Fizban
2010-09-13, 09:55 AM
Spark of Life
Evocation [Electricity]
Level: Wiz/Sor 5
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 1 full round
Range: Touch
Target: Dead creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None (See Text)
Spell Resistance: Yes (Harmless)
After patching up your fallen friend as best you can with nothing but cantrips, you begin casting the spell. Electricity falls from the sky through the lightning rod and gathers in your hands before you, fluxing in time with your own heartbeat. With the last chant, you lower the sphere of energy into their chest, and with a gasp your friend breathes again.
You use electricity to restart the heart of a dead creature touched, bringing it back to life. The subject must have been dead for no more than one round per caster level, and the their soul must be free and willing to return. A target raised by this spell loses one level (or 2 points of constitution if level 1) as normal for Raise Dead, and has the same 50% chance of losing each prepared spell or spell slot they had ready before death. Unlike Raise Dead, Spark of Life does not restore any damage the target took before dying, meaning it is perfectly possible to raise them with hit points less than -10, causing them to die immediately.Neither hit point nor ability damage is cured, both mundane and magical diseases are still in effect, and poisons that have not run their course will continue if the creature is Sparked back to life. The body must be intact for the spell to work, and even if missing parts are present they will not be restored to the whole. Unlike Raise Dead, Spark of Life can restore creatures killed by [Death] effects (and it is in fact often easier to restore those killed by death effects than those killed by damage, see below), but the transformation into an undead creature is still enough to stop the spell from working.
While dead, a body is treated as an inanimate object, allowing certain spells that would not affect a living creature to work on a corpse. These spells can be used to repair a body before Spark of Life is cast, allowing one to restore a creature to life permanently when Spark of Life alone would fail. While a body has it's own pool of hit points as an object, for purposes of this spell treat it as though it had the same hit point total the subject had before dying (Ex: if a creature died at -14 hp, you must repair at least 5 points of damage to the body for them to survive being raised). A creature returned to life with negative hit points is not considered stable, and begins bleeding out as normal immediately. If the subject did not die from hit point loss, Spark of Life returns them with the same hit point total they had before death, as long as the effect left the body intact. These are both exceptions to the normal rule that a dead creature is treated as having -10 hit points. If the subject died because their constitution was damaged to zero, that damage will have to be repaired as well (other ability score damage never kills a target on it's own, even if the damaging creature has an effect which does, so only constitution damage must be repaired). After the body is suitable to sustain life, more repairs can be made, allowing the subject to return with more hit points or healthier in other ways than it was upon death, so long as Spark of Life is cast within the 1 round/level time limit.
Some suitable spells for repairing a body before using Spark of Life include the following: Mending restores 1 hit point, one point of physical ability damage, or reattaches one body part per casting. Make Whole* can restore the body to 0 hit points or restore one physical ability score fully, and also reattaches all body parts present. The Repair line of spells repair their listed amount as if the body were a construct (an exception to their normal targeting line). A Total Repair infusion restores all lost hit points and repairs all physical ability damage. A Purify Food and Drink spell will remove poisons and non-magical diseases from the body, leaving the subject healthy when revived. Spells that aren't listed here should be adjudicated by the DM, who should in turn make sure that this spell does not allow players the ability to apply object-only effects to creatures.
Material Component: a reagent or device that helps in the manipulation or amplification of electricity, such as a lightning rod, tesla coil, or a battery with shock paddles. A suitable component costs 1,000gp and is burnt out after use in a single casting.
*It is suggested that if Spark of Life is used, DMs should add Make Whole to the Sor/Wiz spell list as a 3rd level spell, since Spark of Life needs complimentary spells to be fully effective, and the Repair Damage line of spells cannot repair major separations in the same way as Make Whole.
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So, here we have an arcane way to Raise Dead. It's decidedly inferior, especially when you can use Lesser Planar Binding to get a free Raise Dead anyway, but I wasn't aiming for competitiveness. It does have some advantages: being able to raise after [Death] effects, and allowing you to heal them much more easily in corpse form before raising. The only problem is that all the good repair spells are cleric only, so you need a cleric on hand to make it work :smallannoyed: I want to remove the level loss, but I'm worried that would make it more powerful than intended. Without the level loss it becomes superior to Revivify, with a longer time limit, and I could see parties killing each other to do "surgery" and repair ability damage and diseases with cheaper spell slots. Then again, it's still costing them 1,000gp, a 5th level slot, and a bunch of lower level slots and healing, so maybe it wouldn't be a problem.
Evocation [Electricity]
Level: Wiz/Sor 5
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 1 full round
Range: Touch
Target: Dead creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None (See Text)
Spell Resistance: Yes (Harmless)
After patching up your fallen friend as best you can with nothing but cantrips, you begin casting the spell. Electricity falls from the sky through the lightning rod and gathers in your hands before you, fluxing in time with your own heartbeat. With the last chant, you lower the sphere of energy into their chest, and with a gasp your friend breathes again.
You use electricity to restart the heart of a dead creature touched, bringing it back to life. The subject must have been dead for no more than one round per caster level, and the their soul must be free and willing to return. A target raised by this spell loses one level (or 2 points of constitution if level 1) as normal for Raise Dead, and has the same 50% chance of losing each prepared spell or spell slot they had ready before death. Unlike Raise Dead, Spark of Life does not restore any damage the target took before dying, meaning it is perfectly possible to raise them with hit points less than -10, causing them to die immediately.Neither hit point nor ability damage is cured, both mundane and magical diseases are still in effect, and poisons that have not run their course will continue if the creature is Sparked back to life. The body must be intact for the spell to work, and even if missing parts are present they will not be restored to the whole. Unlike Raise Dead, Spark of Life can restore creatures killed by [Death] effects (and it is in fact often easier to restore those killed by death effects than those killed by damage, see below), but the transformation into an undead creature is still enough to stop the spell from working.
While dead, a body is treated as an inanimate object, allowing certain spells that would not affect a living creature to work on a corpse. These spells can be used to repair a body before Spark of Life is cast, allowing one to restore a creature to life permanently when Spark of Life alone would fail. While a body has it's own pool of hit points as an object, for purposes of this spell treat it as though it had the same hit point total the subject had before dying (Ex: if a creature died at -14 hp, you must repair at least 5 points of damage to the body for them to survive being raised). A creature returned to life with negative hit points is not considered stable, and begins bleeding out as normal immediately. If the subject did not die from hit point loss, Spark of Life returns them with the same hit point total they had before death, as long as the effect left the body intact. These are both exceptions to the normal rule that a dead creature is treated as having -10 hit points. If the subject died because their constitution was damaged to zero, that damage will have to be repaired as well (other ability score damage never kills a target on it's own, even if the damaging creature has an effect which does, so only constitution damage must be repaired). After the body is suitable to sustain life, more repairs can be made, allowing the subject to return with more hit points or healthier in other ways than it was upon death, so long as Spark of Life is cast within the 1 round/level time limit.
Some suitable spells for repairing a body before using Spark of Life include the following: Mending restores 1 hit point, one point of physical ability damage, or reattaches one body part per casting. Make Whole* can restore the body to 0 hit points or restore one physical ability score fully, and also reattaches all body parts present. The Repair line of spells repair their listed amount as if the body were a construct (an exception to their normal targeting line). A Total Repair infusion restores all lost hit points and repairs all physical ability damage. A Purify Food and Drink spell will remove poisons and non-magical diseases from the body, leaving the subject healthy when revived. Spells that aren't listed here should be adjudicated by the DM, who should in turn make sure that this spell does not allow players the ability to apply object-only effects to creatures.
Material Component: a reagent or device that helps in the manipulation or amplification of electricity, such as a lightning rod, tesla coil, or a battery with shock paddles. A suitable component costs 1,000gp and is burnt out after use in a single casting.
*It is suggested that if Spark of Life is used, DMs should add Make Whole to the Sor/Wiz spell list as a 3rd level spell, since Spark of Life needs complimentary spells to be fully effective, and the Repair Damage line of spells cannot repair major separations in the same way as Make Whole.
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So, here we have an arcane way to Raise Dead. It's decidedly inferior, especially when you can use Lesser Planar Binding to get a free Raise Dead anyway, but I wasn't aiming for competitiveness. It does have some advantages: being able to raise after [Death] effects, and allowing you to heal them much more easily in corpse form before raising. The only problem is that all the good repair spells are cleric only, so you need a cleric on hand to make it work :smallannoyed: I want to remove the level loss, but I'm worried that would make it more powerful than intended. Without the level loss it becomes superior to Revivify, with a longer time limit, and I could see parties killing each other to do "surgery" and repair ability damage and diseases with cheaper spell slots. Then again, it's still costing them 1,000gp, a 5th level slot, and a bunch of lower level slots and healing, so maybe it wouldn't be a problem.