Is necromancy evil ?

[Sc0p10n]

I was learning spells with Gale, when suddenly I realized that maybe he wouldn't want to touch anything related to necromancy.
Because necromancy usually is inherently evil or is just considered evil by some religions and cultures.
I am naive when it comes to the forgotten realm lore so i call forth the lore masters of D&D

[mayrc]

Necromancy was always Evil. But since 5E is a more political correct version there is NOTHING evil in the game anymore. Nothing is evil, neither Race, magic, profession, Religion, or anything. Basically DnD5e is all about pink unicorns releasing flowerflavored farts.

Evil is only a particular phenomen that happens if an adventurerer need an adversary

[Teddy]

Originally posted by Ultimaty:

Originally posted by Teddy:

It's just like a summon, how is it more evil then summoning an imp?

Did the owners of the corps give their consent to be used as such?
How can it be good?

Owners of the corpse? You mean family members? I mean, in BG3 I use the corpse of the fallen, I think asking their family member for a consent after I butchered their brother/sister/father/mother/child for permission to use it as a cannon fodder would be a bit too much as well lol but that's just me

Then you might as well argue that everyone should play as a pacifist and not kill anyone in game, because it's evil.

Those poor Goblins, Drows, Shaar and Bhaal cultist, to be desecrated like that after death

[AzureTheGamerKobold]

Originally posted by Ultimaty:

Originally posted by Avedon:

I mean, necromancy is pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up basically no matter what way you look at it...but so are alot of things wizards can do. Not sure borrowing someone's corpse for a day even counts in the top 5.

Desecrating one's corps is a very serious crime IRL.
I dare you give the top 5 list.

Depends on where you go, for example in Pathfinder there is a whole nation run by undead--- and they use the undead to farm there crops. Build there buildings, and do all the menial tasks.

What we consider wrong, evil, or illegal is certainly not the case in a fantasy world.

[Makkura]

Originally posted by mayrc:

Necromancy was always Evil. But since 5E is a more political correct version there is NOTHING evil in the game anymore. Nothing is evil, neither Race, magic, profession, Religion, or anything. Basically DnD5e is all about pink unicorns releasing flowerflavored farts.

Don't forget that with Tashas book, they also removed restrictions on racial backgrounds, proficiencies and ability scores, meaning that picking a race is only relevant to how to describe the looks of a character and racial ability.

[guppy]

Well ehm it depends - most spells that are tagged necromancy aren't inherently evil ( ripping the life force out of a person vs setting them on fire )
The most problematic one is properly animate dead, because zomebies/skeletons are f.. disgusting and did you secure consent?

But even that is a gray zone - withers is a lich and he offers 'hirelings' to you that are fallen adventurers - now he assures you that they gave consent post-mortem to be used in such a fashion, but still they are little more than marionettes for him.

In older D&D editions all necromancy was concidered evil, in the newer more rainbow coloured editions we respect everyones individual feelings, and preferences - even if they lean towards doing unseeming things to/with the dead.

This is even included in the game in more ways that withers as you have an option to indulge your necrophilia if you so desire by persuing asstarion.

But remember this has to be in your game otherwise there isn't representation, same goes for the inclusion of beastiality.

[whatdoesthisbuttondo?]

Jesus got resurrected after three days, so at least in Christianity, necromancy would be fine.

[guppy]

Originally posted by whatdoesthisbuttondo?:

Jesus got resurrected after three days, so at least in Christianity, necromancy would be fine.

Resurected, not re-animated - the difference being he was supposed alive again not unalive.
Same as if you use the scrolls in game they come back as them selves not a zombie ;)

[mayrc]

Again according to DnD5e there is no such thing as EVIL.

Its a individual thing. A Necromancer if a player kills him then he was "evil" but if the player is a necromancer he is of course not Evil.

You need to under stand that DnD5e must be political correct. Thats why they even dont wana talk about "Race" anymore but "species".

And noone can ever be Evil because he has a certain "species" or Profession or habit or background or wahtever. If he is a Mad Serial killer of children he is not Evil. Cause mabye those are even more evil goblin children that are responsible for even worse things, but attention goblins are not evil at all its only certain goblin children then.

Also worshiping Loth ist NOT evil. As no Religions are Evil. Its only individuals that "COULD" act evil. Welcome to DnD5e

[GrandMajora]

Originally posted by Sc0p10n:

I was learning spells with Gale, when suddenly I realized that maybe he wouldn't want to touch anything related to necromancy.
Because necromancy usually is inherently evil or is just considered evil by some religions and cultures.
I am naive when it comes to the forgotten realm lore so i call forth the lore masters of D&D

According to the official lore of the setting, yes.

Although the purpose for which one wields the power of necromancy can be used for good and benevolence, the act of creating undead is inherently evil, regardless if your intentions.

After all, two wrongs don't make a right.

The Undead are created and sustained with the use of Negative Energy, which is the antithesis to Positive Energy.

Negative Energy is the essence of Death itself, and it seeks to destroy any life it comes into contact with. Unless they are magically bound into servitude, mindless undead will be instinctively compelled to exterminate any living creatures they happen to come across.

Intelligent undead such as vampires and liches may exhibit a greater level of self control over the situation, but they too possess a hatred for the living that affects them on a fundamental level.

[tizeY]

A Necromancer is merely a dedicated healer that refuses to give up.
Speak with the dead from the book gets you so much information for FREE, the summon Ghouls is an incredible free LVL 6 Spell and to top it all off you can feed the Knowledge of the book into the Shar mirror for +2 Extra stats of your choice.

The book is great and with that in mind you can just forget about the knowledge it contains by your own free will.

But again, getting so much for free at the cost of some relationship is. well, to each their own aye.

[Martin]

Originally posted by Sc0p10n:

I was learning spells with Gale, when suddenly I realized that maybe he wouldn't want to touch anything related to necromancy.
Because necromancy usually is inherently evil or is just considered evil by some religions and cultures.
I am naive when it comes to the forgotten realm lore so i call forth the lore masters of D&D

Evil? You do realise Healing.. is necromancy..

Nothing wrong with raising the dead either, that's being inclusive. Aren't we all about being inclusive these days?

And yeh.. Evil is not about attitude.. you have to do something terrible to be evil..

[Dank Sidious]

Evil is a point of view Sc0p10n.

[guard65]

Isn't Necromancy in the same category as medicine and doctoring. morgue and studying the dead is common place since 4000 BC records. Yet many religions called them evil for centuries, because they said different. All part of various social realities.

[Hex]

It depends entirely on who you ask. Dragging a corpse to a church and getting it resurrected is necromancy sanctioned by the state and major religions.

[Makkura]

Originally posted by Martin:

Originally posted by Sc0p10n:

I was learning spells with Gale, when suddenly I realized that maybe he wouldn't want to touch anything related to necromancy.
Because necromancy usually is inherently evil or is just considered evil by some religions and cultures.
I am naive when it comes to the forgotten realm lore so i call forth the lore masters of D&D

Evil? You do realise Healing.. is necromancy..

Resurrection is indeed a necromancy spell.
Restoration is abjuration.
Healing is evocation.