When the priest casts a raise dead spell, he can restore life to a dwarf, gnome, half-elf, halfling, or human (other creatures may be allowed, at the GM's option). The length of time that the person has been dead is of importance, as the priest can raise persons dead only up to a limit of one day per rank (i.e., a rank 9 priest can raise a person who has been dead for up to nine days).
Note that the body of the person must be whole, or otherwise missing parts are still missing when the person is brought back to life. Likewise, other ills, such as poison and disease, are not negated. The raised person must roll a successful resurrection survival check to survive the ordeal (see Constitution) and permanently loses 1 point of Constitution unless he rolls critical success on his resurrection survival check. Further, the raised person is weak and helpless, needing a minimum of one full day of rest in bed for each day or fraction he was dead. The person has 1 hit point when raised and must regain the rest by natural healing or curative magic.
A character's starting Constitution is an absolute limit to the number of times he can be revived by this means.
The materical component is the priest's holy symbol.
The reverse of the spell, slay living, grants the victim a saving throw vs. death magic. If the saving throw is successful, the victim sustains damage equal to that of a cause serious wounds spell--i.e., 2d8+1 points. Failure means the victim dies instantly. |