The Animator

[Hywaywolf]

and I would be willing to bet that if the spells exists in 3.5 (idk much about 3.5) I very much doubt that its a low level spell. I mean Charm person only gives you 1 person per spell use if they fail their save and even then you can't command them you can only suggest that they take an action. But this necromancer can raise (charm) 2d6 monsters every encounter or turn or day that you can command.

[Dimirag]

Yeah, that's why I didn't suggest using the turn/rebuke undead rules.

[Shenron]

Alright, so I am finally at home with my books. So, let me through this out there. I think more of a solid description will help people understand what I am trying to do. I do have another idea that does everything I want, but we will see what people think of the MU version.

The Animator

Necromancers with a special aptitude for raising and controlling corporeal forms of undead discover the secrets of becoming an Animator.

Use the Necromancer advancement and rules except where noted below:

Due to lack of tables translating to the forums, keep in mind that starting at 2nd level, the Animator loses one spell per day per level as most of his magical energies are focused on animating undead.[/i]

1st Level: Animators gain the ability to turn/rebuke undead using the cleric table.

3rd Level:The Animator gains the ability to cast Animate Dead as a Spell like ability;

Animate Dead (Sp)
Range: Touch
Duration: Special

Virtually identical to the Cleric or standard Magic-User version of the spell, this ability turns the bones or bodies of dead creatures into undead skeletons or zombies that follow the caster's spoken commands. They remain animated until they are destroyed. The Animator may animate a number of hit dice of undead equal to three times his or her caster level, and no more (other casters that lack this ability and use the spell can only animate twice their level in hit dice). Animated skeletons have hit dice equal to the number the creature had in life; for skeletons of humans or demi-humans, this means one hit die, regardless of the character level of the deceased. Zombies have one more hit die than the creature had in life. An animated skeleton can be created only from a mostly intact skeleton; a zombie can be created only from a mostly intact corpse. The caster must touch the remains to be animated. Normally, no character may normally control more hit dice of undead than 4 times his or her level, regardless of how many times the spell of the same name is caste, but for the Animator the limit is 6 times his or her level.

7th Level: At level 7, the Animator gains the ability to Charm Undead as per the Charm spells.

11th Level: At 11th level, the Animator can use his Animate Dead ability to create more powerful undead and can raise Ghoul's and Wrights.

16th Level: The Animator gains the ability to create undead golems - see specific entry for details.

[Dimirag]

That spell is basically one of my suggestion, the second one. The class level gives the HD amount of HD of undead that can be animated, only difference is that the spell uses the HD of the original creature.

So as it is one of my suggested methods I can't say its a bad way of doing it hahaha

[Hywaywolf]

Now this makes more sense. It has the drawback of losing a spell slot per day per level and it gives an upper end to how many you can control at once. It doesn't really say anything about how many times a day you can use this "ability". In basic fantasy animate dead can be cast by a 8th level cleric or a 9th level MU given it to a 3rd level MU seems a little overpowering even if they do lose a 1 spell slot per level. What level spell is Animate Dead in 3.5?

edit: I looked it up. Animate dead is a 3rd level cleric spell and a 4th level mu spell in 3.5 so a 5th level cleric and a 7th level MU can cast it. Yeah, so in the underpowered world of BFRPG (compared to 3.5) giving this ability to a 3rd level MU would be very overpowering. I'd suggest giving it at 5th level.

[Shenron]

Ya, that is fine. I can make it 5th level, that is not an issue.

The hardest trick was trying to figure out how to balance it for Basic Fantasy. I think the lack of a spell per day is balancing on both ends.

I think I need to put in their that the HD is the same as the original creature - so the Animator could choose to have a bunch of 1HD minions or a couple more powerful ones or whatever.

Once I get all of my notes organized I will put together a .pdf

[Dimirag]

I guess there could be a mayor difference, a MU or cleric can cast the same spell over and over, I think the HD limit only applies per spell casting and does not limit the caster from further animations, but this class is limited to one free casting, so if he want extra animations he must cast the spell.

[Shenron]

True, but the Animator is limited by the HD of undead he can control.

[Dimirag]

I re-read the spell, it works on the same way on BFRPG, you have a level based limit to the amount of animations you can raise per casting and a level based limit to the overall amount of undead you can have regardless of casting.

As per the Spell: As per the Animator
Max limit per Casting: 2HD per level 3HD per level
Max limit: 4HD per level 6HD per level

The animator gets a free casting, I suppose unlimited as he is limited by the availability of bodies and his level limits.
He lose one spell.

I don't see it balanced just taking this into considerations compared to other MU

[Shenron]

What would you do to make it balanced - I was thinking of going the Cleric route to help ease some of the "added" abilities.

What font do you guys use for all of the submissions? Is it in Microsoft Office?