Heh. I once played a LN necromancer in a mostly-evil party. I went with the "Soulless-Science-For-The-Greater-Good" route--my character was a dispassionate student of death. Think Count Roogna from The Princess Bride.
("Now, remember, this is for science, so: be honest: how did that make you feel?")
The undead I created were masterpieces--bones carefully lacquered, silver wire articulations, the works. My main gripe with OTHER users of necromancy was that they had no sense of CRAFTSMANSHIP--I couldn't abide sloppy work.
The various evil characters in the party were downright creeped out.
That was pretty much my character's approach, except that it was sort of a "cover" for the MANIC GLEE he experienced while taking "acceptable targets" to pieces. He would crow every time an evil creature was pincushioned by magic missile, and would cackle whenever a well-placed fireball went off. He focused on Evocation+Necromancy+Transmutation; his schtick was that he would take things apart and put them back together ...
differently. How's that for creepy? I would've loved to pick up animate dead, but, as I said, we didn't make it that far. So I had to leave it pretty much at exulting whenever he destroyed a creature, and had him collect "specimens" (pieces of the bodies, in many, many labeled leather pouches and bags, humours in vials and flasks, etc, etc.) from the fallen enemies.
...
I'm reminded of another campaign where I was replacing another player who'd left. He'd been running a dwarf barbarian who was the party's trapfinder. He'd walk down a corridor and trust that his high Fortitude and hit points would get him through anything. He put the party's rogue to shame. Anyway, the player was also a disruptive
asshole, and finally got himself thrown out of the game (by mutual consent, of course). I resolved to play a character more-or-less identical to him, except
better. I made a dwarf fighter with Power Attack+Combat Expertise+Improved Bull Rush+Improved Trip, and I went to town with tripping and shoving enemies around the battlefield. I kept my character's shenanigans to a minimum, however, and spent most of my time deriding the party's paladin for being a pansy in combat. (I have a long, unfortunate history of abusing paladins who're played poorly.)
Now, here's my character's 3rd-level CMoA:
We're hunting down the source of a slew of grisly murders in this temple district, and we hear this awful scraping noise. Immediately, I'm thinking: "It's Pyramid Head." It turns out to be a vampire in full plate with a scythe. "Not so bad, I think," since I know that the DM's probably just throwing some weight around with a high-CR opponent, and I misremembered the vampire's CR as 5 (actually a minimum if CR 7). I wasn't the only one at fault here, because the other players thought we could all take on this crazy, pale, skinny dude in full plate.
Well, thankfully, the paladin got to him first. A lucky blow landed our paladin on his ass with
two negative levels. He limped out of the fight while the vampire went for our young charge, a boy named "Timmy," who carried a light for the party and sort of acted as the party's errand-boy. Now, here's where I come in -- the vampire's reached Timmy, and I'm standing right by him. I activate Combat Expertise and Bull Rush the vampire (without a running start) and push him back a whole 10 feet, into the middle of our group.
We all take a turn slashing at the beast, but no one can hit him because he's got a ridiculous AC. He focuses his attacks on me, though thankfully I'm kept safe due to my own increased AC, courtesy of Combat Expertise. So, I drop my axe, which I'd been enjoying up to that point, switch to halberd, and trip his pasty ass (somehow rolling high enough to pull this off). Myself, the rogue, and the favored soul now pound his face in until he can manage to get up without me knocking him down again, and he
runs.
After the fight, we went and found the paladin, who'd managed to scamper quite a ways off, and I had a whole new slew of insults for him.