Commune with Shade

You attempt to contact the spirit of a specific dead entity by name. The spell contacts the spirit and lets it know that you want to meet; it doesn’t compel the spirit to appear before you. This spell is most useful in the Shadowfell or another realm where finding one shade among countless hosts of the dead can be nigh impossible. The spell conveys your call to the shade you desire, along with your location and a sense of urgency. The shade is under no obligation to respond, but most do simply to break the eternal tedium of death. If the shade chooses to answer your call in the Underworld, it arrives within ten minutes. If you are somewhere else, the shade arrives within 24 hours.

After arriving the spirit stays in your plane for 10 minutes or less if it decides to leave. During this time it might help you or become aggressive and attack you. In case of combat you can use the Shadow, Specter, Ghost or Banshee stats for the spirit.

If cast within the Shadowfell, the spell’s range is unlimited. If cast from the material world or any other plane, the site of the spirit’s death must be on the same plane and within the spell’s range of the caster. Note that the range refers to the site of the creature’s death, not its current location.

This spell can also be used to contact an intelligent undead creature within range; for example, it could contact the spirit of a drowned sailor if cast within a mile of the site of the drowning.

Note that this spell does not alter the subject’s personality or willingness to help you. Once the target spirit arrives, you must persuade it to help through negotiation, payment, or coercion of some sort. Family members, loved ones, friends, and slain companions are more inclined to help than are strangers or someone who was killed by the caster. Another spell, such as speak with dead, might be needed to compel answers from an uncooperative or unresponsive shade.