Challenge: Christan Necromany Class

[loyalbabus]

Okay, there is a common RPG element involving resurrection of the dead. While I am aware I might even be in trouble for suggesting it, a holy zombie seems too cool to pass up.

I am well aware of the moral dilemmas surrounding those abilities (even in the secular RPG world) though, so I'm asking what a God sanctioned Necromancer would be like.

Ideas:

1. While no man stays on earth post postmortem, what if past warriors could be "borrowed" from heaven to fight and then released afterwards of course.

2. To go further into controversial territory, what if a Lich was someone who had to prolong their stay on the earth to fulfill their purpose.


And of course, the source of the capacities would be

or

rather than witchcraft.

 

[Paladin Dave]

Sounds a little risky, but I'm actually intrigued. One of my villains was a character who was a Christian archmage who decided Necromancy could help society defend against evil, was shunned and hunted down by the Church, and became an evil Necromancer out of spite, so I think it would be really cool to see a Christian form of the Necromancer.

The only other possibility I could think of would be that a body is no longer needed by its former occupant, so they might could pray for consent to use the body as a servant. I dunno. Its definitely a touchy subject, but I think you're approaching it well.

 

[dramaking]

So far I like all of them. Rather controversial, but I like rather controversial. I can't offer many suggestions, but it may be worth thinking of Gandalf as a type of "Holy Lich".

It's my own personal opinion that Holy Necromancy would be rather different than it's parallel because it would be much harder to bring down armies of heavenly warriors than hordes of walking corpses. The heavenly spirits would be more powerful (being truly indestructable) but not able to come in large hordes and they would have to be temporary.

It poses an interesting moral question though....

 

[Paladin Dave]

I don't like the idea of calling souls from the afterlife. Necromancers can't do it either. I think a holy necromancer should just stick to resurrecting bodies. I mean, an Undead construct that won't be hurt by holy energy, being revived by it, would be pretty darn strong on its own.

 

[dramaking]

I don't like the idea of calling souls from the afterlife. Necromancers can't do it either. I think a holy necromancer should just stick to resurrecting bodies. I mean, an Undead construct that won't be hurt by holy energy, being revived by it, would be pretty darn strong on its own.

You have a point...but then...how would a Holy Necromancer call bodies forward? I don't like the idea of having to commune with dead spirits and ask their permission to use their bodies. A part from being clearly a bad thing (Witch of Endor) it would also get tedious.

Holy N.: Oh Lord may I use the corpse of Bob to smite this evil

LORD: I don't don't know Holy N. You'll have to ask him.
Gabriel, Michael, bring Bob here!

Bob: What is it Lord?

LORD: Some Holy necromancer wants to use you body.

Bob: For what?

LORD: Oh, killing some ancient evil.

Bob: Oh. Sure, whatever.

LORD: All right Holy Necromancer, sure; use Bob's body.

~~~~

Not exactly some thing to do on the fly in battle is it?

 

[Paladin Dave]

Eh, I was leaning more towards calling upon God for the permission, but you definitely have a point.

Was it in Jeremiah, Ezekiel... I dunno, but one of the prophets watched God reanimate a bunch of dry bones in the middle of the desert, causing flesh to regrow on them and life to return. Maybe the Holy Necromancer should emulate that, since God's resurrections are always complete?

 

[dramaking]

Eh, I was leaning more towards calling upon God for the permission, but you definitely have a point.

Was it in Jeremiah, Ezekiel... I dunno, but one of the prophets watched God reanimate a bunch of dry bones in the middle of the desert, causing flesh to regrow on them and life to return. Maybe the Holy Necromancer should emulate that, since God's resurrections are always complete?

Now that I like! But it leads the question...what of the souls and spirits? Are they brought forth as well? If not, what separates them from Death Knights (save feeling good feelings and not smelling like dead rat)

 

[Shadowseldil]

As a somewhat expert in the realms of magic, I'd like to comment on this.

The major problem is that life or death is God's business, and as such anyone who attempts to usurp that authority cannot be good.
However, if God were to go about the business of bringing someone back from the dead, or giving life to a nonliving object, then God would fully complete the process, i.e.: resurrection. There would not be an effect such as "undead." In reality, undead or animated objects are no more than flawed attempts at creating life where there is no life, thus attempting to usurp the right or power or authority or whatever from God.
God, I feel, would not, nay, cannot do anything flawed or incomplete. Therefore, I cannot possibly imagine anyway in which God could call upon the use of undead. They would be fully alive if that were the case.

However, as far as animating the inanimate... I don't know. I mean, Jesus said that if the people were silent, then the rocks would cry out in praise. But, is that inanimate life, or...?
Animating objects with God's authority... I would think that it would need to serve some direct purpose, and that such things would be up to God's judgment and not ours (or, as the case may be, the character's judgment).

So, all told, while I think both are intriguing ideas, I just don't see them as very plausible.

And it was Zeke that saw the valley dry bones, but he was mostly just a spectator. God was the one that did everything. So again we have the quandary of God doing the work and the person sitting back and watching.
Now, I think a possibility is having, say, a prophet given the power to call golems to protect himself, or something of the like, but not undead. That simply does not fit God's character. However, there are other, more feasible outlets which God could use to protect his prophets, but I'm just shooting out an idea.

Heh, funny... I really didn't touch on magic at all. Oh well, I still think I gave sound advice.