Way more fun than a paladin, and thats just for starters <3

Yeah originally I was wanting to make a melee character, and I was learning towards Paladin, Ranger, or Rogue. But the more I looked at Bone Knights, the more fun they look. And worst case scenario, if the meleeing gets to be too difficult, then I can fear kite or root rot like every other Necro. Win / Win.

I'm a bit torn on going Gnome vs Iksar though. Seems Dex is pretty important, and being a Gnome gives +25 Dex basically. Whereas Iksars get bonus AC, although, I'm not sure how much they actually get.

necromancer that melees instead of medding
(LOL)

Lich >
Medding.

I mean, based on what I understand from the bone knight play style it’s literally just a worse shadow knight lol

this

I can chime in with my 2 cents so far. I'm lvl 40 and have been playing bone knight build more or less exclusively until about 1 level ago but that more because I realized I needed to train my evoc (it was at 10 or so), duoing with a clerci from 1 - 24 and a monk since.

It really is a lot of fun and if you invest in AC + dex gear you will see pretty impressive procs + damage mitigation (for a caster). I did some soloing here and there in my late 30s and if I was able to get C was able to more or less non-stop pull. Once I get my evoc up to normal levels I'll be back to meleeing and I think it will still be viable. Damage wise the melee damage is not the greatest I'll admit, but when you're proccing for 50ish damage per proc (average is ~3 procs per fight or so?) it is nice. You won't tear through things like you will with a high DPS build but it is dependable and steady and all told a lot of fun.

In groups I've jumped between mezzing, healing, snaring all the while adding my + pet DPS so it's a lot more active than I would imagine root rotting but for me that's also more fun.

If you're going for weapons smoldering brand -> staff of writhing is my suggestion, though be warned you will draw a ton of aggro with staff, but thankfully it's around the time you get FD which can help if needed

guys!! it's fun to play necros poorly, i swear!!
(LOL)

It's unconventional and yes some people enjoy playing those kinds of challenge builds instead of min-maxing. Laugh and judge if you like if that really makes you happy :)