Speak with Dead

Speak with Dead

3rd-rank - Necromancy Priest Spell: Death Omens Spirit

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 10 feet

Duration: 10 minutes

Components: V, S, M

Materials: burning incense

Auditory Sensory Effects: Moderate

Visual Sensory Effects: Tiny

Olfactory Sensory Effects: None

Casting Perception Mod +4

Effect Perception Mod +3

Softly humming white aura surrounds the mouth of a corpse of your choice within range, granting it the semblance of life and intelligence and allowing it to answer the questions you pose. The corpse must still have a mouth and can't be undead. The spell fails if the corpse has been deceased for longer than a week, or was the target of this spell within the last week.
You can ask the corpse one question every two minutes, meaning up to five questions before the duration expires. The corpse knows only what it knew in life, including the languages it knew. Answers are usually brief, cryptic, or repetitive, and the corpse is under no compulsion to offer a truthful answer if you are hostile to it or it recognizes you as an enemy. This spell doesn't return the creature's soul to its body, it only animates physical body. Thus, the corpse can't learn new information, doesn't comprehend anything that has happened since it died, and can't speculate about future events.

At higher ranks: When you cast this spell as spells of higher rank, you can cast it on a corpse that has been deceased for longer:

• Cast as a 4th-rank spell: the spell works on corpses that have been dead for four weeks or less;
• Cast as a 5th-rank spell: the spell works on corpses that have been dead for a year or less;
• Cast as a 7th-rank spell: the spell works on corpses that have been dead for 100 years or less;
• Cast as a 8th-rank spell: the spell works on corpses that have been dead for 1,000 years or less;
• Cast as a 9th-rank spell: the spell works on corpses that have been dead any length of time.