The Kindly Bell
A compassionate elven necromancer records the boundary between death and cruelty while seeking the lost names of those her order failed to protect.
Spellbook · Wizard, Conjuration tradition and Covenant of the Grave · Level 15
The Kindly Bell
A compassionate elven necromancer records the boundary between death and cruelty while seeking the lost names of those her order failed to protect.
Ex librisSaelwen ThalanorElven Wizard, Covenant of the Grave member
At a glance
Level
15
Wizard, Conjuration tradition and Covenant of the Grave
Spells
13
9 cantrips, 3 signature
Spell slots
1st level
2nd level
3rd level
4th level
5th level
6th level
7th level
8th level
At the table
A margin note
Plot hook
Spells
13 spellsCantrips
9- Hurl a mote of fire at a creature or object. A hit deals fire damage; a flammable unattended object hit ignites.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature or object
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Ranged spell attack
- Damage
- fire
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by at character levels 5, 11, and 17.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
- Create a spectral hand that can manipulate objects, open unlocked doors or containers, stow or retrieve items, or pour contents from a vessel. It cannot attack, activate magic items, or carry more than 10 pounds.
- Duration
- 1 minute
- Target
- A spectral hand
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- No higher-level scaling.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
- Whisper a message to a creature within range and hear its whispered reply. The spell is blocked by magical silence, 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood.
- Duration
- 1 round
- Target
- One creature
- Components
- V, S, M (a short piece of copper wire)
- Higher levels
- No higher-level scaling.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
- Extend a hand toward a creature you can see and exhale a puff of noxious gas. On a failed save, the target takes poison damage.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature you can see
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Constitution saving throw
- Damage
- poison
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by at character levels 5, 11, and 17.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
- The target hears a dolorous bell. On a failed Wisdom save, it takes necrotic damage; a target missing any hit points takes the larger die.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature you can see within range
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Wisdom saving throw
- Damage
- necrotic, or if the target is missing any hit points
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by one die at character levels 5, 11, and 17.
- Source
- Xanathar's Guide to Everything
- Launch a brief spark of grave-light at one creature. On a hit, it takes radiant damage.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Ranged spell attack
- Damage
- radiant
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by at character levels 5, 11, and 17.
- Source
- Original Creation
- A dim chime marks one creature you can see. On a failed save, it takes necrotic damage.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature you can see
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Wisdom saving throw
- Damage
- necrotic
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by at character levels 5, 11, and 17.
- Source
- Original Creation
- Snap a searing, spectral lash at one creature. On a hit, it takes fire damage.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Ranged spell attack
- Damage
- fire
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by at character levels 5, 11, and 17.
- Source
- Original Creation
- A sudden flare of spellfire surrounds one creature. On a failed save, it takes fire damage.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Dexterity saving throw
- Damage
- fire
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by at character levels 5, 11, and 17.
- Source
- Original Creation
2nd level
1- Touch a corpse or other remains. For the duration, the target is protected from decay and cannot become undead.
- 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; both consumed)
- Higher levels
- When cast using a slot of 3rd level or higher, duration increases by 10 days for each slot level above 2nd.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
3rd level
1- Create a skeleton or zombie from a pile of bones or a corpse, or reassert control over undead created by this spell. Reasserting control requires casting it again before control expires.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- A pile of bones or corpse, or undead previously created by this spell
- Components
- V, S, M (a drop of blood, a piece of flesh, and a pinch of bone dust)
- Higher levels
- A higher-level slot animates or reasserts control over two additional undead for each slot level above 3rd.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
7th level
1- Send negative energy through one creature. On a failed save, it takes necrotic damage; on a success, it takes half. A humanoid killed by this spell rises as a zombie under your permanent control at the start of your next turn.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Constitution saving throw
- Damage
- necrotic
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by for each slot level above 7th.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
8th level
1- Grow an inert duplicate of a living creature inside a sealed vessel. After maturity, the creature's soul can transfer to the clone if it dies, provided the soul is free and willing.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- A vessel containing a duplicate of one living creature
- Components
- V, S, M (a diamond worth at least 1,000 gp and at least 1 cubic inch of the creature's flesh, both consumed, plus a vessel worth at least 2,000 gp)
- Higher levels
- No higher-level scaling.
- Source
- Player's Handbook
In the margins
4 notes
WarningA soul is not a tool. Ask what the living need before you ask what the dead can do.
DiagramDiagram of a copper-threaded circle around a sealed tomb, annotated: 'Leave the west side open for the departing.'
DiaryI heard the bell again in the catacombs. It rang once for each name erased from the ledger.
FormulaBright Sparks, Hell's Lash, Spellfire Flare, and Toll the Day are experimental workings, not established 5E spells. Confirm their rules with the DM.
The book itself
The book treats necromancy as an art of remembrance and careful stewardship, not domination.
Copper threads in the binding warm faintly when a nearby creature dies.
A few unfamiliar spell names are marked as the owner's own experimental workings.
The caster
Elven Wizard, Covenant of the Grave memberSaelwen Thalanor
Studies: Conjuration and necromancy, guided by the Covenant of the GraveManner: Patient and courteous, with a quiet firmness when anyone treats a corpse or spirit carelessly.Focus: A copper-threaded yew wand wrapped with a narrow strip of linen from her mentor's shroud.Quirk: She asks permission before disturbing a grave, even when she is certain no one remains to answer.Wants: Find the source of a bell that rings beneath abandoned burial grounds and restore the names of the dead it calls.Saelwen Thalanor served as a healer in a border hospice before joining the Covenant of the Grave. She studies necromancy to protect the living, honor the dead, and prevent restless spirits from being exploited.
The book
A dark-green elven folio bound in pale leather, its silvered pages stitched with fine copper wire. The edges are softly singed, and a pressed white rose marks the page where the owner last paused.
Its wards · GM only
About the book
FormatSilver-stitched folio
ThemeNecromancy
Written by aWizard, Conjuration tradition and Covenant of the Grave
Caster level15
SystemDungeons & Dragons 5th Edition
Plot hooks
1A village's dead have begun answering Saelwen's Toll the Dead with a second, unfamiliar bell tone. The sound leads to a sealed crypt whose occupants were omitted from the local burial records.
2A rival member of the Covenant of the Grave steals the folio, hoping to use its notes on Animate Dead and Clone to restore a long-dead patron without consent.
3The copper stitching grows hot whenever Saelwen approaches a ruined hospice. Beneath it, a forgotten spirit begs her to recover the names of the people buried in an unmarked mass grave.
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