The pages of this ancient, yellowed book have been bound in a cover of human skin, in such a way that the hand of the cover's donor can be clearly seen as if they were reaching to open the book. Perhaps as a dark joke, the spine of the book has been reinforced with small finger bones, to support its weight.
When the book is opened, an overwhelming smell of old leather, weathered paper, and dried bile wafts from its pages. Inside are arcane secrets, written in a kind of code that blends the druidic and draconic languages, making it impossible to tread without the proper amount of study or the correct cipher.
It's been said that this grimoire was written by the bog witch Egnis, an infamous necromancer who served as a loyal aide to the angelic sister that once led the forgotten Fourth Flight. Once a druid, focused on maintaining the balance of life and death, Egnis began to believe the amount of death in Innistrad was overwhelming the forces of life, and that only necromancy could restore the status quo. Inside the grimoire, hidden by the code she created, are all the secrets of necromancy gathered before her death.
Random Properties The grimoire has the following random properties:
- 1 major detrimental property
- 1 minor beneficial property
Necromantic Secrets While attuned to the grimorie, you can spend one hour of study reading its pages and learning its secrets, at the end of which you can choose to expend one spell slot of any level. If you do, the grimorie gains a number of charges equal to the level of the expended spell slot.
While attuned to the grimoire, you can use an action on your turn to expend any number of charges and cast any necromancy spell of your choice of 8th-level or below, of a level equal to the number of charges expended.
Master of Death The grimoire's control over death is so great that you can use it to revive any creature that has been dead for less than 100 years as an undead creature under your control. To do so, you must spend 10 minutes conducting a magical ritual with the grimoire, during which you, the grimoire, and the creature to be revived must remain within 5 feet of each at all times. When you finish the ritual, you must expend a number of charges from the grimoire equal to the creature's CR (if the creature does not have a CR, treat its level as its CR).
The creature is resurrected, except that is an undead creature, it can not take harmful actions against you or your allies, and must obey any verbal commands that you issue to it. The creature is under your control for 24 hours, after which it dies once again, crumbling into dust as it does so. After it dries, the creature can't be resurrected except through the use of the wish spell.
To maintain control of the creature for another 24 hours, you must use an action and touch the creature, expending 1 additional charge from the grimoire as you do so. You can have up to four creatures under your control in this way at a time.
Death's Companion Whenever you cast a necromancy spell while attuned to and carrying the grimoire, you gain a number of temporary hit points equal to 5 x the level of the spell cast.
Destroying the Grimoire In order to destroy the grimoire, the words in its pages must be traveled over with ink made from liquid silver. The grimoire has 100 pages, and inking over one page requires 1 hour of work and 100 GP worth of materials. Once the last page has been re-inked, the grimoire must be burned on holy ground, such as in a church or an area affected by the hallow spell.
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