Since Sam Dillon and I just finished our conversation on 2e’s Complete Book of Necromancers in Edition Wars, I felt inspired to write some high-level necromancy spells. CBoN has several, though more than a few of them are so niche in effect that I’m not trying for direct translation. Might f*ck around and break out Libris Mortis, Book of Vile Darkness, and the Epic Level Handbook as well.

One of the curious things about them is that it’s hard to figure out a situation that a PC would ever want to cast them. They’re more like horrible villain plots in spell form. I think that’s great, and if you’re using 5e’s new approach to NPC spellcasters, just remember that you can add more spells to their 1/day spell list and that’s okay. If the spell doesn’t deal or prevent damage, you can do this without affecting their CR!

Bone Scourging
7^th-level necromancy – sorcerer, warlock, wizard

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Components: V, S, M (bone shards)
Duration: Instantaneous

You hurl bone shards at a point within range, which transform into a flaying storm of sharpened bone and necrotic energy. Every creature within a 20-foot radius of the point you choose must make a Constitution saving throw. A creature that fails this saving throw takes 6d6 piercing damage and 4d10 necrotic damage, and deals half damage with weapon attacks that use Strength for 1 minute. A creature that succeeds its saving throw takes half damage and no additional effect.

At the end of each of its turns, a creature that fails its initial saving throw can make a Constitution saving throw against the spell. On a failure, it takes 4d10 necrotic damage. On a success, the effect ends.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 8^th level or higher, you deal an additional 1d10 necrotic damage for each slot level above 7^th.

Deathbloom
9^th-level necromancy – sorcerer, warlock, wizard

Casting Time: 8 hours
Range: 1 mile
Components: V, S, M (a willing or helpless living dragon, which the spell consumes)
Duration: Permanent

When you cast this spell, all magical energy within range becomes difficult to use for any purpose other than casting necromancy spells. When a creature that is not undead within the spell’s range casts a spell of 2^nd level or higher from a school other than necromancy, they roll a saving throw using their spellcasting ability score. On a failure, the creature takes 1d10 necrotic damage for each level of the spell and the spell fails. On a success, the creature takes half damage and the spell takes effect normally.

When a creature that is not undead within the spell’s range uses a magical non-spell effect that deals any type of damage other than necrotic, they roll a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, they take 4d10 necrotic damage and the magical effect fails. On a success, the creature takes half damage and the magical effect functions normally.

On the longest night of each year after you cast this spell, the radius of its area increases by 1 mile.

This spell can’t be dispelled with a spell slot of 8^th level or below and ignores an antimagic field.

Deny Death
8^th-level necromancy – cleric, warlock, wizard

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M (a diamond worth at least 5,000 gp, which the spell consumes)
Duration: 1 hour

The creature that you touch when you cast this spell gains resistance to necrotic damage and can’t die through any means while this spell is active. When a willing target receives this spell and has 0 hit points at the start of its turn, they roll a death saving throw. On a result of 10 or better, they are conscious and take actions normally. On a result of 20, they regain 1 hit point. Don’t track successful death saving throws. If the creature reaches three failed death saving throws during the spell’s duration, it dies at the end of the spell’s duration.

When an unwilling target receives this spell and has 0 hit points at the start of its turn, they roll a death saving throw. On a result of 10 or better, their status doesn’t change. If the creature reaches three failed death saving throws during the spell’s duration, it dies at the end of the spell’s duration.

Effects such as disintegrate that would destroy a creature’s body at 0 hit points deal their normal damage but don’t destroy the body.

This spell can’t affect constructs. When the target of this spell is undead and it takes damage that would reduce it to 0 hit points, it rolls a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5 + the damage dealt. On a success, the undead creature has 1 hit point. On a failure, it falls to 0 hit points and regains 1 hit point at the end of its next turn.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a 9^th-level spell slot, it affects all creatures within 500 feet of you. A creature outside your touch range can choose to resist this effect with a Wisdom saving throw.

Everlasting Night
9^th-level necromancy – cleric, warlock, wizard

Casting Time: 8 hours
Range: 1 mile
Components: V, S, M (a willing or helpless solar, which the spell consumes)
Duration: Permanent

It never stops being night within the area of this spell. Time still passes and magic items regain charges at the time that they should, but the sun never seems to rise. Within a month, plants and animals die, and most natural animals that don’t feed on the waste of sentient creatures (such as crows and rats) leave the area if they can. Spells and magical effects that create sunlight don’t work within the area of this spell.

One year after the spell is cast, the area of the spell becomes part of the Shadowfell while remaining on the Material Plane. On the longest night of each year after you cast this spell, the radius of its area increases by 1 mile.

This spell can’t be dispelled with a spell slot of 8^th level or below and ignores an antimagic field.

Design Notes

Bone scourging and deathbloom come out of “what’s something cool and terrifying that Harrowhark Nonagesimus does?” as you know if you’ve read the first two books of the Locked Tomb series. Strip-mining the rest of that series for ideas is a project for another day. Also bone scourging is here to make sure there’s still some obvious, straightforward combat potential in this post.

Deathbloom and eternal night are inspired in large part by another spell I wrote, disturb the universe, which I’ve since sold to Blue Belu Games for an upcoming project of theirs. If they’re too close to DtU, Jean, I just won’t sell them to anyone else.

Eternal night is just… I mean… bein’ a powerful vampire and solving your problems as directly as possible.

Deny death is something I’ve seen in a ton of folktales, though in an even longer-term sense. The mechanics could use more smoothing out, but first draft is worst draft, right?

I also gave a bunch of thought to body-swapping spells because – as any DtD player knows – I love body-hoppers as major villains, but it didn’t gel in my head as a mechanical expression in time to make it to this post.

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