Poll: Necromancy.... why dosent it work?

[Kpt._Rob]

My guess would be that it's because if you "did necromancers right," then necromancers would simply be too powerful. Other classes don't really have the option of raising an entire army, so if you're in a multiplayer game then players who had the option to sit in the background twiddling their thumbs while their undead hoard destroyed you would have a really unfair advantage.

 

[Serperoth]

Pen and Paper DnD. Necromancer is a pretty viable build.
As mentioned, Guild Wars.

And Warcraft 3 had some very fun necromancy abilities.
So yeah, Necromancy HAS been done right.
But I'd TOTALLY play a game with a necromancer protagonist.

 

[Sixcess]

City of Heroes Masterminds (the pet class) can take Necromancy as their primary power.

Not only that but now that side switching has been introduced you can have heroic Necromancers fighting for truth, justice and.... braaaainns...

 

[Neromanser]

My guess would be that it's because if you "did necromancers right," then necromancers would simply be too powerful. Other classes don't really have the option of raising an entire army, so if you're in a multiplayer game then players who had the option to sit in the background twiddling their thumbs while their undead hoard destroyed you would have a really unfair advantage.

Well like many have said dead are by logic, would be incredibly flammable aswell as its rotting flesh so it could be rather easy to cut. So mages and warriors (Melee/Magic) do have an advantage, as well as necromancers sometimes use their own life force to power the magic or the life force of lost souls. but dead spirits probably would be hard to come by lol

 

[The3rdEye]

A couple reasons for which I see developers staying away from necromancy capable characters (and I'm going to assume there's some kind of development or skill-building mechanic involved);

Not only are you tracking the "quality" of the necromancer's abilities (ex a sorcer's fireball at lv 1 does 10+1d4 but at lv 2 does 14+1d4 therefore lv 2 enemies should have 5 more hp to present a challenge) you also have to worry about about the quantity. 2 skeletons doing 1D8 damage each being different from 1 skeleton doing 3+1D4.

Having a small legion of undead at your command, which I would argue is somewhat of the pinnacle goal of a necromancer (or it would be mine at least) would become boring after a while. In the role of a general you could send your army forward to raze and pillage but then it becomes more strategy based and can remove your personal investment from the action. If you add a resource element or some kind of maintenance to the general's role it can become boring. On the flip-side, being a front-line general would be possible, but then you have to worry more about allied AI. Then the questions of "How robust is the AI/What are the possible functions of the AI/What is the player's level of interaction with the AI?" come into play.

Managing the extent or frequency of a necromancer's power can be a pain as well. Do you base their ability to summon critters from the twisted nether on consumable resources, on time in game, or an in-game stat and with each method comes it's own challenges and issues.

Overall, I suspect balance and quality of execution are the more daunting challenges of having a necromancer character, though I would very much like to see a well executed game revolving around one.

*Speaking of necromancy... how the hell did I get to this thread?