Spells of Mass Destruction
August 31st, 2010
Hello everyone, and welcome back to another exciting Grave Plots, where we bring you new and exciting adventure ideas each and every week. This week I would like to discuss adventures where the PCs will be forced to avert a major disaster, the result of a spell of mass destruction. Let’s have a look.
Spell of Mass Destruction
In a world of nearly uncontrollable magic and epic high fantasy warfare, the spell of mass destruction (SMD) is the ultimate weapon in the arsenal of any kingdom and the envy of every would-be warlord looking to carve a piece of the world for himself. Using a spell of mass destruction for a plot hook is a relatively simple matter, and consists basically of a few components. First, you need to have an effect in mind for the spell: is it going to explode, turning a thriving city into a sea of glass; or kill the population while leaving the surrounding landscape untouched; or will it do something less obvious, like dominate the population of a city? Secondly, you need to decide how the PCs will interact with the spell of mass destruction. Are they on a mission to slay the mage planning to invoke the terrible magicks, thus averting the spell altogether? Are they to set out to dispel the SMD, ensuring it never makes it to the intended target? Or are they looking for some kind of defense in order to protect innocent civilians from the deathly spell?
Once you’ve decided these preliminary things, it’s time to work out the details of the adventure: the exact nature of the challenges the PCs are to overcome, the NPCs they’re going to meet, what kind of treasure they can expect to earn, and all the other little things that bring you from adventure idea to adventure. Finally, it’s time to look to the future – the spell of mass destruction hook is particularly well set up to encourage future adventures, with the potential for PCs becoming entrenched with the dangerous politics of a world gone mad, or by having them deal with the darkness of a world at war. Any way you sell it, spells of mass destruction tend to be excellent segues into further adventures, and you should decide how this hook might fit into your existing game, perhaps being the great escalation of an existing war, or as a climax to a sequence of adventures fighting against a magically inclined madman.
Example: Malyar’s Revenge
The lord of Bewelton, Albert Mison, has summoned the PCs to his court, expressing that he has a problem which he believes only they can help him solve. He expresses a need for haste and begs the PCs come to him as soon as possible, offering an extremely generous reward upfront: the three legendary treasures of House Mison. These are a magic sword called Norfang, a suit of golden and magical golem armor (see [Into the Armory] for details on golem armor), and a magical staff.
When the PCs arrive at the court in the castle of Bewelton, Lord Mison greets them with a tone of grim panic and begins to explain the situation to the PCs. A dark wizard by the name of Malyar came to his court approximately one month ago and demanded the hand of his daughter Serena. When Mison refused, the mage grew irate and warned him that he had one month to reconsider his offer, or his kingdom would perish in fire. While Albert initially dismissed the wizard’s claim of retribution and put him out of mind, now, after a month has passed by, one of his house mages has spotted a massive sphere of pure flame streaking steadily towards the kingdom. The mage couldn’t identify the spell exactly, but he has said that it seems similar to a massive fireball spell designed not to yield particularly high power, but to spread destruction over a tremendous area. The mage failed to dispel the flaming sphere, and assumes that the spell is somehow resistant to being dispelled. If the PCs can prevent the sphere from destroying the city, Lord Mison will bestow upon them the aforementioned treasures.
Lord Mison has some suggestions for how to deal with the spell before it has a chance to reach the town – they are as follows:
- The PCs could detonate the spell prior to reaching the town, if they can somehow withstand the blast (which has a suspected radius of over a mile, making any kind of bowshot impact impractical).
- The PCs could attempt to convince Malyar to dispel the invocation.
- If he PCs can successfully steal a copy of Malyar’s mass destruction spell, then they might be able to reverse engineer a counter spell for it.
Other methods the PCs can use to disarm the sphere can be determined with a successful Spellcraft check DC 30; this reveals the spell’s information (see below), as well as a few other means of defeating the spell.
- A rod of cancelation will destroy the spell without consequence;
- A forcecage spell can successfully contain the blast;
- A large enough antimagic field will dismiss the effect;
- A gate spell opened in front of the spell can redirect it to another location on another plane;
- Resilient sphere can contain the spell;
- Wish or miracle can be used to dispel the sphere;
- A mage within 5 feet of the sphere can attempt a DC 50 Spellcraft check to gain control of the sphere.
Lord Mison can provide information as to the location of Malyar’s tower, but warns the PCs that Malyar may very well be expecting an assault. He also informs them that, should they manage to solve his problem and dispose of Malyar, he would gladly grant them an extra reward in gold for their services.
Should the PCs choose option one, attempting to detonate the sphere early, Lord Mison will insist that the PCs also deal with Malyar before he will pay them (he makes this clear before they set out). The precaution is necessary, as when the spell fails to hit Bewelton in three days, Malyar casts a second spell, and if the PCs are nowhere to be found the town will surely perish. The PCs have less than three days before the spell reaches Bewelton, and will need teleportation magic to have any kind of chance to prevent the town’s destruction.
Malyar is indeed expecting an attack on his tower and has dug in fiercely, utilizing his greatest minions, bound outsiders of a relatively high level, to protect the lower levels of his stronghold, while deadly traps protect his inner sanctums. As it becomes clear that the PCs are making their way through his stronghold, he begins to gather as much information about them as he can before making his final stand. When the PCs breach his inner sanctum, they find Malyar in no mood to talk (unless, of course, you want him to be), and he unleashes his powerful magic in an attempt to crush the PCs before they have a chance to properly oppose him. If they can survive the initial onslaught they should find him to be a relatively weak opponent, having lost most of his Constitution (and accompanying hit points) due to the earlier casting of his spell of mass destruction (see below). The records of his spell (and the secrets to countering it) can be found in a locked box on his desk.
Continuing the Adventure:
With a spell of mass destruction in hand, the PCs suddenly find themselves in a position of great political influence and military power, with some parties looking to get their hands on the SMD for themselves while other groups seek nothing other than to erase all trace of this dangerous new spell. As even extraplanar powers begin to take an interest in the SMD, the PCs hold all the cards in an ever-changing world full of turmoil and political intrigue.
NEW SPELL: Doom of Malyar
School evocation [fire, evil]; Level sorcerer/wizard 9
Casting Time 24 Hours
Components V, S, M (requires a 200,000 GP ruby as a focus, and the life of one intelligent being)
Range Special; See text
Area 5 mile radius spread
Duration instantaneous; See text
Saving Throw Reflex half; Spell Resistance yes
A doom of Malyar spell creates a large ball of flame roughly the size of a man that the caster may direct to any one point within 100 miles of the casting. The sphere will then head unerringly to the specified location, traveling at a speed of 20 ft/round until it reaches its destination, at which point it detonates, dealing 1d6 points of fire damage/caster level (max. 15) to all targets within the spell’s area. Every target that suffers any fire damage from this effect immediately catches fire, suffering an additional 2d6 points of fire damage every round until the target saves or 1 month passes, whichever comes first. Additionally, any non-magical object suffers a -5 penalty on its saves to resist fire damage. A doom of Malyar spell cannot be affected by dispel magic, greater dispel magic, and even under the effect of a mage’s disjunction spell a caster must roll a caster level check, DC 11 + this spell’s caster level, or the spell simply has no effect on the doom of Malyar spell.
You may never cast more than one doom of Malyar spell in any given week (though the caster may prepare more spells to use as potential counterspells). The caster also suffers 2 points of permanent ability loss from each of the caster’s ability scores.
Thank you for joining us once again at another exciting Grave Plots. We’ll see you next week, and remember, if you would like to suggest a future topic feel free to write me, and you may see your idea in the coming weeks. Until then, I wish you all the best in your gaming endeavors.