Diablo II corpse bomb

[Buufreak]

Are there any spells that are remotely close?

[Chronos]

To clarify for those who aren't familiar with Diablo II, there was a spell in it called "Corpse Explosion", which targeted an intact corpse and turned into a non-intact corpse, in the process dealing damage to everything nearby equal to a hefty percentage (about half) of the dead creature's normal maximum HP.

And no, I don't know of any equivalent in D&D, either. It's a fun spell, but it would be a lot more abusable in a tabletop game, given the ability to pick up corpses and carry them around. All you'd need to do would be to find some monster that's a big pile of HP without being much threat, kill it, and pull it out of your portable hole when you needed a nuke.

[ArcanistSupreme]

You could put an after-death time limit on it, fluffed as using the departing soul to fuel the explosion. That way people can't get around it by slapping gentle repose on the corpse.

[Red Fel]

Are there any spells that are remotely close?

Well, an easy first step is Shatter (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/shatter.htm). A corpse is an object, and Shatter lets you summarily explode it. Problem is that Shatter, on its own, does no AoE damage except to destroy objects in its blast radius; you'd need something else for the damage component. Fireball (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/fireball.htm) gives you the blast and can destroy a corpse (which is an unattended object, generally), but it isn't corpse-specific. The Charnel Fire spell also destroys corpses, but it's targeted, not AoE.

In theory, a delayed Death Throes would work, perhaps. But that's a Target: Self spell.

[Uncle Pine]

On top of my head: Explosive Runes written on the body (or more likely one portion of the body, given the 10 lb. weight limit), Gembomb coupled with Spell Thematics (corpse), any explosive spell coupled with Deceptive Spell. These don't fully recreate Diablo's corpse bomb, but I'll try to think about something else.
You could also have a look at Destruction Retribution from Libris Mortis: it's a good feat if you're a necromancer (with or without Chicken Infested) with a thing for exploding corpses.

[Tvtyrant]

Well, an easy first step is Shatter (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/shatter.htm). A corpse is an object, and Shatter lets you summarily explode it. Problem is that Shatter, on its own, does no AoE damage except to destroy objects in its blast radius; you'd need something else for the damage component. Fireball (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/fireball.htm) gives you the blast and can destroy a corpse (which is an unattended object, generally), but it isn't corpse-specific. The Charnel Fire spell also destroys corpses, but it's targeted, not AoE.

In theory, a delayed Death Throes would work, perhaps. But that's a Target: Self spell.

So share Death Throes with your familiar. Get to know the corpse, now it is familiar. You may need to take it to some parties and hang out with it first.

[The Glyphstone]

So share Death Throes with your familiar. Get to know the corpse, now it is familiar. You may need to take it to some parties and hang out with it first.

Weekend At Bernies suddenly takes on a new and horrific interpretation.

[Invader]

Necrotic skull bomb comes to mind. The target/component is a skull so you'd have to tweak how it goes off unless you're going to be chucking whole corpses around but it's pretty close.

[Ravens_cry]

Pathfinder has Bloat Bomb (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/b/bloatbomb), which sounds like a fair facsimile from the description..

[mabriss lethe]

The closest I can think of is the feat Destruction Retribuition, which turns the corporeal undead you create into bombs that explode when destroyed.

[Necroticplague]

Not exactly what you're looking for, but Necrotic Eruption can detonate someone who has a necrotic cyst on them, killing them and doing damage to those near them if they fail a save (which they take a sizable penalty to make). Unfortunately, it can only target living creatures, so it doesn't quite get the effect.

[Darrin]

There are a couple spells that can trigger on a creature's death. Death throes is probably the most well-known, but the "Range: Personal" makes this tricky to get this cast on your minions. However, there are several ways to circumvent the range and change the target: Glyph Seals (MIC), Skull Talismans (Frostburn), various channel Channel Spell shenanigans, Shallantha's delicate disk (LEoF), and so forth.

Fatal flame (Complete Scoundrel) is easier to cast on your minions, but allows a Will save and the damage is not so impressive: 2 damage per HD/CL, 20 max.

[Buufreak]

Thanks all. Meant to reply sooner, but such is life. I really like both death throes and fatal flame as a start, and might end up brewing my own spell for this cause. Also, on the idea of corpse condition, because of campaign setting i was thinking only corpses that are at least mostly intact, but not under any form of preservation, under the idea that without its protection, the body can be defiled however.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

I'd say maybe a Warlock with the invocation The Dead Walk and the feat Destruction Retribution in Libris Mortis. It would just be a normal zombie minion, but it would only last a minute per caster level if you don't use the costly material components, and upon its death it would explode dealing negative energy damage based on the zombie's total HD.

[BWR]

I was sure 2e had something like this, but all I can find at a cursory glance is Blastbones, which causes exposed bones to explode, and you can program the conditions a la Magic Mouth, and
Skulltrap which causes a skull to explode when touched. Both can be cast on undead to make them nastier in combat.

[Uncle Pine]

The Spellblade weapon enhancement (+6.000 gp) lets you store Death Throes on the round you cast it and redirect it to someone else on the next round as a free action. It's in the Player's Guide to Faerun.

[OttoVonBigby]

Corpse Explosion is one of the spells in the Diablo II 3.0 conversion book, "Diablerie"--page 38. Would it be against forum rules to share that spell here in its entirety?

[BWR]

Probably, unless the entire book is OGL. I'd forgotten about that book.

[goto124]

It's a fun spell, but it would be a lot more abusable in a tabletop game, given the ability to pick up corpses and carry them around. All you'd need to do would be to find some monster that's a big pile of HP without being much threat, kill it, and pull it out of your portable hole when you needed a nuke.

The Bombcromancer?

[Spore]

The Bombcromancer?

Terminology would be Necrobomber.

[Curmudgeon]

Sounds like you need Unliving Weapon (Book of Vile Darkness, page 108): "Undead subject explodes for 1d6 damage/2 levels when struck or at a specific time".