The Necromancer Wizard Archetype
Released here exclusively on levelup5e.com, meet the official Necromancer archetype for wizards!
Necromancy is the practice of death magic–dark magic which calls on the very power of unlife. Necromancers are reviled and feared wherever they go: students of death and masters of the undead, they are able to speak with the dead, create skeletal and zombie minions, and drain the very life force from their foes.
While many necromancers use their powers for good, the practices of commanding undead minions and talking to those who have passed usually evoke revulsion or animosity from those who witness them, often making social encounters uncomfortable. The use of necromantic magic is widely regarded as evil, and the practitioners of it similarly so.
Touch of Death
When you choose this archetype at level 2, your unarmed damage becomes necrotic damage, and you may use your Intelligence bonus instead of your Strength bonus when calculating your unarmed damage.
Additionally, you learn how to use the very life force of your victims. Whenever you deal necrotic damage to a living target with a CR of ¼ or higher, you gain half the damage dealt as temporary hit points. You can never have more of these temporary hit points than twice your proficiency bonus, and you may not benefit from temporary hit points from more than one creature at a time.
Finally, all spells of the necromancy school become wizard spells for you (see the full list at the end of this archetype description).
Speak With Dead
Also at 2nd level you gain the ability to speak with the dead. You can cast the 3rd-level spell speak with dead as an action without expending any spell slots. Once you have used this feature, you cannot do so again until after you take a long rest.
| Creature | CR | Min. Level |
| Skeleton | ¼ | 1 |
| Zombie | ¼ | 1 |
| Skeletal Warhorse | ½ | 2 |
| Shadow | 1 | 3 |
| Specter | 1 | 3 |
| Ghoul | 1 | 3 |
| Lacedon Ghoul | 1 | 3 |
| Will-o-wisp | 2 | 5 |
| Ghast | 2 | 5 |
| Ogre Zombie | 2 | 5 |
| Wight | 2 | 5 |
| Mummy | 3 | 7 |
| Zombie Knight | 3 | 7 |
| Skeletal Champion | 3 | 7 |
| Zombie Horde | 4 | 9 |
| Ogre Flesh Heap | 4 | 9 |
| Vampire Spawn | 4 | 9 |
| Horde of Shadows | 4 | 9 |
| Skeleton Horde | 4 | 9 |
| Banshee | 4 | 9 |
| Warlord's Ghost | 4 | 9 |
| Ghost | 4 | 9 |
| Revenant | 4 | 9 |
| Wraith | 5 | 11 |
| Skeletal T-Rex | 8 | 17 |
| Vengeful Ghost | 8 | 17 |
At 10th level you gain the ability to use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus between long rests.
Create Minion
At 2nd level you gain the power to create a permanent undead minion for yourself. The minion follows your orders. If it is destroyed, or if you choose to dismiss it (which permanently destroys the minion) you may create a new minion once you have taken a long rest. You may only have one minion at a time, and minions created in this way cannot create or summon other creatures themselves.
To create a minion you must spend one hour performing an unholy ritual. At the end of the hour, your minion arrives.
Your minion may be any non-elite undead creature with a Challenge Rating lower than half your wizard level (round down). For example, at 3rd level, you can create a CR 1 minion such as a ghoul, and at 7th level you may create a CR 3 minion, such as a mummy.
Necrotic Mastery
At 6th level, you may choose to substitute necrotic damage for any damage type caused by one of your spells.
Additionally, you gain resistance to necrotic damage.
Army of Darkness
At 10th level you gain the ability to maintain a number of undead minions created using your Create Minion ability. You can maintain a number of minions with a total CR equal to or less than your wizard level, although no individual minion may have a CR equal to or greater than half your wizard level.
For example, at 10th level you would be able to maintain two CR 4 banshees and a CR 2 ghast; or you could maintain three CR 3 mummies and a CR 1 ghoul.
Command Undead
At 14th level you become a true master of the undead. You may use a bonus action to command one undead creature which can hear you. The target must make a Charisma saving throw vs. your spell DC. On a failure, the undead creature becomes unable to attack you for one minute, and obeys your commands for the duration. The creature can make a new saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.
Once a creature succeeds in a saving throw against this feature, it becomes immune to the feature for 24 hours.
List of Necromancy Spells
*not normally a wizard spell