Saturday 9 July 2011

A few new necromancer spells

I just felt like sharing a few of the new spells I've come up with in the process of creating the necromancer class which will feature in my book of magic (the only working title I have so far!). Of course necromancers have been rehashed endlessly in various editions of D&D, so some of the spells in the class' list are fairly familiar, but I'm also making an effort to come up with some original stuff to give it a bit of different twist. Here's a few of the new ones which are (as far as I know!) original.

(Note that while corpse visage was a spell in AD&D 2e, the version below shares only the name -- the effect is quite different.)

(Note 2: command dead is intended to be quite powerful for a 1st level spell -- the equivalent of the magic-user's sleep or charm person.)

The rest of this post is designated Open Gaming Content according to the Open Gaming License.

Command Dead
Level: 1
Duration: 1 turn
Range: 60'

This spell allows the caster to control up to 2d8 HD of recently deceased creatures, reanimating them as undead for a short time. The reanimated dead are mindless and are fully under the caster's control. They fight using their normal stats, having 1d8 hit points, and can be turned as zombies. When the duration expires the deceased fall immediately back into the grip of death.

Corpse Visage

Level: 2
Duration: 1 day per level
Range: Touch

This spell allows the caster to take on the facial appearance of the corpse of someone recently dead (within one week). The caster's face reflects the exact state of the corpse, and will decay as it decays. Nonetheless the spell is often enough to achieve the desired deception.

Walking Dead
Level: 3
Duration: Special
Range: Touch

When cast upon a character killed in combat this spell causes them to rise again and continue fighting. The affected character must have died within the last 5 rounds. The risen combatant is not considered undead, and is not controlled by the caster, maintaining their own goals and personality. They will attack to the best of their ability, being immune to fear and possessing an eerie strength, granting +1 to melee attacks and damage.

The spell lasts either until fighting stops or the affected character reaches -20 hit points. At this point the character drops to the ground, truly dead. Characters reanimated by this spell suffer a -10% adjustment to their chance of surviving resurrection.

2 comments:

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.