Defiance of Death

6th Level Witchcraft

Lore: Witches have always been rumored to be able to cheat death by making deals with satanic beings or demons. While this power is greatly exaggerated, the witches of the world have indeed found a way to converse with those much more powerful than them, most notably and commonly The Fates, to gain their favor, helping to defend against death when it inevitably comes. A rare spell but a powerful one all the less, the spell used to do is known simply as Defiance of Death. 

Spell: You reach out to Death and the Fates themself, attempting to escape death when next he comes knocking at your door. At the cumulation of the ritual, you must make a DC 17 arcana check; if you fail, the time and materials are wasted. On a successful check, the Fates answer your plea, granting you Defiance of Death. The next time you fall to 0 hit points, you instead restore half your hit points and become invincible until the start of your next turn. You also deal 3d8 radiant damage to each creature 5 feet close to you; this damage increases to 5d8 against undead, aberrations, and fiends. However, coming back from the dead is an ordeal. If you do revive, after combat, you cannot cast spells without the cauldron and have a -1 penalty to all rolls, which includes checks, saving throws, and even hit dice. This penalty lasts until you take 3 long rests, at which point you are ready to cast this spell again. You cannot cast this spell while you are cursed from coming back from the dead.