As You Were

2nd-level necromancy

Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M (a piece of flesh from a creature of the target’s race)
Duration: Instantaneous

When cast on a dead or undead body, as you were returns that creature to the appearance it had in life while it was healthy and uninjured. The target must have a physical body; the spell fails if the target is normally noncorporeal.

If as you were is cast on a corpse, its effect is identical to that of gentle repose, except that the corpse’s appearance is restored to that of a healthy, uninjured (albeit dead) person.

If the target is an undead creature, it also is restored to the appearance it had in life, even if it died from disease or from severe wounds, or centuries ago. The target looks, smells, and sounds (if it can speak) as it did in life.

Friends and family can tell something is wrong only with a successful Wisdom (Insight) check against your spell save DC, and only if they have reason to be suspicious. (Knowing that the person should be dead is sufficient reason.) Spells and abilities that detect undead are also fooled, but the creature remains susceptible to Turn Undead as normal.

This spell doesn’t confer the ability to speak on undead that normally can’t speak. The creature eats, drinks, and breathes as a living creature does; it can mimic sleep, but it has no more need for it than it had before.

The effect lasts for a number of hours equal to your caster level. You can use an action to end the spell early.

Any amount of radiant or necrotic damage dealt to the creature, or any effect that reduces its Constitution, also ends the spell.

If this spell is cast on an undead creature that isn’t your ally or under your control, it makes a Charisma saving throw to resist the effect.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Deep Magic for 5th Edition (c) 2020 Open Design LLC; Authors: Dan Dillon, Chris Harris, and Jeff Lee.

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