Best necromancy/skeletons in RPGs

[Cryomancer]

D2's necro https://diablo.fandom.com/wiki/Necromancer_(Diablo_II)

IMO the games with worst necromancies are DA:I and ESO...The The best necromancyes in games are IMO Might & Magic VIII, Diablo 2 and pathfinder kingmaker, I don't like when games limit you to one or two minions and necromancy is too much similar to regular magic. That said, one thing that i love about D2 is that the spells are completely different than "throw damage numbers", you can cast attract in a mob group, iron maiden in another and corpse explosion the screen. Using the enemies against themselves. The progression is also well made. You start with a single weak skeleton and able to create weak clay golems and end the game able to transform items into iron golems, create living fires, reanimate enemies maintaining his proprieties and have a undead army.

On Pathfinder Kingmaker, there are no artificial limitation in how much summons you can have and animate dead allow you to create a lot of undead. Most necromantic offensive spells has FORT save, a amazing save considering that most enemies are fey with poor FORT save. Unfortunately you can't become a undead without mods, despite the undead template being applied to a companion. On Might & Magic VIII, you can nuke cities out of existence, reanimate enemies tied to your dark magic skill, first , only bandits but in end game even dragons, can cast all types of uility spells, enchant a weapon to suck enemy lifeforce, pain reflection to make the enemy damages himself, make enemy casters useless with Dark Grasp, the unique critique is the lack of Finger of Death from M&M VI and the fact that instead of some dark magic spells dealing poison, some magical, etc; all spells on M&M 8 deals "dark" magic. But i still think that 8 is superior to 6 in this aspect(necromancy) by one factor. Lichdoom. 6 is the best in most aspects but not in necromancy.

That said, the things who make good necromancy IMO are

• Be distinct mechanic and lore wise than regular magic
• Allow you to feel like the master of life and death itself
• Allow multiple summons and a progression on summons
• Put nasty curses on the enemy or "debuffs"
• Become inhuman. Vampire or Lich preferentially
• Able to use enemy lifeforce against itself
• Have impact on NPC interactions

Of ourse, a game doesn't need to have everything to be a good game in therms of necromancy. For example, Ultima Online probably has the best necormancy among the mmo genre and doesn't have everything that i wan't in a necromancer. To be fair, is superior in some aspects than my favorite RPGs because some spells affect karma and neutral creatures start to become hostile. The world treats you like someone who spreads corruption and i love it. On Age of Conan, you can be a necromancer and walk in lich form in the middle of cities who everyone hates magic users according to the lore. Age of Conan still has one of the best necromancies among the mmo genre but has most post wow mmo flaws(wow style cooldowns/itemization/etc)

Cheb Gonaz has a channel dedicated to only talk about necromancy in video games.

his videos

necromancy on age of conan


roguelikes


diablo clones


necromancy on M&B - Phantasy Calradia

 

[Jason Liang]

Path of Exile necromancy > Diablo necromancy

 

[Cryomancer]

Path of Exile necromancy > Diablo necromancy

Compared to D3 yep. Compared to D2, no way.

 

[Thal]

It has been said before but there is a lot untapped potential in Thief-like immersive sims for other rpg-archetypes such as Necromancer or Paladin. We've not yet seen a fully realized necromancer yet because the playstyle is too specific to fit into budgetary and time constraints of a normal rpg.

That being said, I recall NWN mod Almraiven was a good module tailored for evil mages. Skyrim requiem also fits quite neatly into your checklist.

 

[Jaedar]

It has been said before but there is a lot untapped potential in Thief-like immersive sims for other rpg-archetypes such as Necromancer or Paladin. We've not yet seen a fully realized necromancer yet because the playstyle is too specific to fit into budgetary and time constraints of a normal rpg.

Everyone dreams of conquering nations with necromancy.

Skyrim requiem also fits quite neatly into your checklist.

it does?

 

[Thal]

Skyrim requiem also fits quite neatly into your checklist.

it does?

Hmm...maybe half of it fits. It's been many years since I last played it, but it's based on the fact that magic, vampirism and items, including necromancers amulet, are more fleshed out.

• Be distinct mechanic and lore wise than regular magic - Probably not. You still get all your skills from the same perk tree. Undead summoning uses conjuration and other magic is spread over to other trees.
  
• Allow you to feel like the master of life and death itself - Well you become insanely powerful in the end.
  
• Allow multiple summons and a progression on summons - I believe cap was 4 and the quality of corpses you can use increases as you gain power. You can resurrect dead enemies, in the end even giants iirc.
  
• Put nasty curses on the enemy or "debuffs" - Vastly improved magic is one the best sides of the mod. For example, you can use telekinesis to rip someone's heart out, which then appears in your inventory as an alchemical ingredient
  
• Become inhuman. Vampire or Lich preferentially - Vampirism is also improved.
  
• Able to use enemy lifeforce against itself - Again, magic is very fleshed out it this mod.
  
• Have impact on NPC interactions - It's skyrim so you don't have any meaningful interractions with anyone. But you have a questline for vampirism of course.

Sadly, it's still Skyrim quests though.

 

[Cryomancer]

I will try this mod. Anyway, i agree that to have a perfect implementation of necromancy, the game should focus only on it.

On Path of Exile, one thing that i don't like about necromancy is that is too gear dependent, most good summons are temporary, female only and i really miss a basic iconic offensive spell like bone spear...

 

[what am i doing]

Guild Wars 1 had a good Necromancer class. Also had the Ritualist class which was like a second, different flavoured Necromancer.

Necromancer summons minions, applies debuffs to enemies often synergizing with melee teammates' attacks, strips enchantments, steals health, sacrifices minions for damage or healing. Ritualist summons "artillery" minions, applies hard to remove buffs on allies, heals teammates; often buffed by proximity to his minions.

Was made by some former Diablo 2 devs.

 

[markec]

In Arcanum you can conjure spirits of the dead and talk to them, mostly it does little but in some cases you can learn valuable informations. I also like how people react with fear and disgust to your summoned undead.

I wish more games allow playing with spellcasters in RPGs to have unique ways to interact with the world and solve quests instead of just being range damage dealers.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

A lot of Necromancy in games doesn't play into the forbidden magic side of things for my liking. Necromancy itself should be powerful, it should make you feel like something beyond your typical spellcaster, but it needs to come with proper downsides to balance the exchange out. I'm not talking having NPCs wag their fingers disapprovingly at you or vendors not selling you stuff, but you need to be willing to put it all on the line. The problem is most games turn Necromancy into another caster, you choose your thematically appropriate spell and it goes off with little to no downside. You should have to do a lot of weird morbid shit like graverobbing, bloodletting, sacrifices, dealing with deadly diseases and knowing that one day if you truly want mastery over life and death then you need to take a one way trip to the other side.

A good Necromancer should have every successful breakthrough come at the cost of themselves in some way. They grow gaunt and more corpselike physically or descend into madness that makes them crave more power to the point they are convinced their own mortality is a limitation.

 

[Cryomancer]

A lot of Necromancy in games doesn't play into the forbidden magic side of things for my liking. Necromancy itself should be powerful, it should make you feel like something beyond your typical spellcaster, but it needs to come with proper downsides to balance the exchange out. I'm not talking having NPCs wag their fingers disapprovingly at you or vendors not selling you stuff, but you need to be willing to put it all on the line. The problem is most games turn Necromancy into another caster, you choose your thematically appropriate spell and it goes off with little to no downside. You should have to do a lot of weird morbid shit like graverobbing, bloodletting, sacrifices, dealing with deadly diseases and knowing that one day if you truly want mastery over life and death then you need to take a one way trip to the other side.

A good Necromancer should have every successful breakthrough come at the cost of themselves in some way. They grow gaunt and more corpselike physically or descend into madness that makes them crave more power to the point they are convinced their own mortality is a limitation.

I strongly agree. Necromancy should be a knowledge not obtained in mainstream cities. Obtain necromancy itself should be a quest involving bargaing with undead/demon/evil casters to get even the most basic spells. Learned advanced necromancy, should require rituals that modify your body, require reagents, has a chance to succeed and make you weaker at sunlight, weaker vs fire, weaker vs holy energies, your skin paler, etc. And then, have consequences, not only vendors giving a little higher price for you, guards should attack you on spot if you use necromancy, neutral/good aligned creatures should lose disposition and become hostile, in other words, the would should treat you like someone who is spreading corruption and evil.

 

[Jason Liang]

Magic the Gathering has good necromancy

You could try Arena

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

This thread reminded me of a game that I honestly thought you could become a necromancer in and I struggled to do so in - Morrowind. I collected all the necromancy books, read them, tried desperately to become a necromancer but alas, it wasn't really part of the game. This was before I checked the internet much for stuff and first played Morrowind which both excited and intrigued me. The way they talked about necromancy made it sound as though you could become one but it was just not implemented in the game. I was so disappointed when i found out.

Never has a game fully immersed me as much as my first time with Morrowind. Gid bless Bethesda Softworks.

 

[Cryomancer]

This thread reminded me of a game that I honestly thought you could become a necromancer in and I struggled to do so in - Morrowind. I collected all the necromancy books, read them, tried desperately to become a necromancer but alas, it wasn't really part of the game. This was before I checked the internet much for stuff and first played Morrowind which both excited and intrigued me. The way they talked about necromancy made it sound as though you could become one but it was just not implemented in the game. I was so disappointed when i found out.

Never has a game fully immersed me as much as my first time with Morrowind. Gid bless Bethesda Softworks.

Sad. Did you AT LEAST found a good necro mod for morrowind?

 

[Dorateen]

Grimoire's necromancer has proper class restrictions, unable to be resurrected or blessed. Starts off weak, and grows more powerful with spell selections that include the requisite summons, death spells, hexes and life draining magic.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Sad. Did you AT LEAST found a good necro mod for morrowind?

Nope, but I don't remember looking too hard for one. Maybe there's a good one, dunno.

 

[Shadenuat]

https://camelotherald.fandom.com/wiki/Necromancer

In order to kill a Necromancer, you must first kill his pet, which forces the Necromancer to become visible, where it can then be targeted and killed. While a shade, the Necro is displayed as a translucent shadowy, floating ghost that cannot be targeted or damaged by melee or spells.

When the pet is killed or released in combat, the Necromancer returns to mortal form, alive, but with a a very small amount of health. If the pet is not injured or in combat when released, the Necromancer comes back from shade mode with no loss of health. The intent of this is to make it so as long as the pet is alive, the Necro is at full health, but when his pet dies, the Necro is extremely damaged, weak and vulnerable.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Conquest of Elysium and Dominions are the peak if you want to live out your Nercromancer Empire fantasies, along with many other fantasies.

 

[aweigh]

:enslave nations with necromancy meme:

 

[Cryomancer]

Grimoire's necromancer has proper class restrictions, unable to be resurrected or blessed. Starts off weak, and grows more powerful with spell selections that include the requisite summons, death spells, hexes and life draining magic.

Yes, i LOVED play Grimoire as a necro. Unfortnetly had to save scum a lot... But one thing that i parciularly din't liked about Grimoire is the lack of information. I mean, when a enemy resist my spell i see no problem. When he resists and the game don't see how he rolled, if he is very resistant or immune, is annoying... Same for melee, if my giant failed to pierce a rat's armor, i wanna know why. Outside of combat, the lack of information is a pain in the ***. Some puzzles are near impossible without onlyne guide but was a fun experience

grimoire necro - lv 8

I also tested necromancy on Project Gorgon. Some things are good, some bad but in general the mmo stuff made me stop playing around lv 52 necro...

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

My point about Morrowind was also to say that necromancy, as others have said, should have more to it than simply being a caster school. It should involve rituals, finding reagents, pursuing dark objectives, come with passive and active buffs and debuffs and so on. There should even be a hidden, underground network of necromancers that offer faction quests and let you hunt rare artifacts that bolster your necromancy and more. The more stuff involved the better. And it should maintain as a hidden, dark pursuance rather than something with neon glowing quest markers and what have you. Maybe you have to read books and actually perform rituals, etc.. The possibilities are endless.

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

I will try this mod. Anyway, i agree that to have a perfect implementation of necromancy, the game should focus only on it.

On Path of Exile, one thing that i don't like about necromancy is that is too gear dependent, most good summons are temporary, female only and i really miss a basic iconic offensive spell like bone spear...

I'd say if you want a Necromancer specific mod, combine Skyrim Requiem, Undeath, and the Undeath Overhaul. Which adds a whole new questline to kill the King of Worms and potentially become a Lich for yourself. It has unique Lich mechanics that are awesome.

 

[Jason Liang]

A Cave of Songs ---> The Prophet NWN playthrough with a Necromancer Prophet is very fun. You find an awesome robe and an awesome magical ring for Necromancers in Cave of Songs, in Prophet Chapter 1 you find a powerful Necronomicon, and in Chapter 2 you'll get a lot of Necromantic loot from raiding a Lich's tomb.

And ofcourse The Prophet features the most awesome wizard weapon ever.

 

[Falksi]

Always found it odd that Hexen 2's Necromancer's powers had fuck all to do with Necromancy.

 

[Sloul]

Clay Golem is actually the best because it has an aura which slows minions.