Spells of the Spirit Study - Eldritch Necromancy for the Mad and the Bad

The College of Haruspex 

Equal part administrative service, funerary firm, library, and religious practice, the ministrants of the College of Haruspex worship the grim-faced Stocktaker of the Dead, who oversees the Cthonic Bureaucracy from his throne beneath the earth. The College is an unusual organisation, overseeing the gathering of information, the production and maintenance of birth and death certificates, and the proper rites of interring the dead, and the enforcement of necromancy laws across the continent. 

The Spirit Study 

The College of Haruspex utilise the undying for many things, including information storage. Executed criminals with no known next of kin are often “donated” to the College to serve as Spirit Studies: repositories of arcane information, stored in the pickled, still-whispering head of the deceased. Acting as unwilling libraries, Spirit Studies are an invaluable resource for spellcasters – however, occasionally the original occupant’s spirit will attempt to exert its will over the user, hungrily devouring their personality in the process.

The Study constantly whispers the secrets to casting the following spells: optography, animate dead, animate appendage, optography, and death trap (see below). While attuned to the Spirit Study, you can use it as a +1 spellcasting focus for your spells.

Furthermore, the Study has 3 charges, and it regains 1d3 expended charges daily at dawn. If you spend 1 minute listening to the Study’s whispers, you can expend 1 charge to replace one of your prepared spells with a spell known by the head.

Curse. Whenever a spell attack made with this artefact misses, or if the target succeeds on the requisite saving throw, the whispers become more frantic. The spellcaster must make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, one of the spellcaster’s memories is replaced by a memory of the Study’s original owner. If this happens 20 times, the Study’s original personality will completely subsume the spellcaster. 

Optography 

1st level necromancy spell 

Casting Time 1 action

Range Self

Components M (a scrap of photographic paper)

Duration Instantaneous

You take the eye of a humanoid that has died within the last 24 hours and peer into the owner’s lingering essence. If the humanoid was capable of sight, you see a static image of the last thing the humanoid saw before it died, as described by the GM.  This image fades from your vision after 1 minute, and can be perfectly transferred onto paper if you are proficient with calligrapher’s tools or painter’s supplies. 

Death Trap 

2nd level necromancy

Casting Time 1 action

Range 120 feet

Components S, M 1 lb of gunpowder blessed by a priest or cursed by a warlock)

Duration 7 days

You touch a corpse or other remains. For the duration, the target decays rapidly and cannot become undead. Additionally, any creature that comes within 10 feet of the target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw, or be caught in an explosion of gore and viscera centered on the target, taking 4d6 necrotic damage on a failed save and half as much on a successful one. A creature that fails this saving throw also takes 1d4 poison damage at the start of each of its turns until it can clean itself of the viscera. 

Animate Appendage

5th level necromancy

Casting Time 1 action

Range 120 feet

Components V, M (a piece of conductive metal)

Duration Concentration, up to 1 minute

You fill a detached body part with a crude semblance of life. Choose up to five appendages (such as hands, feet, arms, legs, or head) that have been severed from a Medium or smaller creature within the last ten days. Each target animates and becomes a creature under your control until the spell ends or until reduced to 0 hit points. 

As a bonus action, you can mentally command any appendage reanimated by this spell if the appendage is within 500 feet of you (if you control multiple creatures, you can command any or all of them at the same time, issuing the same command to each one). You decide what action the appendage will take and where it will move during its next turn, or you can issue a simple general command (such as to patrol an area or perform household chores). If you issue no commands, the appendage only defends itself against hostile creatures. Once given an order, the appendage will attempt to follow it until the task is complete or until it naturally decomposes after 2d6 weeks. 

An animated appendage is an undead creature with AC, hit points, attacks, Strength, and Dexterity determined by its size. Its Constitution is 11 and its Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma are 3. Its speed is 30 feet: if it lacks a method of locomotion, it instead possesses a flying speed of 30 feet and can hover grimly in the air. It has blindsight with a radius of 30 feet and is blind beyond that distance. All animated appendages have the following ability:

Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces the animated appendage to 0 hit points, it must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5+the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, the animated appendage drops to 1 hit point instead.

When the reanimated appendage drops to 0 hit points, it reverts to its original dead form and cannot be reanimated again by any means. 

If you command an object to attack, it can make a single melee attack against a creature within 5 feet of it. It makes a punch, kick, or headbutt attack with an attack bonus and bludgeoning damage determined by its size. The GM might rule that a specific appendage - such as a clawed talon - deals a different damage type accordingly. 

At Higher Levels: If you cast this spell using a 6th or 7th level spell slot, you can reanimate the disembodied appendage of a Large or Huge creature, respectively. You cannot reanimate the appendage of a Gargantuan creature. 

Animated Appendage Stats

Size	HP	AC	Attack	Str	Dex
Tiny	10	18	+6 to hit, 1d4 + 2 bludgeoning damage	6	22
Small	15	16	+4 to hit, 1d6 + 4 bludgeoning damage	10	18
Medium	20	13	+6 to hit, 2d8 + 6 bludgeoning damage	14	14
Large	25	10	+4 to hit, 2d10 + 6 bludgeoning damage	18	10
Huge	35	13	+6 to hit, 2d12 + 6 bludgeoning damage	22	6