New Vivimancer Spell: Divide Ancestry

Want to rid yourself or your friend of that embarrassing goblin heritage? Not averse to murder? Then try this vivimantic procedure!

Divide Ancestry
Level: 4
Range: Touch
Duration: Instant
Casting Time: 1 day
Cost: 150gp (drugs)

Cast upon a creature of half-race (e.g. a half-elf, half-goat, half-goblin, etc), this unusual procedure causes the subject's body to split permanently into two halves: one pure-blooded being of each parent race. The resulting beings are fully independent and begin their divided existence with identical memories and mental faculties, though the former diverge immediately -- there is no telepathic bond between them. Any talents related to one side of the ancestry are possessed only by the corresponding being.

During the procedure, the subject must be kept under the influence of deeply soporific drugs to the value of 150gp.

Wormskin Sale! / Issue Four PDF

For anyone who has heard rumours about Dolmenwood -- the weird fairytale woodland setting spawned from the brains of myself and Greg Gorgonmilk -- now is a great time to get into it.

The first three issues of the Dolmenwood zine, Wormskin, are on sale. A mere $1.99 for the PDFs and $4.99 for the print + PDF combos. A steal.

Also: issue four is just out! (PDF only for now. Print edition coming in a few weeks.)

The Complete Illusionist? (Plus New Spell: Unreal)

Since I started collating the illusionist spells that I've developed over the last few years and discovered that they number "quite a few", I've not been able to stop thinking about doing a proper Complete Illusionist book. I've looked at the spell lists and it looks like I actually only need a couple of dozen spells more in order to reach a nice number of spells per level. (I'm looking at 30, 24, 24, 18, 18, 18, 12, 8, 8 -- from 1st to 9th level.) Seems eminently doable! So, two things:

Firstly, call for contributors! If you have some new illusionist spells written up, send them my way! (Either to the email address in the sidebar of the blog or in g+.) I'm especially looking for spells of level 3 or above, up to ninth level.

If I include a contributed spell in the book, you'll be credited and I'll send you a free copy of the PDF. If someone sends me loads of spells that I'm into and I include four or more in the book, I'll also send you a print copy.

Get those illusionist thinking caps on! (Fez's I suppose.)

Secondly, here's a new spell:

Unreal
Level: 8
Duration: Permanent or 1 turn per level
Range: 60’

Rather than creating an illusion of a something real, this spell creates an illusion from something real. A non-living, non-magical object of up to 10’ cube in size or a single creature may be affected. A creature may save versus spells to resist.

If the spell successfully takes effect, the target ceases to be real, becoming an illusion of itself. It may be seen, heard, smelt, etc, but is completely intangible. For example, a solid section of wall made unreal may be passed through, though it appears solid; a person made unreal continues to act freely, but cannot physically interact with anything.

Objects targeted by this spell become permanently illusionary. Targeted creatures return to their normal state after one turn per level of the caster.

New Illusionist Spell: Imaginary Companion

This spell popped into my head just after waking this morning. Illusionists have been on my mind a bit, recently, as I recently started collating all of the expanded illusionist material which I have -- some from the original Theorems & Thaumaturgy and some as-yet unpublished spells -- and discovered that I have a total of 48 new illusionist spells. I've always wanted to do a proper expanded illusionist class, so this might be the catalyst.

Imaginary Companion

Level: 2

Duration: Permanent

Range: 0

Casting Time: 8 hours

Cost: 100gp

Inhaling the smoke of a mixture of rare, psychoactive herbs (cost 100gp), the illusionist falls into a deep sleep lasting for 8 hours. During this slumber, the illusionist’s spirit wanders in distant regions of dream where denizens of the Dreamlands may be contacted. The illusionist experiences a dream of great vividity and significance, wherein he encounters a kindred spirit in the dream world and enters into a soul-binding pact with it. Upon waking, the presence of the dream spirit remains with the illusionist at all times. The illusionist can see and speak with the dream spirit as if it were physically present. The entity cannot, however, normally be perceived by others. Thus, depending on how openly the illusionist interacts with the dream spirit, others may be led to question his sanity.

Despite being normally imperceptible to others, the imaginary companion is, in fact, semi-real and should be treated as an NPC companion of the illusionist, present wherever he goes. It is able to interact with the physical world as follows:

• The imaginary companion may freely interact with inanimate objects, having the force to carry up to 20lbs or drag up to 40lbs (equivalent to a STR rating of 3). Any who witness the companion interacting with objects may save versus spells. Failure indicates that the companion becomes faintly visible.
• If directed to interact with a living creature, the target may save versus spells. If the save succeeds, the imaginary companion is not able to interact with the target. If the save fails, the target becomes faintly aware of the dream spirit and two-way interaction is possible.
• Creatures which can see invisible and the like are always aware of an imaginary companion, though may save, as above, to prevent it from interacting with them.
• The companion has an Armour Class of 7, 2d4 hit points, and an attack doing 1d3 damage. It may be damaged by non-living forces (fire, cold, crushing, etc) and by any living creature who is aware of it (see above).
• It has a movement rate of 90’ (30’), either walking or flying up to 10’ above the ground. The companion may not move more than 90’ away from the illusionist. If forced to do so, it suffers 1d4 damage and disappears entirely, reappearing only after the illusionist gets a night’s sleep.

The nature of the soul-connection between the illusionist and the imaginary companion is such that the illusionist’s hit point maximum is increased by the number of hit points the companion has. However, if the companion dies, the illusionist instantly and permanently loses these additional hit points.

Many types of dream spirit may be summoned by this spell to become the illusionist’s imaginary companion. In the waking world, they are typically intelligent entities of human size or smaller with capricious, mischievous, or contrary personalities. The following chart provides some ideas, but many more creatures are possible.

1. A small cat with swirling, yellow/purple eyes and violet fur.
2. A transparent owl, apparently made of crystal.
3. An opposite-sex replica of the caster.
4. A miniature, creeping bear with human mouth and hands.
5. A slender, albino child.
6. A miniature, black wyvern.

My Dolmenwood House Rules

I'm running my first Dolmenwood / Barrowmaze session next week, so have worked up a quick house rules one-sheet.

I thought it might be of interest to others. Download the PDF here. (Dolmen art by Matthew Adams.)