Sorcerers tend to make a lot of enemies. Two highly sought-after spells for this purpose are Stop Heart and Decapitate. It is still uncertain whether a Stop Heart spell exists, but many have come to the conclusion that the universe did not deem it necessary to create the Decapitate spell, for such an action is not only achievable through mundane means but also a savage method of termination. Such a spell would be beneath the gods who wrote our magic.
It's very hard to entirely disprove something's existence. The evidence cited by wizards that Decapitate does not exist is rather the conclusion drawn from these facts: spells can have reversed counterparts, and the spell Recapitate exists. Yet so far, the only known method of magical decapitation is to cast Recapitate in reverse. A true counterpart has mysteriously not been found.
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Recapitate
General: This necromantic spell attaches a head to a body. A reversed version of the spell can be cast but not learned, thus the reversed version must always be cast with a -1d penalty. Furthermore, casting in reverse requires at least 1 point of spellburn.
Performing this on the same body or head more than once risks provoking the ire of the gods of death - not to mention the potential damage done to both the body and mind.
Manifestation: For standard casting, roll 1d4: (1) an animated needle sews the head to the body, (2) a jolt of lightning from the wizard's hands revitalizes the corpse, (3) a ghostly spirit enters the body and possesses it, (4) tendrils from within the head grasp the body and control it
For reversed casting, roll 1d3: (1) a shadowy blade appears to decapitate the target, (2) the head rapidly twists and breaks off, (3) the head simply falls off
Corruption: Roll 1d8: (1) the caster's head is replaced with the target head, but their mind is retained (2) the caster's head is attached to the target body, (3) the caster randomly steals a feature from the head or body which replaces their own (1d8: eyes, nose, hair, teeth, ears, arms, legs, skin), (4-5) minor, (6), major, (7-8) greater
Misfire: Roll 1d4: (1) as result 18-21 but the head attaches backwards and the creature has -1 penalty to all checks, (2) the head explodes, (3) the wounds close over, making further attempts impossible, (4) the head comes to life but does not attach to the body, and it is very angry about it.
| Standard casting | Reversed casting (-1d) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lost, failure, and worse! | Lost, failure, and worse! |
| 2-11 | Lost. Failure. | Lost. Failure. |
| 12-15 | Failure, but spell is not lost. | Failure, but spell is not lost. |
| 16-17 | The head is attached to the body. If they were both dead, they remain dead. | A creature you can touch with 1HP or less is decapitated if it fails a Fort save. |
| 18-21 | The head is attached to the body, which is now able to move and act for 1d6 rounds before dying. It has 2 of its original Hit Dice and is of sub-animal intelligence. It is considered undead. | One target creature within 20' with 1d12 HP or less is decapitated if it fails a Fort save. It takes no damage if its current HP is higher than the rolled number. |
| 22-23 | The head is attached to the body, which is now able to move and act for 1d6 turns before dying. It has up to 3 of its original Hit Dice and is of sub-human intelligence, making it able to understand basic commands but not effectively reason. It is considered undead. | One target creature within 20' with 2d12 HP or less is decapitated if it fails a Fort save. It takes no damage if its current HP is higher than the rolled number. |
| 24-26 | The head is attached to the body, which is now able to move and act for 1d6 hours before dying. It has up to 4 of its original Hit Dice and is of the head's original intelligence, retaining its memories. It is considered undead. | The wizard can choose up to three creatures they can see within 40'. After selecting their targets, roll 5d12. If the targets' total HP are below the rolled total, each target must make a Fort save or be decapitated. |
| 27-31 | The head is attached to the body, which is now able to move and act for 1d6 days before dying. It has up to 6 of its original Hit Dice and is of any intelligence up to the head's original intelligence, at random. Roll 1d4 for its intelligence level: (1) zombie, (2) animal, (3) original, (4) humanoid-level. If spellburn was used, this roll can be adjusted up or down by that many points. It is considered undead. | All chosen creatures in a 30' radius centered on a point the wizard can see each roll 4d12. If each creature's HP is below that roll, they must make a Fort save or be decapitated. |
| 32-33 | The head is attached to the body, which is now able to move and act for 1d6 weeks before dying. It has up to 8 of its original Hit Dice and is of any intelligence up to the head's original intelligence, at the wizard's choosing. The wizard can make the recapitated individual dumber (useful to make intelligent beings subservient) but not smarter. It is considered undead. | The wizard can choose up to five creatures they can see within 60'. After selecting their targets, roll 7d12. If the targets' total HP are below the rolled total, each target must make a Fort save or be decapitated. |
| 34-35 | The head is attached to the body, which is now able to move and act. It can live until either the head or body would die of old age. It has all its original Hit Dice and is of great intelligence, but it is fiercely loyal even if it was the wizard's enemy before. It is not considered undead, though it is now a monstrosity. Only one creature brought to life by this result may be alive at a time unless the wizard chooses for the creature to permanently occupy a spell slot. If ever two of these creatures are alive and the wizard has not done this, roll 1d3: (1) the first dies, (2) the second dies, (3) they both die | The wizard can choose any number of creatures they can see within 90'. After selecting their targets, roll 10d12. If the targets' total HP are below the rolled total, each target must make a Fort save or be decapitated. |
| 36+ | Any number of bodies within 5' per CL are recapitated as result 18-21, except they can live for up to 1d6 months before dying. If this result is achieved while previous recapitants are still alive, each of them has 60% minus the caster's Luck score chance of dying on the spot. For large armies, that percentage of the total die. | One target creature within 90' is decapitated. |
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