Arcane Practical Employment of Moral Necromancy
An opinion essay by Elan Talwen, regarding the Moral applications of Arcane Necromancy.
As an adventurer, arcanists typically rely upon companions or summoned creatures to resolve the problem of hostile creatures encountered while delving caverns, acquiring resources or rare components. An arcanist can challenge stronger foes with employment of necromancy than one could if necromancy is completely shunned, and I will do a spell by spell study of situations where necromancy can make you a stronger spellcaster overall.
While our companions or summons may be adequate to handle most situations, a single companion can be overwhelmed quickly if multiple enemies engage you. It requires a bit of preparation to permit this flexibility, but this is where the spell FEAR comes in to play.
Prepare your summons or companions with clarity... potions are fairly plentiful or the spell Lesser Mind Blank. Then you are free to use the Fear spell to strike terror into your enemies and make them scatter before you. This allows your companion to engage them in smaller numbers. Most creatures like trolls, orcs, ogres, gnolls and the like are not very willful creatures, and fail to resist the spell. It is highly effective on goblinoids, ogre-kin and the like. Direct your companions to engage those who do not flee, as they will be often spiritual spellcasters, shaman, clerics, and the sort. These should be high priority targets.
By the same token, these creatures are quite strong, and the spell ENERVATION, will be resisted more often. I purposely do not employ this spell.
HORRID WILTING is a decently powerful spell, as most miss the specifics about this spell. It does no harm to the caster, nor elemental companions. This can have deadly effect to enemies and should be employed when there is a mass of hostiles, especially in tight corridors when you need to engage enemy spellcasters who are at the back of the formation.
RAY OF ENFEEBLEMENT should be employed against enemy spellcasters who are attempting to disengage. It's a very specific situation, but if you're like myself and aren't the most athletic sort to engage in a chase, then this would shorten that situation dramatically.
Finally, NEGATIVE ENERGY BURST is incredibly powerful for the massive drain of energy from limbs, especially for more powerful spellcasters. Multiple castings do not have cumulative effects, but this can shorten physical altercations against those with weak willpower. Be sure to protect allies from negative energy as this spell, while powerful, will definitely harm allies with lasting effects.
I hope these examples can help you find the strength in embracing necromancy as a powerful means to weakening enemy formations and protecting your allies so that you can be a more competent ally without resorting to animation, for which you will suffer great levels of hostilities from society.
Reach out to me if you have any questions, concerns or comments. I am open to any and all discussion regarding this subject. Thank you for reading.