By completing this ritual, a high priest forges a powerful pact with his or her deity. The covenant ensures that a chosen individual will survive an untimely death. A death pact is triggered whenever the protected individual is reduced to fewer than 0 hit points (mortally wounded) due to combat, spell, or accident. In the same round, the subject receives the following benefits:
- The individual (or his or her remains) and all possessions are transported immediately back to a religious sanctuary as if by a word of recall (the location of the sanctuary must be specified at the time of forging the death pact).
- Upon arrival, the individual receives a raise dead spell (if necessary) and automatically makes any required system shock roll.
- Any physical damage sustained by the individual is completely healed except for 2–5 (1d4+1) points of damage.
- Any severed or amputated limbs are instantaneously regenerated.
- The body is cleared of lingering enchantments with a dispel magic (bestowed at caster's level), whether beneficial or baneful, and cleansed of all poisons, diseases, blindness, curses, and insanity.
A death pact will remain in effect indefinitely until the conditions established at the time of its forging have been fulfilled. The pact may be established to benefit an individual other than the caster. However, in almost all cases, the chosen one must be in good standing with the caster's religion and agree to undertake a mission that will directly benefit the deity or dark power responsible for granting the spell. A dispel magic cannot end a death pact prematurely.
This powerful spell is not without its costs, however. Forging a death pact is an exhaustively stressful process, drawing the priest into draining audiences with extraplanar powers. As a result, establishing a death pact ages the caster five years and requires at least one week for complete recuperation, during which time the priest cannot cast any spells or engage in any physically demanding activity. Furthermore, when the pact is invoked, the mystical transport and instantaneous healing exacts another toll, this time aging the recipient for five years (if the individual was raised, he or she also loses one point of Constitution permanently). Thus, if the priest casts the spell on him- or herself, he or she must be prepared to sacrifice at least ten years of life!
The spell's material components are an (un)holy sanctuary consecrated to the caster's deity and seven drops each of the caster's blood, the recipient's blood, (un)holy water, and dew. This powerful pact has enabled many “slain” priests to return from the dead and eliminate their enemies. Wicked necromancers in the service of evil deities are rumored to have significantly reduced the terrible personal toll on the caster by some unspeakably foul sacrifice. Note that powerful wizard necromancers might achieve a similar effect with wish-fortified contingency spells.
Notes: Uncommon for evil necromancer priests; otherwise very rare.