Malapterus
2018-10-28, 11:22 AM
Spell: Demand the Dead (Necromancy) Sor/Wiz 4
This spell, too unholy even for evil clerics, is an odd ritual that produces a grand ability to get information from a corpse.
Casting Time: Varies
Range: Touch
Target: The corpse of any no-longer-living creature
Duration: 1 minute per level, then permanent
Save: Will (see text)
Spell Resistance: No
A touched dead creature is brought back to a horrible mockery of life. This spell animates the corpse enough that the owner's very soul is temporarily drawn back into it. The soul gets a Will Save, but unless it somehow knew this spell was being cast, the save is at -4.
The animated corpse becomes Undead, but cannot move or do anything but speak when spoken to. At this stage, its physical stats are unchanged and it gains no bonus hit points in exchange for the loss of its Constitution score, though it does not have the hit points it gained from said score in life.
For one minute per level, the new undead cannot or move or make any actions of its own will. When spoken to by the caster of the spell, and anyone the caster perceived as an ally at the casting of the spell, it must answer honestly to the best of its knowledge and its understanding of the meaning of the question. It cannot mince words, give half-truths, or give answers based on the literal wording.
Additionally, the undead can be given new information and process it like any existing knowledge it had. When the initial duration expires, however, the soul will remember the encounter and anything it learned there, including any information it gained on who was there.
Generally, you can ask or explain two things per minute, though the DM may rule that excessively long questions or explanations OR excessively long answers to questions may take more time.
Once the initial duration ends, the creature becomes a will-less undead. It does not count against the caster's number of undead controlled, nor is it under the control of the caster in any way. Its only actions will be to attack anything that comes near it, and then return to its resting place if it moved. if it moved very far, it may choose a new, closer resting place or even simply stop where it is and designate its current square as its resting place. The undead will not speak or communicate in any way, nor will it make any warning of its attack or even engage in self-preservation if it is being defeated. It attacks until it is destroyed or there is nothing to attack.
Please note that it will not necessarily follow a target relentlessly and will forget about it if said creature goes out of sight for three rounds or if the target escapes through a path that would be a lot of trouble for the creature to follow.
The creature retains all abilities (except constitution), class levels, skills, feats, spells, and other abilities it had in life, though it may only use them towards its two motivations in unlife. It gains extra hit points based on its size as an undead. Its mental scores are not affected, only its free will, so it may still cast spells if it was a spellcaster. Indeed, prepared casters become spontaneous casters, making them exceptionally dangerous.
The creature gains Darkvision 60 feet if it is Large or smaller, otherwise it gains Darkvision 120 feet. If it had better Darkvision, it keeps that.
The creature loses the ability to Run, if it had it.
It gets +1 Strength for every 2 HD it has and +1 Natural Armor for every 4 HD it has. Its Base Attack Bonus is changed to 3/4 HD unless it had better to begin with. It gains Spell Resistance equal to twice the caster level of the caster who created it, and DR/Bludgeoning equal to half the caster's level.
For one day per caster level, the creature will not attack the caster who created it nor any perceived allies of the caster. From that point on, any creature it perceives, from a Gold Great Wyrm to a moth, will be attacked.
Casting time:
One minute per HD of the target creature.
Spell Component:
One polished opal worth 500 GP for each HD of the target creature.
----
So, at 20th level you can use this spell to get 20 minutes of chat with a creature before it turns into an undead monstrosity you have no control over. There's no HD limit on it, but the spell component is costly for what you get.
I'm intending to use it as a spell for NPCs in my campaign who have to get some very specific information from some very dead people.
This spell, too unholy even for evil clerics, is an odd ritual that produces a grand ability to get information from a corpse.
Casting Time: Varies
Range: Touch
Target: The corpse of any no-longer-living creature
Duration: 1 minute per level, then permanent
Save: Will (see text)
Spell Resistance: No
A touched dead creature is brought back to a horrible mockery of life. This spell animates the corpse enough that the owner's very soul is temporarily drawn back into it. The soul gets a Will Save, but unless it somehow knew this spell was being cast, the save is at -4.
The animated corpse becomes Undead, but cannot move or do anything but speak when spoken to. At this stage, its physical stats are unchanged and it gains no bonus hit points in exchange for the loss of its Constitution score, though it does not have the hit points it gained from said score in life.
For one minute per level, the new undead cannot or move or make any actions of its own will. When spoken to by the caster of the spell, and anyone the caster perceived as an ally at the casting of the spell, it must answer honestly to the best of its knowledge and its understanding of the meaning of the question. It cannot mince words, give half-truths, or give answers based on the literal wording.
Additionally, the undead can be given new information and process it like any existing knowledge it had. When the initial duration expires, however, the soul will remember the encounter and anything it learned there, including any information it gained on who was there.
Generally, you can ask or explain two things per minute, though the DM may rule that excessively long questions or explanations OR excessively long answers to questions may take more time.
Once the initial duration ends, the creature becomes a will-less undead. It does not count against the caster's number of undead controlled, nor is it under the control of the caster in any way. Its only actions will be to attack anything that comes near it, and then return to its resting place if it moved. if it moved very far, it may choose a new, closer resting place or even simply stop where it is and designate its current square as its resting place. The undead will not speak or communicate in any way, nor will it make any warning of its attack or even engage in self-preservation if it is being defeated. It attacks until it is destroyed or there is nothing to attack.
Please note that it will not necessarily follow a target relentlessly and will forget about it if said creature goes out of sight for three rounds or if the target escapes through a path that would be a lot of trouble for the creature to follow.
The creature retains all abilities (except constitution), class levels, skills, feats, spells, and other abilities it had in life, though it may only use them towards its two motivations in unlife. It gains extra hit points based on its size as an undead. Its mental scores are not affected, only its free will, so it may still cast spells if it was a spellcaster. Indeed, prepared casters become spontaneous casters, making them exceptionally dangerous.
The creature gains Darkvision 60 feet if it is Large or smaller, otherwise it gains Darkvision 120 feet. If it had better Darkvision, it keeps that.
The creature loses the ability to Run, if it had it.
It gets +1 Strength for every 2 HD it has and +1 Natural Armor for every 4 HD it has. Its Base Attack Bonus is changed to 3/4 HD unless it had better to begin with. It gains Spell Resistance equal to twice the caster level of the caster who created it, and DR/Bludgeoning equal to half the caster's level.
For one day per caster level, the creature will not attack the caster who created it nor any perceived allies of the caster. From that point on, any creature it perceives, from a Gold Great Wyrm to a moth, will be attacked.
Casting time:
One minute per HD of the target creature.
Spell Component:
One polished opal worth 500 GP for each HD of the target creature.
----
So, at 20th level you can use this spell to get 20 minutes of chat with a creature before it turns into an undead monstrosity you have no control over. There's no HD limit on it, but the spell component is costly for what you get.
I'm intending to use it as a spell for NPCs in my campaign who have to get some very specific information from some very dead people.