Raise Ghost

3rd-level necromancy

Casting Time: 1 hour

Range: Touch

Components: V, S, M (a diamond worth at least 500 gp, which the spell consumes)

Duration: Instantaneous

You return a dead creature you touch to a ghostly and incorporeal form, provided it has been dead no longer than 10 days. The creature can see and hear, and it can speak in a hollow, sepulchral tone if it chooses to. Whether it’s willing to speak to you depends on its whim and its prior relationship with you, if any.

The affected creature is not undead; it is alive but incorporeal, with 1 hit point. It can’t interact with the physical world, attack or cause damage, or cast spells. It is immune to nonmagical damage. It can move through creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain, but it takes 1d10 force damage if it ends its turn inside an object. It regains hit points normally through resting or spending Hit Dice but never recovers hit points via spells, items, or potions.

This spell also neutralizes any poison and cures nonmagical diseases that affected the creature at the time it died. This spell doesn’t remove magical diseases, curses, or similar effects; if these aren’t removed prior to casting the spell, they take effect when the creature returns to life.

The spell also closes mortal wounds, but it doesn’t restore missing body parts. If the creature is lacking body parts or organs integral for its survival—its head, for instance—the spell automatically fails.

Coming back from the dead is an ordeal. The target has a –4 penalty to saving throws and ability checks. Every time the target finishes a long rest, the penalty is reduced by 1 until it disappears.

A creature affected by raise ghost is restored to normal, physical life by raise dead or comparable magic. Raise ghost has no effect if cast on an Undead creature.