[shasarak]

Well, I'm several months late to this party, but if ever there were a thread suitable for "thread necromancy", surely it must be this one!

The first thing to say is that I think people underestimate the possibilities inherent in animating the dead. Think about the variety of creatures that could be turned into zombies, and think about all the different abilities they might have once under the necromancer's control. What capabilities would a zombie giant possess? Or a zombie pigeon? A zombie flea might make a superb spy. Or what about a zombie dragon? If a corpse of any sort can be zombified, that opens up all sorts of possibilities.

Second thing is that I imagine an advanced necromancer would practise his art on his own body. The ultimate goal of some branches of necromancy would probably be to achieve immortality - to put it in D&D terms, to become a lich. As a necromancer becomes more powerul one can imagine him acquiring a host of different abilities as he gradually becomes closer to being an undead creature himself. At lower levels he might be immune to poison or cold or paralysis. At higher levels he would become less of a living being, more a disesmbodied spirit in control of its own zombie; so the spirit could roam free as a wraith or spectre, with energy draining abilities, able to walk through walls, immune to non-magical weapons, etc. while the body remains safely hidden.

I would expect that a necromancer would be able to confer temporary undead-like abilities on his allies, too (e.g. even at low level he might be able to slow the progression of disease or poison).

He would certainly have the ability to turn (or even control) undead enemies.

Finally there might be some abilities connected to decay and entropy; a necromancer might(for example) be able to destroy a wooden door by accelerating its decomposition to the point where it crumbles away in seconds.