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Fendrikor
Learned Scribe

Australia
189 Posts

Posted - 18 Jan 2017 :  03:11:18  Show Profile Send Fendrikor a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
South of Elturel is an area of plague land south of Fort Morninglord, or so i have read.

My party recently approached this spell plagued land on a quest to dispose of some bandits, during this time i used some of the descriptions of the plaguelands in Halruua as a basis for what it might be like in the area.

They came within 2 miles of the plagueland, but i figured it had strange effects on the flora and fauna. plants rapidly growing, fruiting, withering and dieing within minutes under observation. Termites building their mounds in strange helix patterns and orbiting them in strange circles. Trees growing like claws, swept towards the heavens in an unsettling way.

One of my players, a cleric of Chauntae, picked a crab apple from one of the fruiting bushes only for it to rot in his hand. He took the seeds from the spell plagued plant, contacting them with his bare hands.

Additionally magic was wild near the spell plagued land, both the wizard and cleric had triggered wild surges over the quest.

Ive read that people could gain spell scars just being near spell plagued lands, im considering giving the cleric a spell scar on his hand for handling the rotted apple but im not sure if this is unfair.

Ontop of that, not much is written on spell scars - how debilitating are they? Does anyone have any detailed information on how easy it is to gain a spell scar and what they do?

'Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup'

Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 18 Jan 2017 :  03:33:02  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Personally, if you have access to any of the Red Steel campaign material (it used to be free for download from the WotC site), they have tons of rules for something VERY similar - Legacies. You enter a region of Red Curse (a very similar concept to plagued/Mourn Lands) and you can gain a legacy, or 'curse', which can manifest in many different ways, some beneficial, some not, and many cause a weird physical mutation as well (for example, you might gain some sort of improved perception/vision, but your eyes grow-out on stalks like a snail... which is pretty gross).

If you don't have those rules, or anything you could possibly substitute (Gamma World, maybe some Supers rules with mutations, etc), then make it up yourself, based on what happened. Maybe his palm grows moss, and from now on he can make plants grow fast at-will, but each time he uses it he grows Barkskin (which works like the spell), but that takes away Charisma (some people might even think he's a monster). Also, if he isn't a priest of nature deity, this might present a problem.

You may even want to eventually give him the option of taking a feat based on his curse/Spellscar - Once per day, he can command plants (including the ones he just made grow big). He may even take this multiple times (adding another use per day each time), but he would lose a charisma point each time he takes it (because he is looking more and more like a shrubbery).

You could have a lot of fun with it - Ed Greenwood use to add this sort of 'special unique powers' to some of his PCs and NPCs just to liven things up. Just be creative with it, not mean.

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone

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hashimashadoo
Master of Realmslore

United Kingdom
1150 Posts

Posted - 19 Jan 2017 :  11:14:47  Show Profile  Visit hashimashadoo's Homepage Send hashimashadoo a Private Message  Reply with Quote
There was a big Living Forgotten Realms module that tried to explain what those plaguelands would be like. Too light on the detail for my liking but oh well, it is free to download.

Spellscars vary wildly. Some give miniscule power but affect body and mind tremendously, some give great power and you can use them with minimal side effects, and everything in between. Erik Scott de Bie wrote about a spellscarred spy whose scar gradually crept upon her sanity every time she used it, meaning she hadn't noticed by the time she'd become dangerously unstable.

Did you ever read Bruce Cordell's Plague of Spells? The main character and a pair of others go on a scar pilgramage in it.

When life turns it's back on you...sneak attack for extra damage.

Head admin of the FR wiki:

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Edited by - hashimashadoo on 19 Jan 2017 11:15:29
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Fendrikor
Learned Scribe

Australia
189 Posts

Posted - 19 Jan 2017 :  13:43:11  Show Profile Send Fendrikor a Private Message  Reply with Quote
hrmm... all things to consider. ill look up the module - any idea what it was called?

I like the idea of the mossy hand / plant power thing but im wary of everyone then saying 'cool lets all go back and get cool powers for free with no drawbacks'. :/ because they may try to justify that.

I think that him carelessly handling the seeds of the spellplagued crab-apple bush he touched should have some side effects.. so im thinking this so far:

- The spellscar makes all the magic he casts have a 5% chance to wildsurge.
- Everytime he wildsurges he must make a wisdom save DC 10 + Spell level or 1 point of madness (oota style).
- At 1 point of madness he gains a short term madness, 2 a long term and 3 an indefinate, then it reset his madness score to 0. All madni are cumulative and keep stacking until cured.
- He will ineffect slowly go stark raving mad. He can use spells like greater restoration to cure his insanity and retuce his madness rating but he cannot cure the spellscar short of a miracle or wish.
- The random effects of wild magic can simulate the boons and banes of spellscars, the fact that theres a 5% chance he could detonate in a ball of blue fire also may justify why no one wants to be near the spellscarred.
- He can spend a feat when he becomes eligable to attempt to 'master' his spellscar and gain 'Scar Mastery I', giving him advantage on the wisdom save and two rolls on the wild magic table (choosing the better result).
- He can spend another feat later to gain 'Scar Mastery 2' giving him advantage on saves vs magical effects (including those produced my his own wildsurges) and the ability to trigger a wildsurge at will 1+Con modifier times per day.

I think that might be suitably debilitating enough to make the spell scar something to be feared, but also leave an inroad to gaining power from it.

Thoughts?

'Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup'

Edited by - Fendrikor on 19 Jan 2017 13:45:04
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Copper Elven Vampire
Master of Realmslore

1078 Posts

Posted - 19 Jan 2017 :  15:51:28  Show Profile Send Copper Elven Vampire a Private Message  Reply with Quote
You could always just treat the Spellscar with the effects of a Rod Of Wonder, and everytime they use the spellscar just make a die roll for the effects.
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 19 Jan 2017 :  17:05:55  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I like the way you took my suggestion and hand-tailored it to your campaign. It looks very balanced.

I thought the charisma thing would be enough of a liability (who the heck wants to look like a plant-monster?), but I forget in-game people don't really care how ugly their PC is. Could work in a novel, but not at the gaming table (and the 'fun' everyone has with it could soon takeover your game - I've seen smart parties take what I thought were liabilities and turn them to their advantage).

I would think all spellscarred should be susceptible to some sort of 'Weave Madness' each time they use the power - maybe a sliding percentage that grows the more they use it (maybe by 1% for each use per day over the first), but decreases from periods of inactivity (lets say the char. is up to a 10% chance of a wild surge - he could not use it at all for a week and it could drop to 9% - something like that). I like the whole idea of 'evil growing within'.

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone


Edited by - Markustay on 19 Jan 2017 17:07:18
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist

USA
11686 Posts

Posted - 20 Jan 2017 :  23:11:56  Show Profile Send sleyvas a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Its a lot better than the first idea that came to my mind of "what the guys hand touches starts to rot", followed up with "your nuts itch while you sleep"

Alavairthae, may your skill prevail

Phillip aka Sleyvas
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