Sorcerers Immortal (CBN)

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: I shall laugh as I place my head on the block, laugh at them all as the raven jeers at the gallows or the worm mocks the grave. It took the Prince's most powerful knights to bring me—shackled in cold iron—before my earthly liege, but not before I had slain a hundred of his retainers, twisted the insides of his beloved wife, cursed their only son with ravening madness eternal.
: I have lain among the rat-gnawed bones of the oubliette and accepted the iron maiden's cruel embrace, but I am not alone, and I feel no pain. The slaadi still comfort me with their infernal melodies, and my invisible familiars still inform me, bringing news in the clammy darkness from my lord Thasmudyan. I shall have eternal life for my devoted service; the baatezu lord has promised me this final boon.
: I will survive, of that I am certain, but my next evolution may not remember all of my secrets, all the cryptic mysteries of the Art. I shall bid the shadows to write them down, inscribe them in a book so that I may remember all that I knew before I died. And then I shall depart this earthly realm and walk on farther shores, undreaming and unbidden, until I stand once again in the ivory court of Thasmudyan.
: —From Nebt Bhakau's Book of Shadows
The human mind and personality yearns to persist after death. Most turn to religion for the promise of eternal life, but other individuals—less trusting in divine providence or perhaps fearing their spirit's ultimate destiny in the afterlife—take it upon themselves to secure their own immortality in the physical world. Most necromancers eventually master the secret talents necessary to achieve this goal. Indeed, some embrace the Art solely for this purpose.
Aging is a natural process for all, but to the necromancer, both powerful magic and the curse of the Black Arts can quickly strip the wizard of fleeting youth. Although age initially matures a wizard's mental faculties, senility and decrepitude eventually corrupt both mind and body. A wizard can allay or avoid these disabilities through potions, wishes, or necromancy.
Potions of longevity and elixirs of youth are perhaps the most common method for extending life, though their rare material components make mass production highly infeasible. In addition to their costly mundane components, the formulae for these potions is rumored to include either the dust of a lich, a dragon's breath, an angel's whisper, or the blood of an elf, freely given. Not surprisingly, few wizards can obtain or create more than a few of these potions, usually extending their normal life span by several decades. However, even if an unlimited supply of such potions were available, the increasing chance of completely reversing their effects (1% cumulative per potion) drastically limits their ultimate usefulness. At best, a wizard might hope to extend his or her lifetime by three to four centuries with such potions.
Powerful spells, such as limited wish or wish, can also prolong life. Although each DM must adjudicate the specific powers of a wish for the campaign, it is not unreasonable to assume such magic could slow aging by a factor of 10. A wish irreversibly ages the caster by five years, and it cannot be used to negate its own life-draining effects. A 40-year old wizard who wishes for an extended life span still ages to 45 years before the wish takes hold. Still, with intelligent use of a few wishes, an archmage might prolong his or her life beyond a millennium.
There are other ways to extend human life, known only to the powerful necromancer. The new spells life force transfer and life force exchange enable the wizard to permanently transfer his or her own life force into the body of another (presumably much younger) individual. Magic jar works along the same premise, though the effects are only temporary. In all of these cases, the necromancer achieves youth only at the expense of another individual. With life force transfer, the victim dies when the spirit is literally forced out of the body to make room for the caster's life force; with life force exchange, the spirits of the caster and victim swap bodies; with magic jar, the wizard and victim share the same body (albeit temporarily). While each of these spells carries its own dangers (see the spell descriptions in this book and the PHB), they can also provide an unusual form of human immortality for the necromancer. Unlike other methods, which only ensure prolonged life, these spells enable an evil wizard to also enjoy all the pleasures and benefits of eternal youth.
A necromancer can thus effectively extend his or her mortal lifetime almost indefinitely—certainly far beyond the range of normal humans—through potions, the intelligent casting of wishes, or by the unscrupulous use of the Art. However, a wizard can also resort to a permanent undying transition in order to achieve some measure of immortality.
==Undead Necromancers and Death Priests==
Most wizards and priests embrace undeath only as a last resort, after all of the less drastic means of life extension have been exhausted. Nevertheless, some necromancers and priests voluntarily surrender their mortal lives early, trading all their human weaknesses for the dark powers of the deadalive. The undead never need eat, sleep, or face any of the other mortal failings that continually distract from their dastardly pursuits. They can devote centuries to increasing their power or spreading their religion.
Certain individuals may suffer undeath as a form of divine curse or punishment for terrible crimes or the use of black necromancy. But the majority of undead necromancers and priests have chosen their fate and accepted the ultimate Dark Gift. The vampire and lich are the most likely (and deadly) forms of undead necromancers that a party will encounter in a campaign. A undead priest may be encountered in either of these forms or that of a greater mummy. Most undead continue to develop their powers in undeath, making them increasingly powerful adversaries with time.
Vampiric necromancers are similar in most respects to their human counterparts in terms of their wizard abilities. Their abilities to charm others and command lesser animals make them natural candidates for the Undead Master kit. Vampire death priests will usually worship the Lord of Undead. In addition to their spellcasting powers and vampiric abilities, the vampire suffers from a number of serious weaknesses (holy symbols, sunlight, garlic, and so on). However, as noted in Van Richten's Guide to the Vampire, these weaknesses decrease with age, even as the vampire's special powers continue to mature and develop.
The lich, on the other hand, is a consummate immortal spellcaster, the ultimate goal of any necromancer or death priest. Unlike mortal specialists, the wizard lich can learn spells from any school of magic, and it still enjoys all of the regular benefits of the Archetype (it still gains all of the additional spells and saving throw bonuses of the kit). The lich also retains any special powers it enjoyed while alive and may gain additional salient abilities as its skills continue to grow. The DM should see the NPC sheet of Vermissa for an example of a priestly lich. Van Richten's Guide to the Lich contains an exhaustive description of this variety of undead.
The greater mummy, presented in the MONSTROUS MANUAL, is enchanted by a necromantic priesthood to retain its clerical powers in undeath. Since this creature is sometimes created by more powerful priests (or the gods) to safeguard a particular tomb or temple, its mobility and usefulness as a villain are greatly impaired. In Chapter Nine, we explore the network created by an undead priest (the lich Vermissa in this case) who has been forced to remain in a particular location for centuries.
Along with those from the various monster races, undead necromancers and priests should be reserved for special, nasty encounters. They can also serve as memorable villains in a campaign. When used sparingly, these inhuman necromancers should provide many surprising challenges for a high-level party of adventurers.