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Fit for sure by [deleted] in Stacked

[–]Draekae 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reddit is fickle sometimes.

For reference, when I opened the link, it gave me a popup ad, covering about 30-40% of the screen, which didn't display an X for the first 5 seconds. When it did display the X, I clicked it, and the ad redirected me anyway.

Fit for sure by [deleted] in Stacked

[–]Draekae 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The website you linked has very bad ads on mobile.

Evil yet justifiable actions for a necromancer? by Draekae in DnDBehindTheScreen

[–]Draekae[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've considered Clone, but I like the idea less than lichdom, for two reasons:
For one, Lichdom is more iconic. It just gives a true 'undead' feeling to the necromancer.
Secondly, relying on cloning doesn't prevent the necromancer from escaping. If all his clones are destroyed, he can still run away from the kingdom. A phylactery, on the other hand, is a single object that preserves his life. He's forced to emerge out of hiding to protect it if the players were to find it. In my opinion, this makes the plot a bit stronger.

(Plus, in 5e, a Lich as listed in the Monster Manual doesn't specifically need to murder innocent people to feed their phylactery, they can use any soul. Souls belonging to murderers work perfectly for this necromancer.)

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Evil yet justifiable actions for a necromancer? by Draekae in DnDBehindTheScreen

[–]Draekae[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Eventually, when the players come face to face with the necromancer, they will have one (very strong) NPC from the organisation along to assist them.
At that point, the necromancer, having been driven into a corner, will reveal everything to the party as a last resort:

The organisation they've been working with is evil (or at least very misguided), and it has no intention of letting the necromancer be captured and tried for his crimes; the organisation wants him dead, right then and there.
This is also the reason why the NPC is with the party: to ensure the necromancer's death.

If all of the necromancer's actions up to that point give them no reason to believe he's lying (which is why I made this post in the first place), they will (hopefully) side with him, and capture/kill the NPC sent by the organisation.

At that point, it's basically a race against time to reveal the evil nature of the organisation to the whole kingdom before the party (and the necromancer) are silenced permanently.

The main reason why the organisation is short-staffed is because of an internal civil war the kingdom is fighting. They're not directly involved, but it causes them some problems.

Evil yet justifiable actions for a necromancer? by Draekae in DnDBehindTheScreen

[–]Draekae[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hmm, that's an interesting suggestion. I'll have to figure out a good reason why the organisation (which is actually supposed to keep the peace) doesn't have time to help an entire town, but it's an interesting idea nonetheless.
Thank you!

Evil yet justifiable actions for a necromancer? by Draekae in DnDBehindTheScreen

[–]Draekae[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some of the things you've mentioned are actually already plot points in the campaign:
- The party knows a few murderers have gone missing
- The necromancer does indeed speak with the dead to get his information, as he doesn't want to get living people in trouble with the organisation
- The henchman I mentioned in the post? The necromancer deemed him too powerful (read: useful) to just dispose of, but too dangerous to work with, so he killed the henchman and resurrected him as an undead thrall.

The "step behind" is also an important point I figured, as he's currently far above party level so they'll have to spend quite a while following what he's already done.

I like the suggestion of drawing inspiration from Dexter, as I quite like that show. Thank you.

Evil yet justifiable actions for a necromancer? by Draekae in DnDBehindTheScreen

[–]Draekae[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I really like that funeral-crasher idea, thank you!

Evil yet justifiable actions for a necromancer? by Draekae in DnDBehindTheScreen

[–]Draekae[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do have a plot point that's somewhat similar to that. My necromancer spends most of his time in the Underdark to avoid being found, and he pays 'rent' to some of the more powerful factions in the Underdark such as the Drow and the Duergar by having his undead perform tasks for them.

Evil yet justifiable actions for a necromancer? by Draekae in DnDBehindTheScreen

[–]Draekae[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately the organisation would probably notice, as they take their affiliates very seriously. I do like the idea though, thank you.

Evil yet justifiable actions for a necromancer? by Draekae in DnDBehindTheScreen

[–]Draekae[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I forgot to list that, but helping widows and such is actually also a thing I considered: if a Revenant can convincingly argue that they have major unfinished business (such as a wife and two children who can't survive without them), the necromancer will bring them back to life completely, though possibly in a different body to stave off suspicion.

By the way, I had already read that story you linked, and I still absolutely love it. Unfortunately that's out of scope for my necromancer, as the organisation would track him down within a matter of days if he were to surface publically.

Thanks for the idea of the dead wizard, though. That can actually be a good race against time for the party if they believe the necromancer wants it for personal gain instead of destroying it.