Editing Dread Necromancer (section)

===Items===
There's two things a Dread Necro needs to consider.  Not only do they need to think of items that help them personally, but they should also consider equipping their best minions so they are also more effective in combat.  Lowly skeletons may dress in leftover Medium armor and weapons you stole from orcs and kobolds and shit, but your dread warrior human barbarian / ranger needs a little love and attention there.

Personal items start with defense, because let's face it, you ain't got shit for hit points as a Dread Necro.  Now, you may wish to start off with armor, because truthfully it's cheaper and easier to deal with than waiting on expensive robes and such.  However, once you actually get the money, go for ''vest of the archmagi'': you get the best armor and saving throw bonuses, as well as recalling arcane spells and blowing spells for healing (which will also work on you if you're undead).  You can then either wear armor for the enhancements you can't get elsewhere (as well as an armor crystal for surviving on other planes or whatever), or you can get a really good Body slot robe that does something extra you need (''ghost shroud'', ''robe of mysterious conjuration'', ''shadow veil'', ''shroud of scales'', ''robe of blending'', ''robe of eyes'', etc.).

For your weapon, you will probably want to do a custom-made runestaff with some good weapon enhancements.  For spells, consider ''greater mighty wallop'' (Races of the Dragon, and a phenomenal spell for bludgeoning stuff like staves), ''wraithstrike'' (Spell Compendium), ''nerveskitter'' (Spell Compendium), and ''greater magic weapon''.  For enhancements, get +1 Spell Storing on both ends, and add Warning to one end.  Put a wand grip in the staff (Dungeonscape) and add a ''wand of ray of enfeeblement'' to soften up tougher enemies at range before closing to melee.  With this weapon, you should win most initiative checks, do a metric butt-load of bludgeoning damage to foes (no need to overcome DR when you're rolling 7d6 or more damage per hit), and you can hit incorporeal targets you need to hit.  For spell storing, borrow a rod to Maximize an ''inflict'' spell, then discharge as needed.

Other items are on a case-by-case basis.  If you became undead, get a ''ring of positive protection''; if you're still living, get a ''ring of negative protection''.  ''Ring of universal energy resistance'' is very important, because you don't get any spells for this kind of protection; likewise, you want a ''mantle of spell resistance'' as soon as you can afford to get it.  

For minions, there are three rods you want to look at.  ''Nighstick'' (Liber Mortis) actually gives more Rebukes per day, and is so cheap you can buy a million of them and use as needed.  ''Rod of undead mastery'' (Magic Item Compendium) is truly great: you can control double the HD of undead as normal, meaning you can take this rod on adventures to acquire extra minions for that adventure while leaving your very choice ones back home if you need to.  ''Scepter of the netherworld'' (Magic Item Compendium) is equally as good, since you can Rebuke undead at a higher level.  If your DM is kind, see if you can pay the extra cost to combine these last two rods, or possibly add them to the ends of the above runestaff.  After buying all your other equipment, dump your money into more nightsticks until you can't afford them anymore, and just pull them out as needed to get more Rebuking done.  Get a ''darkskull'' as well, if you run into a lot of positive-energy types like clerics or celestial beings.

You benefit from an ''artificer monocle'', because you get ''detect magic'' on the spell list.  Metamagic rods may be more useful than trying to get the feats, especially if you only need to juice up only one or a few spells each day.  A ''rod of absorption'' is a great choice when fighting enemy spellcasters.  Additional runestaffs and eternal wands will cover utility spells.  Rainment of the Four (''Magic Item Compendium'') will add a few utility spells to what you can cast.

{{D&D3-Classes}}