Death Pact

8th-level necromancy (ritual)

Casting Time: 10 minutes

Range: Touch

Components: V, S, M (a diamond worth 5,000 gp, which the spell consumes)

Duration: Permanent until triggered

Classes: cleric

You bind a willing creature to the favor of your deity, sealing a portion of their life force away for the future in exchange for later revivification. The target creature reduces their hit point maximum by an amount equal to their level (or Hit Dice, if they do not have levels), and these hit points cannot be restored by any means until the death pact is fulfilled or triggered. If the target dies, the power of the death pact returns them immediately from death at the beginning of their next turn, as if resurrection had been cast. Their reduced maximum hit points do not automatically return, but they can be restored by greater restoration. The same is true if the death pact is dispelled. A creature cannot have more than one death pact in place at a time. While the death pact persists, the target has a -1 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, and ability checks against the caster or any other servants of the caster’s deity.

At Higher Levels. If you cast this spell using a 9th-level spell slot and provide diamonds worth 30,000 gp as the spell’s material component, the death pact grants the target the benefits of true resurrection.