Healing and Resurrection
The mortal souls of the Iron Kingdoms are a precious
commodity in the afterlife. The gods of Caen utilize the
spirits of their followers to wage endless war both in life and
in death. The gods safeguard the spirits of their faithful in
Urcaen and rarely grant the living the divine power to return
the slain back to life.
The following spells cannot be prepared normally in an Iron Kingdoms campaign: raise dead, reincarnate, resurrection, revivify, true resurrection, or any other spell that returns a slain character to life. Characters capable of preparing one of these spells must make a pact with their patron deity in order to do so, often at great cost to themselves and only if the individual being resurrected is more valuable to the deity on Caen than in Urcaen. This exceedingly rare event often goes generations without occurring—and even then, only in the direst situations.
Similarly, healing magic has its own drawbacks. The gods of Caen grant healing magic to their clergy as normal, but the process of being healed by a divine or arcane spell is not pleasant. Wounds do not simply vanish without a trace, nor do diseases disappear with no lingering effects. Simply put, healing magic in the Iron Kingdoms leaves scars, both physical and emotional.
Healing magic should be treated as a sort of “fast-forward surgery” that causes recipients to feel the sting of every set bone and every bit of mended tissue. Diseases and poisons must be physically extracted from the afflicted, dissipating into harmless sludge on the ground after being sweated out through the skin or violently expelled from the body. Healing spells have no additional in-game effect beyond what each spell already does, but a character who has suffered years of injuries healed in such a manner should bear the same scars as one who took the time to recover from each injury naturally. If a grievous wound, such as a severed limb, has been healed magically, the scars should look unnatural and should be a source of regular discomfort to the healed individual.
The process of magical healing is not without a cost to the spellcaster, either. The exact nature of this toll varies from one instance to the next but often involves reliving the pain of healed injuries, having vivid dreams of torn muscles and ligaments, and experiencing other sympathetic reflections of injury and malady. These consequences do not have specific in-game effects, but many magical healers are dour individuals who bear emotional scars from their work. GMs who use rules that measure a character’s sanity might consider frequent use of healing spells as a possible trigger for descending into madness, for instance.
The following spells cannot be prepared normally in an Iron Kingdoms campaign: raise dead, reincarnate, resurrection, revivify, true resurrection, or any other spell that returns a slain character to life. Characters capable of preparing one of these spells must make a pact with their patron deity in order to do so, often at great cost to themselves and only if the individual being resurrected is more valuable to the deity on Caen than in Urcaen. This exceedingly rare event often goes generations without occurring—and even then, only in the direst situations.
Similarly, healing magic has its own drawbacks. The gods of Caen grant healing magic to their clergy as normal, but the process of being healed by a divine or arcane spell is not pleasant. Wounds do not simply vanish without a trace, nor do diseases disappear with no lingering effects. Simply put, healing magic in the Iron Kingdoms leaves scars, both physical and emotional.
Healing magic should be treated as a sort of “fast-forward surgery” that causes recipients to feel the sting of every set bone and every bit of mended tissue. Diseases and poisons must be physically extracted from the afflicted, dissipating into harmless sludge on the ground after being sweated out through the skin or violently expelled from the body. Healing spells have no additional in-game effect beyond what each spell already does, but a character who has suffered years of injuries healed in such a manner should bear the same scars as one who took the time to recover from each injury naturally. If a grievous wound, such as a severed limb, has been healed magically, the scars should look unnatural and should be a source of regular discomfort to the healed individual.
The process of magical healing is not without a cost to the spellcaster, either. The exact nature of this toll varies from one instance to the next but often involves reliving the pain of healed injuries, having vivid dreams of torn muscles and ligaments, and experiencing other sympathetic reflections of injury and malady. These consequences do not have specific in-game effects, but many magical healers are dour individuals who bear emotional scars from their work. GMs who use rules that measure a character’s sanity might consider frequent use of healing spells as a possible trigger for descending into madness, for instance.
