One of 50 divine artifacts forged for the gods of the Forgotten Realms by the Godsmith. A book bound in aasimar skin, it bears the symbol of Kelemvor. Despite its gruesome exterior, the book reads like a law book, detailing laws and taboos around death and the dead. The parchment inside is a high-quality vellum, and the ink carries an aura of enchantment. It is a heavy read, and extremely detailed and graphic as it covers every issue that could be offensive around death.
The final chapters detail three simple rituals. The first is an incantation that, as an action, will return a bleeding out person within 5 feet back to consciousness and 1 hp.
The second is known as the Mercy of the Judge. As an action, you place the book on the stomach of a creature who has died within the last minute and say a simple prayer to Kelemvor's Court. A bony hand will slide out from the pages and embed a black iron coin known as the Judge's Favor in the chest of the creature. The creature will come back to life as if affected by the Revivify spell. The book is then bound by skeletal hands, locked tightly with no way to unlock it except an indent in the skeletal palm in the shape of a coin. The Judge's Favor coin imposes a disadvantage on constitution checks, and the creature automatically fails its first death saving throw. After one day of being revivified, the Judge's Favor coin falls out of the chest of the creature and will dispel the skeletal binding.
The final ritual is known as Appealing the Unjust Death. As the spell is read, the papers tear out of the book and the ink leaks onto the floor. The papers form a skeleton, and the ink forms a judge's robe and cowl around the Judge of Death's Court, wielding a dagger and a scale. The dead body is presented to the Judge, who embeds the dagger to the hilt in the corpse, and balances the scale on top of the flat pommel. If the creature's body has been destroyed, the Judge summons a coffin with the dead creature's name on it, and embeds the dagger in it. From its left hand, the Judge summons a neat stack of dime-like silver coins to represent all the days left until the corpse would have died naturally, and fills one side of the scale. From its right hand, the Judge summons gold coins to represent the various actions that led to the creature's early death, and fills the other side of the scale. The gold side is heavier to represent that the creature has died, therefore its actions outweighed its survival instinct. It is up to the party to provide justification for the Judge to annul the creature's death and return it to life. A binding contract to protect the natural order of death by killing undead or necromancers, calling in other divine beings to claim the creature's soul and vouch for a proper death in the future, and other arguments create silver coins of varying weight that are placed on the scales to try and tip them in favor of life.
The actual appeal is up to the DM as to whether or not the Judge of Death is swayed by the party's arguments, and how much each argument affects the balance. If successful, the judge pushes the dagger fully into the body, the flat pommel becoming the Judge's Favor coin, and the book is locked by the skeletal hands.
- If the creature can be revived by the Raise Dead spell, the Judge casts Raise Dead. The Judge's Favor coin remains embedded within the creature for a week.
- If the creature cannot be revived by the Raise Dead spell, but can be revived via Resurrection, the Judge casts Resurrection. The Judge's Favor coin remains embedded within the creature for a year.
- If the creature cannot be revived via Resurrection, but can be revived via True Resurrection, the Judge casts True Resurrection. The Judge's Favor coin remains embedded within the creature for 100 years.
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