DM Entry: New Spell: Reassembling Skeleton (rough draft)

Since we are not gaming this weekend, I thought I might post a new spell I have been working on. This is the initial draft, so any comments will be appreciated.

Reassembling Skeleton

New Spell

Necromancy [Evil]

Level: Cleric 4, Sorcerer 4, Wizard 4

Components: V, S, M, DF

Casting Time: 1 standard action

Range: Touch

Target: One touched skeleton

Duration: Permanent until all triggers have been expended, up to 1 trigger per 3 caster levels

Saving Throw: None

Spell Resistance: No

            You chant evil formulae as you place the gems within the ribcage of the skeleton. At the end of casting, the gems briefly pulse with negative energy and embed themselves into the bone of the skeleton.

            When the skeleton is destroyed, after just a few moments its pieces come back together, reforming the skeleton just as it was before it was destroyed, fully ready to continue combat again. And when it is destroyed again, it reforms once again, and again, and again.

            Reassembling skeleton may only target skeletons that you control or have personally created. Any skeleton may only benefit from a reassembling skeleton spell once, ever.

            When this spell is cast, it remains dormant until triggered. The touched skeleton reassembles itself when it is destroyed. The process of reassembling takes 1 round. Unless the target skeleton has been disintegrated or is inside of an antimagic area, it will be restored to its full normal hit points and function that it had before being destroyed—however it gains a penalty to its maximum hit points equal to the number of times it has been reassembled. This spell triggers 1 time per 3 caster levels—according to your caster level at the time it was originally cast.

            Once reassembling is complete, the skeleton appears standing in the space in which it was destroyed. If this space is occupied, it moves to the nearest legal space and takes 1d6 points of damage per 5-ft square it was forced to move in this way. Any objects the skeleton was wearing or wielding return to it as it was before unless the object became possessed by another creature before it reassembled itself—any armor worn previous to being destroyed is again equipped, any weapon it had been wielding is again in its hands, any worn magic items are again worn in the same places as before, etc.

            A skeleton protected by reassembling skeleton that is inside of an antimagic area 1 round after being destroyed will lose one of its gems (see below) but not reassemble itself. It will attempt to reassemble itself once every round until it either succeeds (outside of an antimagic area) or runs out of onyx gems.

            Material Component: One onyx gemstone worth 25 gp per HD of the target skeleton per trigger. These gems embed themselves inside the ribcage of the skeleton. Each time it reassembles itself, one of the onyx gems disintegrates to powder. These gems become embedded within the bone, barely visible. They are impossible to remove once reassembling skeleton has been cast.