Arcane Plots
Hello everyone, and welcome to another exciting edition of Obscure Arcana, where we bring you the latest and greatest in new spells each and every week. As you may know, here at Necromancers of the Northwest we’re committed to bringing you a variety of unique and interesting spells. Sometimes we focus on spells that destroy the caster’s enemies; sometimes we focus on spells which protect the caster from harm, or even spells which interfere with an otherwise predictable and peaceful game in some fashion.
This week I want to talk about another class of spell: the sort of spell that can be used as a plot hook, and even serve as the foundation of an entire adventure. Apart from the loathed and feared geas/quest, most spells in this vein are fairly subtle, and while many spells can make for interesting plot devices with multiple castings, only a few gems, such as bestow curse, dominate person and the mighty gate,have the potential to fuel an adventure entirely on their own with a single casting. In today’s article, I’ll be presenting you with some new options which can be utilized by clever GMs to create excellent and fun-filled adventures, but which, like the spells above, may be desirable enough to interest players.
Childishness
By casting this spell you cause all creatures within the spell’s area to begin acting as though they where children. This results in those creatures suffering a -4 penalty on all Intelligence-, Wisdom-, and Charisma-based skill checks and ability checks as well as causing the target to suffer a -1 penalty to Will saving throws against charm and compulsion effects. In addition, the targets act and behave exactly as they would if they were children. The affected creatures still retain their memories and faculties, but do suffer changes in their personalities. Typically, this manifests in a greater adherence to the philosophies that they idealize, a childish sense of humor, a poor ability to focus on a given task, impatience, and a greater emphasis on romantic notions and ideals. The exact changes in personality vary from individual to individual. If you are slain before the spell’s duration expires, the effect immediately ends. Creatures with 5 or more Hit Dice are immune to this effect.
Childishness, Greater
As the spell childishness,except as indicated above, and that it can affect any creature with fewer Hit Dice than you.
Conjure Maddened Spirit
In order to cast this spell, you must inscribe the spell’s incantation upon the skull of a mostly intact corpse. This process takes the same amount of time that it would take to scribe this spell into a spellbook, and is separate from the regular casting of the spell and must be completed before casting. When you cast this spell, if there is an intact corpse on which you have inscribed the spell’s incantation within range, you cause a maddened spirit to rise from that corpse. If there are multiple applicable corpses within range, choose one of them when you cast this spell. You may not target the same corpse twice with this spell; if you do so, any casting after the first simply fails. When you cast this spell, the spirit of the individual whose corpse you are targeting may attempt a Will save to negate its effects. A successful Will save also renders that corpse unusable for future castings for 1 year after the failed attempt.
The type of creature summoned depends on the strength of the corpse targeted with this spell. The corpse of a creature that had 5 Hit Dice or fewer conjures a wraith. The corpse of a creature with 5 to 10 Hit Dice conjures a specter, instead. Finally, the corpse of a creature with 11 or more Hit Dice conjures a ghost with the same race, class, level, and equipment it had when it died. In addition to the ordinary powers of the conjured spirit, creatures created with this spell gain an additional amount of channel resistance equal to ½ your caster level, and gain the rejuvenation special quality granted by the ghost template, if they did not already posses this ability. Creatures conjured by this spell reform at their corpse and can only be laid to rest if their corpse is destroyed. This destruction is symbolic; thus, decapitating the corpse or burning it would be sufficient to destroy the creature, even though both these methods would leave behind some remains. This spell grants you no special control over the created spirit, which acts violently and irrationally, torturing and killing, or simply pranking and spreading misery as it pleases until it is slain.
Madden Beasts
When you cast this spell, you cause all creatures of the animal and vermin type within the spell’s area to behave violently, attacking those they perceive as weaker than themselves. Creatures affected by this spell never attack other creatures of the animal or vermin type, and ignore any character with a CR higher than their own. Otherwise, they attack mercilessly, attempting to kill anything they see, even at the cost of their own life. Creatures whose CR is greater than your caster level are immune to this spell.
Possession
By means of this spell, you can open a channel between an individual and an outsider of your choosing, whose CR is less than your caster level, allowing that outsider’s spirit to inhabit the other individual’s body. While the outsider must remain within the target for the duration of the spell, he may choose to stay or go after the spell is complete. A creature who is possessed in this fashion gains a +2 inherent bonus to the physical ability score of the outsider’s choosing, and may make use of any of that outsider’s spell-like abilities, though not any other spellcasting that outsider might possess. At will, the possessing outsider can suppress one or both of these benefits.
Outsiders possessing a creature in this fashion may choose to exert their influence to force the target to behave in certain ways. Typically, these outsiders only choose to exercise this ability if they have some agenda of their own, or if their host is acting in a way they don’t approve of. As often as it likes, so long as it remains within the target, the outsider can take control of the target for 1 hour. The individual being possessed may attempt a Will save to resist being controlled; the DC for this save is equal to twice the possessing outsider’s CR. When the outsider is in control of the target, it functions as magic jar, except that no spirits are removed from the body, and the outsider cannot die as a result of this ability.
Dispel magic, anitmagic fields, and similar effects do not end the effects of this spell, but they do suppress them (for 1 hour, in the case of dispel magic, and similar, or until the target leaves the area, in the case of antimagic field). However, a mage’s disjunction spell will force the outsider back to its home plane unless it succeeds on a Will saving throw.
Temporary Lycanthropy
By means of this spell, you can cause a single creature to undergo horrible transformations at night, becoming a violent killer. Whenever the target of this spell falls asleep, he immediately transforms into an animal (typically a wolf or dog) as though affected by the spell beast shape, and falls under a compulsion to attack the first living creature he finds. He continues to do so until he is slain, or until he successfully kills a creature, at which time he is returned to his natural form and falls asleep. If you die while this spell is in effect, the duration immediately ends. Additionally, if the target eats a single dose of belladonna, the effect is immediately dispelled. Each night, the target may attempt a Fortitude save to resist the transformation, and if he succeeds, he falls asleep normally.