Speak with Dead
- Level
- 3
- School
- Necromancy
- Keywords
- None
- Range
- 10 meters
- Duration
- 10 minutes
- Mana Cost
- 3
You grant a semblance of life and intelligence to a corpse of your choice within range, allowing it to answer questions you pose.
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The corpse must still have a mouth and may not be undead.
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The spell fails if the corpse was targeted by this spell within the last 10 days.
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You may ask up to five questions during the duration.
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The corpse knows only what it knew in life, and its responses are typically brief, cryptic, or repetitive.
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The corpse is not compelled to tell the truth if it considers you hostile.
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This spell does not return the creature’s soul—only a flicker of animating spirit.
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The corpse cannot learn new things or infer events after its death.
Stunts
Cryptkeeper’s Ears
You may cast this spell on a corpse that does not speak your language. The responses you receive are automatically translated to a language you understand.
Lingering Voice
The spell duration increases to 30 minutes, allowing you to ask up to 10 questions instead of 5.
Compelled Testimony
Once per scene, you can compel the corpse to speak truthfully, even if it would normally lie to you. This does not bypass the corpse’s lack of knowledge.
Cryptkeeper’s Ears
You may cast this spell on a corpse that does not speak your language. The responses you receive are automatically translated to a language you understand.
Residual Emotion
You sense the emotional state of the corpse as it answers: fear, hatred, sadness, serenity, etc. This may help interpret ambiguous or misleading replies.
Silent Witness
If the corpse witnessed a violent event in the 24 hours before death, you may see a brief image or flashback through its eyes (GM discretion, once per casting).