[The Eye]

So with this thread raised from the dead, I figured I'd give my thoughts. Sorry for posting incognito, though I'm sure some of you know who I am anyway.

Firstly, This is cool and I can't wait for it to go live.

But Ultimately I do think there are certain ongoing issues with Necromancy that I do think are worth mentioning.

First, just to address sentiments I've seen that are common.

"Undead should have plaguelands!"

This would turn plaguelands from "This is a neat thing to help you get started and give you a baseline long-term income." Which I love into "This just gives you a truckload of undeath for basically no effort." Without significant overhauls. While ultimately not fixing the issue of undead being 'disposable resource gathering mooks'

Plaguelands in general has issues. Just to set a baseline I'll explain how it works.

• You can cast it once per year. And like old quests, you have to do it after the time you did it last year. Meaning it gets later and later in the day until you miss one day.
  
• It can blight up to a 5x5 field of crops.
  
• You get 3 undeath for casting it. This does not change depending on the size of the field or level of development.
  
• It's instant. There is no delay in getting the undeath. You do not lose the undeath if you walk away. The field is blighted instantly. The loading bar does nothing.
  
• It does not spawn skeletons despite what it says.
  

Which also addresses why Necromancers rarely use it to wreck other peoples crops. A lot of risk for basically no reward other than trolling, which feels more mean-spirited than it does like 'Yolo badguy causes conflict'.

My pie in the sky ignorant of all coding difficulties suggestions for fixing it? (And also buffing it.)

• Whatever fix was made for quests, please apply it to Plaguelands so it doesn't just get later and later.
  
• Make the undeath received depend on the level of growth and the size of the field. IE 1x1 patch? You get one undeath if it's at least a little bit grown. Maybe 2 if you get it just before harvest. IE at max you could get 10 undeath if you hit a 5x5 field right before harvest. While also halving gains from plants you planted.
  
• Fix it so it gives you the undeath bit by bit over the course of the spell-casting. Blighting squares bit by bit over the course of the spellcasting.
  
• Set the cooldown on being able to use it again based on how much undeath you got from it. IE you got a perfect casting and got 10 Undeath? Instead of 1 year, it's on 3 year cooldown.
  
• Please make it so it actually spawns skeletons that will hang around and attack people and NPC's.
  
• Maybe a command to check the cooldown without having to try and cast it in a valid situation.
  

And for the bit where Pasta will hate me.


"Undead should have a self heal."


Nah, We already have fleshcrafting on its way, though I think that should perhaps be bumped down to basic necromancy rather than master necromancy. Undead aren't demons or magical beasts. By nature they do have a support system.

Now, onto my suggestions for making undead more fun to play.

So, before we get into the mechanics of it all, I feel like I should talk about the Thematics of Necromancy and undead. Just as Undead are twisted mockeries of the living, so too is their relationship with their Necromancer a twisted mockery of civilization. It might be broken, parasitic, and predatory, but it still apes many of the trappings of mortal society. They should work a lot like 'good guy' civilization, but different. For that reason, they need to get some of the love that good guy civilization has gotten. Allow undead to unlock undead specific crafting things, so they can go full gravedew valley. Maybe they can make blight-wells, something that when maintained with undeath creates a drinkable foodstuff that only works for undead.

And just because I think it's neat, I do think it would be cool if a Necromancer could assign supernatural titles to their undead a-la the faction official spells, with limits to keep them at one per necromancer. But still very rough concepts.

Lord/Lady of the Harvest: Lead Fighty Undead. Can spend undeath to conduct a rite increasing the amount of undeath gained per battle for every undead present. Can use the 'Harvest Corpse' ability.

Tomb Seneschal: Lead Crafty Undead. Gains a discount to crafting a-la nimble. Gains access to advanced 'undead structures'. A-la blight wells.

Famulus: Lead Magicky Undead. Can be imbued with undeath by their necromancer and conduct basic rituals on their behalf. IE turning skeletons into zombies, fleshcrafting, harvesting undeath from other undead so it's centrally gathered where the necromancer can easily get it. Can unlock skeleton uprising for themselves.

Also, the undeath grind to get death's door is silly. Just put death's door in master Necromancy and give basic necromancers fleshcrafting for a reasonable price.  Then, as much as I hate to say it, make Master Necromancy an app. The grind just makes playing an undead hell and doesn't really add much.