The Soul Weaver
by Dr Douglass

Class: Necromancer
Tag: None

Introduction

The Soul Weavers are a secretive group of Necromancers broken off from the central schools. Many years ago they broke away from their order, and went North, seeking the elusive Druids to learn the secrets of both Life and Death. Only now, as the Terrible Three are loose, are these secretive sorts being seen in the world again.

The Soul Weaver philosophy is simple. Life never truly ends. It simply takes another form. They believe, it is up to them to create a suitable form for life to inhabit. In their quests for knowledge, many things were learned. One of the most valuable skills discovered was the secret to being a master craftsman.

Mercenary Rules

These are very restricted. Only three types may be hired. The first is a ever so handy repair specialist. He is good at field repairs of your golem. He is the under appreciated Prayer merc of act 2. The other 2 are specialists.

The first: A Fire Iron Wolf. He will be your forge assistant. He will keep the fires hot, and, the metals pliable. A fine choice.

The second. A Lightning Iron Wolf. His powerful electrical energies will be useful in helping animate your iron constructions. This living power plant will supply you with the juice you need to help make the magic happen. (Think Frankenstein! Use your bloody imagination for crying out loud. lol)

Items

Sets & Uniques
Set and unique items are special. While they are loved, and seen as the work of a master smith, your own creations will always be better. However, this is not to say uniques and sets are not allowed. If a unique is found, it should be used if possible, so that you might examine it and improve your own work. If a unique sword, or a set sword is found, it might be used till you gather the runes or items needed to make your own.

Examples
You find Griswold's Edge. At one time, he was a master smith. You might use this weapon until the time you find a better replacement, say maybe, Kings Grace socketed into a broad sword, or even the rune word Strength.

You might find Goldskin and use them till you find the runes to make Smoke or Lionheart.

There is one exception to this rule. The Unique linked mail armor Spirit Forge. If found, this item must be worn as a badge of honour. It will be socketed with the finest runes, jewels, and gems you can find.

Skills

With time and training, they will create avatars for powerful warriors to inhabit in the construction of powerful Iron Golems. However, these will not be common Iron Golems. A Soul Weaver dreams of creating the perfect body. They will seek out the finest materials, runes, jewels, armors, weapons, and gems to create a piece of living artwork. Their constructs will be made of the finest crafted gear, powerful rune worded items, and powerful artifacts of their own creation. They will seek out other cultures, and, draw from them their lore and customs.

Example
If traveling with Goths they will inquire about Gothic customs and then attempt to create an Iron Golem from fallen Gothic gear, plates, axes, swords, shields etc and make an attempt to imbue them with qualities that a Goth would be proud of. This applies to other customs as well.. Amazons and any other of the many tribes of unusual peoples from far off lands.

He will use crafting recipes to create weapons and armor, and then store them for when they are needed. Runes, jewels, and gems are highly prized as they are they key ingredients for his creation. If an avatar falls out in the field, an emergency item can be used, like a common shield or even a cracked dagger. However, the moment the Soul Weaver returns to town he will destroy his less then perfect creation and either construct a proper avatar or use one of his carefully stashed items and create another avatar from existing goods. Even a socketed sword stuffed with assorted gems is better than using a cracked dagger.

Of great importance to the Soul Weaver is his own life, as his creations are tied to him. He will seek out near immortality to insure that his creation will survive and that he will not fall. The Soul Weaver has perfect faith in his constructions, and thus, will never invest in the Poison and Bone tree for direct attacks. He will invest in his Golems and in his Curses to manipulate the battlefield.

Quests and Ranks

1) The Initiate
You will start your journey naked. You starting wand will be discarded as it is not needed. You will never summon the undead. Go out and fight, punching with your fists as needed till a suitable weapon or wand is found.

Your first task will be finding the reagents needed for your first golem construction, and take the first step in learning the art of binding. You will need; 1 ring of craftsmanship, and, one gem chip of each type, 6 total, representing the various elements of earth and nature. You may not summon a clay golem until these items are found. This might take a while. When you have created your first construct, you will no longer need to have the reagents handy to create further copies. Blood Raven may now be fought. (Farming of the Blood Moor and Cold Plains might be needed. Keep redoing it till you get it!)

After your first construct with Clay Golem being your first skill point spent, you may now invest a point or two in your curse tree. Spend your skill points wisely. You need to save some for later. Investing in the proper curses is highly advised. Save Cain and proceed to the Countess quest. Slay her. If she does not drop a rune, keep killing her till she does.

Sometime around this point, you will reach level 12. A point in Golem Mastery must be had before fighting the Smith. You heart will long for the fabled hammer found in his forge, but, you know it belongs in another hand. Return it to Charsi. It is at this point that you must make a life changing decision.

2) The Path of the Scholar or the Path of the Warrior
The Scholar will seek out skill items and will hang back and use curses to keep him self out of battle, and let his powerful constructs fight for him. He will have access to greater skill levels, more mana, and will be generally weak in strength. He will seek to become every bit as immortal as his golem and will seek life above all else. His great will to learn will force him to learn passive survival skills to live through the battles ahead and find more wisdom.

The Warrior seeks to fight beside his constructs and will seek honour and glory, so that he too, will be called forth in a powerful Iron Avatar some day. While death is avoided, it is not feared, knowing that one day, his order will once again call him forth to fight again in the perfect body. He will use weapons and shields, bows, crossbows, what ever weapon he finds to his choosing, and will construct his own fine weapons when ever possible. Much like his constructs, he will also seek to create his own armor and gear. What he lacks in advanced skill adding items he will make up for with sheer blistering offense.

Once your path is chosen, go forth and find the Demon Queen hiding in the catacombs. Destroy her with what ever means you have.

3) The Quest for Reanimated Life
In act 2 you will seek out more powerful ingredients. There is much to do and this will be a very long and somewhat painful act depending on the path you chose. The Scholar will have a very rough go here, depending mostly on his chosen Mercenary. Do all your quests as needed. On your way, you have a list of things to look for.

Reagents needed in this act are many, and, I realize some of them might take a long time to find. Keep trying, and, be patient.

In combing the deserts and speaking to the townsfolk, you will become aware that the ancient cultures of the desert new a great deal about the afterlife, and the world of the dead. You feel the urge to explore the tombs and many secret places to learn these ancient secrets for your self. With the full discovery of these skills, you will be able to summon a Blood Golem.

You will need; One Fulminating Potion. One Strangling Gas Potion. 6 Flawed Rubies. And you must find, not buy, one item with leaching properties. Also, you must clear all the tombs, examining the paintings on the wall, looking for lost secrets of ancient lore. The Summoner must be defeated, and his journal carefully studied, looking for information on the summoning of the creatures of the netherworld. Once all the tombs have been cleared, and the Summoner killed, you may now summon a Blood Golem and fight Duriel.

4) Soul Forger
Act 3 is the act when you come of age. It is here you will learn to make the perfect construction of life. The powerful Iron Golem. Do all game quests as needed.

Your special quest items. To create a construction of living metals takes special items. Many of them. You will need your Mercenary, along with a slew of assorted odds and ends.

You will need a brain, so your creation may think. You will need an eye so he can see. You will need a heart, so that he might see. You will need a hammer of some sort. This can be found or purchased. And you will need perfect materials so you can construct him. Now is where the path of the Scholar and the Warrior differ.

The Scholar will need a superior 2 socket armor and 2 runes. Tal and Eth. (Tal can be made by cubing many of the smaller runes... good luck) He will construct Stealth armor and then create an Iron Golem from it. The stealthy speedy nature of his golem will also become his trademark. Become stealthy and sneaky as possible relying on speed to survive.

The Warrior will seek out a superior 2 socket weapon, and 2 runes. Tir and El. He will make his first iron construct from perfect Steel. This will become his trademark. He will become strong and keen, and cleanly slice through his foes.

Later golems can be created from any item deemed worthy. It is only the first summon that is class specific. Start building a back of finely constructed items. Gain power. Then go forth and destroy the Council and Mephisto. The time for testing will begin.

5) Testing and Tribulations
The young Soul Weaver will seek to test his creation... and will go to Hell to seek proof positive. What better way to see if one has made a worthy construct than to test it's mettle against the foul spawns of Hell. There is a forge to be destroyed, and valuable gems and runes to be gathered. And there is Diablo himself.

The Scholar will have a very rough go in this fight, having no direct offense other than curses and his Iron Golem. It is advised that you gather as many items like gems, socketed weapons, resist items, runes, etc as possible, as it will probably take several Golems to defeat Diablo. Run to town and heal often.

The Warrior will have a worthy challenge. He and his powerful iron construct will work as a team, slowly wearing down the Lord of Terror. He too, will probably need to make a few golems.

After the Lord of Terror is disposed of, the now Honoured Soul Weaver will go to the frigid lands of the North and look for the finest weapons and armor to be found, and slowly build his strength until he is ready to face the Lord of Destruction, and prove himself to be the Master Smith, capable of making fearsome Iron Furies.

Slaying the Lord of Distraction in normal will earn him the title Soul Forger. In nightmare, Soul Weaver. In hell, Soul Binder.