Spiritual Spells
It's Spiritualist Week here at Necromancers of the Northwest, a weeklong celebration of one of my favorite classes from the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Occult Adventures book. As an occult art, spiritualism chiefly relates to reaching out across the mortal veil to speak with the dead. Pathfinder has long had some tradition of speaking with the deceased, and the new spiritualist class even boasts some expertise in this, aided by their ability to cast call spirit as a spell-like ability. Even so, the number of spells useful in communing with the departed is disappointingly low, given occult spiritualists’ widespread cultural influence. Today’s new spells are all designed to improve your ability to speak with those gone from the world.
SENSE PRESENCE
School divination; Level cleric/oracle 2, shaman 2, spiritualist 1, witch 2
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range 30 ft.
Area cone-shaped emanation
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance no
You reach out with your otherworldly senses, seeking the wider world beyond the veil. You immediately become aware of the presence of spirits within the area. You learn the name of any spirits which reside in the area, as well as learning whether the area was the final resting place of a present spirit, or if a present spirit has migrated to the area from elsewhere. Additionally, this spell automatically reveals the presence of any haunts in the area, as well as each haunt’s trigger. A spirit within the area may attempt a Will save in order to conceal its presence. Unless otherwise noted, the spirit makes its saving throw as if it were alive.
SPEAK WITH LOVED ONE
School divination; Level cleric/oracle 4, shaman 4, spiritualist 3, witch 2
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range touch
Target creature touched
Duration concentration, up to 1 round/level
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance no
You reach out to speak with a deceased person close to the target, allowing you to ask questions of the deceased person. The entity to be contacted must be dead and its soul must be free. You may ask the entity one question per round, which it must answer. A question which relates directly to the target must be answered honestly; otherwise, the contacted entity may attempt to deceive you with Bluff.
SÉANCE
School divination; Level shaman 6, spiritualist 6
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S
Range unlimited
Effect call the spirit of a single deceased humanoid creature
Duration 1 minute; see text
Saving Throw Will negates, see text; Spell Resistance no
This powerful divination can only be cast with the aid of one or more individuals and allows you to summon the spirit of a specific individual. This spell functions as call spirit, except as noted above, and with the following additional exceptions.
If the spirit fails its Will save, it must answer your questions truthfully, though it may still attempt to deceive you by leaving out information or by making misleading statements that are technically true. If the summoned spirit succeeds on its saving throw, things go disastrously wrong, conjuring a dangerous spiritual entity which either takes the form of ghost, with statistics identical to what the creature had in life, with the ghost template applied, or it takes the form of a demon with a CR equal to your caster level (at the GM’s discretion). The summoned entity may act as it pleases, but almost always acts maliciously. Normally you have 1 minute to question the summoned spirit; however, if you accidently summon a malicious entity, the creature remains until slain or banished.
Allies adjacent to you can participate in casting this spell in order to make it more difficult for spirits to resist. Each participant must spend an immediate action when you cast this spell, and must have at least one hand free. For each additional participant beyond the first, the spell’s saving throw DC increases by +1 (to a maximum increase of +4).