[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Vampiric Necromancer[/spellbookname]
[mage]A Necromancer Spellbook[/mage]
[mage]built by http://www.spellbookbuilder.com[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNQ01]2 x Cloak of Shadows[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=awl7]1 x Leather Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=awl8]1 x Leather Vest[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1Q19]1 x Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ01]1 x Sunfire Amulet[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=lg25]1 x Altar of Infernia[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J11]1 x Idol of Pestilence[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J12]1 x Mana Crystal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1J18]1 x Poison Gas Cloud[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNW02]2 x Wall of Bones[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNC05]3 x Ichthellid[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1C23]1 x Malacoda[/mwcard]
[mwcard=afm14]1 x Tjusut, the Risen King[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNC22]1 x Zombie Brute[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MW1E09]1 x Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01E02]1 x Arcane Ward[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E04]1 x Chains of Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=lg6]1 x Circle of Light[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWAWLE07]1 x Curse Item[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWAWLE02]1 x Curse of Decay[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E08]1 x Death Link[/mwcard]
[mwcard=lg9]1 x Demonic Bloodlust[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E19]1 x Ghoul Rot[/mwcard]
[mwcard=afm31]1 x Lesser Invisibility[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE08]1 x Mind Shield[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1E29]2 x Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWBG1E02]1 x Plagued[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNE02]1 x Rise Again[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWAWLE01]2 x Theft of Life[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=DNI01]1 x Animate Dead[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWA01I01]2 x Crumble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I06]2 x Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I08]2 x Drain Life[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I09]1 x Drain Power[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKI01]3 x Drain Soul[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I12]1 x Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MW1I24]2 x Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=afm22]2 x Siphon Energy[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

I've mentioned this build a few times on the forums. Time to put it up on show.

Turn 1: Sunfire Amulet and Idol of Pestilence.

This makes an immediate +2 Life difference between me and the opponent. It means they have to come to me.

Turn 2: slip on a Cloak of Shadows

Turn 3 onwards: depending on the board situation, start blasting away at the enemy Mage with Drain Souls/Drain Lifes/Drain Power/Siphon Lifes OR start cursing his front-line creatures and keeping distance OR putting out a couple of creatures to mix it up with the enemy. A Plagued Malacoda works a treat as an in-zone henchman for the mage.

The basic point of this build is to get stronger as the enemy weakens. I do take hits (often a lot of them), but this just opens up the vampiric options.

The Sunfire Amulet and the Circle of Light are out of school, yes, but they serve exactly the function I want, and are worth the cost.

The Cloak makes the enemy get within range of the Drain spells, so a distance bombardment is less of an option.

Identified weak match ups are with the Priestess (obviously) and to a lesser extent the Priest and Paladin. But that is not exactly news for a Necromancer.

How about making the spellbind power a one-shot thing?

That is, the wand in your book is a blank slate, waiting for a spell to be bound to it, but once one is bound, that's it. the spell cannot be swapped out. You have effectively made a Wand of Teleport, or a Wand of Dissolve, or a Wand of Lightning Bolt.

That way you would get the power to adapt to the game situation you find yourself in, but do not have a completely mutable toolbox at your command for every time the game state changes.

That would work for me, I think.

I'd have to say my current favourite would be Reverse Attack. I've always been fond of it, but in my last game it outdid itself when a perfectly timed play caused my opponent's buffed-up, undamaged Leviathan to nearly kill itself. It was certainly a thing to behold.

And Drain Soul, of course. The 12 life difference in one hit can be a game breaker. Especially when you play it twice in the round...

Excellent. That's what I thought. Thanks for the answer!

That's the answer I expected. Thanks for the confirmation, Puddnhead.

I've looked everywhere for conversion rules to run academy mages (and their special powers) in the arena.

Where there is a single arena mage type to convert it to this seems obvious (academy priestess takes the stats of arena priestess), but what does one do for the warlock/beastmaster/warlord, which each have two arena versions?

Any pointers?

I adore the fact the force creatures are quickcasts. I've been suggesting for a while that we need more of them. A lot of the full-round critters are rarely worth the action.

However (and this might have been simply a reflection of the opponent's build) very few of them lasted long enough to exhaust their dissapate tokens. The gremlins are cool, but don't last long in Consecrated Ground...

Trying to keep Minds Eye vs all those ethereal attacks was a forelorn hope.

And I didn't even think about engaging the dragon. This may have been an error. But the Symbiotic Orb did sterling service against her 8+ dice attacks.

Funniest moment: Samandriel tripping the reverse attack (yay) and being immune to her own 9 dice mega Light smackdown (boo!)