Preservation of the Flesh

4th-level necromancy

Casting Time:10 minutes
Range:Touch
Components:V, M (a 1,000-gp candle)
Duration:24 hours

Before casting the spell, you must create or acquire a candle made from 1,000 gp worth of rare materials. When you cast this spell, 3d4 hit points flow from you to the candle, and the candle lights. You cannot transfer more hit points then you currently have; you are always left with at least one hit point.

The candle burns for the duration of the spell. If extinguished or destroyed, the spell ends. The lost hit points can be recovered normally.

If you drop to 0 hit points before the duration expires, you appear to die. However, when the candle burns down, the borrowed lifeforce re-enters your body and restores you to life. If you have 0 hit points and the candle is extinguished before the spell ends, you die.

Some normal wounds are repaired when the lifeforce flows back into your body, but missing limbs, disease, critical wounds, disintegrated body parts, limbs trapped in stone, petrification, burn wounds, etc., persist. This could mean you immediately perish again. This is also true if you cannot survive in your new environment. Only one use of this spell can be in effect.