Martyr Necromancer (3.5e Class)

On the positive side, players get to create fighters stronger than the actual fighters within the party and can adapt them based on the situation. On the negative side, protecting the caster from danger and keeping track of the fine tuning are somewhat tedious jobs.

Abilities: Most of the abilities are as important as the player thinks they are. Sure, the spells are based off of Charisma, but the class only gains spells up to 4th level. Intelligence is also somewhat important in terms of learning more skills. However, the rest of the stats depend on what the player wishes his minion to be able to do. Read on to see what sacrifices bring what benefits.

Races: Any race has the potential to become a Martyr Necromancer, but it is mostly a road for the impatient. Humans, orcs, and other short-lived races are drawn to this race more than the others.

Alignment: The sheer amount of undead energy constantly coursing through the necromancer makes any detection claim he is evil. This is not always consistent with his true alignment, however. Martyr Necromancers lean towards evil, but no inherent barriers prevent them from being good.

Starting Gold: 5d10 gold (27.5)

Starting Age: Complex, as wizard

Sacrifice self is the primary feature of the Martyr Necromancer. He places his essence into void and trades it for an undead minion he can control. The minion looks however visually the caster wishes, though it must be obviously undead and maintains its movement of 30 ft and medium size. The caster and minion share the same mind, meaning the caster sees and acts independently of the minion and vice versa, though they also share images and thoughts, really maintaining a dual mindset with knowledge from both locations. This process is a standard action. It is capable of taking damage instead of its master when the Martyr Necromancer is attacked. He can choose to spend his own hit dice and attributes to create and enhance an undead creature. He takes temporary damage to his maximum health equal to Xd4 where X is the number of hit dice being spent. The hit dice can only be from the Martyr Necromancer class. For every hit die spent, the undead minion gains a hit die of 1d12. The undead is treated as having a slam attack of 1d10 damage per 3 hit dice, rounded down. If it has 5 hit dice, it deals 2d10 damage with no attack bonus. Normally it also has an armor class of 10. He can also choose to spend attributes, which give unique bonuses. These attribute points must be from his base score, not from item modifiers. If the undead dies before being dismissed, the Martyr Necromancer loses all he placed in his minion unless he can have 24 hours of rest, interrupted or not. Dismissing the minion is a swift action which can only be done on the caster's turn. The attribute bonuses are as follows:

Strength- Undead gains +1 bludgeoning damage and +2 to hit for every point of strength invested.

Dexterity- Undead gains a +4% miss chance defense for every point of dexterity invested. This cannot exceed 90%

Constitution- Undead gains damage reduction 1/- for every two points of constitution invested.

Wisdom- Undead gains spell resistance of 2 for every wisdom invested.

Intelligence- Undead gains +1 negative energy damage for every two points of intelligence invested.

Charisma- Undead gains an aura of fear, DC 2 per point of charisma invested. The aura has a 10 foot radius. Any enemy that fails the will save will either be forced to run away (if it has 5 or more less hit dice than the undead) or be shaken (if it has less hit dice than the undead). Creatures with more hit dice than the undead creature are immune to this effect.

All of the following are class features of the Martyr Necromancer.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Simple weapons and no armor.

Spells: Martyr Necromancers cast arcane spells with the potential of sorcerers but the discovery rate of Paladins. They are based off of Charisma, as Martyr Necromancers are self-taught for the most part. Martyr Necromancers choose their spells from the following list:

0— All necromancy cantrips

1st— All first level necromancy school and death domain spells

2nd— All second level necromancy school and death domain spells

3rd— All third level necromancy school and death domain spells

4th— All fourth level necromancy school and death domain spells

Drain Life: is a melee touch attack which can be transmitted through the minion. It deals as much damage as the chart says it does and heals the caster as much as it damages the enemy. This is a standard action. When in the minion, one drain life can be stored per hit die it has and all are expended the next time the minion hits an enemy. The hit points recovered from drain life can go to the caster and minion simultaneously provided the total hit points gained are equivalent or less than the damage from the life drain.

Extra Undead: Means the necromancer has a free hit die to spend on his minion. He gets one of these at level 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20. All the benefits associated with giving hit dice are applied to the minion, but the caster does not have to lose a hit die for the minion to have it. This means a caster at level 1 has two hit dice it can give to the minion.

Undead Feat: adds style to the minion. The player chooses a feat, ignoring class and attribute requirements for the feat. These feats are given to the undead minion while it is summoned. If weapon proficiencies are chosen, the negative energy damage bonuses the minion can have do not apply to the weapon damage.

Improved Sacrifice: affects the attribute spending of Sacrifice Self. In all examples of spending, the reward is doubled. Another way of thinking of it is the cost is halved. Either way, the Martyr Necromancer feels much more satisfaction with his resources.

Imbue Living: allows the Martyr Necromancer to sacrifice his attributes and direct the benefits to himself and other allies. This is a great place to put "useless" points the player does not feel like giving his minion.

Undead Clone: is an addition to the Martyr Necromancer's arsenal. At no additional cost, he can summon a weaker version of his current minion. This clone looks somewhat smaller than the true minion. Its stats are equivalent to half of the current minion's stats. If the true minion has 12 hit points and an attack bonus of 2, the clone has 6 hit points and an attack bonus of 1.

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Bonus Feats: The epic gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic bonus feats) every levels after 20th.

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Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 4 + Int modifier.

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