them the use of this ability, though it didn’t deal any damage.

Unholy Frenzy - unholy death knights will be familiar with this ability. This was also used by the necromancer unit in Warcraft 3 where it had a similar effect, in which attack speed is increased however health is drained. Other necromancers who have used this ability include the Shadowy Necromancers in the Battle for Mount Hyjal.

Bone Armor - similar to Bone Shield used by blood death knights, many necromancer mobs use this ability in which it absorbs damage taken, like Power Word: Shield. Examples of mobs who use this ability include the Malefic Necromancers in Icecrown and the Thuzadin Necromancers in Stratholme.

Soul Tap - this ability is similar to Drain Life and was used by the Thuzadin Necromancers in Stratholme. It leads to the idea that necromancers may use similar life draining abilities.

Drain Mana - a former warlock ability used by the Dark Necromancers in the Culling of Stratholme.

Races

Practically every race is capable of becoming a necromancer. After all, necromancy is ultimately another school of arcane magic. In that case, any race who can become a mage is capable of becoming a necromancer. Also, with the death knight class, every race except pandaren is shown to use necromancy. Here is a list of all the playable races and the extent to which it is possible for them to become a necromancer.

Alliance

Humans - many humans crossed over to necromancy surrounding the events of the Third War, tempted by power, immortality and as Kel’Thuzad described, “an ideal society free of all the burdens the existing one forced upon its citizenry”. Therefore, they make up most of the Cult of the Damned and are highly capable of becoming necromancers.

Dwarves - though all dwarves can become adept in arcane arts, the Dark Irons are the ones who study far darker forms than their Bronzebeard cousins, even bringing warlocks into Ironforge’s ranks. Dwarves are therefore also highly capable of becoming necromancers.

Gnomes - gnomes are found in the Cult of the Damned, and really there’s no reason why a gnome wouldn’t attempt to delve into the dark arts. Their curiosity is often far greater than that of other races, and so necromancy may tempt a gnome or two. Also, they’re shown to be powerful users of arcane magic, and so one could easily become a powerful user of necromancy.

Night Elves - necromancy is the enemy of all living things and the balance of life and death. It would therefore be strictly forbidden by night elf society. Necromancy upon night elves was witnessed during the War of the Ancients, and only one night elf wasn’t disgusted by it: Illidan, and we all know what happened to him. Despite this, night elves are capable of wielding arcane magic, especially after accepting the Highborne back into night elf lands. So the possibility is there.

Draenei - though draenei would completely forbid this, as it goes against their reverence of the Holy Light, we have seen draenei necromancers in Auchenai Crypts. Therefore it’s possible for draenei to become necromancers, however note you’d be exiled and disgraced by draenei society and possibly even executed.

Worgen - worgen are ultimately cursed humans and so would be just as capable of wielding necromancy as regular humans.

Horde

Orcs - as mentioned before with Gul’dan’s necrolytes, orcs are more than capable of wielding necromancy.

Trolls - troll necromancers have been seen. Zalazane is an example and Zanzil could also be considered a necromancer. Despite this, Zalazane’s death was due to his usurping of the domain of Bwonsamdi, the troll loa of the dead, who wasn’t too pleased with him for this. So you may have to keep that in mind as a troll necromancer.

Tauren - tauren, like night elves, would also view necromancy as an enemy of nature and so would react in the same way. Tauren necomancers are possible, however, as we have seen tauren mages among the Grimtotem tribe, so it isn’t that far fetched to suggest one of them may have gone down a darker path.

Forsaken - Helcular and Gunther Arcanus are both examples of Forsaken necromancers. Sylvanas would have recruited many necromancers into her ranks, but only for the sole purpose of sustaining her race.

Blood elves - high elves will also count here. Dar’Khan Drathir and Instructor Malicia are examples of high elf necromancers and the elves make up quite a bit of the Cult of the Damned. Due to their lust for arcane magic, both blood elves and high elves can easily stumble upon necromancy.

Goblin - as we saw from goblin warlocks and shamans, goblins will exploit any form of power just for profit, and so because of that, I don’t see why a goblin wouldn’t try and exploit necromancy. How he’d gain profit out of it I’m not sure, but it would certainly be interesting to see RPed. I hear undead minions make good cheap labour.

Neutral

Pandaren - this is an interesting one. Though you have pandaren mages, the pandaren very much respect their dead and so necromancy would not be accepted nor tolerated. Pandaren necromancers could still be possible but having a good reason for them becoming one would be difficult to play out. It should be noted however that we have not seen any pandaren use necromancy throughout the game with them even being the only playable race who can’t become death knights.

Classes

As necromancers are not a playable class, it’s important to use a class that best suits how they’re both described and seen in lore and in-game. There are four main classes which work best:

Unholy Death Knights – since Legion, unholy DKs have become even more necromancer-like than they were previously. They still retainin their ability to raise a minion and keep that minion out as a “pet”. Aside from this however, they also make use of diseases like Virulent Plague as well as the emphasis on Festering Wounds; they can summon a variety of other undead minions such as a gargoyle, an extra skeletal minion through All Will Serve and even an abomination through Sludge Belcher; finally, with their artifact weapon they can summon even greater armies of the dead in addition to the classic Army of the Dead spell.

Despite this, problems with the death knight include that they can’t wield staffs (however this can be replaced with a tome or a polearm) and they’re undead, meaning that using them to RP living necromancers will not be the best idea. Therefore there are other suitable options include:

Affliction Warlocks – an affliction warlock is a borderline necromancer due to how they dabble with souls and use shadow magic to casts various curses and afflictions. For instance, the Haunt spell is rather necromantic in nature since it states that it sends a ghostly soul into the target. In the section below, you will see how there are a number of warlock gear sets which can be used to brilliantly portray a necromancer.

Shadow Priests – shadow priests clearly use shadow magic and so could also make use of the Realm of Shadows the Scourge uses. In Icecrown you do see Cult of the Damned mobs in Shadowform who are casting Mind Flay. Therefore shadow priests could work.

Mages – most, if not all, necromancers are former mages, and as we saw from Darkmaster Gandling in Scholomance, when you become a necromancer you don’t necessarily ‘unlearn’ your previous abilities. Therefore, you could RP a necromancer who continues to incorporate spells they learned as a mage. Frost mages would most likely work best however, because as mentioned before, necromancers possess frost-related abilities.

The biggest problem with these other options however is that they can’t raise the dead, which some would argue, makes them unable to roleplay necromancers. In the ‘undead minions’ section I’ll present ways to compensate for this.

Appearance

Cloth gear works best for necromancers, though there isn’t really any reason why they wouldn’t wear something a little heavier, as they generally don’t move around much and instead send in their minions. The key really is to use “dark-themed” gear, after all a necromancer is a very shady person and not the most attractive looking person either. In the RPG books it states that necromancers “gradually take on the characteristics of the dead — hollow eyes, shambling gaits, pallid and sunken skin, foul odors and so forth”, and though this is technically non-canon info being in the RPG books, the appearances of necromancer NPCs nonetheless support this idea.

Take this set as an example of a necromancer look, or alternatively look at the various necromancer mobs throughout the game such as the ones I mentioned in the abilities section: [Dead link, removed]

Raising the dead

I thought I’d dedicate an entire section to this as it’s something that as a necromancer you’ll frequently be doing.

In order to raise the dead, unlike the death knight’s Raise Dead ability, you’ll need a corpse. This should be pretty obvious, but what it means is that the necromancer can sometimes be limited and have to rely on offensive and defensive magic due to the lack of corpses.

Despite this however, it can be argued that sometimes a necromancer will summon rather than raise the dead, from a place known as the Realm of Shadows. For example, in Acherus we see the trainers creating minions for their disciples to fight, however Acherus is a big metal fortress in the sky. Therefore, the best possible explanation for this is that these undead minions weren’t raised and were instead summoned from the Realm of Shadows. This will therefore give you a way to create an undead minion without the need of a corpse. For more information on this realm, see:
http://wowpedia.org/Realm_of_Shadows

Most of the time however, you’ll raise the corpse of a fallen soldier in battle. If you’re in the midst of battle and someone falls you can therefore raise them into undeath to do your bidding, which is of course, aid in killing your enemies. Necromancers will most often not be found in a place without some trace of death, which is why many are found scheming in the Plaguelands.

Undead minions

Necromancers can raise/summon a variety of minions, and as we see throughout the game, they come in all shapes and sizes. Some of the types of undead that necromancers can summon or raise can be seen here: >>http://wowpedia.org/Undead

However I will list some of the main types:

Ghouls - seen from both the death knight’s Raise Dead ability and the fact that ghouls are seen to act as the shock troops for the Scourge such as during the Battle for Light’s Hope Chapel.

Skeletons - the ability to raise skeletons was the main ability used by the necromancer unit in Warcraft 3. They fall into two types: skeletal warriors and skeletal mages.

Geists - executed criminals reborn as undead due to necromancy.

Zombies - in Stratholme we saw thousands of these, with all of them being reanimated from the corpses of Stratholme citizens. Should be noted however that zombies are in fact reanimated corpses who have not yet completed the transition into the “true” undead form of ghouls.

Unfortunately, affliction warlocks, shadow priests and mages don’t have the benefit that death knights have of actually raising the dead. Death knights don’t have to worry about this section as they can simply use either Raise Dead, Army of Dead, or even Raise Ally. Non-DKs on the other hand, read on.

There are a couple of approaches to compensating for the lack of raising the dead:

Items - there are items in the game which can briefly summon an undead minion, such as Book of the Dead, Antique Cornerstone Grimoire and Abracadaver. Other than these there are probably other items in the game which have similar effects that I haven’t listed, so look around and see what you can find.

You can have someone RP a minion for you - this can be done in a number of ways. Any class can use Noggenfogger Elixir and so RP a skeleton. As skeletons are the basic form of undead a necromancer can raise, this can work very well. Even better if they’re a mage and so can RP a skeletal mage. The rogue T10 armor is highly reminiscent of geists and so a rogue wearing this gear can RP one. Even the undead race in general could work as a minion as they’re, well, undead.

Pets - another thing you can do, as suggested by some, is use some of the various undead battle pets you can obtain (thank you to Elenthas for listing these):

  • Restless Shadeling - Early morning spawn near Karazhan (Resembles a Shade)
  • Fossilized Hatchling (Troll Necromancers) - Fossil Archaeology (Skeletal raptor)
  • Ghostly Skull - Dalaran Vendor 40g (Floating Skull)
  • Lost of Lordaeron - Tirisfal Glades spawn (Resembles blue ghost)
  • Macabre Marionette - Day of the Dead (Resembles a humanoid skeleton)
  • Unborn Val’kyr - Rare spawn around Northrend (Resembles chibi Val’kyr)
  • Sen’jin Fetish (Troll Necromancers) - Argent Tournament 40 Seals (Floating tiki head)
  • Scourged Whelpling - Rare(?) spawn in Icecrown (Plagued whelp model)
  • Frosty - WotLK Collectors Edition (Resembles frost wyrm whelp)
  • Stitched Pup - Gluth, Naxxramas (resembles Gluth)
  • Blighthawk - Western Plaguelands (Resembles undead hawk)
  • Sinister Squashling - Hallow’s End (Resembles a sinister squashling)
  • Withers - Darkshore Quest/Vendor(?) (Resembles a grey, withered treant)
  • Cockroach (Various) - They’re cockroaches, there’s a lot around.
  • Disgusting Oozeling - Rare World Drop (Resembles a black ooze)
  • Arcanomicon - Hillsbrad Foothills, near Dalaran Crater (Resembles floating magic book)
  • Jade Oozeling - Hinterlands (Resembles smiling green ooze)
  • Arcane Eye - Deadwind Pass, possible rare spawn(?) (Floating blue eye)
  • Toxic Wasteling - Love is in the Air event (Green non-smiling ooze)
  • Viscidus Globue - Viscidus, AQ40 (Resembles Viscidus)
  • Darkmoon Eye - Darkmoon Pet Supplies Rare Drop (Giant orange Darkmoon Eye)
  • Ethereal Soul Trader - TCG Reward, super rare and expensive! (Resembles Ethereal)
  • Gusting Grimoire - TCG Reward (floating magic book)
  • Living Fluid - Primordius, Throne of Thunder, LFR Difficulty(?) (Resembles blood-red ooze)
  • Nordrassil Wisp - Mount Hyjal (Resembles Wisp)
  • Spectral (Tiger) Cub - TCG/Battle.Net World Championship Shanghai 2012 (Resembles spectral tiger cub)
  • Viscous Horror - Primordius, Throne of Thunder (Resembles darker blood-red ooze)
  • Devouring Maggot - Howling Fjord (Resembles Maggot)
  • Mr. Grubbs - Rare Drop Eastern Plaguelands (Resembles Maggot)
  • Son of Animus - Dark Animus, Throne of Thunder (Resembles a mini-Dark Animus)

Personality

Though not all necromancers are the same in terms of personality, there are a few general character traits which would likely apply to all:

-As someone who frequently toys with the balance of life and death, you don’t value this balance in any way other than a tool for you to defeat your enemies.
-You’re unlikely to gain any ties with anyone, instead carrying a callous view that they’re all flesh and bone, ready to be manipulated.
-You’re also very likely to be a megalomaniac, relishing in the ability to summon and command minions who obey your every whim as well as seemingly being able to have control over death itself.

Of course, take these away as mere pointers and not necessarily defining character traits. Ultimately all necromancers are individuals and so will have their own unique qualities as well as these aspects of their personality.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading my guide and hopefully it will help anyone interested in roleplaying a necromancer out there.