Shattered Kingdoms

Necromancers, as the unquestionable masters of negative (death) energy, should be able to cast harm.

Since I understand necromancers have been 'wimped', this may be balanced.

Discuss.

They can scribe and recite their own double Finger of Death scrolls.

They don't need to be able to scribe and recite their own harm scrolls, too.

Grep makes a valid mechanics point. Color me surprised.

The very limited harm scrolls that already exist in game are completely devastating and unbalancing in PvP due to the spell's lack of a save and hefty, hefty, hefty damage output.

I vote no.

Giving harm to necros would be a chore, not a buff. Granting a class that already requires the most prep to be effective with yet another opportunity to prep heavily beforehand would only make the class more depressing to play for people who realize that they're still playing a class that requires them to bend over backwards just to gain the right to be taken seriously and then promptly avoided.

Necros need a balance fix that makes their signature spell, animate dead, more useful than a flavor spell with a side order of having up to eight extra sets of adjectives that could turn your group inside out.

From a systems design standpoint, necromancers have one of the most complicated features to balance.

All pet classes are inherently far more challenging to balance than non-pet classes. It is no small surprise that warlock, necromancer, and scout are all a little difficult to rationalize as being top end choices.

Unfortunately, when every single character can become a "pet class" by joining a tribunal, much of the math and rhetoric that might otherwise justify certain systemic changes to animate dead becomes a little silly when options like the cowled figures and Lathron exist.

Necromancers are a powerful yet complicated class to play. I believe they need something but making a new spell is pointless since it will start overpowered to some and not to others, then after complaining about it, it will get nerffed.

Harm would make sense for them, they get all the causes anyways, make it a champion level spell for them or something.
I would personally settle for shocking grasp for flavor for the class, its not over powerful, and gives necromancers something to do instead of cause light forever and a day.

They already have vampiric touch.

As not having extensively played a necromancer, is vampiric touch dmg anywhere near equivalent to Harm????

I am not comparing it to harm. I am responding to the comment to give them shocking grasp for flavor. The point is, they already have an alternate (and thematic) touch attack (that also heals the user!)

It isn't. Even if they doubled the damage, I still wouldn't use it in pk. A new spell would be nice. Maybe a buff to animates since nobody seems to utilize them save for leveling with a zombie and using one as a pack mule. There is literally no reason to even animate a wraith nowadays and the melee output of the other types are subpar.

I'm not sure harm would be the correct step, but I certainly wouldn't turn it down.