The Candle at the Empty Chair
A tender necromancer's prayer-book calls one departed companion close and lends a little strength to those still carrying on.
Spellbook · Cleric, Domain of Necromancy · Level 20
The Candle at the Empty Chair
A tender necromancer's prayer-book calls one departed companion close and lends a little strength to those still carrying on.
Ex librisSister Elian VossCleric prayer and funerary necromancy
At a glance
Level
20
Cleric, Domain of Necromancy
Spells
10
2 cantrips, 2 signature
Spell slots
1st level
2nd level
3rd level
4th level
5th level
6th level
7th level
8th level
9th level
At the table
A margin note
Plot hook
Spells
10 spellsCantrips
2- One creature you can see within range makes a Wisdom saving throw, taking Necrotic damage on a failure or half as much on a success.
- 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
- The damage increases by or at Cleric levels 5, 11, and 17.
- Source
- Xanathar's Guide to Everything
- You touch a creature with 0 Hit Points; it becomes Stable.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature with 0 Hit Points
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- Cantrip; no slot required.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
1st level
1- Make a melee spell attack against a creature within reach. On a hit, the target takes Necrotic damage.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One creature within reach
- Components
- V, S
- Save or attack
- Melee spell attack
- Damage
- Necrotic
- Higher levels
- Damage increases by for each spell slot level above 1.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
2nd level
1- Choose up to three creatures. Each target's current and maximum Hit Points increase by 5 for the duration.
- Duration
- 8 hours
- Target
- Up to three creatures
- Components
- V, S, M (a miniature cloak)
- Higher levels
- Each slot level above 2 increases the current and maximum Hit Points of each target by 5.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
3rd level
3- Choose a pile of bones or corpse of a Small or Medium Humanoid within range. It becomes an Undead Skeleton or Zombie, respectively, under the spell's command rules.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- 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 slot above 3rd animates or reasserts control over two additional undead for each slot level above 3rd.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
- Touch a creature that died within the last minute. It returns to life with 1 Hit Point; the spell cannot restore missing body parts or revive someone who died of old age.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One dead creature that died within the last minute
- Components
- V, S, M (a diamond worth 300+ GP, which the spell consumes)
- Higher levels
- No additional effect from using a higher-level slot.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
- Grant a semblance of life and intelligence to a corpse so it can answer up to five questions. The corpse must have a mouth and cannot be Undead.
- Duration
- 10 days
- Target
- One corpse
- Components
- V, S, M (a pinch of graveyard soil)
- Higher levels
- Using a slot above 3rd increases the number of questions by 1 for each slot level above 3rd.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
4th level
1- Protect a creature from the first time it would drop to 0 Hit Points without dying, leaving it with 1 Hit Point instead. The spell also protects against an effect that would kill it outright, leaving it with 1 Hit Point instead.
- Duration
- 8 hours
- Target
- One creature
- Components
- V, S
- Higher levels
- No additional effect from using a higher-level slot.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
5th level
1- Return a dead creature to life if it has been dead no longer than 10 days. The creature returns with 1 Hit Point and suffers the spell's temporary penalties.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One dead creature
- Components
- V, S, M (a diamond worth 500+ GP, which the spell consumes)
- Higher levels
- No additional effect from using a higher-level slot.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
9th level
1- Return a dead creature to life if it has been dead no longer than 200 years and did not die of old age. The spell restores its body if needed and ends curses and magical effects that prevent its return.
- Duration
- Instantaneous
- Target
- One dead creature
- Components
- V, S, M (diamonds worth 25,000+ GP, which the spell consumes)
- Higher levels
- No additional effect from using a higher-level slot.
- Source
- Player's Handbook (2024)
In the margins
4 notes
WarningDo not ask the dead to stay. Ask whether they wish to walk beside us.
DiaryMara says the left-hand candle is hers. I keep lighting it, though there is no draft.
DiagramA name spoken with care is not a chain. Draw the circle open toward the living.
FormulaFor the weary: a little borrowed vigor may be enough to reach the next dawn.
The book itself
A single quiet spirit is honored as a companion, never treated as a disposable servant.
The book's strongest prayers are written beside names of people who survived because someone remembered them.
A narrow blank page waits at the end for the next name entrusted to its keeper.
The caster
Cleric prayer and funerary necromancySister Elian Voss
Studies: Necromancy, remembrance, and life-preserving ritesManner: Gentle, attentive, and quietly firm about treating both the living and the dead with dignity.Focus: A silver thimble filled with graveyard soil, held beside a small beeswax candle for the departed.Quirk: She leaves a chair unoccupied at every meal and asks the empty place whether it would like the window open.Wants: To find the resting place of her friend Mara and learn why Mara's spirit has chosen to accompany her rather than pass on.Sister Elian Voss served as a battlefield chaplain. After her closest friend died saving a retreating company, Elian learned to speak with the dead without mistaking grief for ownership.
The book
A small, lovingly repaired prayer-book bound in charcoal-gray leather, with a silver clasp shaped like two hands meeting. Its pages smell faintly of candle wax and winter herbs; one pressed black ribbon marks a name written in the owner's hand.
Its wards · GM only
About the book
FormatPocket-sized illuminated codex
ThemeOne companion from beyond. A little strength for those who remain.
Written by aCleric, Domain of Necromancy
Caster level20
SystemD&D 5E (2024)
Plot hooks
1The spirit who appears beside the book's keeper has begun pointing toward a sealed family crypt, though its owner insists they never knew the dead buried there.
2A town's memorial names have been scraped away. The grimoire's blank final page now bears one of those names in fresh ink.
3The book's silver clasp is missing. A collector claims it can bind a ghost permanently, but the departed companion begs the party to retrieve it first.
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