In the previous post, I did a kind of loose brainstorm of how I'd like the Wizard's Necromancer subclass to be redesigned. The design turns the subclass into a pet subclass like the Beast Master Ranger or Battle Smith Artificer.
The primary idea here is that, in order to fulfill the Necromancer class fantasy of having a real army of undead minions rather than a single powerful monster, but also to avoid bogging down combat by forcing the player to move tons of creatures on the battlefield, we take advantage of the already-existing Swarm "technology" that has been part of 5E since the beginning.
The subclass is built around its pet, the Undead Horde, which is a Large (and later Huge) Swarm of Medium Undead.
Before I get into all of its features, I'll toss out a few problems I think it might have.
First, I think nearly all the features are related to the pet. This isn't as much of a problem as, say, building a subclass around a single concentration spell, but it does mean that if you are put in a position where you lose the pet and can't revive it, you might be sort of without a subclass until your next long rest.
The next is that the Horde's purpose is very damage-focused. On one hand, Wizards are generally built more around powerful utility than necessarily damage output. On the other, next to maybe Evocation, Necromancy feels like a thematically appropriate school to focus on damage.
Third, while part of the intent of this redesign was to put a greater emphasis on the "raising undead minions" part of Necromancy than I feel the 2014 or recent UA versions have done, but one might argue that this design too greatly shifts things away from the "manipulating life energy" element (though I think the level 10 feature hits that pretty hard).
(EDIT): Fourth, I realized that there's some cheese in the way that you can use Draw Essence to take a ton of Temp HP out of the Horde, but rather than forcing you to deal some serious necrotic damage to the horde to revive it, you could just expend a 1st level spell slot to get it up from 0 to full HP. We'd either need to limit this in some other way, or make it more costly to get the Horde back if it drops to 0. (Also, in a very strict RAW reading of the Undead Horde feature, we can't actually revive it with all its HP because the Swarm feature only lets it regain HP via Necrotic Absorption).
Anyway, enough preamble: let's get to my design. Again, this is a first draft and has not undergone any playtesting, but take a look:
Necromancer Wizard
Necromancers apply their arcane knowledge to the cosmic forces of life and death. Drawing spirits from the other side of the veil of death, Necromancers practice their magic with the protection of a horde of undead minions.
While many see Necromancers as wicked and menacing, not all Necromancers are evil, and touch these dark forces for myriad reasons.
Level 3: Necromancy Savant
Choose two Wizard spells from the Necromancy school, each of which must be no higher than level 2, and add them to your spellbook for free.
In addition, whenever you gain access to a new level of spell slots in this class, you can add one Wizard spell from the Necromancy school to your spellbook for free. The chosen spell must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
Level 3: Undead Horde
You magically call forth a horde of undead minions, which uses the Undead Horde statblock (see below). The horde is a swarm of undead creatures under your command, which can be skeletal, spectral, decaying corpses, or any other kind of undead creature. Whatever type of undead they are, they use the same game statistics.
The horde is Friendly to you and your allies and obeys your commands. It vanishes if you die.
The Horde in Combat. In combat, the horde acts during your turn. It can move and use its Reaction on its own, but the only action it takes is the Dodge action unless you take a bonus action to command it to take an action in its stat block or some other action. If you have the Incapacitated condition, the horde acts on its own and isn’t limited to the Dodge action.
Restoring or Replacing the Horde. If the horde has died within the last hour, you can take a Magic action to touch it and expend a spell slot. The horde returns to life after 1 minute with all its Hit Points restored.
Whenever you finish a Long Rest, you can summon a different horde, which appears in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of you. You choose its appearance. If you already have a horde from this feature, the old one vanishes when the new one appears.
UNDEAD HORDE
Large Swarm of Medium Undead, Neutral
AC 12 plus your Intelligence modifier
HP 5 plus six times your Wizard level (the horde has a number of Hit Dice [d10s] equal to your Wizard level)
Speed: 30 feet.
STR: 14 (+2/+2)
DEX 10 (+0/+0)
CON 15 (+2/+2)
INT 6 (-2/-2)
WIS 8 (-1/-1)
CHA 5 (-3/-3)
Resistances: Necrotic
Immunities: Poison, Exhaustion, Poisoned
Senses: Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 9
Languages: Understands the languages its master knows but can’t speak.
Traits:
Master’s Bond. Add your Proficiency Bonus to any ability check or saving throw the horde makes.
Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature’s space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Medium creature. The swarm can’t regain Hit Points or gain Temporary Hit Points, except via the Necrotic Absorption feature.
Actions:
Claw of the Grave. Melee Attack Roll: Bonus equals your spell attack modifier, reach 5 ft. Hit: 2d4+2 plus your Intelligence modifier Bludgeoning, Piercing, or Slashing damage (your choice when you summon the swarm).
Level 6: Necrotic Surge
You have developed a way to channel deathly power into your undead horde’s strikes. You gain the following benefits:
Spirit Strikes: When the horde hits with an attack roll and deals damage, it can deal your choice of Force damage or its normal damage type.
Mortal Infusion: When the horde hits with an attack roll, you can expend a spell slot to empower its attack with necrotic energy. Roll a number of d8s equal to the level of the spell slot that was expended. The attack deals additional Necrotic damage equal to the total rolled.
Level 10: Draw Essence
Your mastery over your horde has allowed you to draw upon its animating essence in order to bolster yourself. As an action, you can deal Force damage equal to three times your Wizard level to your Undead Horde. This damage cannot be reduced or prevented in any way. You then gain that many Temporary Hit Points.
Level 10: Necrotic Absorption
Your connection to the power of necromancy has granted you greater resilience in the face of its power. You have resistance to Necrotic damage, and your Undead Horde now has immunity to Necrotic damage.
If a spell you have cast using a spell slot would deal Necrotic damage to your Undead Horde, the Horde instead gains Hit Points equal to the damage it would have taken.
Level 14: Army of the Dead
Your undead forces have grown in number and in power. Your Undead Horde grows to Huge size (it can still pass through a space large enough for a Medium creature).
Additionally, when you command your Undead Horde to take the Claw of the Grave action, the swarm can use it twice.
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