- See also Velsharoon's Death Pact (Priest Spell).
This manifestly evil spell is a variant of the death pact spell from the Complete Book of Necromancers. This powerful pact has enabled many "slain" priests to return from the dead and eliminate their enemies. By completing this ritual, a Velsharoan priest forge a powerful pact with Velsharoon the Vaunted. The covenant ensures that a chosen individual will survive an untimely death. A Velsharoon's death pact is triggered whenever the protected individual is reduced to fewer than 0 hit points (mortally wounded) due to combat, spell, or accident. In the same round, the subject receives the following benefits.
- The individual (or his or her remains) and all possessions are transported immediately back co a religious sanctuary as if by a word of recall. The location of the sanctuary muse be specified at the time of forging the Velsharoon's death pact.
- Upon arrival, the individual receives a raise dead spell (if necessary) and automatically succeeds at any required system shock survival roll.
- Any severed or amputated limb are instantaneously regenerated.
- The body is cleared of lingering enchantments with a dispel magic (bestowed at character's level), whether beneficial or baneful, and cleaned of all poisons, disease, blindness, curse, and insanity.
A Velsharoon's death pact remain in effect indefinitely until the conditions established at the time of its forging have been fulfilled. The pact may be established to benefit an individual other than the caster. The chosen one must be in good standing with the Velsharan faith and is most commonly a member of the clergy who has reached 9th level and is undergoing the Pact of the Everlasting ceremony. Velsharoon's death pact must be cast in an unholy sanctuary conecrated to Velsharoon to be effective. A dispel magic can not end a Velsharoon's death pact prematurely.
This powerful spell is not without its costs, however. Forging a death pact is an exhaustively stressful process, drawing the casting priest (and the spell recipient, if other than the caster) into draining audiences with. extraplanar powers. As a result, establishing a Velsharoon's death pact ages the caster five year and requires at least one week for complete recuperation for the spell's caster and recipient, during which time the priest cannot case any spells or engage in any physically demanding activity. Furthermore, when the pact is invoked, the mystical transport and instantaneous healing exacts another to all, this time aging the recipient for five years (if the individual was raised, she or he also loses 1 point of Constitution permanently). This cost can be mitigated through the sacrifice of good-aligned sentient creatures in Velsharoon's name at the end of the spellcasting. For each such creature sacrificed, one year of aging caused by the spell is negated first from the caster of the spell and then from the aging penalty to be applied co it recipient when the spell's activation conditions are met. Finally, for each such creature further sacrificed, the week of recuperation is eliminated for first th e spell' caster and then the spell' recipient.
The spell's material components are seven drops each of the caster's blood, the recipient's blood, unholy water, and dew.