Because necromancy rarely occurs at graveside – being difficult to perform properly and get results on holy ground – practitioners of this dark magic make use of grave robbers. Remains are stolen at almost any point in the cycle of decay, from shortly after death until there are only bones. Some “grave robbers” even murder people just to procure fresh fodder. Though it’s often a task done by amateurs with no backing, some Grave robbers and remains traders try to become members of a local thieves’ guild, though most of the more conventional rogues regard them with distaste.
The age of remains and its race affect the price the remains fetch from a necromancer or death cultist.
Lastly, it is possible to reduce the remains of an arcane magic users down to residuum. The amount yielded is small; 1/10,000ths by weight, thus requiring about 600-pounds of dead wizard, sorcerer, warlock or a similar class to produce a single ounce of residuum, which is worth 31,250 gp. Pound for pound, the remains of arcane magic users sell for 35 gp with a purchase price of 50 gp. (Enterprising necromancers have been known to recommend particularly excellent cooks to their wizard “colleagues” with the intent to fatten them up.)
| VALUE OF REMAINS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race | Dead 1 Day | Dead 1 Month | Dead 1 Year/Skeletal |
| Gnomes and Halflings | 8 gp | 4 gp | 2 gp |
| Orcs and Bugbear | 10 gp | 5 gp | 2 gp & 5 sp |
| Dwarfs and Humans | 12 gp | 6 gp | 3 gp |
| Elves and Tieflings | 18 gp | 9 gp | 4 gp & 5 sp |
| Gnolls and Ogres | 24 gp | 12 gp | 6 gp |
Monsters; The worth of various other monsters is decided on a case-by-case basis, though the value increases the more dangerous the monster and decreases the longer it has been dead.
Dragons; These creatures are almost worth their weight in gold.
It’s nice to see the necromantic body bank get some gaming love at last. I can’t help but think about comedic horror films like I Sell the Dead and Young Frankenstein, but this answers a long-standing question… Where do the necromancers get their body parts from? Now we know!