Speak with Dead (spell)

Speak with Dead

Range	self
Duration	special
Area of Effect	1 creature
Casting Time	10 rounds
Saving Throw	none
Level	cleric (3rd)

Speak with dead permits the caster to communicate with the soul of a dead intelligence who need not be humanoid. This discourse allows the caster to ask questions and receive knowledge that the creature had known in life; it does not presuppose knowledge or experience the creature may have gained in the afterlife.

The caster must know the name of the creature to be communicated with, and must also meet one of the following requirements: either, (a) hold an item that the dead is known to have owned in life, including a part of the dead's body; (b) stand within one hundred yards of a place where the dead is known to have lived or laboured; or (c) stand within ten yards of the gravesite of the dead. So long as any of these three requirements are met, and the caster knows the dead's name, communication can be made.

Which dead creatures may be communicated with, and for how long, is determined by the level of the cleric — only high level clerics may communicate with the long dead. See the following table:

level	time dead	no. of questions	length of answers
5 to 6	1 week	2	15 seconds
7 to 8	1 month	3	30 seconds
9 to 11	1 year	4	45 seconds
12 to 14	10 years	5	1 minute
15 to 17	100 years	6	90 seconds
18 to 20	1,000 years	7	2 minutes
21 or more	10,000 years	8	3 minutes

The dead who speaks will give meaningful information for the length of their answer, limited only by the dead having none to give; if the dead does ramble somewhat in their answers, the substance will still equal the ‘length of answer’ described above.