Melee Necromancer?

[The Custodians of The Cosmos]

Without using mods as I know there are some that add and change Necromatic themed spells, whats the best set up for a melee necromancer? Race, background, ability scores, gear. I want to do an evil playthrough after my current run and would appreciate the help. <3

[LordAnubis]

Eldritch Knight Fighter / Necromancy School Wizard multiclass

16 STR, 8 DEX, 14 CON, 17 INT, 10 WIS, 8 CHA

Race whatever you want, maybe something that gives you bonus spells. Sage or Noble would be a decent thematic background for a necromancer.

Start as fighter for the proficiencies and take it straight to level 5 for extra attack, rest of the levels into Wizard.

[The Custodians of The Cosmos]

Originally posted by LordAnubis:

Eldritch Knight Fighter / Necromancy School Wizard multiclass

16 STR, 8 DEX, 14 CON, 17 INT, 10 WIS, 8 CHA

Race whatever you want, maybe something that gives you bonus spells. Sage or Noble would be a decent thematic background for a necromancer.

Start as fighter for the proficiencies and take it straight to level 5 for extra attack, rest of the levels into Wizard.

5 Fighter/7 NecroWiz?

[Cyryl]

College of Swords Bard 6 / Necro 6

As many attacks per round as Eldritch Knight builds while retaining full wizard spell-casting and some exclusive Bard spells up to level 3. Great utility as well.

Best race:
1) Sword & shield: Wood Half-Elf
2) Dual wielding: Half-Orc
3) Bow and dual wielding: Wood Elf

In case you want to respec companions into those builds or want role play specific race:
1) Sword & shield: Half-Elf or Human
2) Dual wielding: any race
3) Bow and dual wielding: Elf

Abilities:
(considering you want to go melee I assume you plan to use spell slots for summons/buffs/utility)
STR 8
DEX 16
CON 16
INT 14
WIS 8
CHA 12

Leveling:
Bard 6 first, then wizard

Feats:
2x2 Dexterity increase

[The Custodians of The Cosmos]

Originally posted by Cyryl:

College of Swords Bard 6 / Necro 6

As many attacks per round as Eldritch Knight builds while retaining full wizard spell-casting and some exclusive Bard spells up to level 3. Great utility as well.

Best race:
1) Sword & shield: Wood Half-Elf
2) Dual wielding: Half-Orc
3) Bow and dual wielding: Wood Elf

In case you want to respec companions into those builds or want role play specific race:
1) Sword & shield: Half-Elf or Human
2) Dual wielding: any race
3) Bow and dual wielding: Elf

Abilities:
(considering you want to go melee I assume you plan to use spell slots for summons/buffs/utility)
STR 8
DEX 16
CON 16
INT 14
WIS 8
CHA 12

Leveling:
Bard 6 first, then wizard

Feats:
2x2 Dexterity increase

So for weapons I'm looking at finesse weapons to make use of the high dex right? I did want to go either sword+board or mace but I especially want heavy armour because of Ketheric's armour fits the theme, obviously I would have my Tav read the Necro of Thay book (I gave it to Shadowheart in my current run atm and finally finished reading it to get the ghoul summons, which are SUPER handy in a fight ehich prompted my post) but yeah, melee focused with summons for support and obviously Necromatic spells to round things out. I know this puts me at a disadvantage against other Undead creatures but currently in Act3 they seem to be far and few between compared to other creatures.

Thank you for the insight!

[Cyryl]

If you want to go strength, I would make it Paladin/Necromancer. Oathbreaker would fit the build theme-wise. Compared to rapier build above It would be better in melee (Divine Smite), but you loose much of Bard utility and level 6 spellslot (Mummy from Create Undead or 2 additional Flying Ghouls from Animate Undead). Still, better than Eldritch Knight option.

Level split:
Paladin 6 / Necromancer 6 (Spellcaster level 9)

Race:
Half-Orc (but anything works here)

Abilities:
STR 17
DEX 10
CON 14
INT 12
WIS 8
CHA 14

Feats:
1) Heavy armor master, +1 STR
2) +2 STR