You attempt to commune with the spirit of an individual who has passed on, allowing it to answer a question you pose. The spirit you seek to commune with must be an individual whose existence you are already aware of, such as a long lost relative or the spirit of a dead warrior. The spirit in question is under no compulsion to answer the summons of this spell if it does not wish to however and can ignore the casting of this spell entirely. The GM decides the nature of the spirit.
Until the spell ends, you can ask the spirit one question. The spirit knows only what it knew in life, including the languages it knew. Answers are usually brief, cryptic, or repetitive, and the spirit is under no compulsion to offer a truthful answer if it does not wish to. As one is speaking with the soul of one departed the spirit can learn new information, does comprehend anything that has happened since it died if it is explained to it, and can speculate about future events if it wishes to.
If you cast the spell two or more times before finishing your next long rest, there is a cumulative 25 percent chance for each casting after the first that you instead contact a hostile spirit instead of the spirit you intended to contact. The GM makes this roll in secret. If a hostile spirit is contacted this spell ends and a Allip is summoned and attacks you. This monster is not worth any XP.
* - (a crystal ball, burning incense, or an ornately carved wooden board)
You've clearly referred to speak with dead and made it better, but left this at level 3. It should be a higher level spell (or just use speak with dead...).
This is indeed a modified speak with dead but just using Speak with Dead is intrinsically impossible when speaking with actual spirits as you need a physical corpse with a mouth. There used to be actual spells for communing with actual spirits in previous editions.
I also don't consider the spell to be too much greater than Speak With Dead contextually. The information provided is still situational at best and the added drawback of potentially summoning a hostile monster if overused I feel is an adequate cost. Considering Commune is 5th level and Contact other Plane is also said level but has the added drawback of potentially driving the caster insane albeit temporarily to do pretty much the same thing.
What specifically about this spell makes it so powerful that it garners an additional level slot?
Here are the other parts that make it significantly better than SWD:
- A ritual spell? They can do this whenever and however much they want. Commune has a similar feature but results in no answer, rather than a negative. A CR1 spectre is also not much of a threat anyway so comparable. COP has the ritual tag too but a significant drawback.
- "As one is speaking with the soul of one departed the spirit can learn new information, does comprehend anything that has happened since it died if it is explained to it, and can speculate about future events if it wishes to." All things that SWD specifically prevents.
Essentially, your spell has the function of Contact other Plane spell (with a greater time limit), but zero real drawback. Might even be an argument that it should be 6th level tbh :c.
Ah, I see you point then, let me make some modifications.
Alright, the spirit no longer is required to answer the summons if the GM chooses that they don't want to (much like resurrection). They are under no circumstances compelled to answer truthfully (again the gm decides the nature of the spirit in question) and repetitive usage of the spell conjures an allip instead (CR5)
Also now you can only ask the spirit one question and it's a concetration spell.
Hey all, looking for criticism on a new spell I've developed
https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/767980-seance
Ayn criticism at all would be appreciated
If the link does not work:
You attempt to commune with the spirit of an individual who has passed on, allowing it to answer a question you pose. The spirit you seek to commune with must be an individual whose existence you are already aware of, such as a long lost relative or the spirit of a dead warrior. The spirit in question is under no compulsion to answer the summons of this spell if it does not wish to however and can ignore the casting of this spell entirely. The GM decides the nature of the spirit.
Until the spell ends, you can ask the spirit one question. The spirit knows only what it knew in life, including the languages it knew. Answers are usually brief, cryptic, or repetitive, and the spirit is under no compulsion to offer a truthful answer if it does not wish to. As one is speaking with the soul of one departed the spirit can learn new information, does comprehend anything that has happened since it died if it is explained to it, and can speculate about future events if it wishes to.
If you cast the spell two or more times before finishing your next long rest, there is a cumulative 25 percent chance for each casting after the first that you instead contact a hostile spirit instead of the spirit you intended to contact. The GM makes this roll in secret. If a hostile spirit is contacted this spell ends and a Allip is summoned and attacks you. This monster is not worth any XP.
* - (a crystal ball, burning incense, or an ornately carved wooden board)You've clearly referred to speak with dead and made it better, but left this at level 3. It should be a higher level spell (or just use speak with dead...).
This is indeed a modified speak with dead but just using Speak with Dead is intrinsically impossible when speaking with actual spirits as you need a physical corpse with a mouth. There used to be actual spells for communing with actual spirits in previous editions.
I also don't consider the spell to be too much greater than Speak With Dead contextually. The information provided is still situational at best and the added drawback of potentially summoning a hostile monster if overused I feel is an adequate cost. Considering Commune is 5th level and Contact other Plane is also said level but has the added drawback of potentially driving the caster insane albeit temporarily to do pretty much the same thing.
What specifically about this spell makes it so powerful that it garners an additional level slot?
Here are the other parts that make it significantly better than SWD:
- A ritual spell? They can do this whenever and however much they want. Commune has a similar feature but results in no answer, rather than a negative. A CR1 spectre is also not much of a threat anyway so comparable. COP has the ritual tag too but a significant drawback.
- "As one is speaking with the soul of one departed the spirit can learn new information, does comprehend anything that has happened since it died if it is explained to it, and can speculate about future events if it wishes to." All things that SWD specifically prevents.
Essentially, your spell has the function of Contact other Plane spell (with a greater time limit), but zero real drawback. Might even be an argument that it should be 6th level tbh :c.
Ah, I see you point then, let me make some modifications.
Alright, the spirit no longer is required to answer the summons if the GM chooses that they don't want to (much like resurrection). They are under no circumstances compelled to answer truthfully (again the gm decides the nature of the spirit in question) and repetitive usage of the spell conjures an allip instead (CR5)
Also now you can only ask the spirit one question and it's a concetration spell.