[Undeath] and [Life]

[Cheiromancer]

How about we call it [Undeath] instead of [Animate Dead]? I don't know if every seed can have a one word name, but it seems desirable to attempt it.

This seed is a strange one. The animate dead spell will make 40 HD worth of skeletons and zombies, albeit with a cost of 25 gp/HD. 1000 gp isn't very much at 20th level, but then again, neither is a bunch of zombies. It seems like the spell should do more.

I'm folding an instantaneous command undead effect into the spell and making it effective at close range. I'm guesstimating that this would make it a decent 10th level effect. I'm making the "double effect" factor as cheap as I dare; it's a way to animate a whole graveyard, or even a battlefield.

The kernel for the creation of intelligent undead is 30 + (CR x 2). Which is quite high, considering the undead are indifferent to you. However they represent lasting additions to the campaign, unlike calls or summonings which are essentially temporary. And the spells they are based on are notoriously weak. Why would an 18th level wizard spend an 8th level spell, 350 gp in gems and an hour of his time to make a spectre that is not even under his control? It would be much easier just to feed a mook to an undead that already exists?

Anyway, this seed is not as closely connected to the base spells as some, and might need further revision.

Undeath
Necromancy [Evil]

Root Spell: Animate dead, create undead, create greater undead
Preferred Mitigation: Ritual, Power Components
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 75 ft.
Target: One or more corpses within range
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

You may turn the bones or bodies of dead creatures into undead skeletons or zombies that follow your spoken commands, or alternatively create more powerful undead which you must control through some other means. You do not need line of effect to the corpses you animate, but you must know where they are. A destroyed undead can’t be animated again.

The caster may use [undeath] to create mindless undead:

• Up to 40 HD of skeletons and/or zombies may be created. You may command the undead to follow you, or to remain in an Area and attack any creature (or a specific type of creature) entering the place. The undead remain animated until they are destroyed, and remain under the caster’s control indefinitely. You can communicate only basic commands to mindless undead, such as “come here,” “go there,” “fight,” “stand still,” and so on. Nonintelligent undead won’t resist suicidal or obviously harmful orders.

Factor: To animate another group of up to 40 HD of undead within range, increase the Spellcraft Prerequisite by +4.

Control: There is no natural limit to the number of mindless undead you can control by means of this spell. However your commands are not telepathic. The undead creature must be able to hear you. If another character assumes control over undead you create, your control is suspended, but if they lose control it reverts to you. In the absence of commands, mindless undead tend to wander aimlessly, slaying any living thing they encounter.

You may also develop a spell that creates more sophisticated undead.

• You may create one or more intelligent undead, including undead with templates: a templated undead is built upon the race, class, hit dice and abilities which the target creature or character possessed in life. Certain templated undead, such as vampires, must possess a minimum number of hit dice. Intelligent undead can follow more sophisticated commands and have a base attitude of indifferent, but are not automatically under your control. You may create undead whose combined CR does not exceed 12. For each additional CR of intelligent undead created, increase the Spellcraft Prerequisite by +2.

Factor: To improve the base attitude to friendly or helpful, increase the Spellcraft Prerequisite by +4 or +8, respectively. These attitudes will change depending on how well the undead are treated, as they would for any NPC.

Flexibility: A spell developed from the [undeath] seed can create one kind of intelligent undead. Additional categories of undead may be created by adding the appropriate flexibility factors. Add +4 to the Spellcraft Prerequisite for each option desired from the following list:

• any corporeal undead (without the extraplanar subtype).
• Any incorporeal undead
• Any extraplanar undead

Alternatively you may increase the Spellcraft Prerequisite by +10 and create any kind of undead.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

How about we call it [Undeath] instead of [Animate Dead]? I don't know if every seed can have a one word name, but it seems desirable to attempt it.

Good thinking.

Control: There is no natural limit to the number of mindless undead you can control by means of this spell.

Effectively, you've combined the creation and control factors for mindless undead, yes? I think this is fine, and a lot tidier than having two separate fators. And let's face it - it's a bunch of zombies. Balance concerns are not paramount on my radar, here.

You may create intelligent undead and undead with templates: a templated undead is built upon the race, class, hit dice and abilities which the target creature or character possessed in life. Intelligent undead can follow more sophisticated commands and have a base attitude of indifferent, but are not automatically under your control. You may create any single undead whose hit dice are not more than 3 more than the level or hit dice the base creature had in life. This has a Spellcraft Prerequisite of 24, or twice the CR of the undead created, whichever is higher.

I can see where you're coming from, but I'd waive the restriction on the number of HD which the subject must possess - neither create undead nor create greater undead contain this proviso; but I would include a line to the effect that "certain undead, such as vampires, must possess a minimum number of hit dice" - I think DMs can work it out from there.

I'd also rephrase the last part: "you may create undead whose combined CR does not exceed 12. For each additional CR of intelligent undead created, increase the Spellcraft Prerequisite by +2." This is trivial, but it would be nice if we could keep the language consistent across seeds.

Factor: To improve the base attitude to friendly or helpful, increase the Spellcraft Prerequisite by +4 or +8, respectively. These attitudes will change depending on how well the undead are treated, as they would for any NPC.

I love this. This seed was sorely in need of something like this.

Flexibility: A spell developed from [undeath] normally creates up to two related kinds of undead. The most basic version creates skeletons and zombies; another spell, ghouls and ghasts; yet another, vampire spawn and vampires. For each additional kind of undead that the spell can create, increase the Spellcraft Prerequisite by +1.

I think that this might be too ambiguous: are wraiths and spectres similar? Ghouls and Abyssal Ghouls? Maybe a spell developed should only apply to one specific kind of undead, with broader categories at +4SP:

Any corporeal undead (without the extraplanar subtype)
Any incorporeal undead
Any extraplanar undead

And any undead at +10.

 

[Cheiromancer]

Sounds good. How does it look now?

 

[Sepulchrave II]

Sheer pedantry, here:

You may create one or more intelligent undead, including undead with templates

Factor: Multiple intelligent undead may be created. This has a Spellcraft Prerequisite of 24 or twice the CR of the group created, whichever is higher.

This line is now redundant.

 

[Cheiromancer]

This seed might be a bit flaky; I've incorporated a lot of crazy ideas into it. And I'm not at all sure I'm handling the mitigation correctly; I might have retro-engineered some seeds incorrectly from their base spells.

***

Seed: Life
Conjuration (Healing)

Root Spell: Raise dead, resurrection
Preferred Mitigation: Ritual, Extended Casting, Power Components
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 75 ft.
Target: One or more corpses within range
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None or Will negates; see text
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless) or Yes; see text

You may restore life and complete vigor to one or more deceased creatures whose total CR does not exceed 12. The condition of the remains is not a factor. So long as some small portion of an affected creature’s body still exists, it can be returned to life, but the portion receiving the spell must have been part of the creature’s body at the time of death. (The remains of a creature hit by a disintegrate spell count as a small portion of its body.) An affected creature may not be a construct or undead, and can have been dead for no longer than 1000 years. The creature is immediately restored to full hit points, vigor, and health, with no loss of prepared spells. The [life] seed cannot revive someone who has died of old age.

Factor: For each additional CR to be raised, increase the Spellcraft Prerequisite by +2.

Factor: You may reduce the Spellcraft Prerequisite by 20 by reducing the Range to Touch and the Target to “Dead creature(s) touched”.

Factor: You may reduce the Spellcraft Prerequisite by 10 by stipulating that the creature loses a level (or 2 points of Constitution if the subject was 1st level). A [life] spell with this factor cannot affect elementals or outsiders.

Factor: If the body of a creature must be whole to be raised, reduce the Spellcraft Prerequisite by 8. A [life] spell with this factor cannot affect a creature slain by death magic, and does not restore full vitality: the creature is revived with a number of hit points equal to its current Hit Dice. Any ability scores damaged to 0 are raised to 1. Normal poison and normal disease are cured, but magical diseases and curses are not undone. Mortal wounds are closed and most kinds of lethal damage are repaired, but missing parts are still missing when the creature is brought back to life. A character who died with spells prepared has a 50% chance of losing any given spell upon being raised. A spellcasting creature that doesn’t prepare spells (such as a sorcerer) has a 50% chance of losing any given unused spell slot as if it had been used to cast a spell.

Factors: You may decrease the maximum length of time that a target has been dead by applying the appropriate temporal range factor to the spell:

1 century: -2
10 years: -4
1 year: -6
20 days: -8
20 hours: -10
200 minutes: -12
20 rounds: -14
1 round: -16​

You may also develop a spell which revives creatures that have been dead for longer than 1000 years. For each 10-fold increase in “temporal range”, increase the Spellcraft Prerequisite by +2.

Special: Only divine casters who channel positive energy and can cast miracle as a divine spell treat the [life] seed as an associated seed.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

Seed: Life
Conjuration (Healing)

You're having one of your more eccentric moments, aren't you?

I'd opt for a much more conservative iteration, in line with resurrection, and assume an implicit level loss in [life] - I think that the true resurrection aspect would work better as an esoteric seed (or as an esoteric factor?).

If characters want to do the resurrection thing without level loss otherwise, they have to cast a 9th-level spell, spend 10 minutes and use 25K in diamonds like everyone else - maybe spells like true resurrection (or holy aura) are best understood as esoteric powers modulated by time-tested methods, but their scope is confined by these same rites.

I would suggest that the ability to freely manipulate [life] without level loss is appended to the Magnificat feat (in whatever guise it finally assumes); perhaps an opposed benefit (a destruction effect which cannot be undone by nonepic magic springs to mind) could be extended to its anti-feat - which I think should be called Devourer of Life, btw.

I'd rather not include a CR component. Consider, for a moment, a Clerical equivalent of Jake (let's call him Bruce) with a noncore build (indulge me). He has the Ignore Material Components epic feat, the Quicken Spell and Rapid Spell feats, MF and a bunch of AMCs. His true resurrection can be cast as a Quickened Spell with no material components using 8 metamagic levels; alternatively it could be made Rapid to 1 standard action and Twinned (+7 metamagic levels). Multiple Twinnings = mass true resurrection; voila. A player who wants to optimize his character for true res can do it via AMC and a couple of not-so-obscure feats.

The +2SP per +1CR factor would make the [life] seed inordinately expensive when mass resurrecting an epic party - honestly, I think that it's a given that most players would want this kind of spell pretty soon in their repertoire, and will be miffed if they can't get it. I think it should be free to combine with an area factor which allows multiple resurrections.

Anyway, here's the [life] which I favour at 10.09 on Monday night:


[Life]
Conjuration (Healing)

Root Spell: Raise dead, resurrection
Preferred Mitigation: Extended casting time, power components
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 1200 ft.
Target: Dead creature within range
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None; see text
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless); see text

You restore life to a deceased creature. You can raise a creature that has been dead for no longer than twenty days. In addition, the subject’s soul must be free and willing to return. If the subject’s soul is not willing to return, the spell does not work; therefore, a subject that wants to return receives no saving throw.

Coming back from the dead is an ordeal. The subject of the spell loses one level (or 1 Hit Die) when it is raised, just as if it had lost a level or a Hit Die to an energy-draining creature. If the subject is 1st level, it loses 2 points of Constitution instead (if this would reduce its Con to 0 or less, it can’t be raised). This level/HD loss or Constitution loss cannot be repaired by any means. Upon completion of the spell, the creature is otherwise immediately restored to full hit points, vigor, and health, with no loss of prepared spells.

While the spell closes mortal wounds and repairs lethal damage, the body of the creature to be raised must be whole. Otherwise, missing parts are still missing when the creature is brought back to life. None of the dead creature’s equipment or possessions are affected in any way by this spell.

A creature who has been turned into an undead creature or killed by a death effect can’t be raised by this spell. Constructs, elementals, outsiders, and destroyed undead creatures can’t be raised. The spell cannot bring back a creature that has died of old age.

Factor: To extend the [life] seed to affect constructs, elementals, outsiders or destroyed undead, increase the Spellcraft Prerequisite by +2 for each additional category of creature.

Factor: To develop a spell which allows the [life] seed to extend to creatures slain by death effects, or of whom only a fragment remains (such as one subject to disintegration), increase the Spellcraft Prerequisite by +4. To develop a spell which extends the [life] seed to any deceased creature, regardless of its means of death or the existence or absence of remains, increase the Spellcraft Prerequisite by +6.

Factor: You may increase or decrease the maximum length of time that a target has been dead by applying the appropriate temporal range factor to the spell:

200 years: +6
20 years: +4
20 months: +2
20 hours: -2
200 minutes: -4
20 minutes: -6
20 rounds: -8
1 round: -10​

You may also develop a spell which revives creatures that have been dead for longer than 200 years. For each 10-fold increase in “temporal range”, increase the Spellcraft Prerequisite by +2.

Special: Only divine casters who channel positive energy and can cast miracle as a divine spell treat the [life] seed as an associated seed.

 

[Cheiromancer]

You're having one of your more eccentric moments, aren't you?

I prefer to call them whimsies.

There's something about memento vitae spells that make me nervous. Especially if they could employ true resurrection's "unambiguous identification" clause in lieu of a body. If you have a way to restore lost equipment to a party (via some kind of epic mass instant summons), the net cost of a TPK would be that an NPC ally has to use an epic spell slot. Is there some reason why this wouldn't be a problem?

The CR limits are not too constraining. In my system a 21st level seed-using cleric (call him Skippy) can resurrect a comrade by touch as a standard action provided said comrade has been dead no more than 20 days and is no more than CR 26. (-20 for reducing targets and range, -8 for reduced temporal range, +28 for +14 CR). If he uses all the bells and whistles for a true resurrection (-6 for longer casting time, -5 for power components) he could raise a CR 30 character; almost CR 31. That's 10 levels more than he is.

The CR factor means that it is non-trivial to raise dead gods. But raising a village of slaughtered 1st level commoners would be relatively straightforward. I think both of these results are desirable.

If there is going to be a feat around that boosts the ability of [life], it could be one that boosts the CR limit greatly. Three dead 21st level characters is equivalent to a CR 36; 72SP without mitigation. 30 points in factors, 6 points in casting time, and 8 points in reduced temporal range and 4 points in power components would do it. Or fiddle with the range so that it is "creatures touched" and you probably could do it in a round with no power components.

It could be that Bruce (you meant him to be the clerical analogue of Matt, right? Not Jake?) is better at resurrecting people than Skippy. Maybe that's a good thing- Jacobeans can't be better at everything. But I think that true resurrection needs a level cap; it can't affect someone with more than 25 HD without costing a level. (I'm also tying the "costs a level" with "cannot affect outsiders and elementals", btw)

I don't want to be too vigorous in my defense; if this is indeed a whimsy it will be embarrassing to have to eat my words later. But perhaps it isn't merely a whimsy, and there is something worth retaining in this formulation.

Special: Only divine casters who channel positive energy and can cast miracle as a divine spell treat the [life] seed as an associated seed.

I like this. I also like the name "Devourer of Life".

 

[Cheiromancer]

Looking through the Spell Compendium, I notice that revive outsider has a hit dice cap, and doesn't cause level drain. I heartily approve the linkage of these notions.

I don't know what to think of the revive undead spell, though; they seem to have tried awfully hard to make it a mirror image of raise dead. A black pearl instead of diamonds, a hit dice lost (or if the subject is first level, a loss of 2 Charisma). Can't be brought back if destroyed by turning (the undead equivalent of death magic, I guess).