Disintegrate, 6th level, 3rd Edition
Ah yes, 6th level spells. Typically, the most powerful spells a wizard will cast in the typical campaign, since most campaigns end before 14th level is achieved. So here we come to the height of what most wizards usually get to hurl around.
In the 1st edition game, elven mages had to have a 19 intelligence to reach 12th level, so they could cast even one 6th level spell! (besides the rare genius level elf, no other races except humans and half-elves could touch such levels of power.)
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DISINTEGRATE (Alteration)
Range: 5 yards/level - Components: V, S, M - Duration: Permanent
Casting Time: 1 standard action - Area of Effect: See below - Saving Throw: Reflex Negates
When the mage casts Disintegrate, she channels the Weave - or the raw stuff of Pure Magic - into the physical, seeing world. Through her profound comprehension, long experience with magic, and sheer force of will, she focuses this Supreme Power into a beam. Then, with a tremendous effort of will and mighty manipulations of the Weave, she aims the beam at a specific target. Immense magical protections called up by her during the spell casting, protect body and mind alike against the Manifest Insanity she has unleashed and is trying to wield. Finally, with further daunting effort, she determines exactly what the beam destroys and what it does not destroy.
The Magic does it's work, then flashes out, leaving behind aftereffects of spent magic that can be detected years later by even a low level magic. In the immediate aftermath, the whole area glows brilliantly for those with eyes that see, and even non-mages feel, hear, and see assorted lights, colors, sounds, smells, and other aftereffects of the colossal blast of magical force the mage unleashed.
The beam of Pure Magic seems to instantaneously flash out to the target: in reality, it is more like a high speed freight train of inexorable entropic destruction, for concentrated Pure Magic is a force that almost nothing that exists in the Mortal World can withstand. Almost nothing in the Prime Material Plane that has physical existence can exist within the bedlam and chaos of Magic Incarnate, anymore than any most physical objects could survive - intact - the plummet into a Black Hole.
The effect is spectacular. The mage is enveloped in bright light, great noise, and magical fireworks and a powerful magical aura, then the great beam of Destruction Incarnate leaps from her hand at the target. The beam is typically multicolored, many times brighter than the sun, and those in the vicinity might reasonably compare it to large fireworks going off 10 feet from where they are standing.
The expenditure of so much magical might causes a shock, through the Weave, the earth, and the air: the resulting minor quake can be felt for a short distance, the banshee shriek of the beam and the simultaneous sonic boom (the air the wave of Incarnate Destruction passes through is disintegrated along with the target and target area) is deafening, and there is considerable localized disturbance to the Weave.
When the beam hits it's target, another, much greater shock is caused. The Weave is tossed wildly, the earth bucks underfoot, and a colossal concussion of light, noise, and magic knocks people back from all around, simultaneously accompanied by a second and greater sonic boom as the target area ceases to exist. The quake can be felt for hundreds of feet, the concussion heard for a mile, the light seen for several miles, and the repurcussions running through the Weave can be felt dozens of miles away by a magic sensitive being or listening wizard.
IMPORTANTLY many versions of Disintegrate have been developed over the years that are innately quieter and more subtle than the original spell, and with all the lethal might of the original or even more. It is likely the PCs will have access to such an improved version of Disintegrate.
And for those who desire a more subtle spell, without the pyrotechnics or concussion or noise or shock, there are always metamagic feats if they cannot gain access to the most updated versions of the spell.
The wizard visualizes before the spell detonates exactly how it will affect the target and target area. She can elect, for example, to have the Disintegrate destroy only the enemy fighter sitting there. Or, the spell can be configured to destroy him and the ground below him, leaving the throne he is sitting on untouched. Or the spell could destroy him and the throne. The air around the fighter might or might not be obliterated, as the mage chooses. The mage has such control over her summoned might, she can designate inch by inch what shall cease to exist, and what shall remain intact, within the entire area of effect.
Premediation over how the Disintegrate will work is a Free Action.
The spell affects up to a 10 foot x 10 foot x 10 foot cubic area, or 1,000 cubic feet. The target being to be destroyed must be in this area. The wizard need not destroy the entire area, as noted above. She can selectively destroy any object, or any number of objects, as she pleases, within the area of effect. She cannot choose to disintegrate more than one target, typically, although exceptions occur (see below.)
The spell will not affect anything outside the 10 x 10 x 10 cube. Thus, an object standing more than 5 feet beyond the enthroned fighter is safe enough, if he is the center of the area of effect. Large monsters such as dragons targeted by this spell will have 1,000 cubic foot sections of themselves blasted away, with lethal results in nearly all cases. However, the wizard could not extend the length of the area of effect up and down the length of a target dragon, by narrowing the spell effect's width and height. Not, at least, without the requisite metamagic feats, but then again with metamagic all bets are off.
Disintegrate affects any and all normal, mundane persons, places, and things. It will destroy Planars and materials from other Planes with equal ease. It will destroy any and all undead, even incorporeal undead, who have any part of their essence on the Prime Material Plane at the moment they are the targets of this spell.
Disintegrate will destroy manifested magical energies of many sorts. It will blast away a 10 x 10 foot section of a Wall of Force, expending itself in the process. It will destroy any of the Bigby's Hands spells, expending itself doing so. It will down a Fire Shield or Illykur's Mantle while disintegrating the protected being in question. Chromatic Bows and Swords, and Mordenkainen's Sword will cease to exist along with their wielders. Mordenkainen's Magnificient Mansion and Faithful Hound, the various Screens of Otiluke, Otiluke's Kinetic Sphere and Telekinetic Sphere, Magic Mouth spells ... all will be blasted out of existence by a Disintegrate spell, typically using up the Disintegrate spell in the process.
Semi-real phantasms of monsters or places will likewise be destroyed (whether they are believed in or not) by a Disintegrate spell with only the Phantasmal Killer being an exception. Evocation spells in progress such as Magic Missile, Melf's Minute Meteors, Fireball, Ice Storm, Cone of Cold, and Acid Storm can be at least partially affected by Disintegrate. Alteration and enchantment spells tend not to be affected by the Disintegrate spell for some reason ... although if the target is disintegrated, they will probably fade out of existence also. That is, a Charm or Dominate spell might well be immune to being disintegrated, but the being they are affecting is quite another matter.
A few specific spells that one might think would be subject to disintegration are capable of withstanding it. Globe (but not Minor Globe) of Invulnerability, Anti-Magic Shell, Prismatic Magic, and certain other spells can survive the howling blast of pure magical annihilation that is the Disintegrate spell.
Magical items tend to lose the battle against Disintegrate spells, even such legendary items as Helms of Brilliance, various Tomes that increases ability scores, and suits of + 5 Plate Armor made of adamantite with another + 5 worth of Enhancements. Only artifacts and relics are immune, and they shrug off the blast without suffering harm ... although so much magical power striking an artifact or relic might cause IT to react in turn (generally, such items are sentient and rather resent being struck by such magical armaggedons as the Disintegrate spell represents, flung by ignorant and lowly mortal beings ...)
Thus ...
The designated target of the Disintegrate spell must make a Reflex Save. Success indicates that being dodged out of the area of effect (move a player character appropriately, as a Free Action, out of the area of effect in a direction of the player's choice.) In this case, no carried and/or worn items on the target are affected, so no Item Saves are needed.
Any being designated a target by the mage, who fails his Reflex Save against her attack, ceases to exist. That's right: GONE. Gone, out of here, zip, zilch, null, zero! Nothing remains. Absolutely nothing at all. The howling blast of Pure Magic churns away everything down to the last sub-atomic particle, converting all into sub-motes of Chaos, then churning that into Nothingness. The effect is as absolute as the effect of a Sphere of Annihilation upon anything sucked into it.
Only the soul or spirit of the target remains after disintegration, and that soul or spirit is sent shrieking, howling and tumbling end over end into the Afterlife.
Of course, if the target fails his Reflex Save, ALL his items must make Item Saving Throws against Disintegration, ala 1st Edition. The required rolls to make that save are so high as to be ghastly: it is likely that everything, including any and all magical items carried and/or worn, are obliterated along with the target.
Note that items in a Bag of Holding that is disintegrated are NOT flung into the far reaches of the Ether: unless they make Item Saves verus Disintegration they suffer the Bag's fate! And this goes for any living things somehow hiding within a Bag of Holding, as well.
Disintegrate affects things living and non-living alike in such things as a Mirror of Life Trapping, Gem of Soultrapping, Amulet of Life Protection, Pocket Dimension, Well of Worlds (if in transit), Gate (if in transit), Teleportation Sphere (if in transit), and spells that create temporary extradimensional spaces like Rope Trick or Mordenkainen's Magnificient Mansion. Everyone and everything within the items, in transit, or in the extra-dimensional spaces must make a Fortitude Save, or suffer disintegration. Even if they make the save, they are likely lost randomly in the Planes as the magical item or teleportation device or extradimensional space is destroyed.
Please note that, except for items being carried and/or worn, NO OTHER ITEMS OR OBJECTS are allowed a save versus the Disintegration, save magical items ONLY. Assorted clods of ground, rocks, mundane items lying around, campfires, trees, buildings, dungeon floors and hallways, pools of water, and the air itself do not get a chance to save against this spell.
So, if the mage chooses to disintegrate the very air around a target creature, and the very rock under his feet, everything but the target is automatically erased from existence, even if the target himself makes his Reflex Save.
If a target fails his Reflex Save and is disintegrated, the manner of his disintegration - which takes from an instant to a few seconds, is determined by the mage.
Disintegration can be painless, or it can be a last couple of seconds of agony beyond all imagination. The mage chooses: the mage picks her own poison for the hapless target.
She could:
Cause the target to slump into goo and evaporate, screaming in agony (ala Heavy Metal)
Cause the target to glow green, it's bones black against the transparency, and fade away (ala War of the Worlds)
Cause the target to dissipate into a flow of plasma, then disappear (ala Forbidden Planet)
Cause the target to simply flash out of existence instantaneously (ala Star Trek)
Cause the target to erupt in internal flames that immolate it and burn it away (ala Mysterious Stranger)
Cause the target to explode (although nobody outside the area of effect will be injured, but it makes for great pyrotechnics)
Cause the target to shrink, shrinking to a dot and then disappearing forever.
Cause the target to shred into countless thousands of bloody pieces before evaporating into nothingness (good for daunting other enemies at hand.)
Initiate any number of other creative, ghastly, ghoulish ways in which the target is gruesomely, painfully eradicated from existence, or make it nice and quick and as neat as neatness gets.
The mage makes all the choices: she decides, the target dies.
An important limit on this spell is that the mage can only select ONE target of the living, undead, Planar, Construct, animal, sentient plants, or like categories to Disintegrate. She cannot choose to destroy two or more such targets, even if they are all within the 10 x 10 x 10 foot area of effect. Nor will the spell's effect 'flow' through objects and then 'flow' into a second or subsequent target beings, even though it is destroying all the objects around them.
Likewise, items worn and/or carried by a second and subsequent beings in the area of effect are safe from harm: the disintegration effect cannot 'flow' into them from other objects being affected.
However ...
If the portal to a Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion, or a Mirror of Life Trapping with many monsters imprisoned therein, or a Bag of Holding with many living things in it, are targeted, this limitation is ignored: the mage may end up disintegrating dozens or even hundreds of beings!
