The Grim Hand: Codex of Thaliss Vorr
A necromancer’s codex of practical rites and battlefield necromancy — equal parts surgical notes and cold-hearted instruction for animating, sustaining, and bending the dead.
Spellbook · Wizard (School of Necromancy) · Level 0
The Grim Hand: Codex of Thaliss Vorr
A necromancer’s codex of practical rites and battlefield necromancy — equal parts surgical notes and cold-hearted instruction for animating, sustaining, and bending the dead.
Ex librisThaliss Vorr, 'The Archivist of Pallor'School of Necromancy (wizard)
At a glance
Level
0
Wizard (School of Necromancy)
Spells
11
1 cantrip, 5 signature
At the table
A margin note
Plot hook
Spells
11 spellsCantrips
1- Create a ghostly skeletal hand that makes a ranged spell attack; on a hit deals necrotic damage and prevents regaining hit points until your next turn.
- Duration
- 1 round
- Target
- One creature within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Ranged spell attack
- Damage
- necrotic (scales // at 5th/11th/17th)
- Higher levels
- Damage increases at character levels 5, 11, and 17.
- Conditions
- target can't regain hit points until start of your next turn, undead target: disadvantage on attacks vs. you until end of your next turn
- Source
- Player's Handbook (cantrip). citeturn0search2
1st level
2- Bolster yourself with necromantic false vitality, granting temporary hit points.
- Duration
- 1 hour
- Target
- Self
- Components
- V, S, M (a small amount of alcohol or distilled spirits)
- Higher levels
- When cast with a 2nd-level or higher slot, gain +5 temporary HP per slot above 1st.
- Source
- Player's Handbook, p. 239. citeturn3search4
- Fire a sickening ray; on a hit deals poison damage and forces a Con save or be poisoned until the end of your next turn.
- Duration
- Instantaneous; poisoned until end of your next turn on failed save
- Target
- One creature within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Ranged spell attack (hit) + Constitution save for secondary effect
- Damage
- poison (increases by per slot level above 1st)
- Higher levels
- Damage + per slot level above 1st.
- Conditions
- poisoned (if failed save)
- Source
- Player's Handbook (1st-level). citeturn0search1
2nd level
1- Touch a corpse to preserve it from decay and extra time counting toward spells that raise the dead.
- Duration
- 10 days
- Target
- One corpse or corpse's remains touched
- Components
- V, S, M (a pinch of salt and one copper piece placed on each of the corpse's eyes)
- Source
- Player's Handbook (ritual spell). citeturn0search5
3rd level
2- Raise a skeleton or zombie from a corpse or pile of bones; you control it for 24 hours and can reassert control by casting again.
- Duration
- Instantaneous (control lasts 24 hours; can be reasserted)
- Target
- One corpse or pile of bones within range
- Components
- V, S, M (a drop of blood, a piece of flesh, and a pinch of bone dust)
- Higher levels
- When cast at higher slots you can animate or reassert control over two additional undead per slot level above 3rd.
- Conditions
- animated undead remains under caster control for 24 hours (reassert by recasting)
- Source
- Player's Handbook, p. 212. citeturn1search0
- Make a melee spell attack that deals necrotic damage and heals you for half the damage; repeatable each turn while concentrating.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 1 minute (can make a melee spell attack each turn)
- Target
- One creature you can reach
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Melee spell attack
- Damage
- necrotic on initial hit (increases by per slot above 3rd)
- Higher levels
- Damage + per slot level above 3rd.
- Conditions
- requires concentration (up to 1 minute)
- Source
- Player's Handbook, p. 285. citeturn1search2
4th level
1- Drain moisture and vitality from a target creature, dealing heavy necrotic damage; particularly deadly to plants.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Constitution saving throw (half)
- Damage
- necrotic (half on successful Con save)
- Higher levels
- When cast at 5th level or higher, damage increases by per slot level above 4th.
- Conditions
- no effect on undead or constructs, plants: disadvantage on save; nonmagical plants automatically wither
- Source
- Player's Handbook (4th-level). citeturn3search1
5th level
2- Animate multiple corpses (up to five) as skeletons or zombies under your control for the duration; command them with a bonus action.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 1 hour
- Target
- Up to five Small or Medium corpses within range
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- At higher slots (6th or higher) animate two additional corpses per slot level above 5th.
- Conditions
- concentration, up to 1 hour, animated corpses remain until spell ends
- Source
- Xanathar's Guide to Everything, p. 153. citeturn2search5
- Launch a tendril that deals necrotic damage; on a failed save you can use your action each turn to automatically deal ongoing necrotic damage while concentrating.
- Duration
- Concentration, up to 1 minute
- Target
- One creature within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Dexterity saving throw
- Damage
- Initial necrotic ( on successful Dex save); on failed initial save you may deal necrotic automatically on subsequent turns while concentrating
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by for each slot level above 5th.
- Conditions
- concentration, up to 1 minute
- Source
- Xanathar's Guide to Everything (5th-level necromancy). citeturn4search0
6th level
2- Transform corpses into controlled undead (ghouls/ghasts/wights/mummies depending on slot); requires night and costly material components.
- Duration
- Instantaneous (control lasts 24 hours)
- Target
- Up to three corpses of Small or Medium humanoids within range
- Components
- V, S, M (one clay pot filled with grave dirt, one clay pot filled with brackish water, and one 150 gp black onyx stone per corpse)
- Higher levels
- Higher spell slots change the type and number of undead you can create (see source).
- Conditions
- created undead under your control for 24 hours; must be cast at night, control can be reasserted with subsequent cast
- Source
- Player's Handbook, p. 229. citeturn3search3
- Unleash a 60-foot-radius sphere of negative energy that deals heavy necrotic damage to creatures in the area; expensive material component required.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- Each creature in a 60-foot-radius sphere (point chosen within range)
- Components
- V, S, M (the powder of a crushed black pearl worth at least 500 gp)
- Save or attack
- Constitution saving throw (half)
- Damage
- necrotic (half on successful Con save)
- Higher levels
- At 7th level or higher, damage increases by per slot above 6th.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (6th-level). citeturn2search7
In the margins
4 notes
Diary‘Never trust a corpse that smiles. It remembers you.’
DiagramDiagram: 60-ft radius — note: 'circle of ripples — negative energy disperses to edge'.
WarningWarning: 'Do not attempt Create Undead in daylight without the Nightbinding sigil.'
FormulaFormula: powdered black pearl + whisper of the second name = Circle of Death (see pg. 89, rune revisions).
The book itself
Pages arranged by corpse, not by topic — each section begins with the name of a ritual site.
Margins contain anatomical sketches and shorthand for pulse and breath (often crossed out).
The author marks 'ethical' cautions in red ink and technical notes in black.
The caster
School of Necromancy (wizard)Thaliss Vorr, 'The Archivist of Pallor'
Studies: Animating and controlling undead; preserving remains; battlefield necromancy.Manner: Calm, clinical, and unsettlingly cheerful about decomposition; speaks in precise surgical metaphors.Focus: A small iron skull topped with a moonstone that the caster presses against a corpse’s sternum when performing rites.Quirk: Counts bones aloud while thinking; taps patterns on tables in a rhythm that matches the cadaver’s last heartbeat.Wants: To perfect an ethical pact that keeps the dead servile without lingering malice — or at least to control a small, obedient guard of undead forever.Former university anatomist who turned to necromancy after losing family in a plague; collects funerary rites and barters with gravewardens.
The book
A black-leather codex bound with iron clasps; the cover is embossed with a silver sigil of a closed eye and a skeletal hand. Interleaved pages are stained in sepia and faintly scented of myrrh and tomb-dust; occasional pressed feathers and small bone talismans are tucked between chapters.
Its wards · GM only
About the book
Formatcodex
ThemeNecromancy
Written by aWizard (School of Necromancy)
Caster level0
SystemDungeons & Dragons 5e
Plot hooks
1A tomb-keeper hires the party to recover the codex after a cult of graverobbers stole it; the thieves are already raising the dead from a plague-struck village.
2The codex lists a lost mortuary where an ancient necromancer bound a sleeping wight — reading a certain marginal note may reveal the wight’s name and location.
3A rival necromancer seeks the book to complete Create Undead during an eclipse; stopping them prevents a small legion of ghouls from being created.
4A city coroner recognizes the handwriting in the codex and begs the PCs to find the author — alive or otherwise — to clear his own name.
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