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This is a page about a playable character class. For other uses, see Necromancer.


Necromancers are evil sorcerers that have almost exclusive access to the necromancy skill, which allows them to raise the corpses of humanoids to serve as their undead slaves. Whilst any PC can potentially learn the skill by magical means, since Necromancers are the masters of it they get additional benefits when using the skill (see Class Abilities). Their talent for learning and casting arcane magic is also very good; they are second only to Wizards in channeling arcane magic, though they have a bit more difficulty with clerical spells (particularly those focused on healing).

Necromancers practise in an interesting variety of skills related to the areas of necromancy, magic and indeed killing in general. Food preservation greatly helps with their dark arts, as at certain levels it increases the chances of corpse drops. Find weakness and Stealth help them to assassinate monsters, spawning more potential slaves for their undead armies. Concentration and Literacy, of course, help them learn and use magic. Alchemy and Appraising are also useful skills. Necromancers also have some interesting class powers, such as the ability to drain foes' health at level 25 and the ability to potentially cheat death herself at level 50 (for a price).

Necromancers are physically weak, but tend to be quite tough (for a magic-oriented class). Early-game survival can still be a problem for them, though, since on top of the poor starting gear associated with mages they also start without the Healing skill. They get frustratingly slow skill advances across the board, such as in quite important skills like food preservation, find weakness and literacy. Their chances of survival certainly increase at level 6, though, when they can raise ghuls to paralyze nasty attackers.

As far as race/class combos go, Gnomes certainly offer some nice advantages as they have high Mana and gain levels quickly — meaning that skill increases and additions to the undead that they can raise come more quickly. Elves also make good Necromancers, though Mist Elves will use white necromancy if their alignment moves from chaotic. Since high Mana is important for Necromancers, Trolls, Orcs and Hurthlings might not be well suited to the job. With the find weakness skill and the chance to be crowned with Vanquisher or Kinslayer, a Troll could still win without any magic or slaves, though.

Basic Information[]

Base/Typical Stats[]

The base stats for adult male Necromancers are tabulated below; female characters will have approximately -1 Strength and +1 Dex, and young characters have slightly less Strength, Learning and Willpower. These stats were generated using the method described on the Talk:Archer page; except with star sign factored in. Variations of +/- 5 to each stat will usually exist, or even more if the question system is skipped.

Necromancers receive high boosts to Mana and Learning, and have higher-than-average Toughness. They receive penalties to Charisma and Appearance, and tend towards mediocre Strength scores.

Race St Le Wi Dx To Ch Ap Ma Pe
Human 12 17 13 12 14 8 8 16 11
Troll 22 7 10 10 25 5 4 10 8
High Elf 12 18 12 18 11 8 11 21 16
Gray Elf 12 18 13 17 10 7 14 24 16
Dark Elf 11 14 16 18 12 6 9 26 15
Dwarf 14 15 14 11 18 7 7 16 12
Gnome 11 15 12 15 15 10 8 23 12
Hurthling 7 14 13 18 17 10 8 13 11
Orc 17 11 13 12 18 7 5 10 9
Drakeling 16 14 16 11 18 8 6 16 10
Mist Elf 10 21 13 17 10 6 18 30 18
Ratling 12 14 13 16 18 6 4 16 14

Starting Skills[]

Skill Typical Value Typical Modifier Available Ingame?
Alchemy 45 3d3 No
Appraising 15 3d4 No
Concentration 40 3d5 No
Find weakness 15 3d4 No
Food preservation 40 1d3 No
Herbalism 30 1d5 Yes
Literacy 65 3d3 Yes
Necromancy 65 3d5 No
Stealth 40 3d5 Yes

Crowning Gifts[]

Necromancers have a 50-50 chance of receiving either an excellent wearable artifact, or a weapon. Whilst Vanquisher and Kinslayer might be coveted by many PCs, they may be disappointing for Necromancers relying on magic and optimal defense.

HP, PP, To-hit Growth by Level[]

HP: Very low
PP: High
Melee to-hit: Medium
Ranged to-hit: Very low

Special Abilities[]

Class Abilities[]

  • As well as being the only class that can perform necromancy very effectively, Necromancers get special benefits when using the skill:
    • Necromancers are able to issue commands to their slaves without fail. (This is a power that is invoked from the Class Powers list [via Ctrl+x]).
    • As they gain levels, Necromancers can choose what type of slave to raise — each with its own Mana cost. Note that their level 40 class power will not affect the mana cost of any slave they learn to create after reaching such level.
       
Level required Monster type Mana cost
6 Skeleton 1
6 Zombie 1
6 Ghul 1
10 Shadow 2
13 Corpse fiend 2
16 Wight 2
19 Wraith 2
25 Mummy 3
29 Skeletal warrior 3
33 Ghost 3
37 Spectre 4
41 Vampire 4
45 Shadow lord 5
50 Lich 8
  • Necromancers start off with chaotic tendencies — meaning that Dwarven, High Elven and Hurthling Necromancers tend to start off neutral; whilst Human, Gray Elven, Gnomish, Drakish, Mist Elven and Ratling necromancers tend to start off chaotic. Naturally chaotic races as necromancers in the earlygame may have difficulty readily converting to neutral alignment without an Amulet of order or an appropriate altar, which may delay acquisition of the Healing skill from Jharod.
  • Heir gift: a chaotic skull staff of slaughtering (+0, 2d12+1) for all Necromancers except Mist Elves, who get a frozen quarterstaff of devastation (5d10+6)
  • Necromancers need 100% more marks to increase a weapon skill (for all weapon categories).
  • Necromancers also get all spells (including Wish) in the library of Niltrias

Class Powers[]

  • Level 6: Gains a [40 + level]% chance to resist added effects of undead attacks (e.g. stat drain, paralysis).
  • Level 12: Gain the ability to turn undead without using piety or needing a holy symbol. 2000 Energy Cost.
  • Level 18: Can raise all humanoid corpses in sight as ghuls for the cost of 10PP per corpse. These ghuls are eventually destroyed within a certain number of turns.
  • Level 25: 'Shadow Touch' — can absorb HP from an enemy if attacking them bare-handed in melee. Reportedly, the HP recovered by the PC is equivalent to the damage inflicted, and the attack is a chaotic act if used on a lawful or neutral opponent.
  • Level 32: Can raise all humanoid corpses in sight as wraiths for the cost of 20PP per corpse.
  • Level 40: Mana cost of necromancy is halved (rounded up) for slaves except for vampires, shadow lords and liches.
  • Level 50: Resurrection — can pay half of their maximum HP and Toughness points to use their own sorcery to cheat death if their HP drops below 0, provided their Toughness was at least 10. As noted in the ADOM guidebook, this means that a Necromancer that can keep their Toughness at at least 10 by equipped items can by this effect become immortal; the loss of HP means they probably won't survive for much longer after each time they die, though.

Starting Gear[]

All Necromancers start off the game with

Race specific gear[]

Human Troll High Elf Grey Elf Dark Elf
Dwarf Gnome Hurthling Orc Drakeling
Mist Elf Ratling
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