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Transcarnate
Necromancy [death]
Level: Sorcerer/wizard 9
Components: V, S, M (shed skin of a basilisk treated with 25,000 gp of tinctures)
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: 1 or more creatures; see text
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
Your consciousness reaches out in an attempt to take over another receptacle. You choose one target and force it to make a Will saving throw. On a failure, it is driven out of its body immediately, returning as a ghost 1d4x10 minutes later. You possess their body as if by the spell magic jar, but with a duration of instantaneous, and your original body crumbles into dust.
If the target succeeds on its saving throw, you may immediately attempt to target a different creature within range, who gets a +2 bonus on their saving throw. You cannot target the same creature twice with a single casting of this spell. If the new target succeeds, you can continue to target other creatures within range one by one, each receiving a cumulative +2 bonus on their save for every previous failed possession attempt.
Regardless of whether you successfully possess another body, your original body dies and crumbles to dust after the spell is cast. If you are not in your original body when you cast this spell, then your current body simply reverts to its original owner, whose ghost is instantly destroyed and who is then immediately restored to their body as if by true resurrection.
The target returns as a ghost 1d4x10 minutes after you drive it out of its body, and it gains the malevolence ability for free. It uses this spell’s caster level in place of its Hit Dice for determining the effects (including saving throw DCs) of its ghost powers, unless its Hit Dice are already greater than the spell’s caster level. It can use locate creature as a supernatural ability at will (caster level 20th) to find the current location of its body. It continues to rejuvenate until it rejoins with its original body. Every time the target is forced to use its rejuvenate ability, their body’s current occupant gains 1 permanent negative level that cannot be removed in any way so long as they remain in that body.
The caster of the spell has a chance to lose control of the new body. Whenever they are knocked unconscious (not merely sleeping or stunned), the original occupant can use their malevolence ability on the caster as a free action regardless of distance. On a failed save, the body reverts to its original occupant and the caster’s soul moves on to the afterlife immediately unless they can cast the mythic version of the spell.
Antimagic, break enchantment, dispel chaos/evil/good/law, greater dispel magic, and limited wish cannot displace you from your current body. Only mage’s disjunction, miracle, or wish can expel you, forcing your soul on to the afterlife immediately unless you can cast the mythic version of this spell. You receive a Will save to prevent expulsion, and spell resistance applies.
Mythic: If you expend one use of mythic power when you cast the spell, you can cast this spell as an immediate action and without verbal or somatic components. You do not need to have the material component in hand, but it must be somewhere within range and not in the possession of another creature unwilling to part with it (though allies may hold on to it for safekeeping). Only a mythic mage’s disjunction, mythic miracle, or mythic wish can force you to vacate the body and pass on into the afterlife, and you receive a Will save and spell resistance to negate this effect.
Augmented (6th): As mythic transcarnate, but if you fail to possess a creature that round, your spirit lies dormant at the spot where you died until a creature comes within range, at which point you can attempt to possess it once. If you fail, you cannot attempt to possess it again and resume dormancy until another target becomes available. Only a mythic mage’s disjunction, mythic miracle, or mythic wish can force your dormant spirit into the afterlife, and you receive a Will save and spell resistance to negate this effect.
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Metempsychosis
Necromancy
Level: Sorcerer/wizard 5
Components: V, S, M (charnel ash mixed with powdered onyx worth 5,000 gp)
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: Touch
Target: 1 corpse
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
You restore life to a deceased creature by placing its soul in the body targeted by the spell. The body must be of the same race as the creature to be raised, and must not have begun to decay (1d4+5 hours from time of death for a given corpse). The body's former inhabitant knows the name and alignment of both the caster and the creature being raised, and can choose on that basis to resist the spell with a Will save or spell resistance. If successfully resisted, the spell fails and that body cannot be used again to attempt to raise the specific creature. You can raise a creature that has been dead for as long as 10 years per caster level. This spell can even bring back creatures whose bodies have been destroyed, provided that you unambiguously identify the deceased in some fashion (reciting the deceased's time and place of birth or death is the most common method).
In addition, the subject's soul must be free and willing to return. If the subject's soul is not willing to return, the spell does not work; therefore, a subject that wants to return receives no saving throw.
Coming back from the dead is an ordeal. The subject of the spell gains two permanent negative levels when it is raised, just as if it had been hit by an energy-draining creature. If the subject is 1st level, it takes 2 points of Charisma drain instead (if this would reduce its Charisma to 0 or less, it can't be raised). A character who died with spells prepared has a 50% chance of losing any given spell upon being raised. A spellcasting creature that doesn't prepare spells (such as a sorcerer) has a 50% chance of losing any given unused spell slot as if it had been used to cast a spell.
The Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores of the creature being raised overwrite those of the target body, but the target body’s Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution scores replace those of the creature being raised. The raised creature retains its classes and levels, feats, skill ranks, class features, alignment, and mental abilities. They retain their skill and initiative modifiers, attack bonuses, maximum hit point total, and saving throws, but these may need to be recalculated based on their new ability scores.
When the casting is complete, the raised creature has a number of hit points equal to its current HD. Any of the body’s physical ability scores damaged or drained to 0 are raised to 1. Normal poison and normal disease in the target body are cured in the process of casting the spell, but magical diseases and curses on the body are not undone. While the spell closes mortal wounds and repairs lethal damage of most kinds, the body used must be whole. Otherwise, missing parts are still missing when the creature is brought back to life.
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Tandem Spirits
Necromancy
Level: cleric/oracle 3, sorcerer/wizard 4
Components: V, S, M (1,000 gp of rare oils and unguents)
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Personal and touch or personal and 50 feet; see text
Target: You and corpse touched or you; see text
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: Yes (harmless)
You act as a conduit for a creature that has been dead for up to one week. This spell can even channel creatures whose bodies have been destroyed, provided that you are within 50 feet of where the creature died and you unambiguously identify the deceased in some fashion (reciting the deceased's time and place of birth or death is the most common method). The creature’s soul must be free and willing to return.
The creature’s soul enters your body and resides in it, without taking up any physical space. The creature can perceive everything you perceive via all your senses, and you can communicate with each other telepathically as if you shared a language.
As a free action once per round, you can permit the soul to use your body, as if via magic jar. Once the switch occurs, it persists as long as you wish. Regaining control is a free action that you can perform at any time, even when it is not your turn.
Your maximum hit point total while affected by the spell is equal to the higher of your maximum hit point total or the shared spirit’s maximum hit point total recalculated for your Constitution score.
Effects such as haste, heroism, teleport, and so on treat the caster and the spirit as a single creature.
If you are subject to a charm or compulsion effect, you and the spirit both make saving throws. Unless both fail, the character that succeeded on the save takes over for the other until the effect ends.
Time spent bonded to the caster does not count against the time limit on spells such as resurrection and raise dead.
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Engine of Eldritch Conversion
Universal
Level: Sorcerer/wizard 7
Components: V, S, M (powdered gems appropriate to the linked spell’s school worth 6,500 gp)
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Area: 40-ft.-radius spread
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
You create a matrix of arcane resonance that absorbs energy from magic items or spellcasting and uses it to power another spell tied to that location. For example, you could have an engine of eldritch conversion tied to a summon monster V spell that would summon a monster when the engine had absorbed enough magic.
You cast the spell you intend to link to the engine as a free action at the end of the engine of eldritch conversion’s casting time. Doing so expends the spell, spell slot, or spell completion or spell trigger magic item use. The spell must be on your unmodified class spell list, cannot have a range of personal or touch, cannot be a ray or other similar ranged touch spell, cannot be modified by any metamagic feat, and cannot have an unmodified casting time longer than 1 full round.
Any decisions made regarding the linked spell at the time of casting (such as type and number of monsters summoned with a summon monster spell, the direction of a cone-shaped spell, whether to use the fireworks or smoke cloud version of pyrotechnics, the wording of a suggestion, the content of a persistent image, etc.) are set for that particular engine and cannot be changed. For spells such as summon monster, mage’s sword and flaming sphere, and similar spells, the spell or creature follows a short set of instructions or a simple program set by you when you create the engine. The program must take no longer than one or two sentences to describe.
The engine absorbs the magic of spells cast, spell-like abilities that are activated, and spell completion and spell trigger magic items used within its dimensions, unless the caster succeeds at a caster level check (DC 14 + the engine’s caster level) or if the spell is a cantrip or orison. Each source of magic provides a number of spell levels of energy to the engine equal to the spell level of the effect used. For example, a cast fireball spell, a charge from a wand of fireball, a use of a staff of fire to cast a fireball, a scroll of fireball, or a horned devil’s fireball spell-like ability would add three spell levels to the engine’s store. A necklace of fireballs would be unaffected, as it is not a spell, spell-like ability, spell completion item, or spell trigger item. Items such as potions, oils, or elixirs, a horn of fog, the ring of telekinesis, or any other continuous, use-activated, or command word item that is not a spell trigger or spell completion item are similarly unaffected. The engine does not absorb spell trigger and spell completion item uses that do not emulate a spell effect (such as the smite or retributive strike abilities of a staff of power). Extraordinary and supernatural abilities (even those that otherwise directly duplicate a spell effect) are unaffected. Effects that are absorbed give no indication of where the magic went; they simply vanish.
The engine absorbs only magic whose source is inside the area at the time of casting. Spell effects that are cast outside the area that then enter it are completely unaffected. Spells cast by a creature or item outside the area into the engine or whose area of effect overlaps wholly or partially with that of the engine are likewise unaffected.
An engine of eldritch conversion has a single spell linked to it. When the engine has absorbed spell levels equal to the spell level of its linked spell, it automatically casts that spell at a point within the engine's area designated by you at the time of the casting of the engine. Area spells and effect spells appear at or centered on the chosen point. Targeted spells use the chosen point to determine line of sight, line of effect, and range. In the case of targeted spells, the effect targets eligible creatures or objects nearest the selected point first, modified by additional rules for the linked spell, if any. For example, a rainbow pattern would target creatures with the fewest Hit Dice first, and if two or more targets have identical Hit Dice, the one closest to the linked spell’s point of origin is affected first. If no eligible targets are available when the linked spell would trigger, it waits until the first eligible target comes within range, then triggers, provided it still has sufficient stored spell energy. The effects of linked spells can affect targets or areas beyond the limit of the engine’s 40-foot radius if their own range or area allows it.
Triggering the linked spell expends a number of absorbed spell levels equal to the level of the linked spell (although unused levels remain until they are used or expire). The linked spell functions as if cast by you in terms of duration and all level-based spell effects. Absorbed spell levels fade at a rate of one per day if not used. The engine automatically triggers its linked spell if it has enough stored spell levels and the duration of its previous casting has expired. If it has not expired, the linked spell triggers immediately upon expiration of the previous casting. If a linked spell requires concentration to maintain, the engine expends one spell level for every hour of concentration beyond the first. The engine’s concentration is interrupted only by its complete destruction.
When casting engine of eldritch conversion, you can specify a bypass condition, such as a password, phrase, gesture, or type of item (such as a holy symbol of a particular style and material) that allows a creature using it to employ magical abilities unimpeded by the engine, and not be targeted by spells linked to the engine or attacked by effects produced by the engine. Anyone using the password or secret sign, or carrying the item remains immune to that particular engine's effects so long as the creature remains within 40 feet of the point of origin. If the creature leaves the radius and returns later, it must use the password or secret sign again, or still possess the item.
You also can attune any number of creatures to the engine of eldritch conversion, but doing this can extend the casting time. Attuning one or two creatures takes negligible time, and attuning a small group (as many as 10 creatures) extends the casting time to 2 hours. Attuning a large group (as many as 25 creatures) takes 24 hours. Attuning larger groups takes an additional 24 hours per 25 creatures. Any creature attuned to an engine of eldritch conversion can employ magic items and abilities within the engine unimpeded and are never targeted with the engine’s linked spell or attacked by effects created by the linked spell. You are automatically considered attuned to your own engine of eldritch conversion, and thus always ignore the effects and cannot inadvertently trigger them.
You can also set special limitations of your own on who or what can cast freely within the engine or be passed over by its targeted effects. These can be as simple or as elaborate as you desire. Special conditions can be based on a creature's name, identity, alignment, creature type, subtype, or kind, but otherwise must be based on observable actions or qualities. Intangibles such as level, class, HD, and hit points don't qualify.
Creatures exempt from attack by the engine’s linked spell, whether due to attunement or meeting the bypass condition, must deliberately forgo that exemption in order to power the engine with spell energy. They cannot regain this exemption until after the engine has cast its linked spell at least once. However, they can still cast spells normally within the area without a concentration check (in effect, exempt creatures choose whether to succeed or fail on the concentration check without requiring a roll).
Spells that have a costly material component cannot be linked to an engine, but those with a costly focus can if the focus object is present within the engine’s area at the time of casting and remains there. Removing the focus from the engine’s area immediately ends any active spell effect that is not instantaneous or permanent and prevents it from absorbing or expending spell levels until the focus is returned or replaced, though stored spell levels continue to dissipate at a rate of one per day. If the focus is moved or otherwise disturbed by a creature that is not exempt from its effects via attunement or fulfilling the bypass requirement, any active spell effect created by the engine immediately ends, and the engine cannot expend spell levels until a creature attuned to the engine or otherwise exempt touches the focus, though the engine continues to absorb spell energy regardless.
Only mage’s disjunction, miracle, wish, or similar spells can destroy the engine of eldritch conversion. Spells of lower level, such as dispel magic and greater dispel magic, are absorbed by it, and an antimagic field prevents it from absorbing magical energy within the engine but does not otherwise hamper this spell. If two or more engine of eldritch conversion spells share an overlapping area, each engine has an equal chance of absorbing a spell effect in that area.
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No.
Because the idea of something being 'inherently evil' is sophomoric at best.
Rape.
EDIT: Chloroformed-by-a-stranger-in-the-alley rape. Not that other kinds aren't bad, but just to eliminate all ambiguity.
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"Rape" is not an action, it is a misuse of an action (sex). There is no action at its core level that is inherently evil. Anything can be used for good or evil, or neither. Or even both.
"Kill" is an action. "Murder" is an evil use of said action (well, not technically, since you can murder someone without it being evil since murder is simply unlawful, though the two often overlap but fr our purposes, it is).
Casting Animate Dead is an action. Casting Animate Dead with the intent of killing innocents with it is an evil use of said action.
You catch my general point. Adding Alignment descriptors where they're not necessary doesn't really serve a purpose.
However, in the interest of playing fair, we'll assume the game's internal logic.
Transcarnate: Yes. It creates an undead, therefore it is [Evil].
Metempsychosis: Ambiguous, but the devs would probably say yes. It manipulates an "unwilling" corpse.
Tandem Spirits: No.
Engine: No. I don't think you were asking about this one though. Also, seems like an Abjuration spell.
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It's important to know that Zhayne doesn't seem to enjoy Alignment.
Edit: To actually answer the question; I'd say only the first struck me as evil, because you steal another creature's body, and force it out, permanently.
Adding Alignment descriptors where they're not necessary doesn't really serve a purpose.
It lets you create overpowered cleric spells.
I think that was the entire design philosophy behind the BoVD.
I prefer to avoid alignment arguments and assume anyone posting a thread on the Pathfinder forums wants to make content for Pathfinder, a game where alignment exists regardless of whether some fans dislike it or not. And that unless the original poster explicitly wishes to disregard alignment, to start an alignment argument would be something frowned upon.
Now to answer Thelmeic_Noun's question, I looked over existing evil spells to see the precedents set for the descriptor. Evil spells usually involve the caster benefiting from the death of a creature, deny a creature an afterlife, have the intent of causing great suffering to a creature, or possess some connection to planar creatures from an evil plane. That being said, let's look at each one.
Transcarnate: Evil. You're killing someone to steal their body.
Metempsychosis: This is a tough one. On one hand, you're bringing a creature back to life. On the other hand, the spell clearly enables one to greatly benefit from the death of a creature. However, I believe any spell should only receive a descriptor if the reason is very obvious. Since the spell is ambiguous with that regard, I'm going to default to "No." For bonus points, you could say the spell gains the evil descriptor if the target is unwilling. Some spells, like summon monster, do have varying descriptors.
Tandem Spirits: No, because you're letting a spirit benefit from the spell without the expense of something else.
Engine: Jeez, this is a complicated spell. I feel like it should be an artifact, not a spell. Not evil, though.
Whether these are evil or not inherently depends upon the DM's views of alignment, the nature of his setting, and how he runs his game. Do you think they should be evil, and if so why?
Only the fIrst one is evil, creating a ghost. The rest are not.
The last one is complicated but awesome. I like these spells, Thelemic_Noun.