Necromancer companions or main characters?

[Zaniaac]

Having played Baulder's Gate 2 and Icewind Dale

Will their be a chance to create a necromancer in my party? 

Or will this be the role of the chanter? If able, can we create this type of character? 

[Diogenes]

Chanters can summon skeletons and ghosts.

[Zaniaac]

Awesome. Looking forward to this game even more now. 

[Luckmann]

There is no straight-up necromancy in the world and there is no necromancer class nor CNPC:s, no.

Wizards are very, very bad summoners/necromancers. The closest you're going to get in vanilla PoE is the Chanter, the Bard-esque class, that gets a few in-combat summons, like Diogenes mentioned above. But thematically, there is nothing like a necromancer and it'll be hard to build something that would be thematically similar.

[Striped_Wolf]

I guess a Cipher could be built around the soul-dabbling & cursing aspects of a classical Necromancer.

[gkathellar]

Chanter is probably your best bet, not just for the summoning invocations, but also because quite a few of the chants have a decidedly necromantic character. Chants can damage those nearby, penalize attacks, inflict fear ... so on and so forth. It might be a little physical for your tastes, but I personally think that a dirge-singing, axe-swinging necromancer-skald is a pretty sick image.

[Baleros]

Chanters are what you want to make a classic Necromancer or Death knight type character. 

 

At every tier they have invocations  that thematically match those two classes. 

 

1st Tier: 

• If their Bones Sleep Still Under that Hill, None Can Say – Summons three skeletons until the combat ends.
• White Worms Writhed in the Bellies of the Dead – Causing nearby downed enemies to explode expelling three white grubs and crushing nearby enemies.
• But Reny Daret's Ghost, He would not Rest –Summons one phantom until the combat ends.

2nd Tier:

• At the Sound of His Voice, the Killers Froze Stiff – Paralyzes Enemy in the area of Effect.
• Reny Daret's Ghost Spake, "I'll Catch You, Ben Fidel" – terrifies enemies in the area of effect

3rd Tier:

• Seven Nights She Waited While the White Winds Wept – Attacks enemies in seven directions around the chanter with bolts of freezing ice

 

Just run with those invocations, as well as the chant that drains health, the chant that frightens enemies, and the chant that bestows an aura of frost that hobbles enemies-- and you'd have a pretty damn good Necro or Death Knight (depending on armor and weapon choices).

[gkathellar]

Don't forget Sisters Across the Moor. That one's just a creepy image.

Edited March 22, 2015 by gkathellar

[Luckmann]

While, yeah, sure, the Chanter can probably substitute the role to a degree, compared to a "real" necromancer, I must say that if we are talking thematically, I would never envision a singing, chanting necromancer walking around, stabbing, shooting.

[Striped_Wolf]

While, yeah, sure, the Chanter can probably substitute the role to a degree, compared to a "real" necromancer, I must say that if we are talking thematically, I would never envision a singing, chanting necromancer walking around, stabbing, shooting.

Hmm. A chanting Necromancer... I envision something like that ritual scene from Eyes Wide Shut.  

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx0FjItTYVk

 

 

 

 

[Baleros]

While, yeah, sure, the Chanter can probably substitute the role to a degree, compared to a "real" necromancer, I must say that if we are talking thematically, I would never envision a singing, chanting necromancer walking around, stabbing, shooting.

 

Really? I can't think of anything more necromancer-esque than, "Many historians consider chanters to be the most ancient workers of magic, their hallowed phrases stirring the collective memory of wayward souls around them, compelling them to generate magical effects in a kind of "reenactment." !

 

But I guess it all comes down to how you envision it.  Would it gimp your chanter to throw a scepter on him/her?

[Diogenes]

Make your chanter as a metal as heck dude who screams at the top of his lungs so loudly that he literally raises the dead and hits people with a giant axe. Name him BONELORD and be a huge jerk to everyone you meet.

[kalashnjkov]

Chanters can summon skeletons and ghosts.

Summoning undead is not enough for a Necromancer.

 

A necromancer will uses dark magic (such as necromancy and witchcraft...). He will raise the dead ( zombie from corpse, skeleton warrior from pile of bone) or summon wraith and ghost to create his army, he will uses soul magic as attack spells( soul spear...) and some witchcraft type magic like curses.

[Zaniaac]

I guess I'll just have to wait and see when the game gets released to see what all I can do with a chanter. Although its a bit disappointing that there is no "official" necromancer in-game. Its good that they have something similar in nature. From the abilities that I have seen it looks like the chanter could fill the role nicely.  Maybe a expansion pack down the line can come up with something. 

[Leferd]

While there's no Necromancer class per se...there is a field of study call Animancy that addresses what we would consider Necromancy as part of the lore in the game world.

 

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Animancy

 

As I understand it, it may be a major theme in the game itself.