Followers of the North Gods, Death, and Necromancy
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Followers of the North Gods, Death, and Necromancy
All “devoted” followers of the North Gods pass through Hade’s Underrealm in the Lower Outlands before being allowed to continue on to their home planes as petitioners. Those that are lacking in their faith are given penance, to perform, for as long as the Lord of the Dead demands. Note: Followers of the Sword, Interloper, and World Gods are not judged in this way regardless of where they live in the Lands of Harqual.
Note that the member deities of the Pantheon of the North take death very seriously, due to what occurred with Tok. “Devoted” followers of a North God deity must take the Oath of Life and Death. This magical oath, which is similar to geas/quest spell, means that the character won’t use forbidden Necromancy magic (such as the inflict spells) or magic items that duplicate forbidden Necromancy magic.
The character is protected, by the Oath, from being turned into an undead creature, but the character loses the option of being raised or resurrected, even through the power of a miracle or wish spell. The character accepts death as a natural part of life, even if that death wasn’t a peaceful one (i.e. death by violence). The Oath of Life and Death is optional to the masses, and even to the clergy members of the various faiths of the Pantheon, except for the clergy of Hades.
However, note that clerics of the North Gods cannot cast evilly aligned Necromancy spells, regardless of whether or not they have taken the Oath of Life and Death, as well as those Necromancy spells designated as “gray”, with a few exceptions (see below).
Thus, clerics of the North God can only cast the following Necromancy spells from the D&D PHB v.3.5: astral projection, death ward, disrupt undead, gentle repose, halt undead, hide from undead, horrid wilting (Water Domain clerics only), mark of justice, speak with dead, and undeath to death. Druids dedicated to a North God may cast death ward, blight, and poison but not contagion or finger of death.
Clerics of Hades can also cast the following “gray” Necromancy spells from the D&D PHB v.3.5: bestow curse, blindness/deafness, cause fear, deathwatch, destruction, doom, slay living, and wail of the banshee. Clerics of Aegir can also cast the spells above that are part of the Repose Domain but not the others.
The following necromancy spells from the Complete Series are off-limits to all “devoted” followers of the North Gods, regardless of alignment, class, or deity: blackfire, contagious touch, cursed blade, curse of lycanthropy, death pact, decomposition, heart ripper, infestation of maggots, scourge, spiritwall, sword of darkness, wrack, and wracking touch. Bards devoted to Hades (i.e. multiclassed bard/clerics) may learn to cast the wail of doom spell from D&D Complete Adventurer. Wizards, but not sorcerers, devoted to Hades (i.e. multiclassed cleric/wizards) may learn to cast the arrow of bone, backbiter, burning blood, heart of stone, and withering palm spells from D&D Complete Arcane.