The Chill Of The Grave

Regardless of Tradition, the wielder of Necromantic Magics is slowly but surely tainted by the Death Energies they wield, and the reactions of others, both Spirit and Mortal, will slowly come to reflect their innate responses to Death. This is touched on in the text by the IC explanation that it's been discovered that Ectoplasm has a corrosive reaction on living Aura's and normal "Spirit-Material", and is mentioned both for its directly corruptive effects and as weakening the Necromancers ability to resist being controlled by the Spirits Of The Dead. In game-mechanics terms, this corrosion and corruption is handled by the single derived Attribute of Necrosis. The Necrosis Level is figured fairly simply, though the explanation may take a sec:

1. Determine the highest rating for Necromancy or any concentration or specialization.

2. If the highest rating is a specialization, use it as is. If it's a Concentration, use it at its rating +2. If it's the General skill, use it at it's rating +4.

3. To this number, add the necromancers Permanent EEP dice, AND their Total EEP Dice (yes, this means permanent EEP Dice count twice).

4. Divide this total by four, rounding down. The result is the Necrosis Rating of the Necromancers Aura.

   In practice, because the current total EEP Dice will shift so often, it will probably work best to figure a Base Necrosis Rating by following steps 1 & 2 and adding just the Permanent EEP Dice and dividing by two. Then the current EEP total can be divided by four and added to get the total Necrosis value when needed. In all cases, a Necrotic Aura tainted by Ichor counts for all uses as if double its value.

   Again revisiting the infamous Drakkon, after his last example, his Necromancy skill is at 8. He is a Grade 3 Initiate with an Essence 3 and a current Ectoplasmic Energy Pool of 3 permanent and 5 temporary dice. Since the whole point of his development of his General Necromancy skill was to use it instead of lesser Concentrations and Specializations, the General skill is his highest Rating, so his Base Necrosis Rating is: [8 (Necromancy Skill) + 4 (it's the general skill) + 3]/4 = 3.75 = 4. His Total EEP is 8 (3 Permanent + 5 Temporary), so his Actual Necrosis Rating is 6 (4 Base Value + 2 (1/4 his current total EEP)).

   Social Skill Alterations

   In MOST cases, Mortal Material beings will Fear the Necromancer regardless of WHAT he does -- add the Necromancers Necrosis Rating as a penalty to ALL non-Fear-based Social interactions, while interactions based on Fear (Interrogation, Leadership or Negotiation-by-Intimidation, etc.) use the SAME number as a bonus (a reduction) for their Tgt#'s (to a minimum of 2, of course). This should range from hostile suspicion on the part of guards or cops, to refusal of service or Panic Button pushing on the part of restaurant workers, to an inability to get a cabby to stop to pick you up in the middle of the night. Note that the REACTION to this fear is NOT controllable by the Necromancer -- "whistling past the graveyard" responses, hostility, anger, paranoia and religious fervor are all as likely as retreat or submission. SOME people even LIKE fear (What are Goths but Death Groupies, after all? ;-). In any event, this effect should seldom if ever work to the Necromancers advantage except when they are TRYING to inspire fear... an activity that brings its own consequences if overused. Above and beyond numbers and game mechanics, the wielding of Necromantic Magic MARKS the aura of the wielder, giving them an air of coldness, corruption, and evil both to astral examination and subconscious "feel" at all times, the strength of the of this field of influence is directly related to the depth of necromantic power used, as expressed in the mastery of the Necromancy skill... ectoplasm, if you will, clings subliminally to the ones who handle it routinely.

   Two important points of note here: Despite the "flavor" of necromantic aura-corruption, Necromancy is NOT, quite, inherently evil -- it IS dangerous, and it IS very LIKELY to lead the Necromancer INTO true Evil, but the sense imparted to mundanes and astral viewing alike is the result of Mortals deep-seated fear of DEATH, not intrinsic evil in the nature of ectoplasm. Second, an exception to the Social Skills penalties rule: when TWO people with Necrotic Auras interact, only the DIFFERENCE in their Necrosis ratings is considered:

   For example: Vixen and Avery have both been gravely wounded by ghosts with aura-damaging "weapons": Vix has a Serious Aura Integrity Wound (+3 Necrosis), while Avery has a Moderate Wound (+2 Necrosis). Until these flaws in their Aura's heal, Avery makes Social interactions with Vixen as if unwounded, but she makes social interactions with HIM at a +1 Tgt#, as he is subconsciously influenced by his fear of Death because of the greater amount of death-energy within her aura.

   Conjuring Alterations

   Nature Spirits

   Spirits have their own characteristic ways of reacting to the aura of Death surrounding wielders of Necromantic magics -- Nature Spirits do NOT like Necromancy in any way, shape, or form, as its focus on death-in-life and life-in-death violates the VAST majority of the Natural Order of Nature. Even when a Totem's nature encompasses this ideology enough to create a Necromantic Shaman, the lesser spirits of Sky, Land, Waters and Man do NOT, as a rule, share the views of the Totems. When Summoning a Non-Toxic Nature Spirit of ANY sort (with the exception of Ancestral Spirits, and other spirits of the Dead nominally classified as Spirits of Man), the Shamanic Necromancer has to add a modifier to ALL Conjuring-related Tgt#s (and, where relevant, rolls to interact with the spirit, as well) equal to their Necrosis Rating.

   Elemental Spirits

   Elementals represent far less than nature spirits in terms of self-will and even sentience, and thus don't tend to "judge" a necromancer in those terms. However, the Hermetic Necromancers great affinity with the Forces of decay and dissolution makes conjuring normal elementals progressively more difficult: subtract the Mages Necromantic Conjuring skill from his (NORMAL Conjuring skill + Initiate Grade) to determine the ACTUAL dice usable for normal Conjuring tests. Generally, such spirits degrade rapidly as well, and appear as fitful, weak specimens when they appear at all (a Fire Elemental, for instance, summoned by a Necromancer, might appear more as sparks and smoke than a good roaring flame... Water Elementals as masses of stagnating slime, etc. This effect isn't hard-and-fast, and will be less evident the more strongly the Elemental is called: A Force 4 with only 1 service might APPEAR weaker and smokier than the Force 1 with 4 services... in this case, number of services represe nts how quickly the Elemental destabilizes and vanishes). Elementals summoned by a Necromancer whose Necromantic Conjuring skill equals or exceed their normal Conjuring skill will be in pain and unstable, adding the difference in skill levels to the difficulty to control or command them.

   Loa and Other Spirits Of The Dead

   Loa, of course, ARE Spirits of the Dead, and as such do not suffer any of the effects (positive or negative) associated with the Necromancers aura of death. NOTE: Unless otherwise noted in the Spirit description, Spirits Of The Dead Conjured by necromancers are summoned using the normal spirit-conjuring procedures for the Tradition (ie, as Loa Travail & Loa Achete by Voudois Necromancers, as Spirits of Man by mainstream Shamanic Necromancers, as Elementals by Hermetic Necromancers, etc.). This includes number and kinds of services, travelling ability, duration of their stay, etc. Note that Hermetically Conjured Spirits of the Dead CAN, in fact, perform the usual 5 types of Elemental Services (Aid Sorcery, Aid Study, Spell Sustaining, Physical Service, Remote Service), they may only Aid with Necromantic spells. These abilities are a DIRECT result of the time and materials put into the conjuration, and are NOT available as services when the same Spirits are conjured by a Shamanic Necrom ancer of any sort, though in both cases, the Spirits Powers, Weaknesses, and Attributes remain unchanged.

   Watchers

   Watchers, being unstable already, cannot be summoned by Necromancers. Necromancers who wish to conjure easily summoned and controlled beings must rely on Apparition-class spirits for this.

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