Suspended Animation in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

Suspended Animation

Name

Suspended Animation

Type of Magic

Priest

Spell Level

4th

School

Necromancy (House Titus)

Sphere

Necromantic

Reversible?

Range

Touch

Components

Material, Somatic, Verbal

The material component for this spell is a rare herb that must be prepared with exacting care. The treatment costs at least 200 gold pieces and requires 1d3 days of the priest’s time and attention.

Duration

Special

Casting Time

Area of Effect

Creature touched

Saving Throw

None

Effects

By using this spell, the caster can place one willing subject in a state of suspended animation. The victim’s breathing, heartbeat, and other vital processes slow to the point of nonexistence, although he or she seems to be deeply asleep, not dead. A caster of 7th to 10th level can maintain the suspended animation for up to one week plus one day per level; a caster of 11th to 15th level can maintain the state for up to one month plus one week per level; and a caster of 16th level or higher can place someone in suspended animation for one year plus one month per level. This spell has many useful applications. First, all bodily or mental afflictions become quiescent during the victim’s slumber. Poison, insanity, and many curses (lycanthropy, geas, and mummy rot included) can be arrested, if not cured, and have no effect on the subject while he sleeps. Of course, if the spell is broken prematurely, all the conditions that were halted by the spell will start once again. Second, the subject requires no food or water, but he still needs air and dies if deprived of oxygen. Third, for every month that the subject is in suspended animation, he recovers one hit point. The caster can awaken the subject at any time within the spell’s duration, although he must be in the subject’s presence to do so. Optionally, the priest may pre‑specify an amount of time within his normal duration or a special condition to awaken the sleeper. A condition must include a physical stimulus to the subject, such as a change in temperature, the touch of the sun, the kiss of a princess, or whatever the priest desires. If the priest maintaining the spell dies or is not able to awaken the sleeper, then the subject can be taken to another priest of the same deity to be awakened. If the subject is attacked, he is completely helpless and can be killed by a single blow. However, if the subject is attacked without being slain for some reason, he gains a saving throw vs. spell each round to emerge from his suspended animation. The subject will be extremely groggy and disoriented if his slumber is disturbed in this fashion, suffering a –2 penalty to all die rolls for 1d6 turns, but if he awakens in the normal or prescribed fashion, he is disoriented for only one round. Some of the drawbacks to this spell affect the casting priest. First of all, it takes all of the priest’s concentration to cast and maintain this spell. This means that the priest cannot cast any other spell while a subject is being held under the influence of the suspended animation. For each week that the subject is in suspended animation, the priest loses one point of Constitution. This happens each week until the priest transfers the spell to another priest of the same alignment. Transferring this spell requires a successful saving throw vs. spell. If the saving throw is successful, then the priest who transfers the spell can start recovering Constitution at a rate of one point per hour of bedrest. If the saving throw doesn’t succeed, then the priest loses another point of Constitution and cannot try to transfer the spell again for 8 hours. Either way, because of the temporary lapse of the spell, the subject will automatically lose 1 hit point each time a transfer is attempted.

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