Spells of the Secret Craft of Necromancy
The Death Masters of the Secret Craft of Necromancy wield the blackest, most horrific, worst of the worst spells of the powerful magic of death and undeath. Here is a compilation of such spells, crafted by the mightiest of necromancers in Glantri, including Prince Morphail Gorevitch-Woszlany of Boldavia and Prince Brannart McGregor of Klantyre.
Morphail's Wraith Curse
Level: 6
School: Necromancy
Range: Touch
Duration: 1round/level
Area of Effect: 1 edged weapon
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 round
Saving Throw: None
Morphail's wraith curse must be cast on an edged weapon, which becomes surrounded by a black, crackling aura for the duration of the spell. The dagger must then be used to kill someone with one strike. (Usually Morphail's wraith curse is used against a fatally wounded or helpless victims.) If the target is not killed by that strike, the spell wears off. If the target does die, he becomes a wraith in the next round under the control of the necromancer.
The wraith exists until killed, but the necromancer must make an Intelligence check for the next seven nights, to maintain the control over the undead. A failed check frees the wraith (who usually goes after the caster). If the necromancer maintains the control for seven nights, the wraith is obedient forever.
Morphail's Soulcage
Level: 6
School: Necromancy
Range: Touch
Duration: Permanent
Area of Effect: 1 object
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: Special
Saving Throw: None
This spell is the first of a series of spells designed by Prince Morphail Gorevitch-Woszlany, High Master of Necromancy, which captures, tortures, and ultimately destroys a living being's soul.
Morphail's soulcage prepares a container for the soul of one specific person. Enchanting the cage takes one hour per level of the victim. The container may be just about anything, but it must have been in the possession of the victim for at least a year. The cage turns black, as if burnt, as the result of the spell. After the soulcage is created, it cannot be dispelled without physically breaking the object. Morphail's soulcage functions even within anti-magic zones.
The material components of the spell, besides the object, are a strand of hair, a bit of nail, and a drop of blood from the victim. The caster must also have the knowledge of all the names the victim has regularly used in his life.
Morphail's Soulbind
Level: 6
School: Necromancy
Range: 30 feet
Duration: Permanent
Area of Effect: 1 disembodied soul
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 hour
Saving Throw: None
Morphail's soulbind spell requires a container enchanted with Morphail's soulcage spell and one disembodied soul. Morphail's soulbind effectively forces the soul into the soulcage, where the soul is trapped, until it is freed by physically breaking the container. Morphail's soulbind cannot be dispelled without breaking the container. After the soul is trapped, other soul magic can be used against it. It is possible to communicate with the soul by using ESP or similar forms of magic.
Brannart's Mark of the Damned
Level: 7
School: Necromancy
Range: Touch
Duration: Permanent
Area of Effect: 1 person
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 6
Saving Throw: Negates
Brannart's mark of the damned is an invisible magical sigil that must be placed on the victim's forehead. If the victim fails a saving throw vs. death magic, the spell brands him with Brannart's mark of the damned. The victims will immediately know that something is horribly wrong. All those who see the victim's face, will treat him as if they saw a lich. They see him just as he is, but their attitude is altered and they cannot explain why. The victim causes them to feel panic, rage, fear... Even if he can get someone to believe that he is not a lich, they will still react the same way.
Brannart's mark of the damned cannot be dispelled, but a bless or a remove curse cast by a lawful cleric of the same level as the necromancer remove the mark. The necromancer can also remove the mark by a simple touch.
Morphail's Soulsteal
Level: 7
School: Necromancy
Range: 30 feet
Duration: Permanent
Area of Effect: 1 victim
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 2 rounds
Saving Throw: Negates
Upon the casting of Morphail's soulsteal, the victim must save vs. death magic, or else this spell effectively drains the soul of the victim permanently from his body. The body does not die, but the soul appears pure and naked white misty form next to it. The soul is immune to most magic, and can only move (in a hovering motion) at walking speed. If the soul is still free after five minutes, it is drawn to afterlife.
Before the disembodied soul dies, specific soul magic can be used to affect the soul (such as ESP, magic jar, Morphail's soulbind, Morphail's soulsurge, etc.). If the victim has any such magic, his soul can also use them in this disembodied state, but no other form of magic. Attempts to raise or resurrect the victim (cast on the body) will work if the soul is still free and has not gone to the afterlife.
The material component of this spell is a hand of a zombie, skeleton or other corporeal undead, who was a thief in his lifetime.
Brannart's Death to the Sun
Level: 9
School: Necromancy
Range: 0
Duration: One full day
Area of Effect: 8-mile radius around the caster
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 5 rounds
Saving Throw: None
Prince Brannart McGregor crafted this stronger version of Brannart's Eclipse, mostly to irk his rival, Prince Morphail Gorevitch-Woszlany, who would most benefit from this spell but whose jealous pride prevents him from seeking a way to learn this spell.
Brannart's Death to the Sun must be cast just before sunrise, and will prevent the sun from shining in the area of effect for an entire day. The spell practically creates one long night that only ends when the sun dawns on the next day.
All spells of a duration of one night will last through this whole period until the next dawn. Nocturnal creatures and undead will be active throughout the prolonged night. Small flora and fauna, which are only active during the daytime, may wither and die. Intelligent beings will be nervous and prone to violence. During the second night, the temperature in the given area drops severely.
The material component of this spell is a burnt-out candle, a piece of black sackcloth, a shiny golden coin, and the blood of a rooster killed at dawn.
Brannart's Tearing the Soul
Level: 7
School: Necromancy
Range: 20 feet + 3 feet/level
Duration: Instantaneous and Permanent
Area of Effect: One mortal creature
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 round
Saving Throw: Negates
Brannart's tearing the soul is Prince Brannart McGregor's name for this ancient and evil spell he rediscovered a few decades ago. The origin of this spell lies in the ancient past and in the depths of the Sea of Dread where the Taymoran Empire once lay. The original spell was used by the Taymoran Necromancer Kings for sacrifice and other dark ceremonies. This spell is used not only to kill and torture the body, but also as an act against the undying soul of the living. Prince Brannart himself has already tried this spell on some of his relatives and ancestors.
When this spell is cast, a black shadowy claw emerges from nowhere and extends toward the enemy that automatically hits the target. The claw ravages through the soul of the target and tries to tear it apart. The target suffers 4d6 points of bodily damage (no save) and then must make a saving throw against spells with a –3 penalty. If the save is made, the target only suffers the bodily damage and the spell ends. If the save fails, the claw carves the target's soul and tears part of it out of the body. The spell works on the basis that the soul is made of parts from the Spheres of Power: Matter, Time, Energy and Thought.
The DM rolls 1d6 or decides on one of the effects of this tearing of the soul.
The material component of this spell is a human skull, which the caster must crush with his bare hands (The skull many be weakened or softened, or the caster may magically enhance his strength, prior to the casting of this spell).
Angus's Soul to Soul
Level: 4
School: Necromancy
Range: 10 feet
Duration: Permanent
Area of Effect: The caster and one creature
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 round
Saving Throw: Negates
This spell was created by the boy-genius Angus McGregor, who is trapped in the unaging body of a ten year-old boy.
Angus' soul to soul requires one living sentient human or humanoid, who must be strapped on an altar and oiled with wolf's bile. When the spell is cast, the victim must make a save vs. spells, or else the souls of the caster and the victim switch bodies. Each soul retains all original knowledge and mental abilities, but has the physical abilities of the new body. A willing victim (rarely the case) may waive the saving throw, making the spell automatically succeeded, even without the elaborate physical preparations.
The spell is permanent unless dispelled by a limited wish or wish, which will then cause the souls to return to their original bodies.
Brannart's Eclipse
Level: 7
School: Necromancy
Range: 0
Duration: 20 turns/level
Area of Effect: A half-mile radius/level around the caster
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 2 rounds
Saving Throw: None
Brannart's eclipse can be only cast before sunrise, and prevents sunrise within a given area, postponing it by 20 turns per level of the caster. The spell reflects all the sunlight within the area back to the sun, but lets starlight and moonlight through. The area of effect moves with the caster.
Brannart's eclipse also extends the duration of all spells lasting for one night. Note that very powerful mages, such as Prince Brannart himself, can eclipse an entire day in a given area, making the night very long indeed. The spell cannot be cast on two subsequent days.
It is ironic that it was Prince Brannart McGregor who created the spell, when it would be his rival Prince Morphail Gorevitch-Woszlany and his vampire pawns who would benefit from this the most. Out of jealous rage, Prince Morphail forbids his vampires to cast this spell within the area of Boldavia (which is gloomy enough in itself), but he is not averse from casting it himself if the situation calls for it.
The material components for this spell are a burnt out candle, a piece of black sackcloth, and a shiny gold coin, which are all consumed in the casting.
Valdemar's Rebirth
Level: 8
School: Necromancy
Range: Touch
Duration: Permanent
Area of Effect: The caster and a woman
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 round
Saving Throw: None
This spell was researched by a well-known necromancer of Glantri, Valdemar von Ostbruck, who later retired from necromancy. (It is rumored that Valdemar authored a Tome of Advanced Necromancy wherein he revealed many arcane secrets of the Secret Craft of Necromancy, including Prince Morphail's collection of spells on soul magic. When this traitorous deed was exposed, Valdemar fled to Darokin to become a cleric of the Immortal Valerias. Some say he died of extreme fear of death itself and now haunts a Temple of Valerias as a darkhood.)
Valdemar's rebirth is a long and difficult method of reversing the process of undeath. The spell must be cast by an undead necromancer to a fertile woman, who is willing to cooperate with the necromancer. The woman becomes pregnant, and the unborn baby will house the soul of the necromancer, leaving the caster's body uninhabited. When the child is born, it will have no memories of its previous life, but it will have all the non-magical skills it had before. Thus, the baby will very adept in babbling in arcane languages. The personality is also that of the caster. As the baby grows, for every month that passes, he remembers one year of his previous life, regaining also his arcane abilities, maturity and personality. When the child is physically ten years old, he is probably a very potent spellcaster once more.
The material component of this spell is a souvenir from the necromancer (typically a ring or a pendant), that the woman must wear during the pregnancy and the baby will wear until he attains full awareness of his previous life.
Morphail's Soulsurge
Level: 8
School: Necromancy
Range: 30 yards
Duration: 30 minutes
Area of Effect: one victim
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 2 rounds
Saving Throw: Negates
Morphail's soulsurge is a powerful spell that removes the soul of one person from his body, and allows the necromancer transform it to an overwhelming surge of power—but it is not without costs!
When Morphail's soulsurge is first cast the victim may save vs. death magic to cancel its effects. If the victim fails, he dies and his soul is drawn from his body and absorbed in a great flash of light. Note that the body does not die, but may easily become a corporeal undead (zombies usually). The victim can never be raised.
The necromancer will get one point of soul power per experience level of the victim for the duration of the spell. A soul power point may be either used to fire black bolts of lightning (one target only, causing 1d6 points of damage for every soul power point used, maximum of 20d6 per bolt, save vs. magic for half damage), to temporarily increase the caster's level (one level per two soul power points), or to instantaneously re-memorize one cast spell (one spell level per two soul power points).
The burning energies of Morphail's soulsurge cause one point of damage to the necromancer per point of soul power absorbed.
The material component is a cursed silver mirror, which is irrevocably melted by the energies of the spell.
Brannart's Night of the Dead
Level: 9
School: Necromancy
Range: 0
Duration: 1 night
Area of Effect: 1-mile radius/level
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 hour
Saving Throw: None
Brannart's night of the dead is a ritual spell takes an hour to cast, and requires arcane equipment (such as magical symbols, candles, braziers, etc.) and one sentient living victim to be sacrificed and never be brought back to life. When cast, the visible effects of the spells are horrific: the dead rise from their graves and from the long-forgotten battlefields, strong icy wind blows, spreading thin swirling mists everywhere.
Every dead body within the area is turned either to skeleton or a zombie (depending on their condition) under the caster's control. Every mindless undead succumbs to the caster's will, and every sentient undead must save vs. spells or be also controlled by the caster. The sacrificed victim is transformed to a vampire under the caster's control for the duration of the spell. The caster can give telepathic orders to all the dead within the area. Every undead creature (including the caster, if he is such) under the spell, is strengthened by 1hp per HD, and they strike with +2 bonus to hit and damage. All turning attempts against the undead are made with at two-thirds the normal level.
The undead animated by Brannart's night of the dead drop dead when the sun rises, and can never again be animated by the same necromancer. The area of effect moves with the caster, and if the undead are left out of it, they also drop dead. Usually, though as the caster walks on, more and more undead rise from other areas to serve him. Brannart's night of the dead cannot be dispelled by anything short of a wish, but the spell ends if the necromancer is killed or the vampire used in the ritual is permanently destroyed.
This spell is not named after Prince Brannart McGregor, but his ancestor and namesake, Brannart "the Red" McGregor, who was the first ruler of the Kaelics on Mystara, and believed to have been become a powerful lich. Since then, the necromantic McGregors, including Prince Brannart, have been improving on the spell, achieving the horrific version that it is today.
Brannart's Grasping the Mortal Flesh
Level: 9
School: Necromancy
Range: 0
Duration: Permanent
Area of Effect: The caster
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 round
Saving Throw: None
Prince Brannart McGregor designed this spell to protect himself from death—when he was still alive. Brannart's grasping the mortal flesh binds the caster's soul strongly to the flesh. The caster remains alive even if his body is dismembered or mutilated, and is already at negative hit points. The caster never loses consciousness, but if he has negative hit points, it is rather difficult and painful to do anything.
The caster's soul remains in the caster's head until it is completely destroyed, after which the soul flees to the heart, if the head and the heart are still connected. The caster can only be killed permanently, if the head is severed and then crushed, or the head is destroyed and the heart is cut to pieces.
The problem with Brannart's grasping the mortal flesh is that the soul may be forever be trapped in the severed skull, driving the necromancer insane and torturing him forever. (Prince Brannart always memorized spells that made it possible to magic jar someone to get few healing spells cast to his original body.)
Any and all healing spells can heal the necromancer's part where the soul resides. Brannart's grasping the mortal flesh can only be dispelled by a caster of higher level than the necromancer. If the caster's soul is successfully drawn from his body (such as with Morphail's soulsteal), Brannart's grasping the mortal flesh is dispelled, but the soul stays in the necromancer's body.
The material component of this spell is a cursed silver chain, made of at least three links and worth 5,000 gp, which is irrevocably melted at the casting.
Morphail's Cheat the Death
Level: 9
School: Necromancy
Range: 3 feet/level
Duration: 1 round/level
Area of Effect: The caster and one other creature of the same race
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 4
Saving Throw: Negates
Cheat the death, Prince Morphail's last defense against death, is a very potent version of the magic jar spell. If the caster dies while this spell is in effect, every living or undead creature of the same race as the caster (usually human) within the range must make a spell vs. death magic, beginning from the creature closest to the dead necromancer.
The first creature to fail the save dies, as the soul of the necromancer permanently takes over that body. The necromancer retains all his mental abilities, but takes on the physical properties of the new body. If the necromancer was undead, his new body begins to die, eventually turning to undead.
Morphail's cheat the death can be dispelled before it takes effect, but not after the necromancer has inhabited the new body. If the body dies and is raised from death, there is an equal chance for the original victim and the necromancer to be raised. If Morphail's cheat the death is still in effect when the body dies, the necromancer may make another attempt to cheat the death and inhabit a new body.
The material component is an ancient Traladaran tarot card depicting Death, or a pair of ancient dice made of bone, which has been mutilated by the caster beforehand, and must be on the caster's first body upon death..
Morphail's Soul Embodiment
Level: 9
School: Necromancy
Range: Touch
Duration: Permanent
Area of Effect: 1 soulless body
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 night
Saving Throw: None
Morphail's soul embodiment is one of Prince Morphail's masterpieces, which makes it possible to cast a soul to a soulless body permanently, effectively bringing dead back to life. To embody a soul, the necromancer must have a disembodied soul, and a soulless body of the soul's race. (These can be created with the use of soul magic spells, such as magic jar, Morphail's soulsteal, or Morphail's soulsurge.) The body can also be artificially created or grown (such as with a magen or a flesh golem).
Once the soul and the body are prepared, the necromancer must perform a nightlong ritual, without interruptions. This allows the soul to permanently inhabit the body.
The soul retains its mental abilities, but takes on the physical properties of the new body. The effect cannot be dispelled. If the body dies and is raised from death, there is an equal chance for the original person and the newcomer to be raised. If the soul was undead, his new body begins to die, eventually turning to undead. The soul can also be embodied to an undead body, which then stays undead.
The material components of this spell, besides the soulless body, are a black candle, a cursed silver needle, fine thread from the web of a planar spider, and other paraphernalia for the ritual, totaling 10,000 gp in cost, all of which may only be used once.
Morphail's Fetter of Soul Power
Level: 9
School: Necromancy
Range: Touch
Duration: Special
Area of Effect: 1 sentient being
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 3 nights
Saving Throw: None
Morphail's fetter of soul power is the culminating spell in his series of dreaded spells of soul magic. To cast this spell, the necromancer must first prepare a soulcage (using Morphail's soulcage) with a soul bound to it (using Morphail's soulbind). The necromancer must then take the victim's soulless body and perform a grotesque and bloody ritual, lasting for three uninterrupted nights, during which he destroys the body physically, until there is nothing left of the victim's body. The caster must then cast Morphail's soulsurge on the soul trapped in the soulcage, thus transforming it to pure energy. The caster may then recite the arcane incantations of Morphail's fetter of soul power.
The spell grants the caster one point of soul power for every experience level of the victim. Each point of soul power may be expended to increase the necromancer's level by one or to give the necromancer one special ability of the victim, for six hours. The special ability of the victim will depend on the victim's character class in life (i.e. a thieving skill from a thief, turning undead from a cleric, a memorized spell from a spellcaster, etc.) The victim must be sentient, but may be of any race, thus granting monster abilities to the necromancer (i.e. petrifying gaze from a medusa, regeneration from a troll, etc.).
Morphail's fetter of soul power inflicts one hit point of damage to the caster per point of soul power used.
The material components of this spell, besides the body of a sentient being, are a black candle, a cursed silver weapon, a lethal poison, and other ritualistic paraphernalia, totaling 10,000 gp in cost.
Author: Markus Olavi Montola and Ohad Shaham