Best necromancy/skeletons in RPGs

[vota DC]

Also for Mount and Blade there is Solid and Shade

 

[Mauman]

I've played Wrath of Chronos so many times.

There's also Irontusk's Diablo 1/2 Heretic/Hexen mod (requires both I think, or at least requires Heretic) that uses the Wrath of Chronos mod to simulate D2 classes and has a HUGE campaign based on (dur) Diablo 1 & 2

Also, if we're going to include Warband mods, then Warsword Conquest (a warhammer mod) includes THREE undead factions/races one can be/join or hire for your army (tomb undead, undead pirates, or vampires) and 3 (technically 4) different death or undeath themed magic schools for an aspiring necromancer.

 

[KainenMorden]

Haven't read the whole thread but there's great stuff here! RP is not my priority but I really got immersed in the world of Arcanum which had some great, albeit limited options for necromancy including RP elements as has been noted here by others.

My necromancer power fantasy game would be a solo evil sorcerer run in IWD2. The beginning is tough but very soon you can raise a relatively large, seemingly unstoppable army of undead and not too long after you can instantly kill enemy magic users and huge groups of warriors with powerful necromantic magic. Being evil and using a certain necromancy spell trivializes the final fight. IWD2 has an awesome Mord sword and Black blade of disaster. You can summon demons towards the end.

I've only played it unmodded but I highly recommend it. If you're on win 10, I ran the gog version in compatibility with win 7. I did experience crashes until I ran it in that mode but had 0 issues after that and encountered no bugs.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Diablo - The Hell 2 looks decent for necromancy?

 

[Dr1f7]

My official list of good necromancy:

• HOMM3
• Guild Wars 1
• WC3
• Morrowind
• Dota (undying and skeleton king)
• MTG
• Hearthstone

that's pretty much it
MAYBE dungeon keeper but I don't remember using undead much in that game

I'm definitely NOT a fan of "spend 5 hours collecting 20 body parts then assemble them on a pentagram and do unholy evil spooky chant to raise ONE zombie that dies in two hits", just wanna make lots of zombies don't care where they come from, and it's insulting when games treat necromancy as a support spec instead of an actually viable thing (LOOKING AT YOU TESO )

 

[Popiel]

Morrowind...? What...?

 

[Dr1f7]

Morrowind...? What...?

hell yeah you can totally play through the game just summoning big undead squads

 

[Poseidon00]

MAYBE dungeon keeper but I don't remember using undead much in that game

Definitely Dungeon Keeper. How undead creation works:

If a unit you capture dies while in a prison cell, they become a skeleton.

If they are tortured to death in the torture room, they become a ghost.

If you drag enough corpses into the cemetery, a vampire will arise.

Skeletons and ghosts can be made in mass numbers, easily, but don't become powerful on the battlefield until level 10. Once they hit level 10 they get really scary.

Vampires require a lot more investment, but can also be mass produced in ways the non-undead units can't.

Skeletons and vampires are both prone to start fights in your dungeons with units they dislike so care has to be taken with undead armies.

 

[Tweed]

You left out that vampires at level 4 and higher rise again in their lair if they get killed at the cost of one level.

 

[Poseidon00]

You left out that vampires at level 4 and higher rise again in their lair if they get killed at the cost of one level.

How could I forget that? I was struggling against the last fight when using KeeperFX so my solution was to slaughter my entire dungeon, use to corpses to attract vampires, and train those vampires up to be strong enough to hold off the Avatar and his men. Good times.

 

[Dadd]

Anything new guize???

 

[Sykar]

Don't think so. While we are at it, I wish there was a game where I could do this:

 

[Justinian]

Last Epoch has the best necromancer out of all Diablo clones, and it's not even close.

 

[Dadd]

Last Epoch has the best necromancer out of all Diablo clones, and it's not even close.

How so?

 

[Dadd]

Don't think so. While we are at it, I wish there was a game where I could do this:

You can't spell necromancer without romance

 

[Justinian]

Last Epoch has the best necromancer out of all Diablo clones, and it's not even close.

How so?

Lots of customization + synergy between skills + undead variety. You can also dip into other Acolyte masteries (although Warlock isn't in the game yet) and make hybrids.

You can play around with their character planner to get an idea of what you can do.
https://www.lastepochtools.com/planner/

 

[baud]

 

[Axioms]

Grim Dawn, especially with Mastery Mods, Guild Wars 1, Diablo 2, and Last Epoch are arguably the best necromancer rpgs ever. LE might be ahead of Grim Dawn if you don't count mods, then GW1 and then Diablo 2 is in 4th. LE it really depends on the necromancer buffs from items. The skill system is pretty interesting but you are limited as far as sheer numbers of pets.

 

[OracleX]

enjoyed D4 beta's Necro quite a bit.

 

[Reinhardt]

didn't ended well for him.

 

[Tao]

Last Epoch has the best necromancer out of all Diablo clones, and it's not even close.

Agree. The golem has to be one of the best skill in the game: it feels powefull, it is usefull, it is deadly, and looks impresive. And the Abomination is a cool af idea too.

Is funny how bad Diablo 4 necros looks by comparison. And how useless their Golem is. I tried 3 classes this open beta (sorcerer, druid and necro) and ironicaly the Necromancer was the one that didn't seem to fit the game at all. Having the skellies glow blue, looking so d3 and cartoonist, all over the place in the towns... was offputing to the point to dont want to play a necro at all.

If only we could get D4 aesthetics and mix them with everything that it is Last Epoc...

 

[Axioms]

Last Epoch has the best necromancer out of all Diablo clones, and it's not even close.

Agree. The golem has to be one of the best skill in the game: it feels powefull, it is usefull, it is deadly, and looks impresive. And the Abomination is a cool af idea too.

Is funny how bad Diablo 4 necros looks by comparison. And how useless their Golem is. I tried 3 classes this open beta (sorcerer, druid and necro) and ironicaly the Necromancer was the one that didn't seem to fit the game at all. Having the skellies glow blue, looking so d3 and cartoonist, all over the place in the towns... was offputing to the point to dont want to play a necro at all.

If only we could get D4 aesthetics and mix them with everything that it is Last Epoc...

It is wild how shit the D4 skellies look in a game with such high production values.

 

[The Jester]

Necrocraft - A Comprehensive Necromancy Gameplay And Quests Mod​

 

[Rafidur]

Maybe all the interesting stuff is locked behind items and that paragon tab, but damn was D4 beta necro simplistic and soulless.

 

[Cryomancer]

Now, necromancy in ROGUELIKES :

• ADOM

Adom is a amazing rogue like. IF you are into minionmancy, is not good but every class can learn necromancy skill however, only necromancers can fully master it, a lv 50 wizard which learns necromancy can only raise zombies and skeletons while a true necromancer can raise lots of different types of undead. Raising the dead is a "chaotic" act and messes with your char alignment, it also require corpses and damages your mana attribute(after some time it regens). There are also a variation. White necromancy. Only available for mist elves of neutral and lawful alignment. Animates constructs like Homunclus, Statues and Golems instead of undeads.

IDK if some necromancer abilities like the vampiric hands on lv 25 for necromancer applies to white necros as I never reached lv 25 but other abilities like animating every corpse on sight without cost for temporary instead of permanent undead doesn't seem to be available for white necros.

My full run as a mist elf white necromancer >>> https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...lf-white-necromancer-run.147733/#post-8569875

• ToME4

This video explains better than any words

• Rogue Empire WITH dark heroes DLC

This game has a necromancy in between ADOM and ToME4. What I mean by that? It requires corpses for PERMANENT minions but contrary to adom, not only humanoid corpses can be used for necromancy. The drop rate for corpses is much more generous and there are a hard cap in the amount of permanent minions which you can have which grows with level. At lv 1, you can only have two minions and they are basic skeletons, however, reaching the level 10 and picking the options to increase the number of minions, I could get up to 6 minions(4 permanent and 2 temporary) and in my first run got the options to use also skeleton archers, wraiths and ghouls. Ghouls are by far the most effective minion, they start weak and small but they tends to drain lifeforce from enemies and grow in size. There are also a spell to create corpse but it costs a lot of hp, only use if you have no other choice. You can rest to regain hp but the game has food/starvation system but is much more generous than ADOM.

New spells and necromancer abilities can be learned randomly in level up screen, and from scrolls, books and wands. Failing to learn a spell can have disastrous consequences.

The default AI of ranged minions is braindead but there is a perk which can be randomly chosen to make it better. There are also temporary minions. Contrary to the "non dark' magic users which only uses mana, most offensive dark magic spells from necromancers also costs hp and necromancers are incredible frail. So you are essentially disarmed without minions.

The game also has abilities to become a Lich and a vampire. No, Lich doesn't have a phylactery like from ToME4 and is a very rare option in leveling up. Lich transformation in the game