Raise Dead

Necromancy (Healing)
Level: Healing 5
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Target: Dead creature touched
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None; see text
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
Spell Points: 9; XP; see text

With a flash of light and a deep bass note, the fallen draws breath again.

You restore life to a deceased creature. You can raise a creature that has been dead for no longer than one day per caster level. 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. A character who died with unused spell points comes back with 50% of them (rounded down, minimum 0). The potential spell point loss for losing a level won’t come in until the next time the raised character replenishes his spell points.

A raised creature has 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 in the process of raising the subject, but magical diseases and curses are not undone. While the spell closes mortal wounds and repairs lethal damage of most kinds, 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 undead creatures can’t be raised. The spell cannot bring back a creature that has died of old age.

Augment: This spell can be augmented in one or more of the following ways:

  1. If you spend 2 additional spell points and 500 additional XP, the condition of the remains is not a factor. So long as some small portion of the creature’s body still exists, you can cast this spell on the remains. 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.) The creature is restored to full hit points (although reduced due to the level or constitution loss), and all missing body parts are restored. Magical diseases and curses are still not undone.

  2. If you spend 2 additional spell points and 500 additional XP, the creature can have been dead no longer than 10 years per caster level rather than one day per caster level.

  3. If you spend an additional spell point and 250 additional XP, a spellcaster being raised does not lose any spell points as part of returning from the dead.

  4. If you spend an additional spell point and 250 additional XP, curses and magical diseases are cured as part of the subject returning from the dead.

  5. If you spend 2 additional spell points and 250 additional XP, you can resurrect someone killed by a death effect or someone who has been turned into an undead creature and then destroyed. In the case of an undead creature, the creature is returned to the state it was before it died.

  6. If you spend 2 additional spell points and 250 additional XP, you can resurrect an elemental or an outsider.

  7. If you spend 4 additional spell points and 1000 additional XP, you can bring back creatures whose bodies have been destroyed, provided that you unambiguously identify the deceased in some fashion (reciting the deceased’s time and place of birth or death is the most common method). The creature is restored to full hit points (although reduced due to the level or constitution loss), and its body is restored. Magical diseases and curses are still not undone. This changes the spell’s range to “unlimited” and its target entry to an “Effect: Resurrection” entry.

  8. If you spend 8 additional spell points and 4000 additional XP, the subject of the spell does not lose a level or points of constitution when it is raised from the dead.

Experience Cost: 1000XP.