RPG hypocrisy: necromancy vs demon summoning

[King of tentacle]

you know in most rpg settings necromancy is forbidden and considered taboo and yet being a demon\devil summoner is fine.

 

weird right? you can't go raise uncle bob for thanksgiving dinner but summoning beezelbub for tea and crumpets is perfectly acceptable behavior

 

i mean would it not make more sense for it to be the other way around considering necromancy is the lesser of two evils here.

 

here is the evidence so far :

 

1.the necromancer has more control over the undead than the summoner has over the demons\devils

 

2.if the summoner screws up the average worst case scenario is a demon\devil invasion or apocalypse scenario caused by tearing the veil or opening that portal to hell or whatever

 

3.if the necromancer screws up the average worst case scenario is nothing happening

 

4.the amateur necromancer is more of a localized threat (ex: the town graveyard, catacombs, etc)

 

5.the amateur summoner is more of an inter-dimensional threat (ex: ref to 2)

 

 

 

[davisev5225]

I don't know what RPG's you're playing, but necromancy and summoning are generally considered to both be evil or satanic - two sides of the same coin.

[sshar22]

From my experience on P&P RPG (D&D, Gurps, Whitewolf, WHFB) both are reviled, though it sometimes depends on the settings (ex. Forgotten realms).

In the CRPG like the elder scrolls, too the demonic (daedra) summnoning is more frowned upon than necromancy (since the Underking and Mannimarco are now history)

 

Cheers

[myuhinny]

1. The necromancer has more control over the undead than the summoner has over the demons\devils.

 

(1.) That depends on the level of the necromancer and also what they bring back to life (same goes for the summoner).

 

3. If the necromancer screws up the average worst case scenario is nothing happening.

 

(3.) Unless they start the next zombie apocalypse from one of their undead screw ups. 

[spoonsinger]

Re :- "You know in most rpg settings necromancy is forbidden and considered taboo and yet being a demon\devil summoner is fine. "

 

They took all the demons and devils out of the AD&D Monster Manuals in the 80's(*) after anxious mums/media outcry about devil worshipping. Necromancy was fine though.

 

(*) 1989 to be specific for 2nd Edition.

[echotest123]

Well that depends on the RPG and on what you are doing, for example summoning some lowly imp or animating a skeleton (non-sentient undead) is usually just overlooked because it poses no great threat. However, summoning higher devils/demons does require a lot of skill and control and can lead to aforementioned apocalyptic events. As with higher/sentient undead you need to enslave someones soul, which is considered to be a sin by most fantasy gods and people... soooooo....

 

To sum it up: some small-time necromancy and or summoning is usually not a big problem, but anything more is certain to be a really bad idea for one or more reasons.

[ToJKa]

I suppose so. Lichs can be quite dangerous, but they are about the highest level undead get. And only very powerful wizards can achieve that, so they are rare. On highest demon side there would be archdemons, and frankly, those scare me much much more. Though those are rare as well, and summoning them is not simple.

 

As for lower level stuff, zombies and skeletons are pretty safe since, unlike even lowly demons, they don't have their own mind or will.

[gregathit]

So if I use necromancy to raise the recently slain just so I can rape them........does that make me a bad person?   

[megamantaray]

Depending on the lore usually Demons are sentient inherently evil beings from another plane of existence, no need to feel pity for enslaved evil I guess.

Necromancy usually means pulling the soul of whoever's dead back into what remains of their body, even if it's a skeleton now, and forcing them to do your bidding.

 

I'd say Necromancy is the greater evil but conjurers are often frowned upon regardless, if you get killed by a demon you summon it's on you though, whereas dragging GranGran back to life is probably pretty rude even if she was a bitch. Especially given what you can do with Sexlab. (See above.)

[Darkpig]

12 minutes ago, gregathit said:

So if I use necromancy to raise the recently slain just so I can rape them........does that make me a bad person?   

Isn't that just Necrophilia? I guess it would be counted as rape if a "soul" was transplanted in there. Your enemy perhaps?

 

Man this sounds like some sort of revenge hentai.

[megamantaray]

I read somewhere, and I don't recall where now but it came up in conversation elsewhere and i was reminded of it, a reanimated body alone can't be controlled, it's "truly mindless" and won't take orders, it'll probably just collapse because a body alone is just a mess of flesh and bone with maybe some remaining programmed instincts in what's left of the brain, a zombie basically, or literally nothing if it's decomposed enough. Necromancy requires a soul to control the body you're reanimating.

A body with a shackled soul can be controlled because it can understand commands since there's a conscience in there, and follow them even if it doesn't want to, that's down to the necromancer's power to control them. If a reanimated person has a strong enough will it could fight back and maybe kill itself again. This inherently means you have to drag someone back from the dead, probably the person who owned that body in life and force them to walk around in that broken body, or skeleton. 

In Skyrim at least, reanimated bodies seem to hate it, and even though skeletons don't have the bits to be able to protest their rattling can be interpreted as complaining.

 

In D&D and Skyrim summons are dragged from their plane temporarily, maybe it's like a quick vacation and they're happy to kick ass? When they're defeated they're sent back to their plane and life continues I'd imagine. In Final Fantasy you have to befriend or defeat the creature you want to summon before it'll help you. In general fantasy lore summons just seem to be a lot less inhumane. Both practices are dangerous though and can obviously backfire but taking a dead human's soul and forcing it back into their body is probably why one is outlawed, whereas the other is just snapping some monster out of their home for a few minutes because you really hate a bandit's face, and it's only frowned upon.

[gregathit]

6 hours ago, Darkpig said:

Isn't that just Necrophilia? I guess it would be counted as rape if a "soul" was transplanted in there. Your enemy perhaps?

 

Man this sounds like some sort of revenge hentai.

LOL!!!  Not sure.  The mod is cool when you have multiple enemies and obviously you can only "punish" them one at a time.