Healing undead servants

[Brodnur]

I got an idea recently, upon seeing a PC's undead servant in a poor state of repair, so to speak. Would it be possible to create a new spell, if one doesn't already exist I don't know about, that would heal/regenerate undead creatures? I have a character willing to research this IC, though I don't know anything about coding such a thing.

[Athon]

Casting "cause [light/moderate/serious/critical]" will heal any undead creature instead of harming them. Inversely, casting "cure [light/moderate/serious/critical]" will harm any undead creature while healing the non-undead.

I'm fairly sure refresh/revive and regenerate will also work on undead mobs, although I don't know how realistic it would be for an undead to regenerate energy and/or limbs.

[Brodnur]

I was thinking more along the lines of arcane magic, rather than divine. Not to intrude on the clerics, the spell could target specifically undead creatures. If used on living creatures or golems, no effect at all.

[Athon]

If you're looking into arcane magics, you're going to be diving into the realms of necromancy. Even then, I don't believe necromancy really can go into healing of any aspect, undead or not. It wouldn't be cyclical for a mage to be able to heal undead but not the living. And if the ability to heal started to dive into the reaches of the arcane, then there will be little separation between clerics and mages.

[Moloch]

If a Necromancer can summon the negative energy to bring forth an undead corpse, why can they not heal simple wounds of said corpse?

Currently, when a cleric casts cause light or cause serious, etc. on PC undead, the undead attack the cleric. There is no safe way to heal them, and even setting them to nofight they retaliate.

[Brodnur]

I agree it would have to be in the Necromancer's sphere, but I think they should be able to channel the negative energy into one of their own creations, either by stealing it from another living creature, or by their own power. Perhaps incurring a loss of HP to the caster during the casting

[Kelemvor]

Perhaps the 'Animate Dead' spell could be amended such that if it is cast upon an already animated undead it partly restores them.

[Dalvyn]

Casting a cause spell on an undead shouldn't make them attack, there in lies the bug.

[Keltorn]

Casting a cause spell on an undead shouldn't make them attack, there in lies the bug.

Last I heard, it was dealing damage to the undead as well. I can't find that bug report, though.

[Brodnur]

Perhaps the 'Animate Dead' spell could be amended such that if it is cast upon an already animated undead it partly restores them.

I think that would be highly acceptable, it sounds like a great idea, Kelemvor. Perhaps make it so that it could take multiple castings to fully regenerate the animated corpse, depending on the amount of damage done to it, as well as the caster's skill level with the spell being factors in the equation.

[Oghma]

Vampiric touch might also be a good candidate. You're sucking energy out of a living being, you could funnel the energy into the undead or yourself.

[Horace]

Just for the record, canon spells in core DnD and the basic spell additions in Forgotten Realms setting don't allow a Necromancer to heal undead in any fashion. However, I have seen plenty of off product spells that allow for arcane healing of undead - so obviously this isn't the first case of pointing out this discrepancy of necromancy school.

Wizards shouldn't be able to heal undead as well as clerics. Whether they are the medics for undead or for the living, clerics should always be the best at that role. With this in mind my recommendation would be to give the necromancer guild a mid level divine spell to allow them to heal their creations. I would suggest adding "cause moderate" to be trained within the necromancer guild. If the assumption is these spells are based off the "inflict" variation from core dnd then the spell sphere is still in the necromancy realm, just on the divine lists.

This way only necromancers would be able to heal their undead creations, which is consistent with the guild and doesn't effect roles of clerics/wizards as much as allowing any arcane caster to heal them.

Plus, it sounds like an easy fix to me this way - if it's determined to require a fix.

[Vibius]

The way undead work in D&D only spells that cause damage through negative energy heal undead, the only spells that causes damage in FK (as hp loss, not level loss) for wizards is vampiric touch/chill touch.

Yes, the master channelers of negative energy are (evil) clerics, and it's stated in several sources that the true masters of animated minions are evil clerics (ability to rebuke/conversion of prepared spells into inflict damage spells/harm) and that the arcane arts aren't very suited towards it, but arcane necromancy is much more than raising the dead (although it's perhaps it's most evident aspect)

[Horace]

I'm not positive but I believe just negative energy being used isn't enough. It has to specifically state in the spell that it heals undead.

[Lysha]

What about a spell called Knit that only helps seal the wounds of the undead and undead only. And, of course, at early levels of the spell, it does not do so much knitting as it would the closer to mastery would.

Maybe we're focusing on the word 'healing' too much?

[Brodnur]

What about a spell called Knit that only helps seal the wounds of the undead and undead only. And, of course, at early levels of the spell, it does not do so much knitting as it would the closer to mastery would.

Maybe we're focusing on the word 'healing' too much?

That is a distinct possibility . I like the "knit" idea alot. That was actually more along what I had in mind in the initial post. I would also like to add the ability to, if not regenerate a limb of the undead, then find another suitable limb, and knit it onto the undead servant.
"(e.g.) Undead corpse of a bandit cleric has it's left arm severed, necromancer "X" casts "knit" onto undead corpse of bandit cleric as he places left arm of a goblin warrior to the stump of it's shoulder. The new arm knits to the stump, replacing it."
Syntaxe could include cast "knit" cleric corpse, or something similar. That is just something I would like to see, personally. But at the least, the heal/knit ability of necromancers would be great also. It may need a prerequisite of being a certain skill level in animate dead, or other certain necromantic spells which may be applicable, before this could be learned.

[Namic]

No offense but I dislike the idea of casting animate dead on an undead minion to heal it, why heal it when you can just go and get a new one at the same cost it would take to heal it slightly?

[Vibius]

Perhaps the spells used could use a slot lower than animate dead
Perhaps the spells used could require less expensive components (o none at all)

And the fact that for "unique" mobs as named mobs, it's a bit off killing the same mob / animating it again, so you can have the same "named" animated minion but at full hp.

[Brodnur]

No offense but I dislike the idea of casting animate dead on an undead minion to heal it, why heal it when you can just go and get a new one at the same cost it would take to heal it slightly?

Perhaps the spells used could use a slot lower than animate dead
Perhaps the spells used could require less expensive components (o none at all)

And the fact that for "unique" mobs as named mobs, it's a bit off killing the same mob / animating it again, so you can have the same "named" animated minion but at full hp.

That is the reason I am looking for a new spell to repair the undead servant, since some of the undead mobs can be extremely difficult to aquire, or are unique, such as Vibius pointed out, with the named mob. But I am thinking it would probably have to be a higher slot than the animate dead. For example, when someone first creates something, it obviously isn't going to be perfect, they practice, practice, practice until they do master their art, whatever it may be. Same with the necromantic sphere of spells. The user gradually gets to the point where they can not only create the minion, but do spot repairs and, eventually, major repairs, such as replacing lost limbs, etc, etc.

[Nysan]

Nysan has been called upon to 'heal' undead minions with his cause spells. They do heal the target, I have not tried 'harm' however. Last I checked, it does cause the target to become hostile, so this should be looked at. A current work-around is have the owner of the minion reset the minion to "nofight" after each cause spell is casted. The minion will get off one or two hits, but its better than nothing. Obviously, the caster should be nofight as well...

As for wizardly healing of undead, the best option would be attach the effect to a current spell of the necromacy school such as 'chill touch'. Would be easier than coding a new spell and necromancy is the best school for such an addition.