New Elementalist Spell: Tidings

Continuing work on The Complete Elementalist. Here's a new water spell...



Tidings
Level: 4th
Duration: Special
Range: Unlimited
Elements: Water

This spell allows an elementalist to send messages across vast distances, harnessing the force of the seas and oceans. The elementalist's missive, which may be of any length, is taken up by the susurrations of the flowing water and carried across the tides to a destination named by the caster. Both the destination and the location where the spell is cast must be beside a body of water which connects to the sea – either at the seashore itself or beside a river which flows into the sea. The message is carried by the tides and currents of the seas at a rate of 50 miles per hour (1,200 miles per day).

Upon reaching the destination, the message is reproduced in its fullness by the crashing, frothing, and bubbling of the waters. The elementalist may choose one of the following conditions of delivery:

Immediate: the message is delivered as soon as it reaches the destination, irrespective of whether anyone is there to hear it.

General recipient: the message will await the arrival of the specified type of recipient. This may be as broad or narrow as the elementalist wishes, for example: “an elf”, “a man of the village of Thariknea”, “a woman wearing a crucifix”.

Specific recipient: the message will only be repeated for a single, named recipient. If this person does not visit the location to which the message has been delivered within three days of its arrival, they will begin to experience dreams of increasing vividness, directing them towards the location where the message is to be delivered.

Legends tell of lost tidings – castings of this spell which failed to reach the intended recipient and which still linger in the waves.


(The Complete Elementalist is going to be a self-contained book detailing a greatly expanded version of the elementalist class from Theorems & Thaumaturgy.)