Erasmuz’s Exhumed Exposition (aka read with dead)

[Brain]

Exhumed Expositon. That's my final offer.

-- N

I like it.

Erasmuz's Exhumed Exposition

Now, do people think what I've proposed is more or less powerful than speak with dead so far?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think it's far less powerful than speak with dead. I'd peg it off of comprehend languages and then pop it up a level or two because it lets you read codes and such.

Flavorful spell, btw. Please post the final results.

 

[Nifft]

Yeah, totally a level 1 Divination and/or Necromancy.

It's basically "learn one secret".

Not a big deal.

-- N

 

[Brain]

I added a draft of the spell to the first post. Let me know what you think!

 

[the Jester]

Right:

Erasmuz’s Exhumed Exposition
Necromancy [Language-Dependent]
Level: Clr 2
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: 10 ft.
Target: One dead creature
Duration: 10 min./level (D)
Saving Throw: Will negates; see text
Spell Resistance: No

You grant the semblance of life and intellect to a corpse, allowing it to read aloud. The corpse’s knowledge is limited to what the creature knew during life, including the languages it spoke (if any). First, the corpse recites a list of languages that it can read as well as speak (it speaks the name of the language in that same language). The caster then specifies a language and starts specifying things to be read. The corpse must be as close to the object in question as it would have in life. Before reading, if the corpse has prior knowledge of any spells, codes, traps, or secrets pertaining to the object in question, it will explain. If the creature’s alignment was different from yours, the corpse gets a Will save to resist the spell as if it were alive.

Written material can be read at the rate of one page (250 words) per minute. Magical writing cannot be read, unless the corpse had used Read Magic in life at least once. For the purposes of warding magic, the corpse is considered to have the same identity it had in life. It will decipher codes or reveal messages concealed in otherwise normal text if it had the knowledge necessary to do so in life. If there are pages to be turned, the corpse turns them, or if the corpse has no hands, a ghostly hand appears to turn them.

If the corpse has been subject to Erasmuz’s Exhumed Exposition within the past week, the new spell fails. You can cast this spell on a corpse that has been deceased for any amount of time, but the body must be mostly intact to be able to respond. A damaged corpse may be able to give partial answers or partially correct answers, but it must at least have a mouth in order to speak at all.

This spell does not let you actually speak to the person (whose soul has departed). It instead draws on the imprinted knowledge stored in the corpse. The partially animated body retains the imprint of the soul that once inhabited it, and thus it can speak with all the knowledge that the creature had while alive. The corpse, however, cannot learn new information. Indeed, it can’t even remember being effected by the spell. This spell does not affect a corpse that has been turned into an undead creature.

As the dm of the campaign containing the pc in question, I give my official seal of approval. Flavorful, distinctly different from both speak with dead and comprehend languages, fills an interesting niche... it's likely to get in the next iteration of the CPG.

Now you just need time and space to research it in-game.

And, I guess, to survive the rest of the sea devil adventure.

 

[Ferret]

Likethe spell too, unique and full of flavour. Great.

 

[Brain]

Bump - for the Jester

 

[the Jester]

Bump - for the Jester

Ahhh, thanks!

Good stuff- I like how it came out. And now that we've had a year of time pass, some of which was down time, you're golden.

I'll transcribe this into the Cydra spell list... right now!

 

[Angel Tarragon]

- Read Me a Dead Time Story