I imagine at this point that the subject has been done to death. Since I mentioned it earlier, I would like to submit the following, which you may use as you will. In fact, I grant blanket rights unconditionally to consider the following OGC:
Speak with Dead (Revised Version)
Necromancy [Language-Dependent]
Level: Clr 3
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: 10 ft.
Target: One corpse
Duration: 1 min./level
Saving Throw: Will negates; see text
Spell Resistance: No
You grant the semblance of life and intellect to a corpse, allowing it to answer several questions that you put to it. You may ask one question per two caster levels. Unasked questions are wasted if the duration expires. The corpse’s knowledge is limited to what the creature knew during life, including the languages it spoke (if any). Answers are usually brief, cryptic, or repetitive. If the creature’s alignment was different from yours, the corpse gets a Will save to resist the spell as if it were alive.
If the corpse has been subject to speak with dead 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.
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 questioned.
A corpse is defined as a dead body, and for this spell must be mostly intact to be able to respond. These means that, at the very minimum, there must be a head, and sufficient bodily tissue for an animate dead spell to turn the corpse into a zombie. 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 affect a corpse that has been turned into an undead creature.
(NOTE: All revisions and editions are in
yellow green for clarity. The line, "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" was moved, but not altered.)
Commune with Dead
Necromancy [Language-Dependent]
Level: Clr 3
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: Touch
Target: Dead creature touched
Duration: 1 min./level
Saving Throw: Will negates; see text
Spell Resistance: Yes
By touching the remains of a deceased creature, you are able to commune with its departed soul, allowing it to answer several questions that you put to it. You may ask one question per two caster levels. Unasked questions are wasted if the duration expires. The soul’s knowledge is limited to what the creature knew during life, including the languages it spoke (if any), and the condition of the soul in the afterlife (including knowledge of the plane to which the soul has been consigned).
The soul is able to answer as though it were alive, although answers may be brief or cryptic, depending upon the nature of the questions asked. Although the soul is compelled to answer, in general, most souls that have gone on to planes with the "evil" descriptor are more interested in their torment than in the questions they are asked. Petitioners to some planes may lose the memory of their mortal lives; these souls may, however, answer questions about their current plane of existence.
If the creature’s alignment was different from yours, or was antagonistic to you during life, the soul gets a Will save to resist the spell as if it were alive. Even if this check fails, the soul is allowed to attempt Bluff checks to give misleading answers.
If the remains have been subject to commune with dead within the past week, the new spell fails. You can cast this spell on remains that have been deceased for any amount of time, and the body need not be intact. Even a single fingerbone is enough to allow commune with dead to be cast.
Unlike speak with dead, the recipient of a commune with dead can remember being questioned, including knowledge of who the questioner was, and the memory of previous questionings may color the answers given by subsequent castings.
This spell does not affect remains that have been turned into an undead creature. Further, it does not affect remains whose soul has turned into an undead creature (such as a ghost), or whose soul has been somehow destroyed.
Hope someone gains some use from these.
RC
