Necromancer

Wizards who choose to become necromancers specialize in spells from the school of necromancy. Necromancers are some of the only wizards that can use healing magic, but they are best known for raising the dead, undead or otherwise. Skilled necromancers raise a graveguard to serve as their devoted servant. Unfortunately, being followed around by the undead is often the reason they are feared or stigmatized.

Level 1

Necromancer: Necromancy Specialization

All necromancy spells on all class lists are treated as being on the wizard spell list for you, and you can choose them when picking wizard spells. You can use necromancy spell scrolls as if they are wizard spell scrolls.

This only applies to spells on one of the class spell lists. Eg. no wizard can choose Divine Smite, because it is a class feature and not on any spell list.

Level 3

Necromancer: Graveguard

All necromancers can raise the dead, but those who specialize in its magic are usually accompanied by a graveguard, an undead servant who willingly bound their undying soul to the necromancer. They could be a loyal follower, a dead friend or lover, or even a childhood pet.

You raise a graveguard to serve you. This undead creature will level up when you level up as a wizard, and will be your graveguard until you die or until you raise a new graveguard during a long rest. If you change to a new graveguard, your old graveguard dies.

Your graveguard’s proficiency bonus is equal to yours.
Your graveguard understands all languages you do, and can speak whatever languages they had while alive.
When you and your graveguard take a short rest together and you expend hit dice to regain hit points, your graveguard regains the same number of hit points.
When a graveguard reaches 0, they die, leaving their body or residue behind. A graveguard remains dead until their necromancer finishes a long rest, or until healed by the necromancer, at which point their body (or spectral form) instantly reforms.
Your graveguard acts on their own initiative in combat, but you control them.

You can make one of three difference kinds of graveguard, which changes what they can do.

Cadaverous

A cadaverous graveguard is a powerful zombie with more intelligence than normal.

Strength: 14 Dexterity: 10 Constitution: 14 Intelligence: 8 Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 8
Hit Points: 5 + your graveguard’s constitution modifier (default 7 total), multiplied by your wizard level.
Type: Undead
Size: Small or Medium
Walking Speed: 30 ft.
Senses: Darkvision 60 ft.
Skill: Athletics
Saving Throws: Constitution, Wisdom
Proficiencies: Simple Weapons, Martial Weapons, and Light, Medium, and Heavy Armor.
Items: a maul and chain mail.
You (the necromancer) can attune to items the cadaverous graveguard wields or wears to grant them the benefit of the item.
Damage Resistance: Poison
Condition Immunity: Charmed
Undead Fortitude

If the graveguard is reduced to 0 hit points, they can attempt to stay standing.

No Action Cost – Self – Magical

This ability cannot be used against radiant damage or critical hits. The DC for this save is 5+ the damage taken.

Constitution Save

Success: The graveguard drops to 1 hit point instead of 0.
Failure: No effect.

Skeletal

A skeletal graveguard is a powerful skeleton with more intelligence than normal.

Strength: 10 Dexterity: 14 Constitution: 12 Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 8
Hit Points: 5 + your graveguard’s constitution modifier (default 6 total), multiplied by your wizard level.
Type: Undead
Size: Small or Medium
Walking Speed: 30 ft.
Senses: Darkvision 60 ft.
Saving Throws: Dexterity, Wisdom
Proficiencies: Simple Weapons, Martial Weapons, and Light and Medium Armor.
Items: a shortbow, a shortsword, a chain shirt, and a small shield.
You (the necromancer) can attune to items the skeletal graveguard wields or wears to grant them the benefit of the item.
Damage Resistance: Piercing
Damage Immunity: Poison
Condition Immunity: Charmed, Drained, Poisoned

Spectral

A spectral graveguard is an incorporeal spirit, bound by your will rather than unfinished business or powerful emotion.

Strength: 3 Dexterity: 14 Constitution: 12 Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 10 Charisma: 14
Hit Points: 3 + your graveguard’s constitution modifier (default 4 total), multiplied by your wizard level.
Type: Undead
Size: Small or Medium
Armor Class: 12 + dexterity modifier
A spectral graveguard cannot hold or wear items.
Flying Speed: 30 ft.
Senses: Darkvision 60 ft.
Saving Throws: Dexterity, Wisdom
Damage Resistance: Acid, Cold, Fire, Electric, Sonic
Damage Resistance: Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from weapons that are neither magic nor cold iron
Damage Immunity: Necrotic, Poison
Condition Immunity: Charmed, Drained, Exhaustion, Grappled, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone, Pushed, Restrained, Transformed
Life Drain

This ability counts as an attack. The DC for this ability equals 8 + proficiency bonus + charisma modifier.

The graveguard touches a creature, their hand moving through armor to drain the target’s life force.

Action – 1 Creature (5 ft.) – Magical

Level 6

Necromancer: Graveguard Ability Score Improvement

You can increase one of your graveguard’s ability scores of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature. Unlike with player characters, you do not gain a feat.

Necromancer: Soul Conduit

Dexterity Save

Failure: Target takes 1d8 + charisma modifier force damage and their hit points are drained by the same amount.
Success: No damage.

Incorporeal Movement

The graveguard can move through solid objects. For every 5 ft. the graveguard travels where some of its body is inside a solid object, the graveguard takes 1d10 force damage.

No Action Cost – Graveguard (120 ft.) – 1 Minute – Magical

Trigger: You cast a necromancy spell of 1st level or higher.

You restore hit points to your graveguard equal to three times the spell’s level.
This revives your graveguard if they are dead.

Level 10

Necromancer: Graveguard Ability Score Improvement

Necromancer: Necromantic Surge

No Action Cost – Self or Graveguard – Magical

Whenever you cast a necromancy spell of 3rd level or higher, choose one of the following in addition to the effects of Soul Conduit:

Your graveguard can use their reaction to make an attack or move up to their speed.
You end one of the following conditions on yourself: blinded, deafened, poisoned, or weakened. Alternatively, you can remove one level of exhaustion from yourself.

Level 14

Necromancer: Graveguard Ability Score Improvement

Necromancer: Undead Apotheosis

You transform yourself into a lich or otherwise take on the powers of powerful undead. This grants you the following benefits:

You count as undead in addition to your usual creature type.
You are resistant to necrotic and poison damage.
You are immune to the drained and poisoned conditions.
You no longer require to eat, breathe, or sleep. You no longer age and are immune to magical aging.
You replace the Undead Nature feat with another level 1 feat if you already have it.

If you want to become a lich specifically, you also perform the Ritual of Endless Night, binding your soul to a powerful object.

Ritual of Endless Night

Once performed, this spell is nearly irreversible. It can be done at any time, but many necromancers choose to never take this step.

1 Hour – Self – Permanent – Magical

You take on an undead appearance: often skeletal, but not necessarily.
Your soul is bound to a vessel of your choosing called a soul vessel: any object that can fit within a 5 ft. cube and isn’t sentient or an artifact.
The vessel is immune to nonmagical physical, poison, and psychic damage.
Regardless of what it was, it now has a damage threshold of 50, meaning anything that does less than 50 damage does no damage to the vessel. You must also give the vessel another weakness— a unique way of destroying it— which you must do to the item as a part of making it.
While the vessel is intact and functioning, you gain a limited form of immortality. If you die while within 1 mile of the vessel, your body reforms and you return to life after 24 hours next to the soul vessel (even if it later moves).
You know the location of your soul vessel, relative to you, at all times. This extends across different planes.
If you die further than 1 mile away from your soul vessel, or after your soul vessel is destroyed, you cannot be brought back from death unless a True Resurrection spell is used to revive you (as a living person) or a Wish spell is used to restore you or your soul vessel.
If your soul vessel is destroyed but you survive, you are no longer able to regain hit points or spell slots from resting.