School of Necrophagy
Cyrus sank his teeth into the heart of the recently deceased cleric, and within moments, he knew the man’s deepest secrets, as clearly as he did his own…
Cyrus, Necrophagy Wizard
The wizard’s school of necrophagy is similar to that of necromancy, but with a more horrific flavor. Necrophages, sometimes called death eaters, consume the flesh of the recently deceased to steal those creatures’ knowledge and power.
Adherents of this specialty claim that it is the origin of all necromancy magic and necrotic energy. They view the Negative Plane as a cosmic necrophage all its own, devouring all matter, energy, and life and replacing it with necrotic energy and undead.
Building a Necrophagy Wizard
Except as noted, necrophages function as necromancers and use the wizard spell list. Instead of gaining the corresponding features of the School of Necromancy, a necrophage has the features described below.
Undead Familiar allows you to summon a small undead servant, using the spell find familiar.
Memory Of Flesh grants you the twisted ability to extract knowledge from others by consuming some of their flesh.
Fruit Of The Mind enhances your memory of flesh ability, and allows you to extract specific information from your victims, as if you were casting speak with dead.
Feed On Life further empowers your memory of flesh ability, imbuing you with undead fortitude after you feast, making you immune to disease, and able to survive for some time without food, water, air, or even sleep.
With these abilities, the necrophagist can access information that might be otherwise inaccessible to the party. Whether that is the hidden location of a long-lost treasure, the sacred tenets of a secretive religious cult, or the complex layout of an arcane labyrinth. The undead nature of a necrophagist’s familiar makes them somewhat hardier than others, making them even more formidable scouts. Their final ability, feed on life, allows the necrophagist to gain all the benefits of the undead creature, without any of the associated vulnerabilities.
As with all classes, any race is suitable for playing a necrophagist, but there are certain races that mesh particularly well with their capabilities. The Forest Gnome ability, Speak with Small Beasts, makes a great complement to the necrophagist’s exiting ability to extract information from the flesh. When combined with the ability to speak with small animals, you will almost always have a source of information at your hands, whether that be through life or death. The pseudo-undead nature of the Shade also provides you with even more opportunities to siphon from your enemies with their life drain ability.
Roleplaying Tips
Playing a necrophagist may prove particularly difficult when playing with a good-aligned party. You should consider checking in with your gamemaster, as well as your fellow players, to determine whether or not they would tolerate having a member of the party who consumes the flesh of others as a core mechanic of their class. That being said, once you’ve established that, there are plenty of rich roleplaying opportunities to be had playing a necrophagist. You could be the member of a cult that reveres the dead, and views the consumption of flesh as an almost ritualistic honor. Or you could be a scholar and explorer, gathering information through whatever means necessary. Darkling and acolyte both make excellent choices for your background, but you could also consider being an archivist, who uses their unsettling ability to document information from their victims. Whatever your background, consider asking yourself what brought you to seek out the aid of an adventuring party, whether it be for love, greed, or a common enemy, and use that to inspire your roleplaying.
How to Access this Content
The school of Necrophagy was created by our partners at Kobold Press, and it is one of the many subclasses available to subscribers, along with others like the Soulspy or the College of Entropy, as well as races such as the Shade or Spindrift Dwarf. Build your own Necrophagy wizard and tell us about it in the comments below or on any of our social channels. Join us on on Discord, Reddit or Facebook to meet other members of the community and take your game to the next level, or follow us on Twitter @shardtabletop for regular updates.
