I have a necromancer in a cage, I want to do some fun stuff with him. But I'm not ready yet. I want to keep him safely locked up for now and then make use of him later for training purposes.
What are the conditions in which he can and cannot raise the dead?
e.g
Can he raise the dead whilst in a cage? If so will building a wall around him stop him?
Can he raise the dead whilst chained up?
What is the safest way to store him in such a way that I can make use of him later?
Best Answer
According to the wiki, necromancers can be safely kept in cages. [RE-EDIT: I initially got this wrong, see comments] Since they are immortal, they won't starve. They will not reanimate things.
They can reanimate any corpse or body part they have a line of sight to. So walls and raised bridges will stop them completely, and windows or bars will stop their movement while allowing them to reanimate training material. You can combine bridges and windows to make an effective switchable danger room.
You can read more about this on the wiki: http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Necromancer#Applications