Purifying Sanctuary (3.5e Epic Spell)

''Crying out to Yawheh to heal the troubled souls before you, you chant the words of the holy ritual. As you conclude the spell, a pillar of purifying light comes down from the heavens to alleviate the suffering of everyone in its path.''

All creatures in the area of the spell are subject to the effects of the heal seed, plus the effect of an atonement spell. Furthermore, any negative magical effects on the subjects, including curses, charm effects, and compulsion effects, are dispelled. Any undead creature in the area that has been undead for less than 1 month per caster level is instantly reverted to its pre-undead state, regaining its former alignment and personality, but losing its undead template (it regains its Constitution, Intelligence (if non-intelligent), and any feats, special attacks, and special qualities that it may have lost due to its template, but loses all features that it gained due to its template). An undead creature that has been undead for longer than that time is not reverted, and must make a Will save (with a +15 sacred bonus if it has a soul) or be destroyed. If it makes the save, then it is freed from the control of its sire (or any spellcaster that may be commanding it through a spell or clerical commanding ability), just as if it had been voluntarily released, and its mind is restored to its pre-undeath state; it regains its former alignment and personality (and its Intelligence score, if it had been a non-intelligent undead, as well as its soul if it had been soulless), and it is free to make its own decisions on how it conducts its unlife. However, it is likely to be extremely grateful to the caster of the purifying sanctuary spell for saving its soul from damnation. (Its alignment may still be threatened by the grislier details of its undeath; for example, a vampire will still need to consume blood.) The redeemed undead is still powered by negative energy, and is affected by magical effects (especially positive and negative energy) like any other undead would be. This can make it hard, but not impossible, to get along with good-aligned characters, who may need to be very careful to avoid harming their new undead ally. In addition, the redeemed undead will remember everything that it did before being restored through purifying sanctuary, as well as everything its sire made it do; if these actions were in violation of its alignment, or if it brought harm to anything or anyone that it cherishes, its redeemers should be prepared to talk it out of committing suicide. (This also applies to any undead creature restored to mortality by the spell.)

The save DC for this spell and the caster level check for overcoming spell resistance both have a +10 sacred bonus. A caster level check for this spell to defeat a dispel check (if an enemy spellcaster tries to counter it with dispel magic, greater dispel magic, reaving dispel, or a similar spell) is made at a +5 sacred bonus. However, Concentration checks made to avoid losing the spell to a distraction or to cast it defensively are made at a &mdash;15 penalty.

Concentrating on this spell requires full-round actions that provoke attacks of opportunity. You decide on a round-by-round basis whether or not you are casting the spell defensively. If you are casting this spell defensively, you must make a Concentration check every round to avoid losing the spell. (In essence, you are completely helpless while casting this spell, though you are not actually considered helpless for game purposes (you are not vulnerable to a coup de grace or any other effect that only works on helpless characters). If you elect not to cast the spell defensively, you are considered flat-footed while casting this spell, so you lose your Dexterity and dodge bonuses to AC and can be sneak attacked. Essentially, this is not a spell that's supposed to be feasibly castable in an intense situation when on one's own, though it can be cast in combat if your allies can make a coordinated effort to protect you during the casting time.)

Purifying sanctuary can counter or dispel any darkness spell, including epic darkness spells. Likewise, it can be countered by any epic darkness spell. (Because purifying sanctuary ' s duration is instantaneous, it cannot be dispelled.)

DM Notes: This spell is assumed to be aligned with the supreme deity of the campaign, and is only usable by followers of that deity. (For purposes of the spell description, that deity is assumed to be Yawheh, the God of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam).) If your campaign's supreme deity is evil-aligned, you may substitute the most prominent good-aligned deity in the campaign. If the supreme deity is neutral on the good-evil axis, you can associate purifying sanctuary with that deity. You may choose to not have purifying sanctuary associated with a deity at all, but in this scenario, its Spellcraft DC is increased by 100 (due to the removal of a mitigating factor).

Focus: A blessed tome enchanted with the essence of the purifying sanctuary spell that costs at least 200,000 gp, plus a silver holy symbol of Yawheh that costs at least 3,000 gp. For a cleric, druid, or other divine spellcaster, this holy symbol can be the same divine focus used to cast your other spells, but it must be made of silver and cost at least 3,000 gp in order to cast purifying sanctuary. (The holy symbol is not costly enough to influence the Spellcraft DC of purifying sanctuary.)