On the Ethical Use of Offensive and Defensive Necromancy by Ahmed Kaliwazah

[Egon the Monkey]

On the Ethical Use of Offensive and Defensive Necromancy
Ahmed Kaliwazah

Despite many setbacks, disapproving glares, and doors kicked off their hinges by wild-eyed priests screaming "WHERE ARE THE ZOMBIES, FOUL MAGE?", I remain resolved to the use of negative energy in a positive manner.  

To bring death to troublesome monsters and raiders. To debilitate and subdue thieves and miscreants as opposed to blasting them with a fireball and picking up the flaming bits. To study and understand the undead so as to better target destructive evocations against them. That is the calling of a necromancer who sees his art as a service and scholarly pursuit, rather than a dark-hearted quest for personal power.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE
Do NOT use direct negative damage attacks against the undead, they will only heal or bolster them. This does not apply to spells such as Ray of Enfeeblement, Death Armor and Vampiric Touch, they will work as usual.

Offensive:
Debilitating, non-lethal examples:
Ray of Enfeeblement
(1st Circle)
Can be used to render a brawler less dangerous by sapping the energy from his muscles, possibly slowing them as their armor and burdens become too heavy to easily bear.

Ghoul Touch
(2nd Circle)
Posesses the disadvantage of having to grab the target in order to apply this spell. Will hold them rigid and unmoving in a disorienting and foul-smelling miasma. Many items on Ymph however posess this ability. They are usually recovered from Ghouls themselves.
This spell is useful as a lower-circle alternative to Hold Person for those strong of mind but not body.

Fear
(4th Circle)
Causes a feeling of immense dread of the caster and his allies, to the point of fleeing them uncontrollably.
Capable of disabling a large number of attackers or miscreants with no lasting damage other than perhaps needing a change of breeches. Exceptionally useful to fire into a melee if you warn your allies and request they use appropriate mind wards or clarity devices or potions to avoid the effect themselves.
This spell has been found bound on to Rods of Teror, the heads of victims of the Nightrisers and on to staves created by Moanderite Lizardmen.


Enervation
(4th Circle)
A general curse of weakening, that affects all the target's physical capabilities and general resilience and capability to fight. I note that certain spiders in the woods are capable of applying a similar effect with their toxin.

Spells of lethal effect
Negative Energy ray
(1st Circle)
The old standby, death on swift wings to a single foe. A blast that drains some of their life as it strikes, but can be resisted someone by the strong of mind. Many items recovered on Ymph can cast a weak variant of this spell. The Flayer Stargazers however, manufacture far more powerful negative rods.

Negative Energy Burst
(3rd Circle)
A blast of negative energy over a large area. Nowhere near as damaging as a fireball, but able to drain the strength of targets and overgome elemental protection. Nightriser Warlocks are known to occasionally carry runes able to trigger this spell on their skulls. If recovered, said skulls may be used as a weapon.

Vampiric Touch
(3rd Circle)
A drawing of the life force of an enemy into that of your own, with a single touch. Unfortunately it requires physical contact, which is risky for a mage. I have noted one set of hand wrappings with a regenerating ability to perform this effect, and they have proved interesting to study.

Defensive
Death Armor.
(2nd Circle)
Creates a cloud of energy around the caster that saps the life- or undeath-force of an attacker striing him. Completely harmless to anything not behaving aggressively to the mage in question. A very popular potion on Ymph it seems. Also, Goblins are quite adept at imbuing certain items with this spell's effect.


Troublesome
Animate Dead
(5th Circle for an arcanist, apparently easier for a priest)
Bonds a corpse into servitude as a slave, animating it into a mockery of life. This practice is generally frowned upon, and using the power of death to create a false life rankles with me in its irony. Irritatingly, this spell is bound onto a variety of ancient artifacts and papers, even ones usable by non-spellcasters. The last thing this city needs is more bloody skeletons all over the place.

Create Undead
(8th Circle)
Transforms the nearest body or bones into a ghoul or other undead creature. See above for the trouble with this spell. Although difficult to master, scrolls turn up here regularly.

Stone Bones
(2nd Circle)
Transmutative, not necromantic, this incantation has no other purpose but to boost the resilience of an undead creature. It has been observed on certain multi-function Jergali ceremonial devices.

Other
Contagion
(4th Circle)
Slap something and you can make it ill. I can't see a use for this spell offensively unless you have a serious amount of patience, since the disease takes some time to manifest, by which time either an enemy is dead, you have ran away, or it has killed you for the inconvenience, then shuffled off to vomit in a corner.

Polymorph, Zombie Form
(4th Circle)
Not technically necromancy, but a potential research tool for investigating the capacities of undead without having to create or capture such a thing. The drawback is having to take the shape or a zombie personally in order to do so. The major combat benefits of this form are its unnatural resistance to attacks, and the fact it is bolstered, not harmed by negative energy. I have in the past transformed thus to clear a hall with traps by simply running around and kicking trip wires. The major trouble is you gain ALL the characteristics of undead, including a weakness to turning by clerics and the fact that positive energy (healing spells and potions) will damage you.

Countermeasures
Depending on the type of spell, necromancy can be resisted by either the strong of body for curses of weakening, or the strong-willed for a direct negative attack.
The spells Endurance and Owl's Wisdom respectively are effective at boosting such, and the cantrip Resistance is remarkably effective for a little short term luck in avoiding the worst damage.

A complete counter is the spell Negative Energy Protection, a clerical blessing, often found imbued into Potions of Polarization or as a stored spell on Jergali chain-shirts. Spells of terror can be resisted by an appropriate ward or clarity spell.

As a necromancer, I recommend heavily the use of dispels and alternative offensive measures in case of these counters.

Anyone with questions about the field of vital energy manipulation, please leave word for Ahmed, at the Archaeological Society.