I See Nothing But Dead People: The Ghostspeaker Wizard Sublcass

Xubachithl looked at the restrained wizard in front of him as he completed the ritual. The mage had secured his defenses with his physical presence; his body was his passkey. In moments, he would wear the mage’s skin as his own while the mage’s soul was trapped in the jar before him; the mage’s bastion would be his. Undead swarmed around them, the mage’s servants trying to rescue him, but as long as they were within the circle, he was safe. He had already animated some zombies to act as a distraction, but they were long gone.

As the ritual finished, his soul slid into the body of the person before him and his body fell. Xubachithl smiled with another man’s face and scratched the circle, releasing its protection. The undead now ignored him and soon the wizard’s tower would be his.

Ghostspeakers are seen as a necessity in most communities, someone you go to when you have a problem no one else can deal with. They can help a person find closure or allow revenge through their ability to speak with the dead, give a taste of vengeance through their ability to cast curses, and even help parties deal with the undead. Clerics and paladins, especially those with a grudge against the undead, find them the best of allies and frequently bring them along on their quests. Their control over the forces of life and death eventually allows them to switch souls, an uncanny ability they use rarely.

On the selfish side, they can create an undead problem to deal with, find out the secrets of the dead, such as passwords and how to avoid the traps they set, and possess others to make them do embarrassing actions. Their control of the undead makes them ideal villains, and their bastions are surrounded by their undead servitors. They can be heroes or villains; no two have the same motivations.

[Design Considerations: The character is supposed to be dealing with undead; as such, you’re more likely to be on the front line or scouting missions. As such, they’re unusually good friends with clerics and paladins, and may even multi-class into those classes at some point. History and Religion are skills worth investing in, as well as dark clothes. Feats you may want to look at include Crusher, Great Weapon Master, Ritual Caster, Sentinel, Skulker, War Caster. If you take the Magic Initiate feat, you may want to look at the guidance, resistance, spare the dying, and toll the dead cantrips and detect evil and good, protection from good and evil, and sanctuary spells.]

Level 3: Necromancer Savant

Choose two spells from the Necromancy school, neither of which can be higher than level 2, and add them to your spellbook for free. In addition, when you gain a level as a wizard, add another spell from the Necromancy school for free, as long as the spell is one you can cast.

Level 3: See The Undead

You can use an Arcana check to determine if a target is undead or not.

Level 6: Prepared Necromancy

You always have animate dead, bestow curse, and speak with dead prepared.

Level 10: Necromantic Ward

Using a piece of chalk, you can draw a circle with a 5’ radius as an action. Alternatively, you can use a stick of some sort (including staves and pole arms) to draw the circle in a soft substance (such as dirt). As long as no one inside the circle doesn’t rub or scratch out part of the circle, it works as a magic circle, but only against undead. You may use this ability once per point of Intelligence bonus, with spent uses recharging on a Long Rest.

Level 14: Ritual Necromancer

You can cast animate dead and magic jar as rituals.