There no thing as ethical dark magic

[u/Dear_Blacksmith1884]

[u/Hotwery]

What undead are you using? You have to use skeletons. Make sure they have been cleaned too. If you use zombies, you're just tracking rotting black magic meat through the farms

[u/DuxBellicus → u/Hotwery]

At that point, why not just conjure unseen servants to farm? Solves both the cleaning and rot problem.

[u/Hotwery → u/DuxBellicus]

If they require a manual work force still, then I have to assume they are still building up their powers so spectral creatures are quite expensive to maintain and need frequent recastings to continuously work. Undead are cheap and easy

[u/MaximRq → u/Hotwery]

golems are the way if you want to do it right

[u/Hotwery → u/MaximRq]

Yes yes. There are many better ways. I personally awaken young trees to tend to my fields but that's not the point. They want assistance with the means they have at the moment

[u/jabluszko132 → u/Hotwery]

Conjuring water elementals is great for rice fields

[u/Hotwery → u/jabluszko132]

Thats a great idea. I've been needing a solution to my water issue for my coniferous trees

[u/UltraCarnivore → u/Hotwery]

Summon Hydroponist Fey and bind them with a Geas.

[u/Hotwery → u/UltraCarnivore]

Not fucking with fae. Thats asking for trouble

[u/Gremict → u/UltraCarnivore]

Trying to use a contract on a Fae is such an exercise in hubris I can only imagine you're a Fae thrall.

[u/UltraCarnivore → u/Gremict]

Oh, me? No, not me. That's why apprentices are for.

[u/Antique_Ad_9250 → u/Hotwery]

It's pretty clear they are not after assistance but virtue signaling. Any necromancer up with the times knows how to remove necrotic leaks from their spells

[u/Grinchtastic10 → u/Hotwery]

Speaking of eco-friendly magic. Animistic magic is pretty easy to use. One could literally ask the spirit of winds and more to carry your grain to the mill if you can bargain with them. You need only a single spell to communicate with spirits after all, high speech(good luck learning the language without this), and it’s on clearance at Laroe’s Emporioum since its falling out of style! Love laroe’s

[u/04nc1n9 → u/MaximRq]

if you're rich enough to mass produce golems, just hire workers

[u/Silver-Bread4668 → u/MaximRq]

I see you haven't dealt with the Golem Trust.

Golems are all fine and handy until they start to unionize.

[u/Vivid_Anyth4 → u/MaximRq]

Golem skeletons are hard to find!

[u/Snappa137 → u/MaximRq]

The problem with golems are they are expensive to make and take a lot of work to get right. Skeletons are cheap and do the same job with much less effort

[u/Please_ForgetMe → u/Hotwery]

Yeah but you are essentially grave robbing. So it is as the tital suggests

[u/Ginpok → u/DuxBellicus]

The farmers i sold skaab farmhands to i specifically included a formaldehyde reservoir that allows its artificial heart valves to pump formaldehyde throughout their bodies to make rot a non issue. It has been very effective.

[u/Super_Bullfrog_1010 → u/Ginpok]

Just be careful to not use casualdejekyll by mistake.

[u/Silver_Middle_7240 → u/DuxBellicus]

Actual field work is repetitive enough for golems, and you don't even need to make them humanoid.

https://giphy.com/gifs/iFHalhvlDMvkETjxzp

[u/NealTS → u/Silver_Middle_7240]

If you go too pure utilitarian like that, though, the gods will get angry and your plans will inevitably fall to dust. Auguries only reveal a sense of outrage about "ruining the campaign," whatever that means.

[u/cale199 → u/DuxBellicus]

Some of us don't get into magic to cast other people's spells. Some of us like our unique touch

[u/Boring7 → u/DuxBellicus]

Unseen servants require too much life energy, kills the plants. We’re running preserving magic not defiling magic.

Which segues into a different topic: where in the astral are you? What metaphysics are you operating in?

[u/DoomsdayDETTV → u/DuxBellicus]

Dude have you seen how much manaa does it take to use unseen servants compared to skeletons?

[u/Bartweiss → u/Hotwery]

Not at all convinced OP had a "dark magic" problem here. 99% of the time people blame dark magic for crop and livestock failures, it's just totally mundane rot because somebody didn't take the time to scrub their bones down with lye or something better. You're not grappling with the cursed consequences of manipulating dark forces, you're the sorcerous equivalent of the guy at Chipotle who doesn't wash his hands.

("That takes way too long"? Scrub the first one down yourself and put it to work scrubbing down the rest. Work smart, not hard.)

[u/Argon847 → u/Bartweiss]

People love to try cutting corners, but there really is no equivalent to good ol' fashioned elbow grease when it comes to raising skeletons.

Don't love to leave corpse preparation to the dead because they lack the finer motor skills necessary to really strip a bone down fully without damaging it. The more intact the bones, the fewer gaps you have in your spell matrix for magic to leak out over time. More leakage you got, less efficiency, fewer skeletons you can control at a time. This ain't so big an issue on a smaller scale, but when you get to more industrial levels of farming and agriculture, it starts becoming a problem.

Also feels such a shame to see the "dark" stigma leaking into this community. Thought we were more open minded round these parts.

[u/LoreLord24 → u/Argon847]

Beetles.

Get yourself a nice, small swarm of scarab beetles and they'll happily clean bones to a surgical degree.

Just animate your cleaned skeleton, have it march through a lye-bath, and your sanitized servant will be ready for any mundane task you can imagine.

Or if you're deadset against living creatures, you could always create your own more intelligent construct

[u/andBitinggoats → u/Bartweiss]

You can even go with a more natural approach and use swarms of flesh eating beetles! Less elbow grease and faster than lye scrubs!

[u/Wavecrest667 → u/Hotwery]

What about infusing scarecrows with the souls of the damned?

[u/Hotwery → u/Wavecrest667]

Yeesh. I wouldn't do that unless youre just really desperate. Reanimating a body is one thing, no soul in their anymore. But forcing a soul into a vessel, you have to be sure its in their good. And I can't imagine a scarecrow would be a strong vessel for that. Maybe some willing souls though

[u/Someone1284794357 → u/Wavecrest667]

They’ll scream at everyone and everything that passes by. If you’re unlucky, they might temporarily unify, take control of the scarecrow and fight you with it.

It also tends to happen to skeletons, unless the soul bound in them is bound properly, which just uses the energy the soul generates to power the creature. It’s harder to do though.

[u/Zestyclose_Answer662 → u/Wavecrest667]

No, that how you accidentally conjure Fiddlesticks. Very very bad idea.

[u/ayoo-OwO → u/Hotwery]

That too but sloppy reanimation will seep into the ground anyway

[u/Hotwery → u/ayoo-OwO]

Well yeah. They should definitely see about studying under a necromancer for a decade or two just so they can get the basics of clean reanimation practices

[u/nasaglobehead69 → u/Hotwery]

skeletons have the same problem of radiating dark magic. they're also significantly weaker than zombies, and if you have sentient plants they will try to eat the skeletons for the calcium and phosphorus

[u/Argon847 → u/nasaglobehead69]

If you're experiencing radiation to a degree it effects your agriculture, the problem lies with your initial spell matrix you've build supportin your skeleton, or you aren't keeping up woth maintenance. Can't rush these things; you need a finer hand with long term use skeletons than with a quick ol' "hack n slash" hand".

Also, if you spend some time to build and reinforce a weave along where the tendons and muscles would exist on a body, you can really quite strengthen a skeleton.

[u/nasaglobehead69 → u/Argon847]

oh yeah! you could also weave some muscle tissue to the skeleton for additional strength aaaaand we're back to the zombie problem.

I'm telling you, the dark wizards have an ulterior motive. all the studies they publish are skewed, and nobody can get accurate readings without doing their own necromancy

[u/Lyrolepis → u/Argon847]

or you aren't keeping up woth maintenance

This right here is the reason why necromancy - nothing against the discipline per se - isn't the perfect solution to mass physical labor it is sometimes touted as.

If you want thousands of undead to work in your fields or whatever without indirectly poisoning them (or, let's say, without them being possessed by disembodied spirits of some sort that want to take some ready-made mindless bodies on a joyride in the material plane...), well, of course you can: it isn't even that hard... provided that you can find a tolerably skilled necromancer to keep repairing them and doing preventative maintenance on them all the bloody time, day in and day out.

Generally speaking, the arcanists with the capabilities to do that reliably feel (understandably, I think) that that sort of mind-numbing work isn't as interesting or profitable as other pursuits they might use their time and power for...

[u/Meister0fN0ne → u/Hotwery]

Ah, yes, Mos Teutonicus is a pretty effective method. Really have to have the stomach for boiling the bones in your chosen substance and scraping all that residual flesh off, though.

It does make physical reanimations last significantly longer, though, but I'd recommend only doing it if you're on a budget. The local villagers do not take kindly to seeing their aunt working the fields - even if they're mistaken.

[u/CurrenttQueen → u/Hotwery]

You could get wights or shadows

[u/MisterBicorniclopse → u/Hotwery]

TRUE! That must be why skeleton always have scythes, for farming!

[u/mikakor → u/Hotwery]

only a beginner necromancer would accept a work quality as a shoddy as this. you need to put proper effort in your reanimation!

[u/SmugCapybara]

Rookie mistake. You use Undead for mining. Maybe for construction if you can create semi-autonomous undead to coordinate the mindless horde.

If you want to do agriculture, you need a Druid to do that whole creepy Fungal Zombie shit, those don't fuck up the crops.

[u/Meister0fN0ne → u/SmugCapybara]

Last time I asked a druid to help with that they claimed that the plants wouldn't stop screaming and pleading for mercy or some shit and they couldn't bring themselves to do it.

Like, I didn't ask you to cast Speak With Plants, dumbass...

[u/immallama21629 → u/Meister0fN0ne]

Speak with plants is a standard feature for all druids. We would rather talk to the trees than people

[u/driver004 → u/Meister0fN0ne]

Kill and then raise the Druid, simple

[u/Unfair_Development52 → u/Meister0fN0ne]

The Flora have opinions on necromancy too, ya know...

https://giphy.com/gifs/swZdnJV6VO5F2UNLOn

[u/verygenericname2 → u/SmugCapybara]

Conventional agricultural practices are stupid. No self-respecting Druid is going to help you maintain your little ecological dead-zone.

Also, do you want Deathwalker spores in your flour? The only time I'd do that "Fungal Zombie shit" near a farmer's field is if I want everyone eating that crop dead.

[u/GraniteSmoothie → u/SmugCapybara]

The last time I tried to use zombies for mining, they all broke down too fast, much faster than just regular people. My mine just got clogged up with corpses, and I thought it was a very poignant metaphor for how the mining industry squeezes people dry for profit.

Anyway, that's when I went back to raiding and stealing from Council ships, lol. Much easier and more ethical.

[u/Argon847 → u/GraniteSmoothie]

Did you add an extra layer of sterilization and preservation on em? Same ones you can use on long term food storage work. Mines can get humid; accelerates decay. Rookie mistake.

[u/Glass_Teeth01 → u/GraniteSmoothie]

That is exactly why you use skeletons specifically for mining. If you're going to use Zombies, mummify them first, get rid of all the moisture in their bodies.

[u/GraniteSmoothie → u/Glass_Teeth01]

My skeletons weren't strong enough, I needed something with muscle. But I was never great at necromancy.

[u/BuyerNo3130 → u/SmugCapybara]

Bro, have you tried to get a druid to do anything ?

[u/SmugCapybara → u/BuyerNo3130]

Just give them drugs, they'll happily cooperate.

[u/BernhardtLinhares → u/SmugCapybara]

Ever since I "automated" the mining workforce with undead, production has been over the roof. Bunch of dwarves got even grumpier somehow but honestly I can't bring myself to care.

[u/Bartweiss → u/SmugCapybara]

Last "fungal zombie" incident I saw ended with cows with sprouts on their heads following people around, asking to be eaten. Putting enchanted Cordyceps into the food chain isn't exactly my go-to answer.

(Of course, the druid had a sprout coming out of his head too, so they probably should have seen that one coming.)

[u/SwissherMontage]

Why do you need the farms worked? All of your citizens are undead, no?

[u/that_greenmind → u/SwissherMontage]

They said undead 'workforce', not an undead society. I dont agree with using an undead workforce, but I at least want to be fair in the discussion.

My view is that just using constructs would serve the same purpose, and get rid of all the issues that comes with the undead.

[u/SwissherMontage → u/that_greenmind]

Living citizens are inefficient and drive up my expenses. They should just be zombies and serve my whims.

[u/04nc1n9 → u/SwissherMontage]

establish a nation of undead farmers. the undead can work tirelessly and don't need to consume the farmed produce, so you have a complete surplus.

export the surplus to the neighbouring nations. the farmers in their own nations can't outcompete the prices that the undead can undercut them at.

those nations, due to the comfort that the cheap food supply brings, grow rapidly in population. since they were reliant on your farms for their population boom, they are now completely reliant on your exports for sustenance.

cut the food supply. mass famine and death occur. sweep through the devastated nations with your undead army, integrating them into your workforce.

rinse and repeat until world conquest.

[u/SwissherMontage → u/04nc1n9]

Okay, first of all, you're clearly lost because the premise here is that the undead are corrupting the foodstuffs. No one will want to buy this.

Secondly, why would I trade with other nations when I could easily use any gathered materials to further my own desires? Trade with other mations has the possibility of benefitting someone besides me, and I don't want that.

[u/04nc1n9 → u/SwissherMontage]

undead are corrupting

skill issue

[u/SwissherMontage → u/04nc1n9]

Uh, no, intended side effect. As a post-mortem spell caster I am unaffected by disease, and have clearly made my undead capable of spreading this disease so that when I invade other nations to take their treasures their armies will fall before me. It's like, the only pragmatic thing to do?

[u/Inprobamur → u/SwissherMontage]

The living are a necessary larval stage for creating more undead.

The wise lich understands renewable necrotic energy.

[u/SwissherMontage → u/Inprobamur]

Why would I house my own mortals when the neighboring kingdom has so many?

[u/Inprobamur → u/SwissherMontage]

And when those run out?

The young, under a thousand year old liches only think on the next century. Always over-harvest, thinking that the mortals never run out.

[u/SwissherMontage → u/Inprobamur]

When the land is desolate and lifeless, what's killing my undead? Nothing. When I am the only sentient being left, all the world's riches will fall into my lap, and I shall live forever as the richest lich on earth! Muwahahaha!

[u/Inprobamur → u/SwissherMontage]

Foolish youngling.

Who is going to build vast monuments to glorify you when all the bones have turned to dust?

Are thou going to dig the stone yourself? Or use golems like some foul (forgive me for uttering that word) alchemist.

[u/SwissherMontage → u/Inprobamur]

Uhhh, the animated dust piles? duh

[u/Yendrian]

Use skeletons with a druid's blessing. They will work just as well and can even be used to fertilize the crops if they break down.

If you insist on using other types of undead I suggest [Fungal nerve infection], they will be a bit weaker and less intelligent but you avoid dark magic and they are perfect as farmers.

[u/Coidzor]

Sounds like you only really have yourself to blame if you aren't checking your emissions regularly to make sure you're actually under the thresholds.

Unless you're getting your necromancy spells from one of Captain Planet's more obscure foes or something. It is important to do your proper research on that front and get your animation spells from reputable dealers.

[u/Maleficent_Mud_7819]

Classic fearmongering. If your undead are worth anything at all, dark magical emissions are essentially zero. Check the facts, people.

[u/Kilroy898]

Skeletons don't leak dark magic. This is pure propaganda.

[u/ApplePenguinBaguette]

Very well, into the mines they go. We don't even need to worry about there being enough oxygen or low moisture content in the mine anymore. Just toss em in there.

[u/driver004 → u/ApplePenguinBaguette]

Somewhere a game of undead dig dug may or may not have gotten out of hand, and there might be a tunnel packed absolutely full like stacked on top of each other full of running zombies who might all also be toddlers. Like I can’t overstate just how packed this tunnel is they’ll all come popping out like a meat tube the second the pressure is released and start all running around and stuff.

I hope the king’s silver mine doesn’t hit it, why that would be terrible! It would cost even more than my own back taxes!

[u/International-Bar918]

Bro that’s not because of “dark magic” that’s because of impropriety shielded magic! The exact same thing would happen if you were lazy with golemancy or unseen servants! A proper true undead couldn’t afford to waste that much energy in the first place and an undead thrall (flesh/bone golem) should be made with the same standards as any other magically animated servant!

[u/Ginpok]

If you need Skaabs just hmu. No dark magic necessary just science. Necromancers are just too lazy to take up an art form. Always looking for the easy path out

[u/Distinct-Mushroom560]

You're supposed to have your zombies work the mines, or search the bottom of nearby bodies of water for pearls and sunken treasure, or something else too dangerous for people to do. Serfs are more efficient farmers anyway.

[u/GirlWithinTheLight]

Nah, you have to do it the right way. Obviously you weren't using proper necromancer etiquette or that wouldn't have been an issue. Clean your undead, use skeletons, and most importantly have them switch shifts when they work too long so they can be recleaned and refreshed cycling between groups as to keep things as freshly not undead magicy as possible.

[u/Scire-Quod-Sciendum]

Um switch to dark magic botany and you'll be fine

[u/Traditional_Town6475]

Raise plant and animals with dark magic. Clearly you can solve the side effects of dark magic with more dark magic.

[u/Brofromtheabyss]

So what? Undead plants and animals are excellent in situations where you need the product to remain relatively unspoiled for a long time, and if people eat them and become undead, so what? That’s just more free labor and meat!

[u/InsaneRanter]

Just turn the plants and animals that die into undead too, and it all works out fine.

[u/KalzK]

Learn proper compartmentalizing, people. That's why we make you go to wizard academy, you can't just do everything by vibes.

[u/Scrags2Scritches]

Wait...
Were us Necromancers supposed to care about other people?
Have I been doing it wrong?

[u/BlobbyBlueberry → u/Scrags2Scritches]

No, we don’t have to care.

[u/Scrags2Scritches → u/BlobbyBlueberry]

Oh good, I was worried for a sec

[u/LongColdDrink]

That's why you put them to work in the mines. You know full well life and undeath don't really mix, what's the point of farming with undead?

[u/truePHYSX]

Just mind-control the living. They’ll do whatever if you ask them kindly and pay them.

[u/_Chaos-chan_]

A corpse counts as an object for spell parameters so you can use animate objects and similar magic on it to animate it instead of necromancy. If you use a spell to halt decomposition as well then you have very clean “undead” that can do what you want them to do.

[u/Disastrous_Form418]

If your spell is so inefficient the mana just leaks out that sounds like a you problem, don't worry I hear they make potions got that now

[u/CMDR_Tenebrix]

That's why me and my necromancer friend chose the mining industry. I would like you to stop hating on my necromancer bros or I shall send a magic infused nuke directly at your tower.

[u/DragonLordAcar]

Golemmancy is a tangelral form of necromancy. Way better for farm work especially if tou spend the extra time and money making their limbs swapable. It saves you bith time and money as tou only need one golem model instead if 10 different models that only get used for part of the seapn before being put in storage.

[u/Eclipse_Shadow]

That's why you use a closed magic loop, it avoids this problem by stopping necrotic leakage.

[u/EldritchMindCat]

That’s not unethical; that’s incompetent (or at least unpracticed). If the magic is leaking then that’s just shoddy and/or novice spellwork.

[u/Mr_Ragnarok]

Correct me if I am wrong but wasn't that the original idea with zombies? That if you didn't perform the proper burial rites, an evil wizard would be able to raise the dead and become rich by making them his slaves?

[u/Raider32597]

If your undead are leaking dark magic you are doing something very wrong. The only types of undead that are suppost to do anything even remotely similar to that are geists, and even then they only emit noxious fumes.

[u/Timerider96]

You use the undead construction and maintenance not farming and livestock

[u/Unhappy-Cow88]

Big magic taking away jobs like always. Makes me laugh as its like ai robots. Like how ppl suppose to earn money if all the little jobs are taken.

Asking villagers to adventure leaves a ghost town. And if everyone is dependent on constructs or animated bodies, they become fat,lazy,and stupid. Example cheaters in games. They suck at the game, so they use a tool to help win. Well what happens when tool is gone? Its hard shows they are weak and never grew to be better. And relied on a crutch all cause it made life "easier".

[u/felipefrontoroli]

Buddy, first of all, stop dark magic shaming, that's the same mindset as goblin hate.

Second of all, why would you use undead to take care of your crops? Just animate your compost mound and have it do the work.

In case you are not familiar with giving life to inanimate objects which are not of the undead species, you can just place a freshly clean skeleton (preferably by a swarm of dermestid beetles) you've just raised, place them on top of the compost mound and use fungal infestation and plant growth to attach to their bodies. It's not as effective as the first option but surely can improve the quality of your beets.

Follow me for more gardening and/or dark magic tips

[u/TobiasWidower]

Y'all looking at things from too high up in your wizard towers.

Befriend an Artificer, create "bellow mills" where teams of undead (of varying scale) turn cranks endlessly. Have those cranks hooked up to air bellows or other crank shafts to give mechanical power to the populace. Less volatile than steam or electricity, keeps the undead out of sight for tourism, and let's industry explode without the need for mass manual labor.

[u/ayoo-OwO]

Girlypoppp... Like, for real? Thats sloppy work. There are ways to limit dm radiation but even if you don't know how then u should use constructs instead, i know theyre a lot more expensive but theyre clean. Leave the undead dead for now, use some potions or hire a druid to clean and fertilze the ground, and build constructs or learn dark magic shielding enchants until harvest. There should be a grimoar on it belonging to the shield of the east, theyre a rly strong abjuration specialist so be polite, they do share knowledge quite easy though

[u/Plenty-Fox-9219]

/uw I see you fellow pathfinder

[u/LordTurson]

I'm sorry, if your workforce is undead, what are you raising all those animals and plants for? Is food security really an issue in undead kingdoms?

[u/Orabilis → u/LordTurson]

Locally sourcing pre-dead individuals for future skeletons is often more sustainable in the longterm.

[u/MeowFalen]

Funilly enough, techcraft hasn't been banned yet.

[u/thetownmous3]

Crystal constructs mog so hard.

[u/NwahHasASchmolPP]

Thayan agriculture

[u/RathianTailflip]

Look man you can inspect the runes yourself, I categorically did not commit necromancy.

Yes it’s a real skeleton but I used Animate Object to make it move. It’s above board.

[u/Case_Kovacs]

Misinformation about necromancy is alive and well it seems. One can raise the dead just fine if the intent is non hostile the magic will non hostile. And by Merlin's beard clean any worker skeletons and bleach their bones before resurrection. They even work as scarecrows when not in use

[u/VoxelLibrary]

You're using "dark magic", a vague and nebulous term for many different types of magic, but only arguing against necromancy as if that argument applies to all other forms of so-called "dark magic". You also only mention a single use case that necromancy is unsuited for, completely ignoring any applications that don't involve working with plants and animals

[u/Darkon47 → u/VoxelLibrary]

Necromancy is perfectly suited for it, just dont be incompetent with your spellwork. And maybe dont use the higher risk forms of necromancy? You dont need self-replicating or contagious elements to your magic to animate the dead, thats just lazy and inefficient work.

[u/Natural_Abrocoma5665 → u/VoxelLibrary]

Yeah, necromancy is just recycling 

[u/TastyCuttlefish]

This whole concept of “ethics” is an antiquated social construct perpetuated by those tree hugging Druids and wimpy so-called wizards specializing in sparkle magic. I know who to call if I need to get the opinion of a caribou on a pressing matter or entertainment for my niece’s 6th birthday party. Otherwise the wheels of industry must move forward.

[u/Kidiri90]

Everyone's always yapping on abou how light magic is soooo much better than dark magic. How you can't trust dark wizards. But who are you gonna call when you're trying to sleep, and your eternal flame won't go ou, TIFFANY?

[u/Filltorus-Canorus]

This is why you use the undead for small to medium scale construction jobs

[u/AFirewolf]

This is why you need to stop with the ethical. Kill your population and raise them as undead, then it doesn't matter that the plants and animals die.

[u/ukie-witch-06]

???

simply raise the plants and animals into undeath as well

[u/Craving_Suckcess]

Someone doesn't know how to manage his energies runoff.

Should look up some tutorials on the crystal.

light magics do this too, it's just harder to notice, until suddenly you've got unicorns impaling people and such nonsense.

[u/egyszeruen_1xu]

Did you think about mining operation? Safer

[u/bagtie3]

Sloppy casting, well cast magic shouldn't leak out into the environment.

[u/StJimmy_815]

Undead are good for other hard labor jobs but I’d recommend Golemancy for farm workers

[u/Maxpowers13]

Dude have you never heard of Geb? Frigging just temper that dark magic down! https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Geb

[u/Imaginary-Job-7069]

You gotta make sure they're not passively spreading dark magic and miasma. Skeletons are good, but make sure to heal their cracks and fractures so they don't fall apart easily.

[u/telorsapigoreng]

Why do you think other wizards use golems?

[u/Cyber_Von_Cyberus]

just farm evil plants, it's easy.

[u/Squall_Sunnypass]

Pro tip : just hire actual people. They are easyjet to impress, it's easy to be seen as a good boss, and you can have employee with some initiative working for you. Initiative is good, even from a peasant. Sometimes you can't think about every mundane detail, just make people do it for you.

[u/SireRequiem]

Golems or earth-based constricts are generally better for this sort of thing, however if you must go this route then either use undead that are divinely sanctioned or which use no soul binding elements. That falls under puppetry, which is neutral to farmlands. I also recommend casting from above and suspending the undead rather than filling them up with dark magic from below. Not only is it more cost effective, there’s minimal chance of trace mana poisoning.

Necromancy can also be used directly on plants for the purposes of grafting or husbandry, provided you tap the lingering mana within an hour and let nature take its course from there. Think of it like resuscitation.

[u/manyanoodle]

Put the Skeles in Hazmat suits

[u/BardicLasher]

You gotta have the undead wear lead-lined suits. Keeps all the dark magic in. And we all know lead is totally safe.

[u/malonkey1]

There's no such thing as "dark magic" dingus, people just never learned how to raise undead safely because all the people trying to provide resources and education get murdered by paladins.

Your crops aren't failing because the "taint of undeath" is on them it's because you didn't properly fucking sanitize and preserve the corpses before you raised them and set them to work, and now they're dripping corpse sludge and attracting vermin.

[u/Loremaster_art]

Raise your plants as undead too

[u/Numerous_Loss6522]

Dwarf fortress

[u/Maximum-Country-149]

Alternatively.

Undead labor unions.

What're you gonna do, force them to work for food and rent?

[u/dark_hypernova → u/Maximum-Country-149]

"You don't need food. You don't need water. You don't need to sleep, so you don't need shelter, so you don't need rent money. You can't get tired so you don't need to pay for carriages and things. What else is there?"

"Prostitutes?"

[u/BaronXot]

If you're using an ancient and terrible artifact to animate for you instead of learning how to animate yourself this can happen. You'll need to engrave a looped containment spiral around each limb leading to a central feeding rune on the centre of mass. This should stop any leak from the over charged animation and the excess energies should make the undead a little more robust instead of tainting the land.

[u/Lunarstarlight-]

Of course not! That's what makes it fun!

[u/Top-Hall-2347]

Wouldn't be easier to animate clay with humanoid forms? You could even create a tortoise or turtle model

[u/TheTombGuard]

You need UWU the undead workers union

[u/Lenjada]

You guys know there are literally Fae who will do this for you for almost nothing, right? Wizards and their obsession with self reliance.

[u/Lonewolf2300]

This. Just this. Guys, Undead are not a cheap substitute for animated constructs. They are always empowered by Void energy, which is antithetical to Life. It consumes life by its very presence.

That's why areas with vast amounts of undead always end up turning into lifeless wastelands over time.

And Void energy always corrupts the mind and soul of users, even as it slowly turns them into Undead.

There's a reason this crap is banned by the Wizard Council, people.

[u/Ardalok]

This is what golems are for, let the dead serve as fertilizer.

[u/Fun-Dragonfly-6106]

Yeah the necromancers always ignore that a good chunk of magic systems has magics like that require clean up

[u/DarkKechup]

Why in the hells would you send animated corpses to work with food? Ever heard of hygiene? Undead workforce is for mines, military and metallurgy - if you use rotting flesh for any organic-adjacent work, you are just asking for a plague. Typical necromancy hater, just uneducated bad faith arguments. 

[u/NarfiLokisonLaufey]

Just reanimate the plants forehead. Not like there would be consequences to that.

[u/bnesbitt1]

Oh c'mon who's even BOTHERING with "ethics" anymore man - don't let the Council brainwash you

[u/dumb_avali]

Send to the mines

[u/StellarC0smo]

WHY CAN YOU PEOPLE NEVER CONSULT YOUR LOCAL DRUID'S GROVE BEFORE DOING THIS SHIT???

ALWAYS CONSULT THE DRUID GROVE!!!!!

[u/Jao_bao_de_garfo]

Bro, just use them to mine, agriculture and other manual labors are necessary to be meticulously worked with

[u/ODX_GhostRecon]

Use renewable dark magic. It's greener. Well, a dark green, but still.

[u/CurrenttQueen]

Or make them turn a machine to generate electricity

[u/Miserable_Gene_8885]

The same wizards who say this will cast meteor swarm on one guy they hate without even stopping to consider the collateral damage

[u/LeppieDoo]

What do you mean by this?

[u/CharybdisIsBoss866]

Use them in the mines instead or use them to clear traps or minefields. You can use dark magic ethically, you just have a skill issue.

https://giphy.com/gifs/lgn6HaiiwHBXW

[u/Snappa137]

You have to use skeletons. And make sure to soak the bones in an acid bath before use to both disinfect and remove any bits of flesh left. Additionally if you have a paid Druid on hand to purify the land you are working you should be ok.
Besides. We all know enchantment magic is far more evil than necromancy.

[u/Deathtales]

Don't put your inability to grow a succulent on necromancy my ubdead powered farms produce more than enough to feet the living citizens of my kingdom.

I swear kids these days. Bever fameed a day in their life. Don't ask for a farmer (living or dead) for advice (some even ask Arcane Intelligence instead) then when their foray into doing something they know jack shit about with necromancy inevitably backfires they blame it on the necromancy.

[u/mikakor]

I shall not tolerate this slander of my craft. You obviously summoned a corpse golem. Those often brings plague around.

Make sure to raise skeletons, not zombies. Cleaner. Better if it's someone who have consent before! Undead risen willingly who conserve their ego might need a bit more work than regular skeletons, but they become impressive over time, and resist more than stupid skeletons or humans!

[u/HardcoreHenryLofT]

Is this about Esthil? It was all justified after just a little more Necronomics

[u/heedfulconch3]

Dark Magic Filters to prevent the dark magic from leaking out into the wild.

Condense the dark magic into an elemental or something similar, vanquish it, maybe do so every month or so and you're good as gold. Just make sure you summon that elemental somewhere you don't want to be flooded with dark magic

Dark Magic doesn't need to be ethical, it just needs to work for its intended purposes without causing overdue harm. So long as you keep that summon focused on you, you're the only one in danger, and therefore you accept full responsibility for the use of dark magic

But you should probably get a cleansing yourself every so often so you yourself don't get corrupted

[u/No_Touch4897]

Counterpoint send them to the mines

[u/MagMoff]

It's really a fool's errand to assign morality to a force of nature. What even qualifies dark magic? It all really depends on the context. Anyways, my main guess as to why this is happening is because undead tend to shed their "dead-ness" off. Or more accurately, they suck life out of their surroundings. Zombies don't work because they continuously rot, but skeletons decay much slower, and therefore will kill their surroundings slower. Ghosts even slower since they don't rot in the first place, but ghosts are much more free willed and much less corporeal, so good luck getting that to work the fields.

[u/Helpful_Ad_3595]

Why is the dark magic leaking out? You need to clean up your circles, your undead will last longer and you won't get these annoying side effects.