Vesper's Last Lesson
A meticulous necromancer’s treasured grimoire holds the means to question the dead and the burden of keeping its former owner’s promises.
Spellbook · Wizard, School of Necromancy · Level 8
Vesper's Last Lesson
A meticulous necromancer’s treasured grimoire holds the means to question the dead and the burden of keeping its former owner’s promises.
Ex librisMara VesperWizard of the School of Necromancy
At a glance
Level
8
Wizard, School of Necromancy
Spells
10
2 cantrips, 3 signature
Spell slots
1st level
2nd level
3rd level
4th level
At the table
A margin note
Plot hook
Spells
10 spellsCantrips
2- One creature you can see within range makes a Wisdom save, taking necrotic damage on a failure. The spell deals greater damage if the target is missing any hit points.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature you can see within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Wisdom saving throw
- Damage
- necrotic
- Higher levels
- Damage increases to at character level 5, at 11, and at 17; if the target is missing any hit points, use d12s instead.
- Source
- Xanathar's Guide to Everything
- On a hit, the target takes necrotic damage and can't regain hit points until the start of your next turn. Undead targets also have disadvantage on attack rolls against you until then.
- Duration
- 1 round
- Target
- One creature within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Ranged spell attack
- Damage
- necrotic
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by at character levels 5, 11, and 17.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
1st level
2- You gain temporary hit points for the duration.
- Duration
- 1 hour
- Target
- Self
- Components
- V, S, M (a small amount of alcohol or distilled spirits)
- Higher levels
- When cast with a higher-level spell slot, gain 5 additional temporary hit points for each slot level above 1st.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
- One creature you can see within range must save or become frightened of you for the duration. The spell requires concentration.
- Duration
- Up to 1 minute
- Target
- One creature you can see within range
- Components
- V
- Save or attack
- Wisdom saving throw
- Higher levels
- When cast with a 2nd-level slot or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 1st.
- Conditions
- Frightened
- Source
- Xanathar's Guide to Everything
2nd level
3- You touch a corpse or other remains. For the duration, the target is protected from decay and can't become undead. The spell also extends the time limit for raising the target from the dead.
- Duration
- 10 days
- Target
- One corpse or other remains
- Components
- V, S, M (a pinch of salt and one copper piece placed on each eye of the corpse)
- Higher levels
- No effect at higher levels.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
- You can blind or deafen one creature for the duration. The spell does not require concentration.
- Duration
- 1 minute
- Target
- One creature you can see within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Constitution saving throw
- Higher levels
- When cast with a 3rd-level slot or higher, target one additional creature for each slot level above 2nd.
- Conditions
- Blinded, Deafened
- Source
- Player's Handbook
- On a hit, a creature deals only half damage with weapon attacks that use Strength for the duration. The spell requires concentration; a successful end-of-turn Constitution save ends it.
- Duration
- Up to 1 minute
- Target
- One creature within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Ranged spell attack; target makes a Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns
- Higher levels
- No effect at higher levels.
- Conditions
- Weakened attacks
- Source
- Player's Handbook
3rd level
2- Animate a pile of bones or a corpse of a Small or Medium humanoid as a skeleton or zombie. You can use a bonus action to command undead you created with this spell within 60 feet.
- Duration
- Instantaneous; control lasts 24 hours
- Target
- One pile of bones or corpse of a Small or Medium humanoid
- Components
- V, S, M (a drop of blood, a piece of flesh, and a pinch of bone dust)
- Higher levels
- Using a 4th-level slot, animate or reassert control over two additional undead creatures.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
- On a hit, the target takes necrotic damage, and you regain hit points equal to half the necrotic damage dealt.
- Duration
- Up to 1 minute
- Target
- One creature within 5 feet
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Melee spell attack against a creature within 5 feet
- Damage
- necrotic per hit
- Higher levels
- The damage increases by for each slot level above 3rd.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
4th level
1- A creature you can see within range takes necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. The spell has no effect on undead or constructs.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature you can see within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Constitution saving throw
- Damage
- necrotic
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by for each slot level above 4th.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
In the margins
4 notes
WarningA corpse is not a tool. If you must borrow its hands, remember whose hands they were.
DiaryThe dead answer more readily when you ask the question you are afraid to ask.
FormulaFor the third time: command the skeletons before the bell, not after.
DiagramThe marrow lines converge here. Do not let the ink touch the silver stitch.
The book itself
The pages smell faintly of candle smoke and rain on old stone.
Names have been written in the margins, then meticulously crossed out.
A silver thread marks the page for each spell the owner has prepared.
The caster
Wizard of the School of NecromancyMara Vesper
Studies: Necromancy, especially the study of mortality and the careful animation of the dead.Manner: Soft-spoken, exacting, and unexpectedly patient with the grieving.Focus: A small silver stylus used to trace sigils in the air and annotate the book.Quirk: She asks permission before examining a corpse, even when no one is there to answer.Wants: Find the source of a recurring whisper that names people shortly before they die.Mara Vesper once served as a battlefield chirurgeon. She turned to necromancy after failing to save a village during a winter fever, and now studies death to prevent needless loss.
The book
A black-oak folio bound in cracked gray leather, its pages edged in silver and annotated with careful diagrams of bones, veins, and funerary sigils. A translucent fingerprint darkens the inside cover.
Its wards · GM only
About the book
FormatBlack-oak codex
ThemeNecromancy
Written by aWizard, School of Necromancy
Caster level8
SystemDungeons & Dragons 5th Edition
Plot hooks
1One crossed-out name in the book has appeared on a fresh grave marker, though the person named died decades ago.
2A former apprentice claims the grimoire contains the last instructions of a missing necromancer and wants it opened before the next new moon.
3The book’s silver-thread wards are coming loose, and an unseen presence has begun turning its pages at night.
Media
0 imagesNo images yet.
Visual sheet
Turn Vesper's Last Lesson into a sheet
A high-res, share-ready sheet you can post or print.