Looking for a spell D&D 3.5 or PF

[Greenfield]

A fellow gamer, in relating a tale from his game made reference to "the Assassin's spell", meaning a spell that keeps a slain person from being returned to life.

From context, it seems to lock the soul away somehow.

That's what I have: No idea which edition, what the spell level might be or any actual detail on the spell.

Anybody know what he's talking about>

Context: Read on if anyone cares



My associate runs a Pathfinder game, and my group hosts D&D. We have a player in common between the two. Her character died in his game, in a way that keeps her from returning. Her own fellow PCs wrote her off as gone and irretrievable.

Her DM (my associate) said the character was gone from his game (he had his reasons), but he said if she wanted to see if some other DM would run the rescue scenario, he was okay with it.

She's apparently very fond of this character, and wants someone in my group to run the adventure to rescue her PC.

This is so odd a request, and breaks so many walls it isn't funny, that I don't see us doing it. Different DM, different game system, different game group, different game world, this list goes on.

Still I was curious about the "assassin's spell" used to do this.

 

[Tony Vargas]

3.5 Soul Bind, Level 9, Cleric, Sorc/Wiz. Necromancy, of course.

 

[Empirate]

Barghest's Feast. Quite thorough, but 50% chance a True Resurrection, Wish or Miracle still work. Better option might be to turn baddy to stone, shrink item, keep somewhere safe.

 

[Tinker]

It does depend what level the dnd campaign is running at. If it is low to mid, there are several spells (and monsters, magic items) in various editions IIRC that put the victim beyond the reach of basic back-from-the-dead magic, requiring Resurrection, True Resurrection, Wish, or whatever to raise. If the party doesn't have and can't afford those, that might be why they've given up on returning the character.

If it is a question of 'running the rescue scenario' then perhaps it is just that the body wasn't recovered. Basic raise dead requires the body, and if the party decides it is too difficult/dangerous to do so then they can't return the character (without high-level magic again).

 

[Nagol]

Libram Mortis has Necrotic Termination (Cl 9 / Sorc 9 / Wiz 9) that will destroy the soul if the saving throw is failed and explicitly rules out everything up to Miracle/True Resurrection. It requires a bit of a work to set up and costs 1,000 XP.

 

[Greenfield]

Silly me. I was thinking he was talking about a spell on the Assassin's spell list.

As for the "Turn to Stone, Shrink Item" option, Shrink Item has a duration.

As for what happened: Lich threw Prismatic Spray, and two PCs rolled bad. One was shunted to the Ethereal Plane with no way home (without help), and the other was turned to stone.

Remaining party, now down a fighter and a healer, retreated.

Lich broke the head off the statue, then restored to flesh so he could loot the body. Locked the soul away somehow, re-stoned the body and tossed into the Negative Material Plane.

The party recovered a bit of stone dust from the "break head off" part, so they have the requisite material needed for a Res or True Res, but with the soul imprisoned somewhere neither of those spells will work.

Player of dead Cleric brings in new character, game goes on.

But she wants that character back, for no obvious reason. So she gets the DM's approval, then asks us to run the scenario for the PC's rescue/Resurrection.

After that I ask some online friends for some insight on what spell the DM could have used, and... thereby hangs the tale, so to speak.

 

[Nagol]

Silly me. I was thinking he was talking about a spell on the Assassin's spell list.

As for the "Turn to Stone, Shrink Item" option, Shrink Item has a duration.

As for what happened: Lich threw Prismatic Spray, and two PCs rolled bad. One was shunted to the Ethereal Plane with no way home (without help), and the other was turned to stone.

Remaining party, now down a fighter and a healer, retreated.

Lich broke the head off the statue, then restored to flesh so he could loot the body. Locked the soul away somehow, re-stoned the body and tossed into the Negative Material Plane.

The party recovered a bit of stone dust from the "break head off" part, so they have the requisite material needed for a Res or True Res, but with the soul imprisoned somewhere neither of those spells will work.

Player of dead Cleric brings in new character, game goes on.

But she wants that character back, for no obvious reason. So she gets the DM's approval, then asks us to run the scenario for the PC's rescue/Resurrection.

After that I ask some online friends for some insight on what spell the DM could have used, and... thereby hangs the tale, so to speak.

That description matches the Soul Bind spell proposed by Tony Vargas. The big drawback is having the appropriate material component on hand. Destroying/dispelling the gem sets the soul free and allow the various forms of resurrection.

 

[ElectricDragon]

Hmmm, I was thinking of Donjon card from deck of many things. But how to make someone draw it?

 

[Greenfield]

Hmmm, I was thinking of Donjon card from deck of many things. But how to make someone draw it?

That's pretty easy, actually.

There have been many descriptions of the Prestidigitation cantrip over the years/editions. One included the phrase "Perform minor tricks as a professional magician could do".

I used to be a professional magician. Give me a deck of cards, and I'll let you select "randomly". You'll pick the card I want you to nine out of ten times. It's called "forcing a card", and there are dozens of ways to do it.

If you don't like using the Cantrip approach, recall that it simulates specific Sleight of Hand maneuvers a person can do in the real world. That means they should also be possible with a good Sleight of Hand skill check.

A person who sees a card force coming, and is determined to pick the top or bottom card, or maybe the seventh card or some such, can foil many types of card forces. But if the choice is truly random, on your part, there won't be anything random about the results.

But Donjon effectively uses the Imprisonment spell. It traps a living person, not a dead soul.

Oddly, the Trap the Soul spell also traps the body, no matter what it says on the label.

There are some specific ways to die that forbid many of the "bring them back" spells. Effects that age someone can permanently kill them, since someone who dies of old age can't be brought back by any means, for more than a few minutes. After that they die of old age again.

In earlier editions there was a Longevity potion/elixir that gave you an extra D10 years, but that vanished after 3.0, as far as I know. One could argue that bringing back a dead-of-old-age person for those few minutes, then feeding them such a potion could prevent re-death.

Also, bring them back for those few minutes, then kill them quickly, so it wasn't age that killed them. After that Reincarnation brings them back in a new body, described as "young adult". One version, if applied right after death, does that with no level loss. I can't recall the spell name right of hand, but I think it was in Spell Compendium. Maybe Complete Divine.

Ironic that the true path to eternal life/youth involves getting killed.

 

[Salthorae]

A fellow gamer, in relating a tale from his game made reference to "the Assassin's spell", meaning a spell that keeps a slain person from being returned to life.

From context, it seems to lock the soul away somehow.

My associate runs a Pathfinder game, and my group hosts D&D. We have a player in common between the two.

Her DM (my associate) said the character was gone from his game (he had his reasons), but he said if she wanted to see if some other DM would run the rescue scenario, he was okay with it.

Still I was curious about the "assassin's spell" used to do this.

Since your associate is the one running the Pathfinder game, cant' you just ask him? Though I agree, it sounds like Soul Bind