Baleful Resurrection
Necromancy (Healing) [Evil]
Level: Death 4, Necromancer 5
Casting Time: 1 hour
Spell Points: Death 7, Necromancer 9; XP; see text
”I don’t know. He just came back... wrong, somehow.``
This spell functions as the Raise Dead spell, but with a few significant differences, as outlined here.
In addition to losing a level or point of constitution, the creature comes back to life with one of the curses on the Baleful Resurrection table, determined randomly. If it already suffers from that curse (or has the corresponding penalties for another reason), roll again. If no curses remain, the spell fails. Finally, the subject’s alignment is shifted one step towards Evil. A creature who is already Evil has its aligment shifted one step towards Chaotic. A Chaotic Evil creature does not suffer a change in alignment.
| d% | Curse name | Curse description |
|---|---|---|
| 1-13 | Bloody cough | The creature occasionally coughs up blood, often with a horrid hacking sound. It takes a -3 penalty on Fortitude saves. |
| 14-25 | Dead eyes | Most of the color drains out of the creature’s eyes, making them resemble that of a corpse. It takes a -6 penalty on Spot checks, and gains the Light Blindness trait, as a Drow. |
| 26-38 | Dead skin | The creature’s skin turns pale and cold, and its sense of touch is greatly reduced. It takes a -3 penalty on Reflex saves. |
| 39-50 | Hallucinations | The creature suffers from intermittent hallucinations, causing it difficulties in differentiating figment from reality. The creature takes a -3 penalty on Will saves. |
| 51-62 | Headaches | The creature suffers from constant, distracting headaches. It takes a -2 penalty on Initiative checks and all intelligence-based skill checks. |
| 63-75 | Social outcast | Intelligent creatures subconsciously dislike the subject. The initial attitude of all non-Evil non-player characters towards the subject is shifted one step towards hostile, and it takes a -6 penalty on Gather Information checks. |
| 76-87 | Undeath’s taint | The creature’s brush with death has left it vulnerable to sacred energies. It is treated as an undead creature when caught in the area of a Turn Undead effect, although it only takes half damage (and may save to halve that damage again). In addition, Necromancy (Healing) spells only heal the creature of half their normal number of hit points. |
| 88-100 | Wrong smell | Nonintelligent creatures dislike the subject. The initial response of all animals when encountering the subject is either try to flee or to attack it. It takes a -6 penalty on Handle Animal and Ride checks. |
The curse can be lifted by normal effects capable of Removing a Curse. A Remove Curse spell is effective only when cast by a caster of 11th level or higher. An Atonement spell can restore its original alignment (following the usual rules for the Atonement spell). The level/HD loss or Constitution loss can still not be repaired by any means.
A creature successfully raised with this spell becomes alive and stable at -9 hit points rather than with hit points equal to its HD. Any wounds and disease symptoms repaired as part of the resurrection process are only repaired to the absolute minimum functionality required to return the creature to life. Even if the creature’s hit point total is fully restored, such wounds still leave scars, unless removed with the Regenerate spell. Creatures with visible scars from this process gain a +4 bonus in Intimidate checks, but suffer a -4 penalty on Diplomacy checks.
Augment: The spell gains an augment in addition to the ones inherited from Raise Dead:
If you spend 4 additional spell points, the creature to be returned from the dead can be unwilling. An unwilling creature is allowed a will save with a +5 bonus (but no bonuses for items, active spells, or other effects that may be affecting its corpse at the time of death or the attempted resurrection) to negate the spell.
A subject that successfully saves cannot be the victim of a forced resurrection for a year and a day, or until it is raised (voluntarily) and killed again, whichever happens sooner.
Experience cost: 200XP.