My image of a necromancer is at best like Gerald Tarrant from the Coldfire Trilogy: it's possible they might ally with someone for a good cause, but their methods are inherently deeply disturbing.

Quote from: Galeros;356004For those of you who run settings in which being a Necromancer is a possibility. Is it considered evil to be one? Or can there be heroic Necromancers? Is creating undead taboo in the world? Or is it accepted in some places?

I tend to think of it as no more intrinsically immoral than any other form of magic or technology would be. In my settings, cultures vary on their attitudes towards it. In my Dawnlands setting, the two main types of undead are mindless labourer zombie / skeletons, and vampires who are attempting to become gods. The zombies / skeletons are controversial and widely despised because they're seen as unfair competition for the freemen of Kaddish's jobs. The vampires have cults and run gangs, but so does everyone else, and becoming a god doesn't really impact anyone on a day-to-day level. Heroes and other divine beings hate the vampires, but they're exceptional in that respect.

Not much to add as far as traditional fantasy is concerned, other than  to say that Clark Ashton Smith is IMHO the definitive inspiration for all things necromantic. Stories such as "The Empire of the Necromancers" and "The Colossus of Ylourgne" are a must-read.

But in modern fantasy/horror games, where they tend to make more acceptable PCs, I dig 'em. In the oWoD, it was Clan Giovanni vampires, Silent Strider werewolves and Euthanatoi mages. In the new one, Moros mages, and possibly Sanctified vamps. Haven't read Geist yet, but I'm looking forward to.

I've had necromancy play a fairly big role in two D&D campaigns, one 2E and the other 3E. In the 2E campaign it was legal in Cormyr (Forgotten Realms). Animating a corpse as a zombie or skeleton was allowed so long as the corpse was legally acquired. The party's arcane caster had a girlfriend that was a necromancer, she had a skeletal cat as her familiar. I quite enjoyed that campaign. One of the major arcane NPCs was a Neutral Lich that ran a zombie crewed plantation. He had very low labor costs...

The 3E campaign was set in Sembia (Forgotten Realms) and necromancy was illegal. The party ran into a necromancer that was running a zombie brothel. In a statement of how jaded the players were, they never even blinked at the idea of zombie prostitutes.

In a D&D campaign I have never understood why raising a corpse as a zombie or skeleton was considered evil. It's just a corpse, it has no mind, it can't make moral choices. I see it as no different than an animate object spell. In addition the Negative Plane is not evil, so why is using negative energy seen as evil?

Quote from: Galeros;356004For those of you who run settings in which being a Necromancer is a possibility. Is it considered evil to be one? Or can there be heroic Necromancers? Is creating undead taboo in the world? Or is it accepted in some places?

On the lost planet Tékumel, necromancy is not only not evil, it's an acceptable religion and there are families dedicated to Lord Sárku* who erm, keep the family around after death, literally! Even though open warfare between priesthoods is prohibited, that doesn't rule out secret warfare, intrigue or underground raids. Most of the other Change (Tlokiriqáluyal) gods have undead including my favorite, Lord Ksárul**. While still very usable as mooks to major villians (depending on the type of undead) not having them as automatic xp meatbags mixes things up nicely.

So it's perfectly acceptable to have a priest running around in the group who has some slightly off or shuffling followers, best not mentioned tho. Especially if there's also an opposing follower of Lord Belkhánu, Lord of the Excellent Dead in the party as well. :eek: (BASH BASH SMITE)

While not an everyday event, it's not an unknown sight to see a person or two with a somewhat stiff gait and lots of lime on them walking on the streets near or after nightfall in certain sections of town...they might even be an honored priest late for the evening rituals! I've had visiting nobles from clans affiliated with Sarku et al show up like Clark Ashton Smith's Dark Eidolon.
http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/212/the-dark-eidolon



(image from art for a failed Clark Ashton Smith comic book, appropriate IMO)


* the Five-Headed Lord of Worms, Master of the Undead, Guide into Darkness, the Demon-Lord of Decay
** Ancient Lord of Secrets, Doomed Prince of the Blue Room, Master of Magic and Sorcery

The only game that I have run where anyone ever wanted to play a necromancer was a "Witchcraft" game from Eden.  Necormancers there are mostly about dealing with the spirits and the dead, so there was really no issue with it.

In our homebrew world, Necromancers were accepted.

It turned out that there is a code of conduct for Necromancers, similar maybe to the Hippocratic Oath or something. It certainly involved not having two Necromancers in the same city, unless the resident Necromancer would allow you to perform the craft.

It was also illegal to mess with a dead person without consent of the family or the state. Testimony of a dead person was admissible in court.

It was not illegal to create raise animals as undead, but many cities would have local laws to ban undead within their walls. It was customary, though, to allow a Necromancer to bring a single skeleton animal companion as a sign of his craft.