Living Spell
GM's Eyes Only
Spoilers. This page is written for the GM, and players who read on will learn things their characters don't know.
A spell that never ended: war-magic that took on a life of its own. Source: Eberron, Rising from the Last War, p. 298 (Eberron Campaign Setting, p. 293).
What it is. A living spell looks like an ordinary spell effect: a roiling sheet of flame, a crackling bolt of lightning, or a drifting green cloud. The difference is that its magic never runs out. It drifts across the land, feeding on whatever magic is in the ground, and lashes out at anything it touches.
Where they come from. In Eberron, the cataclysm that made the Mournland woke the spells of the Last War. Most living spells come from destructive magic: fire, lightning, and poison. Nobody knows how a spell gets a will, and the ones living spells have are dim and hungry.
In Tir Hathar. A legacy of the Long War. They haunt its echo sites, where the war's magic is still going off. A dead-magic zone (like Theria's Southern Cape) is death to one: it unravels the moment it crosses in.
Stats¶
First draft, built from WWN's baseline stat lines.
| HD | AC | Atk | Dmg | Shock | Move | ML | Inst | Skill | Save | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Living fire | 2 | 15 | +3 | 1d8 | 2/- | 25' fly | 12 | 5 | +0 | 14+ |
| Living lightning | 5 | 15 | +6 | 2d6 | 2/- | 30' fly | 12 | 5 | +0 | 13+ |
| Living plague | 8 | 15 | — | 3d6 | — | 20' fly | 12 | 5 | +0 | 11+ |
- Spell-stuff. Mundane weapons do half damage to it. It is immune to its own element, and it doesn't eat, sleep, or breathe. It can't be grappled, poisoned, frightened, or charmed.
- Living fire. Once per scene, it bursts out in a 15-foot cone: 2d6 fire damage, with an Evasion save for half. Anything flammable it touches catches.
- Living lightning. Every other round, it can fire a 60-foot bolt: 3d6 damage to everyone in the line, with an Evasion save for half. Metal armor gives no protection against its strike.
- Living plague. A 20-foot cloud. As its Main Action, it rolls over everyone in a 20-foot area, who take 3d6 damage, with a Physical save for half. It can't attack any other way. Strong wind pushes it 30 feet a round, and fire does full damage to it.
- Unraveled. A living spell dies at once in a dead-magic zone. Magic that ends spells hurts it.
- Other spells. To build another living spell, pick a destructive spell, use the fire stat line for levels 1–2, the lightning line for levels 3–4, and the plague line for level 5, and swap in the spell's own effect.
Still open: playtesting the numbers, and which echo sites have them.