Warding Rune Against the Dead

2nd-level abjuration (ritual)

Casting Time: 10 minutes

Range: Touch

Components: S

Duration: 1 day or until triggered

You scribe a complicated rune on a surface, whether by drawing with ashes, carving with a knife, or tracing with blood.

This rune has no special visual qualities, though a DC 13 Intelligence (Arcana) check allows someone to recognize its actual power. When an undead creature approaches within 10 feet of the rune, it begins to glow with an awful, blood-red light. This provides dim illumination for 10 feet around the rune. An undead creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw to enter the illuminated area. An undead that does enter the area or starts its turn there takes 4d6 radiant damage. If the rune is defaced or the surface it is on is destroyed or moved from its original spot, the spell immediately ends.

Because the rune barricades a small spherical area, it is most frequently used to bar passage by the Dead in narrow hallways or through doors or windows.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the damage inflicted in the rune’s light increases by 1d6 per spell level.