Raise Dead

The eerie, keening incantation of this spell calls a soul back from the afterlife, literally bringing the dead back to life. Elves, as they do not have souls, cannot be brought back to life in this manner, but humans, half-elves, half-orcs, gnomes, dwarfs, and halflings can all be raised from the dead by means of this spell. The longer a soul has been departed from the material plane, the more diffi cult it is to call it back; a cleric can summon back a soul that has been dead no more days than the cleric’s level. In other words, a cleric of tenth level can raise a person who has been dead no more than ten days, but an eleventh level cleric can raise a person who has been dead eleven days. The raised person must survive a system shock saving throw in order to return to life, and he or she will be unable to engage in strenuous activity (such as combat, study, or spell casting) for a period of time equal to one day for each day that he or she was dead.

Perhaps mercifully, the spell erases the returning character’s memory concerning any places his or her soul may have visited following death.

Raise dead can instantly destroy most kinds of corporeal undead creatures (exception: it does not destroy liches). Incorporeal undead, such as ghosts or spectres, are immune. This use is treated the same as the reverse of the spell in terms of saving throws and damage.

The reverse of the spell is referred to in hushed tones as slay living. The subject of this spell (which must be used with extreme caution by good clerics, lest their alignment be altered) is entitled to a saving throw, and if the throw fails, the subject dies. If the saving throw succeeds, the target will still sustain 2d8+1 points of damage.