Review: Secret College of Necromancy

by David 'Zeb' Cook and Wolfgang Baur

Publisher: Green Ronin
ISBN-13: 978-0971438026
ISBN-10: 0971438026
96 pages - Paperback

For sheer horror there's nothing in D&D that quite chills the blood as well as the word Necromancer. And this book provides a fully fleshed out Necromancer class (as well as a Death Knight). The usual bonuses and spells available lists are given, as well as some great ideas on a Necromatic familiar. Several New Feats and dozens of new spells form the bulk of the information, along with new items and new creatures. Then comes the secret college section, including a history of the college that's generic enough to plop down in any large city, the college at work, and a few NPC's for flavor. At the end there's an appendix of tables, an index, and a familiar/mount character sheet.

Now a few words about the classes - yes, they're overpowered - at least until PC's reach a minimum of 10th level. But remember, Necromancers, according to this book, are supposed to be evil - and most evil characters should be NPC's. It should be obvious that both the Necromancer and especially the Death Knight are NPC's. Then there's a whole secret college full of evil things. What a great challenge for player characters - and it should provide fodder for several adventures before the PC's shut it down - if they can!

96 pages of Necromatic evilness - I'd recommend Secret College of Necromancy to any GM looking for an evil organization to harass players with - because it's not just the college - it's the people inside it as well.

Bruce Gray