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Deadwalker Fluff: While most necromancers content themselves with merely raising or binding an undead slave when needed, some prefer to create a single, more reliable minion, one that is always present and which holds more power than any mere slave. Whilst some necromancers barter with or enslave existing undead, most prefer to raise or create undead exclusively for this purpose. The path of the Deadwalker involves the necromancer shaving out the tiniest sliver of his soul and implanting it into the minion. This binds them together in the most intimate manner; the minion is a conduit for the necromancer, and so long as one of them lives, the other is impossible to truly slay.

I was thinking, from this, that a Deadwalker necromancer is thusly able to trace line of sight from his pet as well as himself, that he can revive his pet if slain by sacrificing a healing surge, and that the pet's presence helps the necromancer for being successfully revived by the Raise Dead ritual.


Destroyer Fluff: Some necromancers choose not to embrace the undead, but rather to embrace the elemental forces of death itself. Wielding the destructive energies of shadow magic, they have little use for mindless, walking cadavers but instead slay their enemies directly, calling upon levels of offensive might that escape other necromancers, who must divide their attentions between death and undeath.

Features for Destroyers... escape me. I can see potential for making Lord of the Dead a path feature by having it grant not only diminished health loss from losing a summons but also the power to try and dominant/charm an enemy with the Undead keyword, though...

Hm, I was wondering... This is an idea I have for the Pet (I'll post the rules about the pet in my next post after this one).

This is a very complicated and non-4e suggestion... but what if we allow the player to create his own undead minion, just like the necromancer creates his? We'll write the guide "in character" so the player really feels like he's creating his own minion.

Spoiler: Show

So, what do ya think? :D 
The more flavour the better. We can have 2 or 4 "premade" pets, for those that just want to play it right away. But for those "Advanced Necromancer", creating your own pet is pretty cool ^^

 

Necromancer's Servant
Rules without flavour.

· Your servant is considered an ally of you and your allies.
· Your servant is a creature and is affected as such.
· The servant is an extension of you, you can use your servant for line of sight but not line of effect. You can see and hear through your servant, but it cannot make perception checks.
· Your servant's level is equal to yours, and its hit points, defenses and attacks are determined by your level as noted in its stat block.
· Your servant shares your healing surge total. Whenever an effect requires your servant to spend a healing surge, the surge is deducted from your total. When you use your second wind your esrvant also regains hit points equal to your healing surge value.
· At the end of a short rest, your servant regains all its hit points.
· If you or your servant drop to 0 hit points the connection between you is disrupted. You can reanimate your servant in two ways:
    · You lose a healing surge as a minor action. Your servant is reanimated with hit points equal to your healing surge value.
    · You lose a healing surge at the end of a short or extended rest. Your servant is reanimated with full hit points.
· Your servant lacks a real mind of its own and relies on you for strict guidance while you are within 20 squares of it. You are linked to it telepathically and command it with your will. You take actions so that it can act, and its initative is the same as yours during an encounter.
    · Standard Actions: To take a standard action your servant needs you to take a standard action.
    · Move Actions: Whenever you take a move action your servant can also take a move action. Alternatively, you can stay put but take a move action to move your servant.
    · Minor Actions: To take a minor action, your servant needs you to take a minor action to command it to do so.
    · Free Actions: Your servant can take free actions without you having to take an action to command it to do so.
    · Triggered Actions: If your servant's triggered action is triggered it requires you to take the same type of action to command it to do so. This means you and your servant can only take one immediate action per round and one opportunity action per turn.
    · In situations where you can't give commands to your servant it can act independantly. Remember that your servant, although containing a part of your soul, only has animal-level intelligence. A sercant acting independently can take either a standard, a move or a minor action on its turn. It can also take opportunity actions and free actions, but it cannot take immediate actions. A servant acting indepentantly will still follow his master's orders for as long as it can.
· When your servant is destroyed the part of your soul contained within it re-emerges with your own. During you next extended rest you can create another servant by going through the servant creations steps or selecting a premade servant. Creating a servant usually requires a source of corpses and bonus, but these can also be summoned, so a necromancer can gain a servant no matter of his location. 

Sample servant stat block:

Feral Dead Level equal to yours Medium natural beast (undead)

Initiative equal to yours Senses Perception equal to yours Flaying tentacles aura 1; Enemies within the aura gain vulnerable 2. HP Equal to your bloodied value; Bloodied:  AC 15+your level; Fortitude 13+ your level, Reflex 13+ your level, Will 13+ your level Speed: 8        Resist 5 Necrotic

Servant Attack ( Standard, at-will ) Beast

Reach 2, your level + 5 vs. AC. Hit: 1d8 + I have no idea damage and you slide the target 1 square.

Alignment Same as yours Languages Same as yours

Str 14 Dex 20 Wis 14 Con 17 Int 2 Cha 6

I need to intergrate the "You and your servent are one, all the life he possesses is originally yours" etc. Also, I was going to allow you to use your beast as an implement, but after some thought I decide it was not a good idea. I was then going to allow you to do it 1/encounter, but that just seems to be more pointless stuff to track.
I've yet to look at a few more sources with companions before I call this ready. So tired now, will do more later.

I do however support stuff like:
 

Channeled Might	Necromancer Attack
You use your servant as a conduit for your necromantic powers.
At-Will Shadow, Implement, Servant
Standard Action - Close burst servant
Target:Each creature in burst
Attack:Intelligence vs. Fortitude
Hit: 1d6 + Intelligence modifier necrotic and force damage and the target is pushed 1 square away from the center of the burst.

I'd like to help out with this, but... honestly, I really don't have any clue what to write or where to begin to write. I really do think, on reflection, it might be best to just give the four generic Dark Minion archetypes I suggested at first and do a "make a minion" expansion later on, after we've got those refined. Making your own minions is a very interesting idea, but it's a lot of work.

Hmm... given that pets tend to be the harder class feature to balance, perhaps we should just stick to the Summoning & Damage focused builds at first? Make the Deadwalker an "expansion", ala Battlerager Fighter or Beastmaster Ranger?