Tamer: Necromancer (Homebrew: Heliana's Guide To Monster Hunting)
Whether through the tutelage of a lich, a career as a gravedigger, or an innate affinity for the world beyond, you have learnt to manipulate the very essence of life. You can strip it from those that would do you harm, and imbue it in those that serve your aims. Weaving threads of necromantic magic around bone, flesh, and sinew, you create gruesome facsimiles of life—undead puppets that move to the rhythm of the threads you pull.
Your command of necromantic magic and affinity for the no-longer-living allows you to drain your companions’ life force, converting it into a temporary boon. Once per turn, when your companion hits a creature with an attack, you can mentally command the companion to shed some of its life force (no action required). Your companion takes 1d4 necrotic damage that can’t be reduced in any way, gains an equal number of temporary hit points, and deals an equal amount of necrotic damage to its target. This damage increases when you reach certain levels in this class: 1d6 at 6th level, 1d8 at 10th level, and 1d10 at 14th level.
Death is no barrier to your taming magic. You can attempt to tame one creature within 1 minute of it dying, adhering to the normal rules for taming a new companion, with the following changes:
* see Heliana's Guide To Monster Hunting Spells
You learn how to use your taming magic to temporarily raise new allies and bind them to your will. You learn the animate dead spell, you always have it prepared, it doesn’t count against the number of spells you know, and you can cast it once without using a spell slot. After you do so, you can’t cast it in this way again until you finish a long rest. Once you reach 18th level, when you cast this spell using this feature, the creature you animate has the statistics of a ghast (if Medium or smaller corpse) or a minotaur skeleton (if Large or larger corpse). When you reassert your control over these creatures, you can maintain control of only 1 creature per casting of the spell, instead of 4. When you issue a command to your companion using either a bonus action or action, you can issue the same command to any creatures you have created with animate dead so long as the creatures are within 100 feet of you.
As an action, you tap into deep pools of necromantic menergy, imbuing your companion with a 15-foot aura of undeath for the next minute. While imbued with this aura, your companion can, as a bonus action on its turn, force one creature it can see within the aura to make a Constitution saving throw against your tamer spell save DC. On a failure, the creature takes 4d8 necrotic damage and your companion gains a number of temporary hit points equal to half the damage dealt. In addition, for the duration, when your companion would be reduced to 0 hit points, it doesn’t fall unconscious. Instead, it is reduced to 1 hit point and gains one failed death saving throw. If your companion gains three failed death saving throws during the minute, or five failed death saving throws if it has the undead type, it immediately dies. At the end of the minute, your companion drops to 0 hit points, falls unconscious, and is stable. Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.
Life Hack
(3rd-level Necromancer feature)Your command of necromantic magic and affinity for the no-longer-living allows you to drain your companions’ life force, converting it into a temporary boon. Once per turn, when your companion hits a creature with an attack, you can mentally command the companion to shed some of its life force (no action required). Your companion takes 1d4 necrotic damage that can’t be reduced in any way, gains an equal number of temporary hit points, and deals an equal amount of necrotic damage to its target. This damage increases when you reach certain levels in this class: 1d6 at 6th level, 1d8 at 10th level, and 1d10 at 14th level.
Post-Mortem
(3rd-level Necromancer feature)Death is no barrier to your taming magic. You can attempt to tame one creature within 1 minute of it dying, adhering to the normal rules for taming a new companion, with the following changes:
- When you attempt to tame a dead creature, its soul makes a Charisma saving throw against your tamer spell save DC.
- Humanoids and giants don’t automatically succeed on this saving throw.
- On a failure, the creature’s soul becomes bound to its body; its type changes to undead and it becomes one of your companions.
- On a success, you fail to tame the creature and you can’t attempt to tame the creature again until it has been brought back to life by other means.
Necromancer Spells
(3rd-level Necromancer feature) You learn additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Necromancer Spells table. Each spell counts as a tamer spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of tamer spells you know.Animate Dead
(7th-level Necromancer feature)You learn how to use your taming magic to temporarily raise new allies and bind them to your will. You learn the animate dead spell, you always have it prepared, it doesn’t count against the number of spells you know, and you can cast it once without using a spell slot. After you do so, you can’t cast it in this way again until you finish a long rest. Once you reach 18th level, when you cast this spell using this feature, the creature you animate has the statistics of a ghast (if Medium or smaller corpse) or a minotaur skeleton (if Large or larger corpse). When you reassert your control over these creatures, you can maintain control of only 1 creature per casting of the spell, instead of 4. When you issue a command to your companion using either a bonus action or action, you can issue the same command to any creatures you have created with animate dead so long as the creatures are within 100 feet of you.
Enervate
(10th-level Necromancer feature) You learn to channel life force between you and your companions. As an action while your summoned companion is within 100 feet of you, you can deal necrotic damage to your companion up to a value equal to twice your tamer level. This damage can’t be reduced in any way. You then regain hit points equal to the damage dealt. Alternatively, you can deal the necrotic damage to yourself and restore hit points to your summoned companion equal to the damage you took.Aura of Undeath
(14th-level Necromancer feature)As an action, you tap into deep pools of necromantic menergy, imbuing your companion with a 15-foot aura of undeath for the next minute. While imbued with this aura, your companion can, as a bonus action on its turn, force one creature it can see within the aura to make a Constitution saving throw against your tamer spell save DC. On a failure, the creature takes 4d8 necrotic damage and your companion gains a number of temporary hit points equal to half the damage dealt. In addition, for the duration, when your companion would be reduced to 0 hit points, it doesn’t fall unconscious. Instead, it is reduced to 1 hit point and gains one failed death saving throw. If your companion gains three failed death saving throws during the minute, or five failed death saving throws if it has the undead type, it immediately dies. At the end of the minute, your companion drops to 0 hit points, falls unconscious, and is stable. Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.
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