Post by Mr. Pooka on May 27, 2009 16:57:11 GMT -5
Shayrah had asked me for some more indepth Necromancy powers for her amazing Necromancer Zrarathi and I said no prob. Then I got sick and fell of the planet for a bit, but now that I'm catching up its time for some info! This is just a rantish kind of post listing all sorts of different powers I can think of or remember from different sources, mostly different Roleplaying games. While this is pretty specialized stuff, some of it could easily be used for other types of magicians and some priests as well as the laws, rules and mysticism surrounding death are a large part of Sphinx and Egyptian culture. The oldest forms of Necromancy took the form of different types of death divination and mediumship, but lots of different types of practices and magic have been lumped into what is now called necromancy including several darker aspects making the very word Necromancy kind of scary and dark. The world of Sphinxes is one of high magic with spells both flashy and subtle. It is also a culture that has a much different point of view of death as you might be familiar with. The most common forms of necromancy in Khemet is one part historical fact with a heaping cup of fantasy and speculation. I mention these facts first so you can get a feel for necromancy in general. Like any magician necromancers can be good guys or bad guys are any of the many shades inbetween. Ok, enough babbling, lets list some cool powers I found in some of my great heaping piles of roleplaying books!
~ abilities to control, repel, create, influence or outright destroy undead creatures. Its easy to picture this working on unintelligent types of undead, like skeletons or zombies or some ghosts. As an important note this would be primarily only a roleplaying note when it comes to the various undead Sphinxes out there as player characters that you can figure out with other players if it comes up. For example, if someone ran a game and a few skeletons came shampling out of the desert you could probably use a chosen power to put them to rest or control them, but if another persons player characters mummy tries to stop you from entering a tomb or a vampire steals your girlfriend/boyfriend (ya, I was thinking of Dark, sorry!) you can't just affect them outright. (though you could ask their permission to affect them for cool RP effects.)
~Affinity with Undead. Your connection to all things undead might make you more likeable or liked by various undead characters.
~Protection from undead energies. Your understanding of the energy that animates undead and permeates the underworld gives you an advantage when dealing with it. Perhaps you are partially or totally immune to various effects, like the emanations near the portal to the underworld in the Temple of Anubis, or effects like a banshees wail or vampires bite.
~Slay the living. A fairly horrible but appropriate power is the ability to kill things. Small things like bugs or mice might not be to scary, but the ability to simply kill a person or Sphinx is probably available for powerful necromancers, but should probably come with some sort of cost..... physically draining or perhaps emotionally scaring.... Again this is mostly for roleplaying and not something you could try to do to a character of course.
~Create advanced undead. You know the secrets of creating intelligent undead creatures like mummies or vampires or ghosts etc. These would generally be great mysteries and you'd probably only be proficient in one type.... probably....
~Ba control. You could seperate your Ba (spirit) from your Khabit (body) and make yourself ghostlike. Perhaps you could travel through objects ghostlike, or travel at great speed or maybe even be able to briefly visit other spirit worlds.
~Herbalism and Poison use and Medicine. These are kind of the same thing, only different in how one uses them. A necromancer might have great knowledge of anatomy and the things that affect the body. Many different herbs were used to heal, harm and treat the bodies of the dead.
~Death Trance. You could simulate death. This would be great for some sort of cadaver impersonation (to get into a guarded tomb), escaping a bunch of thugs out to get you or perhaps getting out of a very bad date. This could me a magical or herbal effect and possibly you could do it to others as well, maybe even by force.
~Medium. Though the egyptians had different views on what happend to your spirit once you died, this could still be a power to speak with and perhaps summon the Ka's of the dead. It could also be a power you learned from a foreign place where ghosts are more common.
~Death inspired powers. Perhaps you can take on desirable aspects of being dead, like make yourself unfeeling to pain or not requiring to breath for a long time.
~Undead minions. You have a some weaker and probably uninteligent undead in your lair or home to do your toady like minioning. They might be tough guards, good at fetching herbs from the garden or maybe they make a mean breakfast.
Ok, so hows that for some starter ideas? Helpful?
~ abilities to control, repel, create, influence or outright destroy undead creatures. Its easy to picture this working on unintelligent types of undead, like skeletons or zombies or some ghosts. As an important note this would be primarily only a roleplaying note when it comes to the various undead Sphinxes out there as player characters that you can figure out with other players if it comes up. For example, if someone ran a game and a few skeletons came shampling out of the desert you could probably use a chosen power to put them to rest or control them, but if another persons player characters mummy tries to stop you from entering a tomb or a vampire steals your girlfriend/boyfriend (ya, I was thinking of Dark, sorry!) you can't just affect them outright. (though you could ask their permission to affect them for cool RP effects.)
~Affinity with Undead. Your connection to all things undead might make you more likeable or liked by various undead characters.
~Protection from undead energies. Your understanding of the energy that animates undead and permeates the underworld gives you an advantage when dealing with it. Perhaps you are partially or totally immune to various effects, like the emanations near the portal to the underworld in the Temple of Anubis, or effects like a banshees wail or vampires bite.
~Slay the living. A fairly horrible but appropriate power is the ability to kill things. Small things like bugs or mice might not be to scary, but the ability to simply kill a person or Sphinx is probably available for powerful necromancers, but should probably come with some sort of cost..... physically draining or perhaps emotionally scaring.... Again this is mostly for roleplaying and not something you could try to do to a character of course.
~Create advanced undead. You know the secrets of creating intelligent undead creatures like mummies or vampires or ghosts etc. These would generally be great mysteries and you'd probably only be proficient in one type.... probably....
~Ba control. You could seperate your Ba (spirit) from your Khabit (body) and make yourself ghostlike. Perhaps you could travel through objects ghostlike, or travel at great speed or maybe even be able to briefly visit other spirit worlds.
~Herbalism and Poison use and Medicine. These are kind of the same thing, only different in how one uses them. A necromancer might have great knowledge of anatomy and the things that affect the body. Many different herbs were used to heal, harm and treat the bodies of the dead.
~Death Trance. You could simulate death. This would be great for some sort of cadaver impersonation (to get into a guarded tomb), escaping a bunch of thugs out to get you or perhaps getting out of a very bad date. This could me a magical or herbal effect and possibly you could do it to others as well, maybe even by force.
~Medium. Though the egyptians had different views on what happend to your spirit once you died, this could still be a power to speak with and perhaps summon the Ka's of the dead. It could also be a power you learned from a foreign place where ghosts are more common.
~Death inspired powers. Perhaps you can take on desirable aspects of being dead, like make yourself unfeeling to pain or not requiring to breath for a long time.
~Undead minions. You have a some weaker and probably uninteligent undead in your lair or home to do your toady like minioning. They might be tough guards, good at fetching herbs from the garden or maybe they make a mean breakfast.
Ok, so hows that for some starter ideas? Helpful?
