Spell Design

In this thread the question of how to protect the deceased from necromancers et al was raised. The consensus seems to be to use cremation to dispose of bodies.

I got to thinking, and it occurred to me that in those cultures or environments where cremation is simply not possible another way to keep those nefarious necromancers out of the cemetary would be developed.

Your task, should you choose to accept the challenge, is to design Clerical spells that protect the dead from such as Animate Dead and the like. What level, what Domain? Personal or ranged, area of effect? Temporary or permanent? One spell or many?

Have fun with it.

Well, consecrate prevents raising undead in an area. You might base it off that.

I'll bite.

Sanctify Headstone
Abjuration
Level: Clr 1
Components: V, S, M, DF
Casting Time: 1 Minute
Target: One grave marker
Duration: 1 year

Typically cast after completing a eulogy to the deceased, this spell wards a buried body against animate dead for a duration of one year. If this spell is dispelled, the caster is made mentally aware of this.
Material Component: A vial of holy water.

Does this count?

Revenant Dead

Necromancy
Level: Clr 3, Wiz 4
Components: V, S, M, DF
Casting Time: 1 full round
Target: One dead body
Duration: 1 year

A body raised from the dead will behave like a normal undead for 1d12+12 days. After that time, it will turn on it's creator, seeking him out, and eating his brains. The spell ends in one of the following cases:
a. the undead is destroyed
b. a year passes from the time the spell was cast, at which time the undead drops down dead, again.
c. the undead or someone else succeeds in slaying it's creator, in which case it crawls it's way back to it's grave and dies, again.

Gamecat,

Overall it's what I am looking for. However, it is limited to a single target, and has to be renewed once a year. In a sizable cemetary it could tie up substantial resources. A version that covers an area and lasts for a number of years would be better.

On top of it all, considering what you're asking the spell to do, 1st level seems a bit low. 2nd or 3rd might work better.

On the other hand, if one's world has some sort of group enacted ritual magic then something like an annual rite at the grave site to honor the deceased would work. Such as, say, the departed's family coming together to pay homage to their ancestors with the head of the household presiding. In such societies certain people being empowered by the gods and the ancestors to cast such magics on such occasions. That is, it's not a spell that can be cast at any time at any location, only at one particular time at one particular location.

But that's going off on a tangent.

Gizmo33,

The goal is to keep people from molesting the dead in the first place. Your spell still lets the abuse occur. For the revenge minded and the sneaky it fits, but not for those who wish no harm at all to come to the corpses of their slain.

mythusmage said:

Gizmo33,

The goal is to keep people from molesting the dead in the first place. Your spell still lets the abuse occur. For the revenge minded and the sneaky it fits, but not for those who wish no harm at all to come to the corpses of their slain.

Click to expand...

"Revenge minded?" Is Holy Word "revenge minded" because it targets evil people? And "sneaky"? You can put a big sign outside of the crypt if you want to saying "don't mess with the dead, or they'll mess with you"

Seriously though, I figured a "you can't raise this body as an undead" spell would be pretty simple to come up with, and so an alternative came to mind. IMC this alternative would only be available to neutral and evil clerics of the God of the Dead, who might be a jealous god. Why wouldn't a god wish the undead to take revenge for their status against their creator? You say that the spell still lets the abuse occur, but the first time that an undead army turns and mobs it's creator, it would act as a useful deterent. In fact, once animate dead was known to have risks associated, I suggest that the number of incidents of necromancers just brazenly walking into cemetaries and animating dead would decline.

Sneaky? Sheesh, explain Glyph of Warding then.

I'll use the existing:

Purify Food and Drink, followed by ritualistic cannabilism. It's even more effective than cremation!