Rate this spell: "Second Wind of the Martyr"

Agback

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Second Wind of the Martyr
Conjuration (healing)
Level: Clr/Pal 4
Components: V, S, M, DF
Casting Time: standard action
Range: touch
Target: dead creature touched (see text)
Duration: one round per level
Saving throw: none (see text)
Spell resistance: yes (harmless)

The cleric or paladin summons a lesser servitor of his god to reanimate the corpse of a fallen worshipper. The servitor acts in accordance with the god's principles under the general direction of the cleric, where necessary fighting and saving using the late worshipper's skills, bonus, feats, and extraordinary abilities. The servitor-animated corpse starts out with a number of hit points equal to the level of the caster plus one for each bonus hit die the target may possess aside from those he or she acquired as a result of class levels. The servitor does not have access to any of the dead person's supernatural or spell-like abilities, but it does enjoy darkvision. Roll for prepared spells and unexpended spell slots as explained in the spell 'Raise Dead': any that are retained are available to the servitor and if unused will remain to the target if he is alive at the end of the spell's duration; any that are lost will still be lost if the 'Raise Dead' effect works. And if both the god and the target of the spell are Lawful Good, the servitor has the class abilities of a paladin of level equal to the caster's level. If, during the duration of the spell the servitor manages to kill a sentient being, then at the end of the duration the spell the worshipper is returned to life as though by a 'Raise Dead' spell, and cleansed of ritual taint as though by an 'Atonement' spell.

To be an eligible target for this spell, the dead person must have been an initiate of the god's cult (eg. baptised), or a frequent and sincere worshipper, or must have taken part in an appropriate service of the god's cult (eg. gone to Church, prayed with a cleric or other priest in preparation for battle) within the 24 hours prior to his or her death or at the commencement of the undertaking in the course of which he or she was killed. Also, he or she must have an alignment close enough to that of the god that he or she would be eligible to be a cleric of the god. And he or she must have been killed while acting in pursuance of the god's principles or in the interests of the god's cult or worshippers. Furthermore, the target must have been dead no longer than one day.

Material component: a drachm of chrism that has been blessed by a cleric of the god in question who had 'Raise Dead' prepared at the time of the consecration. The blessing is equivalent to 'Bless Water', but requires caster level 9, so the price of this chrism is 90 gp, besides which the religious authorities generally regulate its possession and use.
 

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Kind of cool. It is a little like that Paladin "reanimate" spell or whatever itcalled in the PHB

I also like the flavor bits in the spell description although they wouldn't fit a lot of games

The "killing a sentinent" bit is a little necro for this though. I would drop it for "complete his gods mission" instead and drop that part for a Paladin version since Palys shouldn't be able to Raise

JMO anyway I do like the spell
 

As Ace pointed out, the part of "killing a sentient being" is a little obscure and it seems more for evil deities than for Paladins. Well, it's really not bad for a evil cleric (you can raise dead at 4th level at the cost of killing another person - cool and evil, yes), but I don't think it was your first purpose, it's not in line with the spell's name. So maybe you should change that statement.
Besides that, I like it.
 

G'day

Would you go for "kill a foe (or, if evil, either kill a foe or immolate a sentient victim)"?

The idea is a 'Raise Dead' spell at 4th level, with restrictions, conditions, and costs to balance out its being available to mid-level clerics and to paladins. It only works on someone the god kind-of owes, only works on someone the god would want back among the living, and really only works in circumstances (ie. during a fight that is in pursuance of the god's principles or against his worshipper's foes) where the god is likely to need extra feet on deck. In short I think the balancing restictions make sense.

Evil gets a bit of an advantage in that they can use the necromantic option of carrying out a sentient sacrifice, but Lawful Good gets to send in the ghost of a paladin to do some righteous smiting.

On the whole, I think it's balanced, and makes an interesting stopgap for those clerics who don't quite qualify to raise the dead.

Ace: I'm not familiar with the Paladin spell you mention. Can you give more details? And which bits of flavour do you think are most likely to clash with some settings? The use of chrism? Or the examples of who counts as a worshipper?

Regards,


Agback
 

My apologies the spell is called Revance

It is in Defenders of the Faith and allows the Paladin to temporarily raise an willing normally killed ally for 1 round a level (at 1/2 HP)
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Your version is more interesting but the "kill an enemy" and chrism component are a little world specific.

JMO
 

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