A New Necromancy Spell

[Thrasher92]

Hey guys,

I'm trying to make a new Necromancy spell, if it's necessary. I prefer skeletons over zombies but most of the time when the party kills things it leaves a corpse and the Animate Dead spell says that a corpse becomes a zombie. Is there a spell that gets rid of all of the flesh from a dead body and leaves only bones? If not, let's make one!

I would think that it could be a ritual because it isn't a very powerful effect and it wouldn't be cast in combat also, I would make it so that it only works on a dead corpse, not an undead, or construct or any silly thing like that... its main use is to make skeletons.

So, here is my attempt at it, let me know what you think.

Flesh Reduction
1st-level Necromancy (ritual)

Casting Time: 1 Minute
Range: 30 feet
Components: V,S,M (a dead worm)
Duration: Instant

You choose the corpse of a dead humanoid of Medium or Small size that you can see. The flesh is removed from the body leaving only bones as the spell rapidly accelerates the body's natural decomposition rate.





What do you think? Is there anything I should add or take away? Could this be broken in anyway?

[Specter]

Sounds fine. The hard part is balancing it against those who would use it to avoid their foes from being revived.

[Safety Sword]

Hey guys,

I'm trying to make a new Necromancy spell, if it's necessary. I prefer skeletons over zombies but most of the time when the party kills things it leaves a corpse and the Animate Dead spell says that a corpse becomes a zombie. Is there a spell that gets rid of all of the flesh from a dead body and leaves only bones? If not, let's make one!

I would think that it could be a ritual because it isn't a very powerful effect and it wouldn't be cast in combat also, I would make it so that it only works on a dead corpse, not an undead, or construct or any silly thing like that... its main use is to make skeletons.

So, here is my attempt at it, let me know what you think.

Flesh Reduction
1st-level Necromancy (ritual)

Casting Time: 1 Minute
Range: 30 feet
Components: V,S,M (a dead worm)
Duration: Instant

You choose the corpse of a dead humanoid of Medium or Small size that you can see. The flesh is removed from the body leaving only bones as the spell rapidly accelerates the body's natural decomposition rate.





What do you think? Is there anything I should add or take away? Could this be broken in anyway?

I would call the spell "Flensing"
And just say it violently rips the flesh from the bone. Since you specified the target has to be a dead humanoid and it has a long casting time I can't see that it has any other issues.
Natural decomposition acceleration has some very stinky side effects, but if you're into necromancy I guess that isn't something you shy away from. :smalltongue:

[Thrasher92]

Sounds fine. The hard part is balancing it against those who would use it to avoid their foes from being revived.

Well, I was thinking of that a little when I made the casting time 1 minute, and if it is ritual casted (which is most likely) then it would take 11 minutes to cast. I think that even without this spell if they had 11 minutes then they could just burn the body or something to prevent them from being revived. Also, for a player I'm not worried about them preventing their enemies from being revived.

[Thrasher92]

I would call the spell "Flensing"
And just say it violently rips the flesh from the bone. Since you specified the target has to be a dead humanoid and it has a long casting time I can't see that it has any other issues.
Natural decomposition acceleration has some very stinky side effects, but if you're into necromancy I guess that isn't something you shy away from. :smalltongue:

Flensing sounds like a great name!

I called it Flesh Reduction because I pictured it working like the flesh is just rotting away super fast, so the flesh is reduced to relatively nothing.

Also, I made it only be able to target the corpses of medium or small humanoids because that is all you can raise with Animate Dead.

[Safety Sword]

Flensing sounds like a great name!

I called it Flesh Reduction because I pictured it working like the flesh is just rotting away super fast, so the flesh is reduced to relatively nothing.

Also, I made it only be able to target the corpses of medium or small humanoids because that is all you can raise with Animate Dead.

Bonus points if your wizard has a cool sounding name that goes with it.

Example: Fistandantilus' Furious Flensing

[TalksAlone]

Whether ir not is OP mostly depends on what class' spell list is going to belong to. To simplify: for a Wizard ritual is way too easy to acquire and, couple hundred Gold later, never got to prepare again. For a cleric spell it is mostly ok since you have to either be a cleric and prepare it or spend a Feat in Ritual Caster to cast it over and over. I would still make it a second level spell, to mirror as a messed up counterpart to Gentle Repose. And maybe slap it into the Druid's list for the flavor.

If, however, the point is to make it a Wizard spell I'd say it needs a material component with a price. Maybe a carefully crafted vial containing rare bacteria and fungi. That would be a pain to get and could end up a cool sidequest full of caracter growth: your character likes skellies better? She/he goes out and make it happen.

Furthermore, I could see some minor niche uses for a spell like this. Perhaps you can purposefully not stop the microbes from decomposing and they just consume the bodies completely. Additionally, with the fungi version, the spell could mask the scent of the deceased body with complex alchaloids and confuse tracking hounds and the like. Altho in that case I would bump it to 3rd level and give it more targets (maybe up to six or something) so it could have some value for actual casting while being chased by the authorities or something.

All in all could be a lot of fun for the character to come up with the spell. Maybe even name it after themself! Hope I helped.

[Sigreid]

The one thing I would change is I personally think it would be more memorable if it worked kind of like insect plague. A swarm of small biting things come and strip the flesh from the bone in a stomach churning frenzy over the course of say, 10 minutes.

[Ninja_Prawn]

The hard part is balancing it against those who would use it to avoid their foes from being revived.

Considering that the opposite of this effect, gentle repose, is 2nd-level, I think 1st is okay. That way it would seem reasonable to trump an attempted flensing with a preemptive gentle repose.

[Balyano]

Honestly this should be a cantrip. It's kind of the opposite of Gentle Repose, but that spell increases your ability to resurrect your allies. This spell has few uses other than choosing skeleton over zombie. I really cant see much reason to have it be 1st. level or higher.

[Sception]

Accelerated rotting is a better fit for Necromancy than ripping the flesh away, so I'd keep that aspect, and the 'fleshy reduction' name, along with all the unpleasant smells and messy leftovers that implies. Part of the fun of Necromancy is that it's a bit gross.

Maybe even let the spell do some token damage to zombies with a failed con save, for funsies.

I'd also make it a small area effect, rather than something you have to re-cast for each individual corpse, so as not to keep your party waiting for you as long.

Given the minute casting time (more likely 11 minutes), I don't think there's any power issues with it.