Yama's Reprieve (3.5e Equipment)
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Yama's Reprieve
This black lump of incense seems unassuming and mundane, but the combination of several dozens of incredibly rare herbs and magically treated ingredients held within is capable of shattering the boundaries of conventional alchemy.
Named after the fabled God of Death - one of His many names - a dead body that is made to absorb the sulphuric, smouldering black incense of Yama's Reprieve will call the soul of its owner from the underworld back into the world of the living, and forcibly link body, mind and soul back together for a limited time. In essence, Yama's Reprieve functions as a true resurrection and its use requires a 10-minute ritual that starts with the drawing of a necromantic magic circle around the corpse, followed by the burning of the incense and and finally a necromantic incantation to Yama for the soul's return to the material plane. Knowledge of the ritual requires a DC 30 Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (religion) check. A successful DC 25 Craft (alchemy) skill reduces the DC of the Knowledge check by 10. To be restored to life by Yama's Reprieve, the target may not have been dead for longer than 108 days.
During the duration of the ritual, the area surrounding the ritual's target corpse (a 10-foot radius) is saturated with the incense. Any living creature breathing the incense is affected by an incredibly deadly poison (Fortitude DC 30) that numbs on the primary stage and kills on the secondary stage.
Once the ritual is completed, the dead creature's immortal soul is anchored to the body, which draws in the incense dust around it to cover the skin and remove any traces of decay. The revived creature comes back fresh, rested, and with a full complement of spells, powers or other class ability components they had in life. Its body is however still dead, only moving by impetus of the soul that has been forcibly called back, conferring the following benefits:
- 50% fortification against critical hits. This also extends to any other effects that would be stopped by immunity to critical hits, such as sneak attacks.
- Regeneration 5. The revived creature's regeneration is only bypassed by damage that attacks and severs the soul directly. Examples of this are attacks made with weapons fashioned from Thinaun, weapons that exist astrally as well as physically such as those that can sever astral cords, aetherion flames, damage from divine sources (such as the divine half of flame strike, and godly attacks (attacks made with artifact level weapons or those wielded by Gods or other creatures with effective divine ranks).
- The revived creature is completely numb to any pain, resulting in a +2 morale bonus to attacks and saving throws, ignoring any effects that are the result of pain. He is also completely immune to fatigue and exhaustion.
The effects of Yama's Reprieve last for 4 hours plus 1 additional hour per effective character level of the deceased (maximum 1 full day at level 20). Each round of battle or strenuous activity instead counts as 10 minutes towards this duration.
Even though the revived creature is already dead, Yama's Reprieve still has incredibly dangerous consequences. First and foremost, the process by which the soul is reanchored to the creature's dead body is incredibly traumatic, rendering the soul permanently insane upon returning to the underworld. Yama's Reprieve cannot be used on the same creature twice, and once used, it can no longer be resurrected by any mortal magic, for 'no mortal soul can escape Yama's notice more than once'.
Craft (alchemy) DC 40, base materials in rare herbs and magically treated reagents valued at 3,500 gp. Market Price 7,000 gp.
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