2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 13: Ayani, Necromancer

It's the challenge's thirteenth day and time to do something vaguely thematic. I'm now running our group through D&D adventure module X1 The Isle of Dread as part of our Old School Essentials campaign. The module features - among other things - indigenous peoples who animate their ancestors as zombies as part of their culture. The requires the participation of somebody who can cast Animate Dead. Rather than go with a Magic User, I'm using the Necromancer class recently re-released by Necrotic Gnome.

Since Animate Dead is a fifth level spell, even for Necromancers, this character needs to be at least ninth level. This will not be a trivial NPC. Thus, I need a plot line to go with this person.

The "Zombie Masters" of The Isle of Dread seem to based on David Cook's and Tom Moldvay's perceptions of African diaspora religions. This contrasts with the pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations they draw upon for the rest of the module. I don't feel qualified to step into any of that. Thus, I'll be treading carefully and respectfully in both running the module and making this character.

The cycle between unlife, life, and death is firmly established by sources both divine and arcane. The necromancers of the Dread Isle in the Thanegioth Archipelago believe that undeath fits within that cycle. Their magics allow their honored ancestors to serve as workers in the gardens and soldiers on the wall as they did in life.

Ayani, Necromancer, part 1 of 2

Ayani is a 9th level Necromancer NPC. All OSE characters generated for this challenge use the Advanced Fantasy rules and the Advanced Method of character creation. A list of optional and house rules I use are provided in my day two post.

My dice were pretty spicy when rolling up Ayani's Ability Scores. The highest score naturally went into Intelligence. Ayani speaks the language indigenous to the Isle of Dread and picked up common from somewhere. She has two other language slots, but I don't see her having the opportunity to learn more. I put the next highest into Dexterity for the defensive bonus. Ayani comfortably meets the minimum Wisdom requirement for a Necromancer and gets a nifty bonus for saves against magical effects. The Constitution and Charisma bonuses are also handy. The Strength penalties should be irrelevant to a spell caster.

The optional racial abilities that humans get are not amazing, but are handy. Choices for her weapon proficiencies are limited. She knows her way around the dagger and staff. Her d4 hit dice go further than one would think with the Blessed racial perk and "re-roll 1s and 2s for hit points" optional rule. Still, a hit point total of 41 is nothing to write home about.

I made Ayani Lawful due to her accepted role within her culture. It's not popular, but necessary due to protect her people from the dangers of the Dread Isle. She's not doing it for selfish reasons.

Ayani, Necromancer, part 2 of 2

Below is Ayani's "walking around" spell list. She has access to a wider array of magic in her spell book. For example, Ayani might memorize Speak With Dead when needing extensive information from beyond the grace, but Death Recall's more timely nature meets her daily needs.

Ayani's Spell Selection:
1st level (3): Protection From Evil, Read Magic, Undead Servitor*
2nd level (3): Bone Armor, Choke, Death Recall
3rd level (3): Bone Staff, Drag From Death's Door, Hold Person
4th level (2): Inter, Wall of Bones
5th level (1): Animate Dead

* Ayani will only use Undead Servitor on the bodies of outsiders. Her honored ancestors deserve Animate Dead.

Ayani dutifully serves her role in the cycle of unlife, life, death, and undeath. Her matriarch speaks of opening trade with the wider world. Ayani has heard whispers on the ethereal winds of one who will come to the isle. They will exchange much knowledge and both will become wiser. It is with this power that Ayani will protect her people - both living and undead.


Resources:

The Necrotic Gnome has made the Necromancer class available as a free download on DriveThruRPG.

The character sheet I used is by William Braidis Lee and is available on itch.io. It's serviceable, but doesn't seem to support ascending Armor Class. There's also no place for spells.