Necromantic magic is concerned with the control and manipulation of dead or Undead creatures. Necromancers can summon and control Undead, provided that they have suitable raw materials to hand - either fresh corpses (such as characters killed in combat) or those from a graveyard or similar site of burial (even the place where a great battle or catastrophe occurred will be sufficient). The Necromancer does not have to dig the corpses up; the casting of a Summoning spell (Summon Skeleton Champion, Summon Skeletons, Summon Skeleton Minor Hero, Summon Skeleton Horde, or Summon Skeleton Major Hero) will cause the dead bodies to burst through the ground, ready to serve the Necromancer.
As an alternative to using any corpses in the immediate vicinity, Necromancers may summon Undead directly from the plane of death. In order to do this, the character needs to spend some time enchanting a part of a corpse or skeleton (or several parts, if the spell summons more than one Undead). The relevant body parts are given under the Ingredients heading of each Summoning spell description.
The Necromancer must spend 2 hours per level of the Summoning spell (irrespective of the number of body parts used) attuning the item(s) so that it opens a gate to the plane of death. This costs 3 magic points per spell level, expended at the end of the 2-hour period. At the end of the process, the Necromancer must make a successful test against WP or lose 1 point of S permanently. This test is made for each Summoning spell, rather than for each body part.
To use the enchanted item, the Necromancer casts the relevant Summoning spell as normal and then throws the item to the ground. The summoned Undead appear within 6 yards of the caster and the item is destroyed in the process.
S points are lost permanently, but their loss can be offset by the use of certain preparations.
Controlling Undead[]
Skeletons and Zombies lack motivation and need to be directed by a friendly controller. Necromancers can act as controllers over any friendly Undead (summoned by themselves or an ally) within 24 yards of their persons. This is not a spell, but an innate ability of Necromancers, though they may use spells to increase the range of their control or even do away with the need to have a controller. However, controlled Undead must always be within the controller's line-of-sight, irrespective of any Magic in operation.