PosChengband] Necromancer class mechanics

[TheQuest]

I have couple of questions about necromancer class:

1. Do the gameplay mostly based on summoning and staying aside while summons kill everyone around?
2. Do I get any experience if my summons killed an enemy?
3. Am I right to assume that necromancer mostly rule on open space areas where there's plenty of space for summons to wipe out everything, and in corridor-like levels necromancer is somewhat at danger?
4. My summon spell may fail and my minion will attack me?
5. Any macros/inscriptions you may recommend for this class?
6. Any other gameplay tips for this class maybe?

[debo]

1. Yes

2. Yes, it is a fraction of what you would get for killing it yourself. (I don't remember how much.) Summons can't kill uniques, but they can hurt them enough that you can oneshot them.

3. There is no great situation for a necromancer, they are just bad. Hiding out of sight while your summons do stuff is probably the ideal scenario.

4. I think this is possibly changeable via birth options. I'm not sure what the default behaviour is.

5. ^qy

6. I hope you have lot of patience.

[murphy]

I agree best dungeon layout is letting your minions fight in a big room while you hide nearby

I dont remember summons appearing angry for this class, i dont think its a concern.

Summon spells are really only needed to get some starting forces when you enter a dungeon alone. The bulk of your army is built using the animate dead power. As your forces grow, you continue defeating stronger enemies, you reanimate fallen opponents, keep continuing this cycle and you can grow a powerful army!

[TheQuest]

I don't remember summons appearing angry for this class, i dont think its a concern.

They sometimes are, it seems that if you fail at summoning, the summoned creature becomes hostile to you and starts to attack you. Would be nice to just summon no creature if you fail.

[GenericPseudonym]

I agree best dungeon layout is letting your minions fight in a big room while you hide nearby

I dont remember summons appearing angry for this class, i dont think its a concern.

Summon spells are really only needed to get some starting forces when you enter a dungeon alone. The bulk of your army is built using the animate dead power. As your forces grow, you continue defeating stronger enemies, you reanimate fallen opponents, keep continuing this cycle and you can grow a powerful army!

My favorite summoning strategy is just running around with a posse of hasted archliches and relying on them to cast summon kin to get more and more liches. You can turn off 'allow attack spells' in the pet menu for the first few turns of a fight to force them to always choose summon spells instead, then once you hit a critical mass you turn 'allow attack spells' back on and let the manastorming begin.

Then again I was doing that on a Ring -- they don't even have a summon undead spell, but even then they're better off relying on summons than trying to fight lategame uniques with their 600 maxhp and 250-damage darkness storms.

I still have that character alive on DL99 actually... I guess i ought to finish it up before I update to 6.00.

[murphy]

You can turn off 'allow attack spells' in the pet menu for the first few turns of a fight to force them to always choose summon spells instead

Ooo thats a good tip!

[TheQuest]

is just running around with a posse of hasted archliches and relying on them to cast summon kin to get more and more liches

What I really lack right now is to ability to send my army to certain location with a command like "go to.." - because in 99% of the cases my army is behind me and if I encounter some enemy, it will put all its rage on me first, and in most cases when my army realize, that I am at danger I am dead already. Would be great if necromancers could send their army at specified location, and it sounds kind of logical to have this function since you are in control your army.

[GenericPseudonym]

What I really lack right now is to ability to send my army to certain location with a command like "go to.." - because in 99% of the cases my army is behind me and if I encounter some enemy, it will put all its rage on me first, and in most cases when my army realize, that I am at danger I am dead already. Would be great if necromancers could send their army at specified location, and it sounds kind of logical to have this function since you are in control your army.

Well there's an command in the pet menu to tell your pets to attack a specific enemy. If you see them in advance through e.g. telepathy or a rod of detection then you can have the pets go in ahead of you.

Or alternately, you can set them to "stay close" so they'll all stick right behind you instead of far off in the distance (although this means they won't fight things that are too far away from you), or even "search and destroy" so they'll go looking for enemies to fight on their own.

The 'p'et menu has a lot of useful stuff in it.

[wobbly]

Those commands actually work for you? Every time I try it, go kill stuff gets translated as stare at the wall because you've forgotten how corners work.

[TheQuest]

Those commands actually work for you? Every time I try it, go kill stuff gets translated as stare at the wall because you've forgotten how corners work.

Exactly! Summons do very stupid stuff if you tell them to seek and destroy.

And with telepath and detect monsters... it is not kind of what I want from my army. I want them to do something like "ok, guys, go in that direction, if you see any monster or group, just freaking wipe everything, and let me kņow when you are done". But in reality right now I must open the door first, where orcs already waiting for me and as soon as I open the door I get hit in my face, and my army meanwhile wandering behind me doing no good. No wonder why playing as necromancer is almost no fun at all.

And also, it seems that summons are unable to walk on ladders and follow me on the next level.. :face_palm:

[GenericPseudonym]

Exactly! Summons do very stupid stuff if you tell them to seek and destroy.

And with telepath and detect monsters... it is not kind of what I want from my army. I want them to do something like "ok, guys, go in that direction, if you see any monster or group, just freaking wipe everything, and let me kņow when you are done". But in reality right now I must open the door first, where orcs already waiting for me and as soon as I open the door I get hit in my face, and my army meanwhile wandering behind me doing no good. No wonder why playing as necromancer is almost no fun at all.

And also, it seems that summons are unable to walk on ladders and follow me on the next level.. :face_palm:

So you set them on "stay close" so they stand right next to you, open the door, then switch it to "seek and destroy" and step back. You can change these pet AI options instantly, so don't be afraid of messing with them in the middle of a fight to get the results you want.

[TheQuest]

So you set them on "stay close" so they stand right next to you, open the door...

but still I have to be in the front almost all the time

..., then switch it to "seek and destroy" and step back.

and if there's any monster that is waiting for me I got hit right away, and if I am lucky enough I will have a change to step back.. I know all these options.

No, no, no, that's no fun at all. I would rather tell them to go in that direction, open a door and destroy every monster, so I, the master of dead, could enter the room and take trophies. YES! Existing pet menu commands do not allow me to achieve this, and I know a lot of players would like to be able to do the same I am trying to explain here.

[murphy]

Wand of stone-to-mud is a useful thing to carry. Then you can stay behind your pets and make a passageway wherever one is needed. Higher level necromancers can even summon allies that pass through walls.

Necromancer is that class that got me hooked on poschengband. It requires very different tactics from a more traditional band class. A little patience and a little creativity are needed :-)