New Spell: Skin Suit

[Hawk Diesel]

So at the request of one of my players that has a particular request for their necromancer character, I have worked with him to create a new spell. I think it's a cool concept, and I think I got the mechanics worked out well enough. I've based it partially around arcane eye and dominate person to gauge the relative power level. I'd appreciate any feedback to improve on the spell or further refine it.

Skin Suit
5th-level necromancy (ritual)
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: 10 feet
Components: V, S, M (a live emerald wasp)
Duration: Instantaneous

This spell creates a special kind of undead servant that shares a special connection to you, allowing your soul to move between your body and the undead servant. Choose one intact corpse of a Medium or Small humanoid within range. The corpse cannot have been dead any longer than one week. Your spell then raises the target as a Skin Suit. This creature uses the same game statistics as a zombie (the DM has the creature’s game statistics).

On each of your turns, as long as you are on the same plane as your Skin Suit, you can use a bonus action to mentally command your Skin Suit. You decide what action the creature will take and where it will move during its next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as to guard a particular chamber or corridor. If you issue no commands, the creature only defends itself against hostile creatures. Once given an order, the creature continues to follow it until its task is complete.

Additionally, as a bonus action you can transfer your soul into the Skin Suit. Afterwards, you can perceive through your Skin Suit’s senses and control its actions as if it was your own body. During this time, your body enters a comatose state. This lasts until you use a bonus action to return to your body or the Skin Suit is destroyed.

While your soul inhabits the Skin Suit, you use your own game statistics with the following exceptions:

-You use your Skin Suit’s hit point total, but gain temporary hit points equal to your spellcaster level

-You use your Skin Suit’s armor class

-Any ability check or saving throw that uses Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution is done at disadvantage

-You cannot speak

While your soul inhabits the skin suit, you can cast spells through it as if you had cast them. If the spell requires an attack roll, you use your attack modifier for the roll. However, any spell more powerful than a cantrip has the potential to create a magical backlash. When you cast a spell of first level or higher, you must make a spellcaster check against a DC 10 + the level of the spell cast. Failure results in the spell slot being lost, destruction of the Skin Suit, and you take 1d10 psychic damage.

You can’t have more than one Skin Suit at a time. If you cast this spell while you already have a Skin Suit, the oldest Skin Suit is destroyed. Your Skin Suit remains until it is destroyed. If your Skin Suit is destroyed or leaves the same plan of existence as your body, your soul immediately returns to your body and you take 1d10 psychic damage.

 

[robus]

Not sure about the spellcasting aspect but the rest of it seems super cool. In fact the remote spellcasting aspect seems to make it much more powerful than arcane eye or dominate person?

 

[Unwise]

I like it, for a 5th level spell it is not inherently powerful. The usefulness will come in via creative uses of it. Walking the dead guard past his mates to unlock the gates, getting a delayed fireball spell into just the right location, walking him across the trapped floor to set off the trap etc.

What happens if the zombie dies from something other than casting while the caster is still in it? Any psychic backlash?

 

[Hawk Diesel]

I like it, for a 5th level spell it is not inherently powerful. The usefulness will come in via creative uses of it. Walking the dead guard past his mates to unlock the gates, getting a delayed fireball spell into just the right location, walking him across the trapped floor to set off the trap etc.

What happens if the zombie dies from something other than casting while the caster is still in it? Any psychic backlash?

Nah, I was thinking that it would only happen from a failed spellcasting attempt. Otherwise if the zombie dies you just lose your toy.

 

[Unwise]

I'd set the DC to know that something is terribly wrong with the zombie to be pretty low. It should be very hard to pass it off as an alive and OK person if they are standing right in front of you, but doable from a distance.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

Yea. I mean it would be a bit different if the body has been dead only minutes, but after a week it would be pretty clear.

 

[BLC1975]

Hi. How does the zombie cast the spells without the required components on its person? If your spirit is in the zombie surely you should no longer be in control of your own body to be able to cast spells through it? I'm also not sure how inhabiting the corpse with your spirit alone would automatically increase the HP.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

Hi. How does the zombie cast the spells without the required components on its person? If your spirit is in the zombie surely you should no longer be in control of your own body to be able to cast spells through it? I'm also not sure how inhabiting the corpse with your spirit alone would automatically increase the HP.

Because magic?

But here's my reasoning. Zombies have fairly low HP and AC. As a 5th level spell I feel the zombie should have a bit more survivability. But I don't want the zombie to get actual hit points have have its hit point maximum increase each time the spellcaster transfers into the zombie. Making it temp HP means that it won't stack each time you swap in and out, it just resets and the normal HP will continue to wear down once temp HP are used. As to how swapping in would make the zombie more durable, well HP is already an abstract concept. Losing HP doesn't always represent physical injury, so magically increased fortitude is an easy enough explanation.

As for the spells, the spellcaster's body provides all the verbal, somatic, and material components. While their body is comatose, that is the one exception. Since the zombie can't talk and a spellcaster likely doesn't want to part with valuable magical components, this would be the only way. It is already limited by requiring a spellcaster check for anything beyond a cantrip, with failure not only ending the spell but also loss of a spell slot and damage on top of that. This seems like a great enough risk to balance the power for remote spellcasting.

Additionally consider that while you can also use your own skill checks remotely, any check using Str, Dex, or Con is at disadvantage, and because the zombie can't talk you are unable to interact socially or use Charisma based skills relying on speech.

So as [MENTION=98008]Unwise[/MENTION] mentioned, this is mostly a utility spell rather than combat. It could be used to trigger traps and scout like an arcane eye, but unlike an arcane eye it is obvious and easily destroyed by others. And like dominate person, it allows you full control of another body and if the dominated person has spellcasting access to their spells.

So I see this spell somewhere in between dominate person and arcane eye.

 

[Ancalagon]

I think that magic jar should be used as a tool to compare, but I am away from my books at the moment...

 

[Hawk Diesel]

I think that magic jar should be used as a tool to compare, but I am away from my books at the moment...

I looked at Magic Jar. While there are similarities, there are also significant differences. For one, you are basically taking over the body of a living person. This is more of an empty shell. I also looked at Soul Cage, but that didn't seem really appropriate. I think while the themes of Magic Jar and Soul Cage are good points of comparison for Skin Suit, mechanically the spell seems somewhere in between Arcane Eye and Dominate Person.