DISCLAIMER! THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. (Also if this isn't in the right section, feel free to move it accordingly)
I'm currently busy with real life so while I want this concept up and posted I'll probably sit down and add stuff when time permits. Feedback and ideas are certainly welcome, but this is a concept thread, not a place to discuss how necromancy will ruin your in game experience.
On that note, let's start off with this little snippet for all of those individuals who are going to inevitably state that necromancy is banned and because of this lore breaking "Necromancy is not illegal in the Empire, though body and spirit are protected as property, and may not be used without the permission of the owner, and public display of the living dead is widely prohibited. Morrowind is the only province of Tamriel in which necromancy has been banned and is illegal" (
http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Necromancy). While some people feel their immersion will be damaged by Necromancers hanging around town, with potential undead minions, or that because one of the main antagonists in ESO is a Necromancer and because of that should mean the class is out of the question.. I can only shrug. This is an MMO and not a single player game. Classes will be introduced with new concepts and zones will be discovered which were not evident in prior Elder Scrolls games.. such is the nature of an MMO.
Now for the rough idea about what each class skill line will entail.
A Necromancer will be broken down into three trees 'Reanimation', 'Death's Touch' and 'Pestilence' (these names are open for discussion)
Reanimation
It's pretty self explanatory, this tree will focus on exploiting nearby corpses* (and because of this will not be toggle based) to summon several types of undead creatures which in turn attack and defend the Necromancer. These creatures can only be summoned to a cap. Once the cap has been reached and a Necromancer tries to summon a new creature, the oldest summon will die in order for the newest summon to replace it. Summons cannot be healed by normal means and take damage over time. Due to the nature of necromancy these summons will take a % of the caster's health while they're animated, thus making a Necromancer more feeble as their army increases in strength. Furthermore, this tree will also have a few support spells in which a Necromancer can heal their undead minions or provide group support. All in all I think there should be 2-3 reanimation spells and 2-3 support spells (depending on which combination is selected). Because of this the tree itself will not feature any direct damage spells.
I feel a Reanimation class tree is justifiable being in the Necromancer skill set due to the nature of necromancy.
*I'm not entirely sure this is a good idea given the nature of corpses in ESO. There will be several instances where a summon base Necromancer would be useless as they can't exploit corpses for summons and in turn won't contribute to raids, dungeons or PvP
Death's Touch (Chill / Embrace?)
While the skill name needs work this tree will focus predominately on frost damage spells alongside snares and potential freezing. This skill line should feature 1-2 AoE spell(s) with CC effects and perhaps a 1-2 raw frost DPS damage spell(s) (depending on which combination is selected) alongside 2 support spells. Furthermore, I think one spell of these support spells should be a frost equivalent to Molten Weapons (Dragon Knight ability) only dealing frost damage over fire with different morphs.
I feel a frost class tree is agreeable for the Necromancer skill set due to how Necromancers in prior games functioned. They typically used frost spells in conjunction to their summons. Furthermore, the game itself is lacking frost spells and this will help remedy this problem.
Pestilence (Dark Alchemy?)
This tree will focus on disease DoTs, debuffs for enemies and buffs for allies with some potential poison aspects appearing in the spell morphs. This tree will be the 'Dark Alchemist' sort of skill set with spells lacking raw DPS but compensating for the DoTs and debuffs. Because of this I think this class should feature 2 AoE spells which buff / debuff allies / enemies, 1-2 DoT spells which also debuff when cast and 1-2 general support / CC spells (depending on which combination is selected).
I feel a DoT / disease class tree is appropriate for the Necromancer skill set due to how close necromancers work with the dead, it isn't a stretch to assume they know how to handle diseases accordingly. Furthermore, the game itself is lacking disease damage spells and this seems like a good solution.
Now that I've written what I feel the class should consist of in terms of the class spell skill set breakdown and which general spells I'd like to see I'll probably take a break for a bit and come back when I have the drive to sit down for a few hours and continue. Feel free to brain storm spells, ideas and your opinions, I'm pretty active so I'll try and address everyone.
"Each event is preceded by Prophecy. But without the hero, there is no Event." ― Zurin Arctus, the Underking.
Tragrim - How do I work this thing?
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