I’ve always been a big fan of necromancy (you know… in theory), so it’s often disappointing to see how necromancy works in DnD. There are essentially just spells that do necrotic damage and spells that bring people back to life, necromancers themselves are often vilified, and the undead are seen as uniformly stupid and/or evil. It saddens me. :(

What doesn’t sadden me is the DnD 5e supplement Necromancy Can Be Good :) by Willy Abeel, Leon Barillaro, Steve Barrett, and Max Churak. The cover is simple but cute and the illustrations (by Chelsea Livingstone) are just adorable. But this supplement isn’t just for show -- it’s also got a lot of really, really cool necromancy spells.

The basic premise of the supplement is that the resurrected body of Errol Grim wants to teach you about necromancy. Who is Errol Grim? We don’t really know, and we’re not told, but it’s not really important to the supplement. They speak in a pleasant, informative manner, explaining what necromancy is, how they define life, and then explain a series of spells. There are a little over 20 necromancy spells in the supplement, which also includes a helpful table telling you what classes can use which spells and at what level certain spells become available. The remainder of the supplement (the bulk of it) contains spell descriptions as well as a new race, the echo, and a new monster, the hauntling.

There is a lot to like about this supplement. First off, the writing is absolutely charming. I could legitimately read a whole story written in Errol’s voice. Secondly, the art is gorgeous and cute, fitting the supplement’s tone perfectly. I very much want to commission Chelsea to make something now. And, finally and perhaps most importantly, the spells are just really good! There are spells that let you exit your body as a spirit, spells that let you swap souls, spells that let you add a dead appendage to yourself (even if you didn’t have that appendage in the first place), and more! The spells are really creative and give you a lot more options. Some people might find them a bit overpowered (for example, the soul swap appears to be permanent though, to be fair, it is also a 7th level spell), but I personally like powerful necromancy spells. They’re supposed to be about tap dancing across the boundary of life and dead -- why wouldn’t they be powerful?

Overall, I think Necromancy Can Be Good :) is well-worth the purchase. It’s quite cheap, gives you a ton of great necromancy spells, and is just cute and fun. If you’re trying to spice up your lich/necromancy/spellcaster, I really think this is something you should buy!

I am a big fan of destigmatizing Necromancy as a whole. I like Necromancers, I like undead, I like utilizing the power to manipulate life and death for the benefit of my allies and the detriment of my foes. I like the idea behind this! However, I feel some of the execution is a tad off. It would be difficult to utilize many of these spells in a campaign as some of them are over powered, hard to noodle through, or just odd. And then there's an out of left field sex spell. Good for basing ideas off of, but not for pure implementation. Might recommend, but with a warning.

This is 5 stars content, pure and simple.

Is this perfect? Probably not, but things rarely are, and this is solid and balanced work.

For 1.99 dollars you get 21 new spells full of flavour, from attaching a severed limb to a stump (and NOTHING says it has to be original limb! Although local law enforcement might not like your preferred method of acquisition, just saying), to reliving the last or more vivid memories of a deceased and a lot of fun and strange things to do in between, like summoning the frighteningly cute hauntling to help you.

They are varied and spread amongst the 9 spell levels, and no caster class is left out.

There might be some few small issues here and there (some spell range or some class restriction), but these can be tweaked to a DM liking really easily.

You get all that for the price of a coffee, what more can I say...

PS: The spell "Petite mort" might encourage your player's characters to procrastinate in bed more in the morning, or cause them to change career and launch a new and very profitable business, i'm just saying.

This is 5 stars content, pure and simple.

Is this perfect? Probably not, but things rarely are, and this is solid and balanced work.

21 new spells full of flavour, from attaching a severed limb to a stump (and NOTHING says it has to be original limb! Although local law enforcement might not like your preferred method of acquisition, just saying), to reliving the last or more vivid memories of a deceased and a lot of fun and strange things to do in between, like summoning the frighteningly cute hauntling to help you.

There might be some few small issues here and there (some spell range or some class restriction), but these can be tweaked to a DM liking really easily.

PS: The spell "Petite mort" might encourage your player's characters to procrastinate in bed more in the morning, or cause them to change career and launch a new and very profitable business, i'm just saying.