Background
Necromantic Theory speaks of a Profane Aegis which steps in to protect the soul when the gods decide to cease doing so. While Philosophers of the Knife never approve of relying on a demonic presence to protect the soul, someone dared step away from conventional wisdom and engage in darker arts than some leaders desired...

Ability
This ritual, granted by someone not of the Philosopher's Guild (or at least not one who fully agrees with Book's ideals on the Philosophy), allows you to PERFORM REINFORCE on a humanoid corpse. While little is understood as to how a flesh-based art somehow functions to accomplish this, the ritual apparently allows... something... to consume the soul of the sacrificed corpse. As a boon to the performer of the dark art, they are further shielded from the wrath of the gods, essentially reducing their Divine Outrage meter.

Alternative Option
The same as above, except instead of reducing DO is prevents DO from increasing for X amount of time.

It wouldn't shock me!

That said, I was basing this idea on the quote below... it's very possible I'm just misinterpreting it but i thought that the Aegis is theoretically capable of protecting us from some rather big nasty god-based wrath.

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XXX grins again. "Now, ZZZ, at some point, the gods always shun us. Something about what we're doing really ticks them off. When that happens, we're protected by the Profane Aegis. Usually this means that there's a demonic presence protecting a soul, but the Philosophers have found a way to do it without relying on that."

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>Usually this means that there's a demonic presence protecting a soul, but the Philosophers have found a way to do it without relying on that."

I'm surprised he isn't trying to sell a beach-front villa on top of the Greater Fist along with that statement.

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How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads, to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams. -Bram Stoker's Dracula

Alternatively, we could build the Aegis up enough so we can depart with items.

Talking about depart guild.

In the event we don't want to revive in the middle of a torched mob, while also not wanting to lose our items.

>>dracula never made arrangements for his own coffin to be transported, etc, etc. minions come in handy that way. If you know a torch-wielding mob is on their way, give your gear to your igor and go naked into the night...

...what the hell are you talking about.

Hah... if that's the case, I think "use your alts" is way too OOC for me. That's like saying "social outrage is fine when you have your second account deposit money/vault items/etc"

That's now how one is supposed to play the game.

>thats what you use your Igor for.

I'm dumbfounded. Congratulations. I can't think of anything that policy will allow me to say.

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How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads, to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams. -Bram Stoker's Dracula

Make friends? Useful acquaintances?

Frenemies?

You're a pariah from society, but most players' characters don't belong to society in the first place. If you can't find another player to play your "Igor," there may be something wrong with your methods.

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"Magic has rules and so does posting on these forums." -Annwyl

I'm continually amazed by people who apparently play necromancers who prefer rebuffing ideas than actually creating their own.

"No, don't suggest a way to reduce Divine Outrage! No, don't suggest a way to depart with items! No no no oh lordy lord no!"

>>I believe that was a reference to Risen being able to hold Items while the Necro is logged. pretty nice perk if you ask me.

IMO it was a reference to someone using multiple accounts in order to offset the issues with SO.

I could have easily had my Paladin go around buying all my equipment, but I didn't. I instead had my necromancer do his little innocent new War Mage dance in order to get all the gear he needed from Traders. I could have done it much faster if I used my Paladin's small amount of wealth and general "I am not a Necro please buy this for me"-ness, but I didn't. I'm not a fan of using alts to accomplish my character's needs, although I'm in no way perfect at that.

>>Its nice to be free of stuff your worried too much about losing for a change.

Agreed, but at the same time if the Necro alterer shows up, I don't want to then be discouraged from actually keeping hold of what I get.

>>I'd rather have quicker , stronger and better ways to take people out of the way of The Great Work.

So suggest some? It's not like the GMs are going to drop everything based on my ideas anyway, and then not have time to do whatever idea you come up with.

>I'm continually amazed by people who apparently play necromancers who prefer rebuffing ideas than actually creating their own.

To be fair, its not that I dislike suggestions or what the idea will change for the guild. Its just that the idea conflicts with some of the established design ideals of how the guild should operate and I don't think it will get much traction.

We already have a means to keep our items upon death. Yes, there are situations where its not going to help you, but I think the idea is that if you find yourself in those situations as a Non-lich Necromancer you made a mistake somewhere down the line and you need to take your lumps and move on. I think that your idea will make it a little to easy to avoid that penalty.

That being said, I do like the idea of rituals or abilities that consume corpses, I think it fits very well with the 'Alchemy of Flesh' idea, turning the flesh of a dead thing into something tangible for the Necromancer.


Elusive
mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur

>> then why did you respond with ?

I was being polite and giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Also, like another poster, if someone was telling me to bypass a system using alts, I'd have choice words that aren't board-friendly.

>>good point.

Continuing on that point, if my necro goes on a [paid] quest, I don't think I would want whatever i get to automatically be vault-fodder.

>>Its just that the idea conflicts with some of the established design ideals of how the guild should operate and I don't think it will get much traction.

How does it conflict with the guild? Because if we make a conscious effort to do something to offset item loss through DEPART GUILD, it makes the game "not hard"? I don't believe that for a moment.

>>When you die the earth swallows up your corpse and your reformed at the area where you buried the other corpse. Basically transforms the corpse into you.

I love it. Maybe a long[er]-term preserve mixed with taking and burying the corpse to some guild-located graveyard (or other location).

<<I believe that was a reference to Risen being able to hold Items while the Necro is logged. pretty nice perk if you ask me.>>

exactly. much like a moonmage shadow servant, except more capable of independent movement.

if i was referring to an "alt", i'd say an "alt". in this instance, i said an "igor". a Risen should be much more capable in this regard than a zombie, who can only "hold" 2 items or so items while it exists.

although it would depend on how capable our risen will be in following directions. <ie. tell risen to take gear to placeA, while necro goes to placeb <opposite direction>. mob comes, tries to kill necro, necro comes back to life, sneaks away to placeA and gets gear back from Risen.


Of course that would mean the Risen would have to have some type of preprogrammed "places" that it would go - perhaps a fetish or something could be "buried" in a location beforehand that would give it that place as a destination. Not exactly sure how do-able it is, but it could be coded along the same lines as the self-programable JJ in plat - except it would only "poof" a risen to that location, not adventurers. The Necromancer would be the one that would have to "tap" it and "focus" on it beforehand to set it up - <instead of a MM- as in traditional JJ>
That way if you gave your risen a RJ <Risen Jewelry> - or <risenfetish or whatever you want to call it>, it would automatically go to that destination.

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Necromancy provides the only source of reliable and potent life extension on Elanthia.

>Suggestions, attitude, vision, etc.

People suggesting things that overwrite the disadvantages of being a necromancer will probably not see their ideas gain traction. I like the creativity, I just think people should try to fashion ideas that work within the confines of our lore and the vision of the people developing the guild.

Departing with items was a perk for having favors. We can't get favors and that is supposed to suck, so I doubt we'll be departing with items. Otherwise the concept of favors (or lack thereof) is relatively meaningless.

>Continuing on that point, if my necro goes on a [paid] quest, I don't think I would want whatever i get to automatically be vault-fodder.

If your necro goes on a paid quest, he's likely and justified to get shot in the face if he uses his magic in sight of the others on the quest. Just pointing that out.

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How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads, to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams. -Bram Stoker's Dracula

>>Thinking of ways to improve the Profane Aegis is a worthy goal and I encourage your character to experiment with new ways of doing it every time he prepares the profane necro-alchemic rituals that ward his soul from the gods.

>>Er, wait a minute...

I can't tell if this is a sarcastic snark or not. My radar must be off tonight.

>>Departing with items was a perk for having favors. We can't get favors and that is supposed to suck, so I doubt we'll be departing with items. Otherwise the concept of favors (or lack thereof) is relatively meaningless.

I disagree. They could still depart with coins. Or depart to "regular" locations. Or get resurrected more easily. Or let clerics restore their memories. Or not have to perform certain acts on a daily basis in order to ensure that they could use those favors, unlike a time-limit-based security blanket that a Necro could create. Etc etc etc.

>>If your necro goes on a paid quest, he's likely and justified to get shot in the face if he uses his magic in sight of the others on the quest. Just pointing that out.

Pretty sure I read a post from Solomon where he outright says he expects people to RP around the fact that someone on a quest is a Necro, explicitly pointing out he didn't want to see just that.

You guys need to learn to speak Armifer more often. Seriously.


1)Philosophers don't have rituals that deal with the soul, they are strickly against it

2)A necromancer's soul, its like trying to find waldo after someone has buried and disfigured his corpse and burned his clothes.

_______________________
"Listen, three eyes," he said, "don't you try to outweird me, I get stranger things than you free with my breakfast cereal."
-The Restaurant at the end of the galaxy

You are missing the key point here.

Whatever that entity is that is protecting a Necromancer's soul, the Philosophers of the Knife (which all PCs all, even if they go renengade) will never have anything to with it in any way.

Not everyone has to be a Philosopher to be a Necromancer, so the Philosophers' prohibitions on things are not absolute.

That being said, the Guild is balanced specifically for a certain gain ratio of DO, so any way to make DO go down would end up making it so that DO went up faster naturally, and probably not in an advantageous way for most Necromancers.

There are a few 'core design tenets' of the Guild that will most likely not be reneged on, but I do read all the suggestions. One thing I'm big on is a thematic (which leads to functional) weakness in guilds, and the Necromancer guild's weakness is meant to revolve around the services most people take for granted.

-Z

>>That being said, the Guild is balanced specifically for a certain gain ratio of DO, so any way to make DO go down would end up making it so that DO went up faster naturally, and probably not in an advantageous way for most Necromancers.

Fair enough. I've been trying to listen to more lectures by the lecture-guy (sidenote: should give scholarship! or at least for the first few ranks before a newbie can start reading basic charts, or something), and the Aegis thing really interested me.

>>The second generation Philosophers trained before Lyras made the gods extra zappy; the majority of them have never reincarnated and have no idea what it is you're seeing.

Just curious, but is a PC Philosopher second or third generation? Is Book second gen or third gen, since he teaches everyone about SRE?