Necromancy ritual
Casting Time: 4 hours
Range: Self
Components: V, S, M (a whip made from nettles; blood, hair, or other sympathetic object from the target, smeared or hung around your neck)
Duration: 1 hour per check
How much are you willing to suffer to inflict pain on your enemy? Scourge your own flesh with a whip of nettles and briars, and as long as you can stand the flogging, the target suffers three times the pain you do. The target’s flesh first itches uncontrollably, then turns raw and blistered, then bleeds freely. The slightest movement or weight on his back is agony.
The target of the ritual must be within 10 miles of the caster.
To represent the first hour of the ritual, the caster takes 1d6 psychic damage and the target and caster conduct a Constitution contest. The loser of the contest gains one level of exhaustion. The caster can continue the ritual for as long as he or she is willing to take the punishment. In practical terms, a caster is unlikely to continue the ritual after losing the first contest because exhaustion often puts him or her at a disadvantage on subsequent Constitution checks.
Only living creatures that feel pain and injury can cast this ritual, which lasts as long as you continue scourging yourself. For each additional hour spent scourging, the caster takes another 1d6 psychic damage and the target and caster conduct another Constitution contest, with the loser gaining one level of exhaustion. The caster can recover from exhaustion normally through rest, but the target’s exhaustion can be removed only by limited wish, remove curse, wish, or comparable magic. If the caster’s pain, damage, or exhaustion is treated in any way during the ritual, the ritual ends immediately. When the ritual ends, the caster takes another 1d6 psychic damage and gains a final level of exhaustion.
