Necromancy


 
Necromantic magic is a taboo topic, even in private conversation. Unlike most articles in this record, this one will have to be explained from a specifically DM standpoint (instead of the neutral, lore-friendly perspective attempted elsewhere).
Basic spells that D&D 5E classifies as the School of Necromancy are generally known and understood in the world. Chill Touch, False Life, and others are not very taboo and are generally not regarded as dark or forbidden magics despite being mechanically necromantic. Spells that transfer life from one person to another (i.e. Vampiric Touch), or which restore life to something dead, are either vehemently resisted or are downright unknown at this point in Yvard.
Summoning/animating skeletons, zombies, or other undead is enthusiastically opposed by virtually all people whether they are mages or not. This is considered conceptually across the world as evil and unnatural magic that doesn't exist. If any of these things are witnessed to exist by the average citizen of...anywhere, really...that person is going to be mortified and likely flee for their life with major mental trauma. The ability to restore a dead soul to life, with any level of its former self, is a theoretical possibility at best (with one exception). Even the archmage of The Academy in Barid Hold, as far as anyone knows, is incapable of reviving a dead person. There are rumors of individuals or groups who are attempting to uncover the secrets of resurrection but if anyone were proven to be undertaking these dark endeavors they would be arrested or killed immediately, their research would be destroyed, and their reputation would be vilified for all time.
There is one exception to the resurrection rule: Revivify. This is the only spell currently known that is capable of restoring a dead person to life on any scale. Using Revivify might still make a lot of people uncomfortable but it is not culturally regarded as a necromantic function; it is seen more as a form of health restoration much like how the real world regards defibrillator usage when somebody's heart stops.

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